Blogiversary - The Bottom Twelve

Here is a list of the twelve worst wines we have blogged over the year (we have included the title of the original review and the date the review was posted). We tried to limit our choices to wines with serious flaws. We practically spit out an Oloroso Sherry that we tasted but left it off the list because we just don’t like Olorosos. We also left a few bad wines off the list because we think the bottles were ruined.

We were initially stunned to discover that eleven of the twelve wines are from California. Is California crafting the worst wines in the world? Absolutely not. Because we live in California, we are exposed to all California wines. Most of the plonk produced in other countries never reaches our markets. Additionally, we take frequent tasting trips to Napa and Sonoma and try a lot wines just for fun. Half of the wines on this list come from those tasting trips. Normally, we research our purchases very carefully.

Five of the wines (Rosenblum, J. Lohr, Freemark, Miner and Darioush) had the same problem: absolutely no flavor. These wines had bland, generic palates – you wouldn’t even be able to guess the varietal in a blind taste. I was really disappointed with the Freemark, because I usually like their wines. The Prager wines were all very vegetal (underripe grapes) while the Goldeneye was massively overripe. The Taylor Fladgate tasted like cough syrup and words can’t even begin to describe how bad the Trentadue and the Wattle Creek wines were – the flaws must be numerous. Bonny Doon’s Ruche tasted like gasoline mixed with kerosene and never should have been released. I can’t remember too much about the Diamond Series Pinot except that it was horrible – I tasted it at a wine festival and was a little tipsy, but I stand by my opinion.

$7.98, Rosenblum Vintners Cuvee XXVII Zinfandel
The Giants get Pummelled (16-4), 7/26/05

$11.99, 2002 J. Lohr Cabernet Sauvignon
Blinders On, 3/29/05

$12.00 Trentadue Grand Cuvee Sparkling Wine
Four Wineries and a Detour, 9/20/05

$15.00, 2004 Sauvignon Blanc Wattle creek
Subplonk, 10/11/05

$17.00, 2003 Diamond Series Pinot Noir, Niebaum Coppola Winery
Monterey Wine Festival 5/9/05

$19.99, 2001 Ruche
Tasting at Bonny Doon, 5/25/05

$21.99, 2001 Aia, Napa Valley (Miner Family Vineyards)
The Goddess of Plonk?, 1/13/06

$21.99, 1999 Taylor Fladgate LBVFebruary 19 and 20, 2005

$35.00, Freemark Abbey 2001 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
Lake Tahoe, 8/20/05

$49.99, 2002 Goldeneye Anderson Valley Pinot NoirA Pinot and a Rhone, 3/14/05

$50 - $65, Prager Port Works – This is from our first blog entry so we didn’t take down the names of the wines. However, their so called ports are made from non port varietals like Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay and all were atrocious.

$68 – Darioush, 2002 Signature Cabernet Sauvignon
Another Napa Trip, 11/22/05