Like a Rolling Stone
Friday, January 8, 2010 by Michal The Joggler Kapral
Storied California winery, Beringer, has released its latest line of Stone Cellars vintages. These easy-drinking, flavorful wines fall in the everyday drinking category – the kind of wine you might buy by the case and drink during the week. Yesterday, I wrote about cellaring, but forget about that for these – drink ‘em now.
The Beringer Stone Cellars Chardonnay 2008 (about $11 US, $13 Cdn) gives off apple, pear and floral aromas and exhibits crisp flavors of tart apple and lime zest. I would almost have trouble guessing that this was a Chardonnay but for the vanilla undertones. The winery actually calls this one “quaffabile” in its own description. I have to agree.
Quaffability Rating: 88
In the same vein as the Chardonnay, the Beringer Stone Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 (about $12 US, $14 Cdn) has all the characteristics that would appeal to the casual wine drinker, and perhaps more importantly, there's nothing off-putting about it that would turn off the casual wine drinker. It could be faulted for being a little generic, but hey, the whole point of this line is to produce approachable wines, and in that regard Beringer gets it spot on. This Cabernet is light-to medium-bodied with a dark cherry juice-like color and aromas of sweet berries and plum. On the palette, it’s slightly sweet and tart, but smooth as silk. The perfect bottle to fill in the gaps between more complex tastings.
Quaffability Rating: 87
The Beringer Stone Cellars Chardonnay 2008 (about $11 US, $13 Cdn) gives off apple, pear and floral aromas and exhibits crisp flavors of tart apple and lime zest. I would almost have trouble guessing that this was a Chardonnay but for the vanilla undertones. The winery actually calls this one “quaffabile” in its own description. I have to agree.
Quaffability Rating: 88
In the same vein as the Chardonnay, the Beringer Stone Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 (about $12 US, $14 Cdn) has all the characteristics that would appeal to the casual wine drinker, and perhaps more importantly, there's nothing off-putting about it that would turn off the casual wine drinker. It could be faulted for being a little generic, but hey, the whole point of this line is to produce approachable wines, and in that regard Beringer gets it spot on. This Cabernet is light-to medium-bodied with a dark cherry juice-like color and aromas of sweet berries and plum. On the palette, it’s slightly sweet and tart, but smooth as silk. The perfect bottle to fill in the gaps between more complex tastings.
Quaffability Rating: 87
Labels: Beringer, easy-drinking wine
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Michal Kapral has been enjoying wine at home since way before he was of legal age. The editor-in-chief of Canadian Running magazine runs marathons to burn off all the calories he consumes on wine and cheese. Kapral spent some time living in Italy as a teenager, solidifying his appreciation for all things wine-related. In his days as a journalism student, he was likely one of the youngest – and poorest – subscribers to Wine Spectator magazine. In 1999, Kapral turned down a job at a winery to work at Captivate, where he spent 11 years as a news editor.