Wine: Club W Shipment - Brethren Syrah and Oliver Row Cabernet Franc

I must say that I am pretty disappointed with these two wines, which is why they are sharing a blog post instead of getting a singular one for each.

I will say the the Brethren of the Road Syrah was ridiculously disappointing and possibly the worst red I have had in a long time if not ever. It's initial palate and aftertaste was an alcohol fumed red - dry and akin to rubbing alcohol. As I said before I was not impressed. The Hubs, who loves Syrahs, spit his back into his cup and blankly told me he would not drink it.

Club W Describes this wine as "Berry Tart". I disagree. "Berry Tart" would have provided a flavor notes at the very least.

The Cabernet Franc was marginally better.  If anything it was unimpressive in the sense that it was similar to a table red - a 5$  table red, so this would be over priced at 13$ a bottle. There were no tasting notes that struck my palate - this is something I look for in every wine I drink and is part of my wine consumption experience.

There were no notes that struck my palate or made this wine remarkable in any sense. It's quite disappointing to have one wine, out of the three, be a worthy wine (see Cosmopolitan Sauvignon Blanc).

I have one more Club W Shipment coming in a few days and I am hoping that this one is more impressive (mostly because their newsletter caught my eye with an illusive Cinsault - not a varietal massively produced here in the US).

Believe me, I will let you know. But at this rate I think it's more important to support wineries directly. Go wine tasting. Find a winery you like and sign up for the wine club. Tasting wines before you buy them is a safer way to guarantee you will enjoy the wine experience.

Winery: Nimble Hill Vineyards & Winery

Nimble Hill is a winery located in my Husband's home town. It's a Pennsylvania winery, with a hardy selection of wines to sample. A few months back, you may recall seeing the Nimble Hill Niagara post: well we got to go to the brick and mortar store and sample some of the action!


I started with the 2010 Reserve Gewurtztraminer. This was a mellow wine with soft rose petal notes, lychee and apples. Sweet and refreshing.

From there I sampled the 2011 Dry Rosé of Cabernet Franc. I love Cab francs. Love them. So I was excited to try the rosé which held its own nicely. Typical rose notes but slightly dry. Warming to the throat. Crisp rose finish. Very much a summer wine.

2010 Cabernet Franc was so, so good. It had notes of cranberries and currants, with a rich velvety mouthfeel but not too dry. Mellow table wine, good with food or just to sip.

There were many sweet wines, and all were equally good and special:

Mountain Red - I likened this to be the east coast response to Quady's Purple. Jam aroma/ nose. Strong concord grape flavor that fills your mouth. Adult grape juice, at it's finest.


Harvest Moon - "Hot Tub" wine, sweet like a moscato, with notes of pineapple and strawberry. Easy drinking, Saturday afternoon wine. Or, you know, in your hot tub. Duh.

Mango Slide- white wine enhanced with mango and peach flavors; this baby packs a mouthful of deliciousity. Mango, peach, apricot, and pineapple notes bombard your senses and take you on a magical ride. Where? To summer time.

We finished with their fortified desert wine, the Mountain Magic - "Pennsylvania Port". Oh.my.GAWD. If you don't like port give this one a chance; it is not a heavy syrupy consistency like most ports. It has a syrup and boysenberry nose, but the sweetness of raisins. The brandy in this wine is fortified with Sunmade Raisins (oh hello there west coast friends!) and is mighty, mighty smooth. A warm fall wine, easy to drink by itself, or with chocolate [duh].

Get your hands in this puppy this fall/winter, maybe with a bottle of Quady's Sweet Vya, and you will definitely be feeling pretty chill after a day of skiing. Or hiking. Or you know, raking leaves.

I adore Nimble Hill, and look forward to visiting on other trips back home to PA.

Cheers!