Happy Labrat Day!
A nice wine for the price, definitely worth $10, maybe up to 15. Similar to some of the woot cellars but not Pedroncelli. This is more of an earthy wine than a fruity one. Nice deep dark purple color, medium bodied, not much on the nose other than a faint berry aroma with some spices and alcohol. I donât taste much fruit at all, not at first anyway, but it did open up a little with time/air. This is pretty young still - not seeing many 2017 reds yet. So with some time to breathe in the glass I got generic dark fruit with kind of a brown sugar sweetness along with earthy baking spices. Doesnât feel too heavy and with light oak and no tannins this was pleasant to drink with food although I would have liked a little more acid. It did seem a little flabby and hollow in the middle but the finish was pretty good. Overall well made and good qpr, a perfect Monday night wine to have with light-medium dishes. When you donât want to overthink (or overspend) and just grab something you know will be consistent and better than anything you can buy in the store for $10. A lot of the stuff in the price range is just too fruity or sweet and very basic and this is better than that.
Lab Rat here, thank you very much Ariana.
Happy Labor Day everyone. I suspect traffic here will be light today due to the holiday.
Cute label, the diligent dog watching over the flock.
ColorâŠDark plum, ruby.
Aroma⊠Not much. The wife and I were hard pressed to detect anything smelling like fruit. The best we could come up with was mustyâŠbut musty in a good way. Reminded me of wet wine barrels, which is ok in my book. On day 2 we could pick up some blackberry with the must.
Taste⊠Dark fruit. Blackberry, plum and maybe some currant. Black cherries and pepper.
To me the wine is fairly well balanced with good mouth feel. Fruit forward with slight sweetness, although not a sweet wine. The finish has a spicy pepper feeling which we thought at first that maybe this was the alcohol. But the alcohol is not extremely high so, I donât know. We liked it.
I had meant to run this through the aerator, but totally forgot. However on day 2 this wine really mellowed out and became even better. The burn on the finish mellowed out as well. On day one we had it with spaghetti and day 2 cheese and crackers and grilled bratwurst. The wine pared well with both.
To quote aces219 in that Lab Report for the Davey BrownâŠâIâm so often drinking wine without paying a lot of attention these days, so I appreciate the opportunity to really stop and engage my senses.â âŠThat struck a chord with me and I ditto the remark.
At this QPR weâre in for a case.
Final note⊠there were crystals at the bottom of the bottle⊠I donât place much weight on legs, it had some.
Lab Rat number 3 here. Thanks Ariana & David! Sorry Iâm a little late to the party today. Hurricane prep had me running all over this weekend.
Letâs start with the presentation. I opened the box in front of my dog crazy wife whoâs first impression was an expected âAwwwweeee! I love it!â. She also appreciated the tribute on the rear label. We thought it fitting to invite our two dogs to the living room for the tasting event. They appeared to like the bottle as well, although theyâll look inquisitively at a rock if you hold it in front of them, so take that with a grain of salt.
Once opened the wine appears quite thin, yet pretty opaque. The color is a very deep ruby, with a purple hue. If I spilled any on my oxblood leather couch, you wouldnât likely notice. And I wouldnât be surprised if I did spill some with all the eccentric swirling that I was doing, trying to convince my audience that I know what Iâm doing.
The wine smells jammy (plums and dark red berries) and earthy. It smells hot and tingles the nose. I had to double check the alcohol content on the bottle. Was surprised to see that itâs a little less than 14%. I put a few drops in a pitcher and one dog backed up a few steps while the other stuck his whole head in the thing.
The wine tasted as it smelled. Jammy and with lots of alcohol. Very tart with an acidity that numbed my tongue. The aftertaste was hot and stemmy tannic with much of the moisture sucked from my mouth. I ran it through my vinturi a fair number of times and while it did lighten ever so slightly, it didnât change as much as I was expecting. Still tasted very young to me.
I then let it sit for a few hours and it did soften out considerably. The flavors rounded out and complemented one another rather than overpowering. If you plan on drinking this now I would definitely recommend a good long decant. There is a fair bit of complexity to this wine (especially for the price), so I would be interested to see what it could grow into down the road.
