12/28/2018 - So glad I was able to try this again.  A friend offered it up and I jumped at the chance to try a clean bottle.  The cork was clean to the top with just a bit of red stain on the bottle of the cork.  Purple in color.  The nose has nice cassis and a fair amount of oak showing itself as spice and cedar.  On the palate, this is clean with a nice full texture.  Cassis fruit with some lumber and some cedar.  There is a nice depth here.  Firm tannins.  Long finish.  It needs a couple of years in a good cellar to come together.  Requires big bold food right now.  Cellaring for five ye

A Port styled wine made from a blend but mostly Merlot.  Purple in color.  The nose has cherry liqueur, chocolate and slight raisin.  Full bodied.  Slightly sweet.  Raisins, chocolate and cherries.  Relatively simple and not a lot of depth.  Worked well as a desert wine and would match a more savory dessert.  

This is made from 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Petit Verdot and the rest Merlot and Malbec.  Insignia is one of the First Growth wines of California.  Its great just about every vintage and has been for decades.  This one is no exception.  Inky purple.  The nose has cassis, graphite, blueberries, leather and cigar box.  On the palate, this is still young.  Medium tannins.  Great balance.  Lots of cassis and some blueberries with underlying damp forest floor.  Long finish.  Delicious.  Will work great with heartier foods and certainly with meat dishes.  The price on these is up to around $250

One of the better Shiraz out there.  At 12 years from vintage, this was in a beautiful place.  It is still youthful and will easily go another decade or more.  Inky purple in color. The nose has black raspberries, iodine, black pepper, violets and slight grilled meats. On the palate, this has a lovely texture; glycerin and full bodied but with good acidity that cuts through.  Lots of black raspberry fruit, light tannins and underlying minerality.  Worked well with food.  Nice finish.  Proof that at least some of the huge Shiraz bombs will stand the test of time.  

This is a blend of 97.5% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2.5% Petit Verdot from Heidi Barrett.  Purple in color, ruby at the rim.  The nose has cassis, slight smoke, bell pepper and tobacco.  On the palate, this is nice and everything is in proportion.  Not a lot of depth.  Tannins mostly resolved.  Worked well with vegetarian stuffed mushrooms.  A fine wine but its price tag on release was $250.  Granted 2011 was a difficult vintage, but that is a lot of money for this wine. 

Purple/ruby in color, ruby at the rim.  The nose has black cherries with slight sour cherries and sandalwood.  On the palate, this is a big Pinot on Oregon standards.  Sour cherries, some underlying char.  Full bodied.  Slight tannins.  This should work well with medium bodied and heavier foods.  Think Salmon, game, etc.  Screw capped.  It is still young and should improve a bit.  Drink over the next ten years.  

Sadly, this bottle did not hold up.  At 34 years from vintage, it would have been nice, but the odds were against it.  The bottle was oxidized.  Likely culprit, was cork failure.  

Treasure Hunter wines have made a nice name for themselves buying excess juice that was not wanted and repackaging it and selling it at a lower price.  Some offerings are, of course, better than others.  This one is quite good.  It retails for around $20 which is an excellent value for a quality Washington sate Cabernet.  Purple in color.  The nose has nice cassis with leather and some cedar spice.  On the palate, this has nice Cassis fruit.  Some underlying spice.  Medium tannins.  Good finish.  Will work with heartier foods.  Very solid and actually, better than just solid.  

This is an inexpensive Spanish Garnacha (Grenache) from Spain.  Ruby/purple in color.  The nose has dusty black cherries.  Sweet and slightly candied on the palate with black cherry fruit as well.  Clean.  This sells for around $20.  It will work with heartier foods.  This should be consumed in the next few years.  A fun wine that should be a hit among non-wine geeks.  

A blend of  Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, and Touriga Franca. This is an easy drinking red from Portugal.  It retails for around $10.  Ruby in color.  The nose is a bit dusty with candied cherries.  On the palate, this is sweet, jammy and candied.  This retails for around $10, so its fine, but this is a wine, for casual wine lovers.  It's not meant to be cellared or contemplative.