A Toast to the New Year

Shane’s Notes

Given the state of the economy, we have definitely reduced our wine budget and redoubled our efforts to find some bargains. We even decided to take a gamble on a Croatian wine – the 2006 Plavac from the Dingac Winery for $12. The Dingac winery certainly needs a new marketing department as the label merely states “Quality Dry Red Wine.” The Plavac varietal is supposedly related to Zinfandel, but to our palate, it tasted more like a light Beaujolais. The palate showed sour cherry and florals. This was a very pleasing (and quite unique) wine that we really enjoyed.

A few nights later, we tried another very interesting wine – a 2007 Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc/Viognier blend for $11.00. We have tasted at the Pine Ridge winery but it was a reds only tasting. The reds were fantastic, so we thought we’d give one of their whites a taste. This wine was refreshing and quite a bargain. The palate showed melon and grapefruit and was very clean and refreshing. We will definitely look for this one again.