2010 Cocobon California Red Wine

December 15, 2011

Matt $5-$9 Price Point, 2010, California, Cocobon, Red Wine, Trader Joe's Exclusive 28 Comments

NOTE FROM AUTHOR: Wow, time to get back in the saddle. I’ve been on hiatus for all but the very best of reasons – wine. It’s nice approaching my TJs Wine Blog with the new ocean of information, perspective, wine production and palate experience. My site will still strive to locate diamonds in the rough and troughs to avoid. All posts are my opinion, but as always, your participation in the comments is what makes this site more interesting for all. -Matt

 The Wine: The one wine which has generated the most visits to my site has been my review of the 2009 Cocobon. People love this wine. I’m excited for my return post to be about this wine, the 2010 vintage.

2010 Cocobon California Red Wine

Red Wine blends are awesome. Perfect outlet for bulk table wine and rich wine crafting palate for talented wine makers to create immensely complex interesting boutique wines. Occupying the $8 price point and California appellation, this is bulk red wine production. The 2009 was mainly Zinfandel with some Cab Franc, Merlot, Petite Sirah, etc. I imagine this is almost no different. So how is it?

The Experience:

Color: Garnet violet center, rhubarb edges, fairly deep yet translucent.

Nose: Lots and lots of dark berries, vanilla, woody – still very young.

Palate: Mega fruit forward all the way through from start to finish. Lightly tannic/woody mid-palate. Has a noticeable slate/stony character. But the finish is very similar to that of cherry cola – sweet.

Bottom Line: Next-Wine-Please/Worth-A-Buy
This wine is not my style – sweet, when I prefer dry and more structure in red wine. If you are looking for a Tuesday night dinner wine? Here ya go. It would go well with any spicy food or something from the grill. If you are looking for a wine to serve at a holiday party, here’s a perfect crowd pleaser for a general wine drinking audience or would make some awesome Glühwein – German mulled wine (A personal favorite of mine after living in Germany for sevearl years.)

Looking forward to your thoughts on this best selling wine!

-Matt 

Cocobon 2009 California Red Wine

January 2, 2011

Matt $5-$9 Price Point, 2009, California, Cocobon, Red Wine, Trader Joe's Exclusive, Worth-Buying 50 Comments

In my last few posts I’ve shown some pricer wines.  That was a reflection of the holiday season and those being my most recent tastings.  This post is much more grounded in the kind of wine we are seeking on a daily basis – affordable and often red wine.

The Wine: Meet Cocobon($7). Red wines are a good outlet for extra juice from a variety of red grapes but don’t think red wine is only ‘left over’  juice.  Some wineries focus on making red wines and the results can be very impressive.  This puts us the consumer in a good position with a little bit of research to locate both affordable and exceptional red wine blends.  This is a generic ‘California’ Red Wine, meaning its juice comes a variety of appellations across the state.  Zinfandel is the most dominant grape comprising 61% of the blend and 4% Petite Sirah on the low end.

The Experience: This wine was featured at our holiday party/wine tasting.  It was the first wine we tasted, so we all had fresh palates.  Universally this wine was well  received  as an everyday wine.  There were no complaints or negative remarks.  On the nose I was picking up sweet red fruit and a hint of mango.  The wine is 13.9% alcohol, so your first impressions will be with a sweeter wine and won’t find much heat from alcohol or much in the way of tannins.  Oak and vanilla are very apparent from the first sip followed by darker berry notes showing themselves.  Although Zinfandel makes of the largest part of the blend, the 12% Merlot seems to best describe this wine.  It’s the bottle you open on a Tuesday to go with your pasta dinner.  Nothing special.  Nor will you feel gipped on your $7 investment.

The Bottom Line: Worth-A-Buy: This wine is a definite table wine which will draw nice praise from an average wine drinker.  For the tpyical consumer looking for a typical bottle of wine, this bottle’s for you.  Worth a buy.

Question: Are your daily drinkers always the same or do you choose different wines?

Wine Dork Info:

  • Grape Varietals: 61% Zinfandel, 17% Cabernet Franc, 12% Merlot, 6% Petite Verdot, 4% Petite Sirah
  • Alcohol: 13.9%
  • Barrel Aging: Six months American oak
  • Fermentation: cold, 100% malolactic.
  • pH: 3.52
  • Tantic Acid: 5.7 g/L
  • SO2: 77 ppm
  • Residual Sugar: 12 g/L

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 209 other followers