Turning Leaf – Low Price, Good Wines

There are only a few wines left in the marketplace that have held their price tag, almost unchanged throughout years; Turning Leaf is one of them. To begin with, Turning Leaf is not a great wine; you do not get a great wine for eight bucks. What you do get with Turning Leaf is a very affordable, full flavored, every day dinner wine and with the price of table wines increasing astronomically with every vintage, there are very few of us who can afford to put a $20 wine on the dinner table every night.
Turning Leaf has been in the forefront of producing a full line of the popular and familiar “bread and butter” varieties of wine. We have just sampled the latest release of those wines and found them to be high quality, excellent buys for the money and frankly, there wasn’t a “stinker’ in the bunch.

Turning Leaf Cabernet Sauvignon ($7.99). This wine is pure Cabernet Sauvignon and has not been blended with other varieties nor has it had any oak aging, so the flavor and aroma comes solely from the grapes stressing blackberries and raspberries while the flavor concentrates on dark summer fruits, vanilla, leather, and brown spice. What is amazing is that this wine has a long fruit filled finish, a feature not often found in inexpensive wines. Forget the price snobbery and try this cab, we are sure it will please you.

Turning Leaf Merlot ($7.99). This wine is a pure unblended merlot and like the cab it has been made without any oak aging, which is a common practice for both varieties. Many have turned to merlot because it is a softer, fruiter wine than the cab and presents a slightly different flavor profile. This merlot showcases dark cherry, and plum with hints of mocha, blackberry and brown spice in both its flavor aroma and on to the finish which, like the cab, is longer than is usual for inexpensive wines.The Turning Leaf Merlot is a great choice for barbequed and red meats, moderately spicy Italian foods and cheese dishes.

Turning Leaf Pinot Noir ($7.99). If you have read us for any time, you know that we are always complaining about some of the lesser quality pinot noir wines that permeate today’s marketplace; but not this time. The Turning Leaf is the perfect primer for those who are not familiar with the pinot noir. As with the other Turning Leaf red wines, this wine is pure, unblended pinot noir but unlike the cab and merlot, this wine has been given some aging, which results in adding extra layers of complexity to the wine. Dark fruit flavors and aromas abound featuring boysenberries, pomegranates and the Turning Leaf signature, brown spice. This is a very nice, soft pinot noir that reflects all of the charms of the variety. We usually serve pinot noir with the lighter cuts of meat and Italian dishes that are not overly spicy.

Turning Leaf Chardonnay ($7.99). And then there is the inevitable chardonnay. This white wine has had many incarnations and a very broad price range; however, one thing has been almost universally true, if you want a decent chardonnay, it will be costly. The Turning Leaf Chardonnay changes all of that. Here is a well-made wine, which preserves the true nature of the chardonnay grape while maintaining the characteristics of the more expensive chardonnay wines. This wine too has received some oak aging prior to bottling a common practice for chardonnay. Aromas of lemon and other citrus combined with the telltale oak and vanilla rise from the glass when the wine is poured. The fruit and acid is nicely balanced and there is even a hint of melon in the background. This soft wine will not set up a barrier or interfere with the flavor of foods but rather will compliment all of the lighter meats, seafood, and salads. This is a very nice wine and far better than its low price indicates.