Tasted Online

Synopsis, Our Opinion: A very unique and delicious wine!!!

Producer/Winery: Oltretorrente; Paderna, Italy.

Grape Variety: Barbera blend – 90% Barbera and 10% Dolcetto.

Geographic Appellation,, Region, Country: Colli Tortonesi; Piedmont, Italy.

Vintage: 2014

Price: $18.00 (with a 10% mixed case discount) [click to continue…]

Synopsis, Our Opinion: A SPIRITED Italian red we REALLY enjoyed.

Producer/Winery: Salvatore and Alessandro Portelli; Agrivinicola Portelli; Vittoria, Italy.

Grape Variety: Blend – 70% Calabrese (Nero d’Avola) and 30% Frappato.

Geographic Appellation,, Region, Country: Cerasuolo di Vittoria; Sicily, Italy.

Vintage: 2015

Price: $20.70 (with a 10% mixed case discount) [click to continue…]

Synopsis, Our Opinion: Superb California Zinfandel and for the price, as good a value as you can get!!!

Producer/Winery: Turley Wine Cellars; St. Helena, California.

Grape Variety: Zinfandel.

Geographic Appellation,, Region, Country: Contra Costa County; Central coast, California.

Vintage: 2016

Price: $38.00 (with a Turley club discount) [click to continue…]

Synopsis, Our Opinion: SIMPLY OUTSTANDING and a Semillon
blend every wine drinker should sample!!!

Producer/Winery: Terry Leighton; Kalin Cellars; Novato, California.

Grape Variety: Semillon blend – blend of 75% Semillon and 25% Sauvignon Blanc.

Geographic Appellation,, Region, Country:

Vintage: 2000

Price: $22.00 (with a 10% mixed case discount) [click to continue…]

Synopsis, Our Opinion: Not inexpensive, but for the quality it’s a bargain.

Producer/Winery: Turley Wine Cellars; St. Helena, California.

Grape Variety: Southern Rhone Blend – Roussanne, Grenache Blanc, Vermentino and Verdelho.

Geographic Appellation,, Region, Country: California.

Vintage: 2016

Price: $35.00 (with a Turley mailing list discount) [click to continue…]

Yesterday TastedOnline.com celebrated it’s sixth anniversary and during the past year we posted more than 150 new wine reviews, but tasted about twice that number that didn’t get a written review. As a result the wines reviewed are the best quality and value of all we tasted. One of the highlights for us in 2018 was our discovery of many new California wines and vineyards. Just prior to going to California last year we read Jon Bonné’s book, The New California Wine: A Guide to the Producers and Wines behind a Revolution in Taste. Then during our winter stay in California we began using the book as a guide to purchase wines from producers described in the book and found them to be truly unconventional and memorable compared to traditional California wines. As a result the percent of California wine we review is getting larger and as predominately “Old World” wine drinkers, we were really happy to find these “less traditional” California wines.

At the end of each year there are always some wines that we remember as being exceptional out of the hundreds we have tasted and reviewed. These are the ones we call the best value wines of 2018 and the purpose for compiling the list is so you can be on the watch for them as you buy wine in 2019. Our year end review format for the best value wines of 2018 includes: 1. An alphabetical listing of the wines we thought were the best value for the price. Within that list we have identified what we thought were truly OUTSTANDING VALUE WINES or the Best-of-the-Best¹ (identified with bold type). It is from this list that we made the selection for THE BEST VALUE WINE OF 2018…Huber Gruner Veltliner 2017². 2. A second list includes wines we thought were truly memorable regardless of price; they are exceptional wines, but really don’t fit into everyone’s definition of “value wines”. Generally these tend to be the more expensive wines we reviewed and it is from this list we selected the single MOST MEMORABLE 2018 WINE…Thierry Germain Les Roches Saumur Champigny 2016³. In addition this year we also selected the MOST UNDERVALUED WINE IN THIS LIST…Chotard Sancerre 2016⁴. 3. Our pick for the single BEST VALUE LOCAL WINE we had in 2018…Hutton Vineyards Estate Cabernet Franc 2014⁵. [click to continue…]

Synopsis, Our Opinion: We called it an oxidized Chenin Blanc with great potential.

Producer/Winery: Mathieu Tijou; Chateau de l’Eperonniere; Rochefort Sur Loire, France.

Grape Variety: Chenin Blanc (Pineau de la Loire).

Geographic Appellation,, Region, Country: Savennières; Loire Valley, France.

Vintage: 2012

Price: $25.00 (with a 10% mixed case discount) [click to continue…]

Synopsis, Our Opinion: A unique and delicious Zinfandel.

Producer/Winery: Turley Wine Cellars; St. Helena, California.

Grape Variety: Zinfandel.

Geographic Appellation,, Region, Country: Sonoma Valley, California.

Vintage: 2016

Price: $42.00 (with a club discount) [click to continue…]

Synopsis, Our Opinion: GREAT Chardonnay at a good price.

Producer/Winery: Arnaud and David Lavantureux; Domaine Roland Lavantureux; Lignorelles, France.

Grape Variety: Chardonnay.

Geographic Appellation,, Region, Country: Chablis; Burgundy, France.

Vintage: 2015

Price: $31.50 (with a 10% mixed case discount) [click to continue…]