If you prefer oaky, leathery, or old world style wines this may not be for you. But if you like fruit forward wines that are peppery with ripe jammy berries then this is a great QPR wine to lay down or drink after a good decant. Oh and of course I did give a little taste to the dogs. The wheaten terrier gave it a confused head tilt, while the golden retriever (who looks quite a bit like Old Pearl here) gave it four paws up.
Disclaimer: No dogs were harmed in the ratting of this wine. That being said, do not give wine to dogs. It is very bad for them and can be harmful if swallowed. As graduates from the French Institute for Dog Sommeliers, my pups are exceptionally sophisticated and were trained to use little doggy spittoon at a young age.
Quick unofficial lab rat here - bought a bottle for about $15 during a Spring wine sale on an above mentioned site (part of a mixed case). Wouldnât normally go for a wine designated as âCaliforniaâ but we have a coon hound rescue dog called Pearl (Mae)! Anyway, popped the cork and decanted about 20 minutes before dinner. Dinner was Frito pie - a relatively fiery chili (made with left over brisket bbq) served on top of Fritos and topped with onion, cheddar and sour cream. This wasnât ideal due to the spiciness of the chili but the wine held up pretty well. Agree with the comments from the official rats - a little bit of must upfront with some jam/fruit/alcohol on the nose and palate. We (my wife and I) finished the bottle with dinner and agreed to invest in a case as it was a good QPR wine at under $8/bottle - will cellar some for a year or so, drink some as Monday night wines or as 2nd bottles enjoyed over a few nights. We enjoyed the Shannon Ridge High Elevation Zinfandel which was offered here in December - should have bought a case of that one as well!
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations)
2017 Old Pearl Cabernet Sauvignon - $25 = 20.83%
@chipgreen
Thatâs reaching Chip, a wine club selling this wine posting good reviews Not that iâm saying this wine is bad in any way, might be great.
Old Pearl is a collection of wines crafted in honor of our beloved dogs. While each of the dogs hold a special place in our lives, Pearl has truly become a part of our family. Keeping the sheep safe from predators, our livestock protection dogs have played an integral role in our sustainable farming practices. May you enjoy this wine with your family and alongside your best dog.
Bold flavors of blackberry and cherry, dried herbs and soft oak tannins envelope this wine. Will pair well with mild to moderate flavored cheese, peppery steaks or chops, and vegetables such as eggplant, zucchini, chard, and escarole.
âJust like Old Pearl, this wine is exuberant and approachable, but may bite in stressful circumstances.â - Joy Merrilees, Director of Winemaking and Production
Owner and visionary leader of Shannon Ridge Family of Wines, Clay Shannon has transformed his ranch into one of the agricultural icons of Californiaâs North Coast, and in doing so is changing the face and substance of grape-growing in the USA.
Clay grew up on a farm in Healdsburg in Sonoma County. He began his career as a vineyard manager in St. Helena, traveling the wine regions of California managing the companyâs vineyards. A short time later he started his own vineyard management company, growing grapes for some of the top wineries and fruit companies in Northern California.
In 1995, Clay discovered a magnificent piece of property in the hills overlooking Clear Lake in Lake County, thirty-five miles north of Napaâs famed vineyards. He quickly set out to develop vineyards, Clayâs vision was simple: âWe wanted to grow the best fruit in the world,â says Clay, âbut we wanted to do it in a way that made us happy living there.â
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, IL, IN, IA, KS, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OR, PA, RI, TX, VA, WA, WV, WI
Happy Labrat Day!
A nice wine for the price, definitely worth $10, maybe up to 15. Similar to some of the woot cellars but not Pedroncelli. This is more of an earthy wine than a fruity one. Nice deep dark purple color, medium bodied, not much on the nose other than a faint berry aroma with some spices and alcohol. I donât taste much fruit at all, not at first anyway, but it did open up a little with time/air. This is pretty young still - not seeing many 2017 reds yet. So with some time to breathe in the glass I got generic dark fruit with kind of a brown sugar sweetness along with earthy baking spices. Doesnât feel too heavy and with light oak and no tannins this was pleasant to drink with food although I would have liked a little more acid. It did seem a little flabby and hollow in the middle but the finish was pretty good. Overall well made and good qpr, a perfect Monday night wine to have with light-medium dishes. When you donât want to overthink (or overspend) and just grab something you know will be consistent and better than anything you can buy in the store for $10. A lot of the stuff in the price range is just too fruity or sweet and very basic and this is better than that.
