Pink Truck

I drink the wine, I just don’t usually post. Lazy I guess. And I hadn’t even checked the website for the July assignment when, luckily for me, Clare picked out this wine when we were at the package store. (What? You don’t let your seven year old choose your wine? I won’t judge). Since she’s a girly girl, she chose a pink wine. Pink Truck wine to be exact. The wine sells for $8.99 on the website, and I paid $9.99 at the package store.

Now Darren and I like the other truck wines (Red Truck and White Truck), so we had high expectations for the Pink Truck. Cline Vineyard is the originator of the Truck wines (they’ve since sold the brand to the current owners – check out the website for more info) and the Red and White Truck wines have been pretty consistent in their appeal and value.

As I said, high expectations. This will come back to haunt us. I placed the Pink Truck in the refrigerator to chill and we opened it the night of 4th of July while watching fireworks on tv (first from DC, then NYC). The wine’s color is reminiscent of pink Hi-C lemonade in the glass…and the smell was fruity. Zinfandel, Grenache and Mourverde are blended to make this wine.

The Red Truck website describes the Pink Truck wine as “a classic wine with a very sophisticated twist. This exceptional blend exhibits berry and citrus aromas and strawberry, raspberry and pomegranate flavors that tantalize the palate. Juicy orange notes make for a delicious, bright finish - a refreshingly complex wine crafted in a balanced off-dry style.”

Fruity smell – check. First sip (still pretty chilled at this point) similar to Bartles and Jaymes (those of you in college in the 80’s with me will know of what I speak). Not entirely bad – we’re thinking this could be a nice picnic wine; definitely summery.

However, as the wine warms, things take a turn for the worse. Cough medicine might be one way to describe it – very heavy and syrupy. I couldn’t finish my glass of wine (yes, I will be confessing this sin next time I go), and Darren actually dumped the rest of the bottle down the drain. This is one truck we won’t be picking up again (but do try the Red or White Trucks).

Doing Time

“We need to write a wine review,” I told Sue.

“What do we have?” she asked.

“We have Red Truck, but we reviewed it already. And we have this,” I said, holding up a bottle of 2004 Big House Red, a California blend of Carignane, Sangiovese and Charbono.

I grabbed two glasses and the corkscrew from the kitchen gadget drawer. Then I noticed something.

“I’m not so sure I want to review this one,” I said.

“Why?” she asked.

“This is why.” And I unscrewed the cap.

“A lot of good wines are going to screw tops now,” she told me.

I’m still not sure if that’s true or she was making something up as she sometimes does. But you couldn’t prove it with this bottle of wine.

Neither of us liked it.

According to the website, Big House Red has “lush tannins” and is “criminally rich—a riot of blackberry, raspberry & black pepper.” Hardy har har.

I got the tannins. I think I got the blackberry and raspberry. I even got the black pepper—in the bottom of my glass. I usually like dark heavy reds, but this one was just off. Sue liked it even less.

Wine Enthusiast and Wine Spectator both supposedly liked it. Maybe it just wasn’t our thing. Anybody else ever done time with Big House?

Ol' Reliable

We’ve actually had a few bottles of wine since I’ve last posted. But none of those bottles have made it through to a review. I’m guessing that all of us get a little busier as the holidays get closer and posting wine reviews is one of the first things to go.

There are a few standby wines that we buy when we want to be sure we’re getting something good—a favorite Rioja or Chianti or any one of a few California wines. A great, moderately-priced and interesting red blend that we love is Red Truck.

Red Truck is a Sonoma blend that we’ve had many times. Recently though, Sue found a Red Truck Pinot Noir. I also learned from their website that Red Truck makes a Merlot and Cabernet. There’s also a White Truck blend, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, and a Pink Truck. (All of the “Truck” wines are a division of Cline Cellars.)

As claimed, the 2006 Red Truck Pinot Noir was smooth with a mix of fruity and spicy tastes. I actually could make out the cherries that the label said were in there too. Sue and I both enjoyed this wine and, although we’re not great at describing tastes in detail, we recommend it. All of the Truck wines we’ve tried have been good and they always seem popular at our local wine stores too—even though the Red Truck name has only been used since 2002. The website seems fun too and you can sign up to become a “Friend of Red Truck.” I sent in my email address. If I get anything good, I’ll let you all know.

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N

Neither Sue nor I have posted here much in the past couple months. But not to worry—we did get most of the assignments done. Unfortunately, like Mrs. Big Dubya, we drank a couple bottles of wine on vacation and didn’t take the best notes. Here’s what we remember.

The wine we purchased specifically for the extra-credit blend assignment was an Italian Sangiovese and Merlot blend from Luna di Luna. We don’t remember the year or price, but it couldn’t have been that old and the price was well within the guidelines here. This brand is famous for its blends in colorful bottles. We’ve tried the brand before (I think we’ve had the Merlot/Cabernet blend in the red bottle, and the Chardonnay/Sauvignon in the green), but we weren’t very impressed with this one. It was a little too acidic and fruity for our tastes.

Another wine we tried on vacation was in a bottle that Sue picked up based on the name and label (and we've all seen how that usually works out). It was a 2005 Mommy’s Time Out and given that name (and the quality of the website which I just found) we didn’t expect anything. But this one was a good surprise. It’s from Primitivo grapes in the Puglia region of Italy, which, I’ve just learned, have been found to be genetically identical to California Zinfandel grapes. The wine was smooth, a little oakey, and had a great balance of fruity flavors. It was also well under our price guideline. How can you beat that? Only by giving the wine a better name and marketing.