Vino Keeno, The Grapevine for the Recreational Wino

2004 Hahn Estates Meritage
$15.99

Wine label said:
This family winery is located in the Santa Lucia Highlands of California. The special rooster (found on the label) means Hahn in German and has adorned the family home for more than 250 years. The wine is 50% Merlot, 42% Cabernet Savignon, 5% Malbec, 2% Petit Verdot and 1% Cab Franc.

Wine Doc says:
This is one very tasty red wine. It is smooth with a taste of blackberries and hints of vanilla. This inexpensive Meritage is more flavorable than wines costing twice as much. It’s great with any food or just for sippin. Look for that old rooster on the label and enjoy!

Click here to buy Hahn Estates Meritage and other wines online.

2004 Osborne Solaz Tempranillo Cabernet Sauvignon
$8.00-ish

WebWino says:
I had the pleasure of sharing two bottles of Osborne Solaz with a frequent reviewer on this site, Rabbi Tuchman. What follows is a tale of two bottles.

We drank the first bottle without decanting it. Although I really enjoyed the flavor, I couldn’t quite get over how spicy the wine was. We paired it with pepperoni pizza and I had to set the wine aside until I finished the pizza because it was just too much zing for me. Upon noticing this, the good Rabbi called me a pussy. The good Rabbi can down jalepenos at will, so I was unfazed by the assault.

A couple of nights later, we opened another bottle, only this time we ran it through the RoJaus wine decanter. This time the wine was full-bodied and smooth and really pleasant to drink. I might have been the lack of pepperoni, or the decanting… whatever the reason, I thought the wine was excellent. However I was still teased for making comments about how peppery the wine was the first time through. Sigh.

Big thumbs up for Osborne Solaz and the groovy little grape called Tempranillo. And thanks to Rabbi Tuchman et al. for the wonderful visit… ribbing and all.

Party bonus: Osborne Solaz is running a contest where you can win a trip to the Running of the Bulls in Spain. Click here to enter. Also, you can collect points from your Osborne bottles and purchase “collectabulls” from their store. It’s the new Marlboro miles!! Click here to see the goods.

Norma Jeane 2005 A Young Merlot
$13.99

WebWino says:
It’s official. After tasting this wine I need to rededicate this blog with a new tagline. No longer should Vino Keeno be “The Grapevine for the Recreational Wino.” Instead, I think it would be more appropriate to title it, “Drinking This Shit So You Don’t Have To.”

Sweet Holy Moses, this wine sucked. No disrespect to the woman who would become Marilyn Monroe, but this is crap. Really. I couldn’t even drink it for the sake of the buzz. And that’s saying a lot. Lord knows I love my buzz. But this… no way. I’d rather chug NyQuil noting its cherry overtones and earthy hints of anise.

Buy this only if you are a Marilyn Monroe collector, but keep it pristine. Do not drink it! Trust me on this one. Remember me, WebWino, drinking the sucky wine so you don‘t have to. You can thank me later.