@ilCesare
But some of the WC ~were~ Pedroncelli, and some of those WC were awesome.
Which side of the fence is this?
VAN GOGH! MANGO! TANGO! AWESOME!
@rjquillin Thatâs why I said not Pedroncelli. Like some of the other ones, I forget who made which but Three Wine or Castoro come to mind.
Lab Rat here, thank you very much Ariana.
Happy Labor Day everyone. I suspect traffic here will be light today due to the holiday.
Cute label, the diligent dog watching over the flock.
ColorâŠDark plum, ruby.
Aroma⊠Not much. The wife and I were hard pressed to detect anything smelling like fruit. The best we could come up with was mustyâŠbut musty in a good way. Reminded me of wet wine barrels, which is ok in my book. On day 2 we could pick up some blackberry with the must.
Taste⊠Dark fruit. Blackberry, plum and maybe some currant. Black cherries and pepper.
To me the wine is fairly well balanced with good mouth feel. Fruit forward with slight sweetness, although not a sweet wine. The finish has a spicy pepper feeling which we thought at first that maybe this was the alcohol. But the alcohol is not extremely high so, I donât know. We liked it.
I had meant to run this through the aerator, but totally forgot. However on day 2 this wine really mellowed out and became even better. The burn on the finish mellowed out as well. On day one we had it with spaghetti and day 2 cheese and crackers and grilled bratwurst. The wine pared well with both.
To quote aces219 in that Lab Report for the Davey BrownâŠâIâm so often drinking wine without paying a lot of attention these days, so I appreciate the opportunity to really stop and engage my senses.â âŠThat struck a chord with me and I ditto the remark.
At this QPR weâre in for a case.
Final note⊠there were crystals at the bottom of the bottle⊠I donât place much weight on legs, it had some.
Lab Rat number 3 here. Thanks Ariana & David! Sorry Iâm a little late to the party today. Hurricane prep had me running all over this weekend.
Letâs start with the presentation. I opened the box in front of my dog crazy wife whoâs first impression was an expected âAwwwweeee! I love it!â. She also appreciated the tribute on the rear label. We thought it fitting to invite our two dogs to the living room for the tasting event. They appeared to like the bottle as well, although theyâll look inquisitively at a rock if you hold it in front of them, so take that with a grain of salt.
Once opened the wine appears quite thin, yet pretty opaque. The color is a very deep ruby, with a purple hue. If I spilled any on my oxblood leather couch, you wouldnât likely notice. And I wouldnât be surprised if I did spill some with all the eccentric swirling that I was doing, trying to convince my audience that I know what Iâm doing.
The wine smells jammy (plums and dark red berries) and earthy. It smells hot and tingles the nose. I had to double check the alcohol content on the bottle. Was surprised to see that itâs a little less than 14%. I put a few drops in a pitcher and one dog backed up a few steps while the other stuck his whole head in the thing.
The wine tasted as it smelled. Jammy and with lots of alcohol. Very tart with an acidity that numbed my tongue. The aftertaste was hot and stemmy tannic with much of the moisture sucked from my mouth. I ran it through my vinturi a fair number of times and while it did lighten ever so slightly, it didnât change as much as I was expecting. Still tasted very young to me.
I then let it sit for a few hours and it did soften out considerably. The flavors rounded out and complemented one another rather than overpowering. If you plan on drinking this now I would definitely recommend a good long decant. There is a fair bit of complexity to this wine (especially for the price), so I would be interested to see what it could grow into down the road.
If you prefer oaky, leathery, or old world style wines this may not be for you. But if you like fruit forward wines that are peppery with ripe jammy berries then this is a great QPR wine to lay down or drink after a good decant. Oh and of course I did give a little taste to the dogs. The wheaten terrier gave it a confused head tilt, while the golden retriever (who looks quite a bit like Old Pearl here) gave it four paws up.
