Clos Du Bois Merlot

2006
North Coast
California

It's been awhile. This wasn't my first choice for a review following such a long absence. However, it is what it is. For the price, I expected more. It's a good wine, just didn't knock my socks off. Not a lot of big flavor. Smooth with some subtle berry and oak, but not enough wham to catch my attention. About the same with food. However, I didn't have it with red meat as suggested. I had it with grilled chicken. The Guy really liked it. A lot more than I did.

I am forever looking for a repeat of the year 1993 and it just never happens. Interestingly metaphoric.


Oh the rain is falling (blow blow down)
And the wild wind roars (blow blow down)
It'll shake your windows (blow blow down)
And rattle your doors (blow blow down)
Ah blow down this house of cards
Blow down this house of cards

(Written by Richard Thompson, sung by Robert Plant and Patty Griffin)


7.5 out of 10
$18 / 750 ml. bottle
13.5% alc. by vol

Clos Du Bois Chardonnay 2007

2007
North Coast
California

This is just a brief comment on trying the 2007, thinking it was the 2006. The Guy brought this home last week to please me following a week of no wine. While I normally prefer "new" wines to review, I was so happy that it was my old standby (or so I thought). I tasted it and, though it was good, it was different and not as "minerally" or finish-lasting as my norm. So I quizically studied the label. It was 2007 in lieu of 2006. I was pretty thrilled to realize I can tell the difference a year makes! Anyway, still a good wine, but I will pay more for the 2006 flavor.

And you read your Emily Dickinson,
And I my Robert Frost,
And we note our place with bookmarkers
That measure what weve lost.
Like a poem poorly written
We are verses out of rhythm,
Couplets out of rhyme,
In syncopated time
Lost in the dangling conversation
And the superficial sighs,
Are the borders of our lives.

Simon & Garfunkel, Dangling Conversations

7.75 out of 10
$22 / 1.5 L bottle
http://closdubois.com/

Clos Du Bois Sauvignon Blanc

2006
North Coast
California

(Please note - the two photos here are of La Segreta - the wine I had recently at a restaurant that I liked. The Guy ordered it from one wine shop, and I ordered it from another. Both came in today. It was a wonderful accompaniment to grilled chicken, creamy parmesean risotto, and buttery spinach.)

A very bad photo of the Clos Du Bois exists below - venture forth if you will. :)

Matt & Corrine - Thank you for your comment - I have responded if you check back to your Renwood note. Thank you again, for stopping by and for giving me incentive to give it a go one more time.

Onto the Clos Du Bois review:

Will drink again - with seafood next time.

The Guy, with the best of intentions I'm sure, thought he'd bring me home my favorite summertime staple: Clos Du Bois . . . Chardonnay. He brought home a BIG bottle of the Sauvignon Blanc instead. I actually had not had it before - because I am not particularly fond of Sauvignon Blanc as I don't like a zip to my wine - I like it more heavy bodied and smooth. Anyway, I "suffered" through a couple of glasses and actually found I enjoyed the flavor. It was good with a simple grilled chicken Caesar Salad. A bit citrusy with melon, it had a slight woodsy finish that I liked.

The next evening, in the sweltering heat of my Cape's upstairs, after struggling to put in air conditioners, I poured myself a glass in my newly cleaned bedroom, plucked myself in front of the air conditioner in my great, great grandmother's mahogany rocker, and turned on Rock Hudson and Doris Day in the 1961 classic Lover Come Back (that's Rock up there on the screen in my blurred photo, along with a ripped wine label) and sipped in comfort and pleasantry.




Falling forward, her head splits
Too much of herself shown
Warrior princess turned feeble-minded waif
Tumbling forward into the unknown

Unaccepted the way she really is
Held in high regard for something she's not
The words hurt her eyes
His disappointment echoing like a gun shot

No wind can blow the sound away
Nor reverse the hole
The residual frustration
Now burns her soul


7.75 out of 10
13.5% alc. by vol.
$23 / 1.5 L
closdubois.com

Clos du Bois Zinfandel 2004

Clos du Bois
2004 Zinfandel
North Coast

Geyersville, CA
closdubois.com
$11.99 / bottle

Rating: Would most likely drink again with the right cuisine.
7 out of 10 (I hate my weak rating system but it's quick and best for now though I'm consuming way too many 7's)

Not bad on its own, just doesn't knock my socks off either though. A little on the dryer and bitter side for me, slightly more pepper yet enough fruit to make me take another sip. This wine would probably taste great with the right food pairing - the bottle recommends an Italian Sausage or Grilled Lamb Chop pairing (neither of which are currently part of my diet).


*California Wine Fact: Early California winemakers sent their children to study oenology at Geisenheim (Germany) or Bordeaux (France). Today, many European winemakers send their children to the University of California at Davis and to Fresno State University.

*(Taken from Kevin Zraly's "Windows On The World Complete Wine Course")

From the Clos du Bois website on their Zindfandel:

Zinfandel at its best is full-bodied and brimming with ripe raspberry and blackberry flavors, followed by a long, peppery finish. Fantastic with all sorts of foods - red-sauced pasta, roasted meats or pizza. Look for blackberry, raspberry, jam, black pepper, cherries, plum with notes of nutmeg, smoke, black tea and cloves.

[The Guy's Take]

I rate the Clos du Bois higher usually because it's the type of wine I enjoy either in a glass by itself for sipping on the porch or with a meal.

For this one I'm inclined to give it 8 out of 10

The legs on the Zin were a lot better than some of the other wine we've been trying.