William Hill Cabernet Sauvignon

I know I am guilty of this...


FAIL.

Picture it: You go to a restauant, and order a glass of the house red with your dinner. It's (surprisingly) freaking delicious. You rave about it alllll night, and continuously exclaim that you WILL buy this wine next time you're at the store. Then, a few weeks later when you've forgotten the varietal, name of the winery, and design on the label, you wander around your local wine store, assaulting the assocites with your pleas to help you figure out what that one wine you had at that restaurant was, only able to provide them with the following description: "it was red, and had a goat on the label. Or a chicken. Or a bear. Or some kind of flower. It was a red wine with something on the label."

Guess what you probably don't walk out of that store with.

Well, if this sounds familiar to you, there is a good possibility that the wine in question was William Hill Cabernet. Popular in local restaurants, this wine was MADE for a good meal. With an earthy scent and deep red color, you're mouth is going to be watering before you even take a sip.

WH Cab is quite dry, and maybe it's just me, but William Hill Cabernet reminded me a little of drinking a Chainti-- a hearty (read: STRONG) wine to wash down your dinner with. The sip was tannic and herb-y, with hints of dark fruit (think blueberry) and spice (the pumpkin pie kind, not pepper).



Ok, this is just chicken stew, but for the
purposes of this review, let's pretend it's
game meat. YUM.

William Hill Cabernet was a welcome partner to my lasagna, but would also pair nicely with pesto, game meats (venison stew, perhaps), or red-sauced pasta of any kind. It's not great as a sipper, though. I found that when unoccompained I did not want to finish my glass.


Price: $$

My Rating: B+

MacMurray Pinot Noir 2009

Wow, it's Tuesday already. The past few weeks have felt like minutes...you know, the kind of minutes that drag on forever and ever...okay, let me rephrase: the past few weeks have felt like minutes that feel like weeks. I don't know how else to explain it. Looking back it's like a blur of "meh" stippled with some of what makes life great. In between the mundane in and outs of everyday life I've gotten to play some good music, spend time with good friends and (as always) drink some good wine.

This week was a throwback to one of my standbys: MacMurray Pinot Noir. This wine is seriously good. It embodies all of what I love about reds. It's dry yet fruity, rich and soft (like a mouth full of satin, which, by the by, I do not recommend tasting for comparison), a little bit spicy and great with food.

a little on the dark side... sooo many
reasons why this image is funny...

Unlike many Pinots, which can be bright and nearly translucent in color, the MacMurray Pinot is a little on the dark side. If you're familiar with wine, you might notice a distinctly Zin scent when you smell it. Myself being a fan of Zinfandel, this just adds to the appeal.

A lesser Pinot can be watery and taste mostly like spice. Pepper in particular. This one's more layered, with a punch of dark fruit and vanilla and some of the sweeter spices-- like the kind you'd put in an apple pie (note to self: make an apple pie). Reading some online reviews, others have detected cola, smoke and crushed rocks. Yeah, I don't get that last one.

I paired the MacMurray Pinot Noir with chicken tikka masala and garlic naan from my favorite Indian restaurant. While probably not an ideal match, I won't tell you that it wasn't delicious. Really, the MacMurray Pinot Noir is, in what has become a catch phrase for me, a "Raisin Bran" wine: it tastes good with pretty much anything. Enjoy it folks; this one is as good as they get.


Price: $$

My Rating: A