Disclaimer: No dogs were harmed in the ratting of this wine. That being said, do not give wine to dogs. It is very bad for them and can be harmful if swallowed. As graduates from the French Institute for Dog Sommeliers, my pups are exceptionally sophisticated and were trained to use little doggy spittoon at a young age.
@char2na Liked: âmy pups are exceptionally sophisticated and were trained to use little doggy spittoon at a young age.â
Quick unofficial lab rat here - bought a bottle for about $15 during a Spring wine sale on an above mentioned site (part of a mixed case). Wouldnât normally go for a wine designated as âCaliforniaâ but we have a coon hound rescue dog called Pearl (Mae)! Anyway, popped the cork and decanted about 20 minutes before dinner. Dinner was Frito pie - a relatively fiery chili (made with left over brisket bbq) served on top of Fritos and topped with onion, cheddar and sour cream. This wasnât ideal due to the spiciness of the chili but the wine held up pretty well. Agree with the comments from the official rats - a little bit of must upfront with some jam/fruit/alcohol on the nose and palate. We (my wife and I) finished the bottle with dinner and agreed to invest in a case as it was a good QPR wine at under $8/bottle - will cellar some for a year or so, drink some as Monday night wines or as 2nd bottles enjoyed over a few nights. We enjoyed the Shannon Ridge High Elevation Zinfandel which was offered here in December - should have bought a case of that one as well!
Wonder how this compares to the Shannon Ridge Urgency 2016 Cab (previously sold here)? I like the Urgency cab, which also had a good QPR.
@TimW @ShannonRidge are you here to comment?
Old Pearl Cabernet Sauvignon
6 bottles for $59.99 $10/bottle + $1.33/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $94.99 $7.92/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
2017 Old Pearl Cabernet Sauvignon
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations)
2017 Old Pearl Cabernet Sauvignon - $25 = 20.83%
Some favorable reviews on the California Wine Club site.
@chipgreen
Thatâs reaching Chip, a wine club selling this wine posting good reviews Not that iâm saying this wine is bad in any way, might be great.
@ScottW58
Presumably the reviews are from customers of said wine club but I canât disagree with your comment.
Tasting Notes
Old Pearl is a collection of wines crafted in honor of our beloved dogs. While each of the dogs hold a special place in our lives, Pearl has truly become a part of our family. Keeping the sheep safe from predators, our livestock protection dogs have played an integral role in our sustainable farming practices. May you enjoy this wine with your family and alongside your best dog.
Bold flavors of blackberry and cherry, dried herbs and soft oak tannins envelope this wine. Will pair well with mild to moderate flavored cheese, peppery steaks or chops, and vegetables such as eggplant, zucchini, chard, and escarole.
âJust like Old Pearl, this wine is exuberant and approachable, but may bite in stressful circumstances.â - Joy Merrilees, Director of Winemaking and Production
Specifications
Included In The Box
Price Comparison
$280.50/case at Shannon Ridge (including shipping)
About The Winery
Winery: Shannon Ridge Winery
Owner: Clay Shannon
Location: Lake County, CA
Owner and visionary leader of Shannon Ridge Family of Wines, Clay Shannon has transformed his ranch into one of the agricultural icons of Californiaâs North Coast, and in doing so is changing the face and substance of grape-growing in the USA.
Clay grew up on a farm in Healdsburg in Sonoma County. He began his career as a vineyard manager in St. Helena, traveling the wine regions of California managing the companyâs vineyards. A short time later he started his own vineyard management company, growing grapes for some of the top wineries and fruit companies in Northern California.
In 1995, Clay discovered a magnificent piece of property in the hills overlooking Clear Lake in Lake County, thirty-five miles north of Napaâs famed vineyards. He quickly set out to develop vineyards, Clayâs vision was simple: âWe wanted to grow the best fruit in the world,â says Clay, âbut we wanted to do it in a way that made us happy living there.â
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, IL, IN, IA, KS, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OR, PA, RI, TX, VA, WA, WV, WI
Estimated Delivery
Thursday, September 26th - Monday, September 30th
Southern California folks! Reminder that weâre gathering at our place in West LA this Saturday evening. Check in on the gathering thread