Red and White House Wines, July 17, 2008

Our July tasting of red and white house wines provided some surprises, with some sub-$15 wines showing extremely well. The standouts in the red flight were the 2006 Hahn Meritage, the 2005 R Wines Boarding Pass Shiraz (Australia) and the 2005 Columbia Crest Grand Estates cabernet sauvignon (Washington state), which finished 1-2-3. The Boarding Pass shiraz was a little controversial (you either loved it or not) - it got five first-place votes and no others.

The winner in the white flight was the 2006 Meridian Santa Barbara County chardonnay, followed by the 2005 Belvedere Russian River Valley chardonnay. The complete results are listed below.

July 17, 2008 - House Red Wines (<$15)
1. 2006 Hahn, Meritage (3 firsts, 2 seconds, 1 third, 1 fourth, 21 points)
2. 2005 R Wines, Boarding Pass, Shiraz (Australia) (5/0/0/0, 20 points)
3. 2005 Columbia Crest, Grand Estates, Cabernet Sauvignon (Washington State) (0/4/2/3, 19 points)
4. 2004 Souverain, Cabernet Sauvignon (1/3/0/2, 15 points)
5. 2007 Root:1, Cabernet Sauvignon (Chile) (1/1/1/1, 10 points)
6. 2005 Huntington, Petite Sirah (0/0/2/1, 5 points)
7. 2004 Legaris, Crianza (Spain) (0/0/1/1, 3 points)
8. Tie (0/0/1/0, 2 points):
2005 Albane & Bertrand Minchin, Le Clos Delorme, Valençay, Loire Valley
2005 Ch. Caronne Ste. Gemme, Haut-Médoc
2004 Sly Dog, Lake County, Cabernet Sauvignon
11.2004 Napa River, Merlot (0/0/0/1, 1 point)


July 17, 2008 - House White Wines (<$15)
1. 2006 Meridian, Santa Barbara County, Chardonnay (2 firsts, 4 seconds, 1 third, 1 fourth, 23 points)
2. 2005 Belvedere, Russian River Valley, Chardonnay (2/2/1/0, 16 points)
3. 2006 Rod Strong, Chalk Hill, Chardonnay (1/1/3/1, 14 points)
4. 2006 Block 50, Chardonnay (New South Wales) (2/0/0/2, 10 points)
5. 2005 Angeline, Mendocino, Gewurztraminer (2/0/0/1, 9 points)
6. 2006 Beringer, Alluvium Blanc (0/1/3/0, 9 points)
7. 2007 Kim Crawford, Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough) (1/0/2/0, 8 points)
8. 2005 Toasted Head, Chardonnay (0/1/0/3, 6 points)