Three recent drinks

Clos du Val 2004 Merlot:

Initial thoughts are I like it more than their cabernet. Getting cherries with some oak, maybe a bit of strawberries on the nose. Decent mid-palate, nice and dry on the finish, which hangs around for a little while. It's nice enough, but at ~$26 I just don't know. I've had other wines in the same price range that have impressed me more.


Desert Wind Ruah 2005:

I had this at a family birthday and it was quite popular. A blend of cab, merlot and cab franc it drinks nice and smooth and has a good finish. At ~$12 it's a great buy and widely available. It's also the second year in a row that this wine has garnered a 90 pt rating from Wine Spectator. I'm thinking about picking up a case...you should too at this price.

Nippozano Chianti Rufina 2003:

Picked this up on the discontinued wine rack for half price ($12) and also had it at the family birthday (we went through about 7 bottles that night...). It had that nice strong cherry Chianti characteristic with good acidity (went well with the spaghetti). It's definitely the time to be drinking up this 2003 but it was a nice accompaniment to the Italian food.