Hodgepodge

Bit of this, bit of that. The Ridge, Three Valleys, Sonoma County, 2004 is a mostly zinfandel blend from vineyards located in 3 Sonoma valleys (go figure!). Ya gotta love the way these guys label their wines - NO nonsense. Nice nose. Bright bright fruit - red berries, mostly raspberry with a little chocolate. Medium bodied, smooth, plush, an easy drinking rich sipper. Good stuff, not as interesting as Ridge's higher end bottlings, but remember these guys just don't sell bad wine!! Worth the experiment at around $25/bottle.
The Chateau du Grand Moueys, Premiere cotes de Bordeaux, 2005 is from that fantastic Bordeaux vintage. This is a prime example of what happens in a great year - small otherwise overlooked properties make very good wine. Blueberry, blackberry, cloves and pears (?pears) on the nose. Full bodied, tannic, cassis, iodine - this needs food. Good. An excellent cheap Bordeaux at $18, buy a case.
Oh well, there's always a stinker in the bunch, eh? This is the modern packaged Wild Rock, Merlot-Cab Franc-Malbec, Hawkes Bay, NZ, 2005. Shy nose. Medium bodied, some black fruit and sage but completely uninteresting. An "OK" wine. Waste of money at $18.
Cheers!!