Cooper L'inizio 2009

The word L'inizio means "the beginning" and it's appropriate that it's the first wine I ever tried from Cooper. I've since tried several of their wines and am consistently impressed with the quality and style of these wines. Located as you are turning into the Red Mountain AVA - Cooper is a stones throw from the famed Ciel du Cheval vineyard. Many of the grapes that make the best wines in Washington State come from this region.

This wine is a classic Bordeaux blend with grapes coming from nine area vineyards and includes four varietals. Charlie Hoppes is the winemaker - he also makes wine for one of our favorites - Fidelitas

The wine has a spicy note and probably should've been laid down for a bit longer to help ease the tannins.

Overall, it is a great drinking wine.

Julie's take : "It's good"

A Trip to France?

I make no claims of knowing anything about French wine. I've become friends with a couple of French winemakers who are making great wine in Walla Walla. This, does not make me any sort of expert. I do know that I like Bordeaux blends from WA, but I wasn't sure how I'd feel about the Old World wines. I can imagine that anything with a label from France with the words Bordeaux on it may immediately enjoy a higher price point. I stumbled upon this wine while going up and down Costco aisles. I'm not sure if this is the Keystone Light of French wines or not - but for $19 I thought I'd give it a whirl.

My first impressions were it was lighter than the bigger "Bordeaux" blends we produce here in WA. It even seemed light for the 13.5% stated on the bottle.

Overall, it's just a pretty good wine - nothing spectacular, but good enough. I would not go all the to France for it though.

Julie's take - "It's OK"