Newbies

Posted on March 27, 2016 by melsmosaic

Always great to pop a new cork or have somebody pour you a new brew. The two most recents…

Was in Rehoboth Beach so had to of course visit one of my favorite breweries, Dogfish Head. They have some brews on tap they you can only get while standing under that roof. The one I opted for was the QuatroSanque. ‘an intensely citrusy IPA made with blood orange juice, sliced lemon and orange zest. Dark and medium crystal malts provide a deep amber color and sweet caramel/toffee notes to balance the the tartness of the citrus. Generous dry-hopping with Centennial and HBC431 dry-hops at a massive 2 pounds per barrel pushes the citrus and tropical juiciness to the next level. ‘ 7.25% ABV (served in 10 oz. pours). This stuff was smooth, not too hoppy and just refreshing. I was close to buying a growler…

LAM Pinotage. A bit earthier than normal, some tobacco in there, had minimal leather and smoke notes, but very interesting. I tasted some fizz, but it was a ‘normal’ bottle. It was a VERY light red. Was definitely the most unique Pinotage I’ve tasted. About $20/bottle.

Cheers to the Weekend

Posted on March 11, 2016 by melsmosaic

Have been sipping a range of drinks recently so thought I would pass them along as we enter the weekend. They hit all the choices out there — beer, wines, liquor. The rundown as the 5 o’clock whistle approaches.

Beer: It’s Flying Dog’s 25th Anniversary and I heard about their anniversary brew, Tropical Bitch. It’s a Belgian-Style IPA, 8.0% ABV. Per the description, “pineapple and mango dominate with subtle passion fruit and sticky sweet, yet crisply bitter, hop notes.” Was finally able to snag a 6-pack. Yeah, it’s ok. Fairly bronze in color and just off in taste, for me. Not that impressed (personally, keep that in mind). I keep opening more to see if I like it and not so much, but the color is very cool. It’s about $8-$10/6 pack.

White Wine: Veramonte Sauvignon Blanc from Chile. Nice and light, with subtle citrus notes. Has just a perfect body to it. Also has the convenient screw top. Perfect to enjoy with some cheese or seafood, or totally on its own. This is around $10-$15/bottle.

Red Wine: Napa Cellars Pinot Noir. I’ll let you guess where it’s from. It has just a nice balance of subtle chocolate and berries. Perfect. What I loved is that I was able to pick some up for $10/bottle vs. the normal $20!

Margaritas: Jose Cuervo Light Margaritas (pre-mixed). Addiction in a bottle. Only 95 calories a serving. Just don’t read how small the serving is, ok? It’s just perfect to throw some ice in a glass and pour this on top. Then grab the chips, salsa and guac. Can usually find this for $12-$15/bottle.

Drink on, my friends.

The Urban Winery

Posted on January 23, 2016 by melsmosaic

There is a relatively new wine place in Silver Spring, MD that I finally checked recently — The Urban Winery. They serve their own wine, local wine and a few other wines.

Went on a Friday night and it was pretty quiet (maybe 10 people there). Was a bit surprised at that. Several wine options on the menu and opted for a flights of the house-made wines. They limit what you can get, unfortunately, in their flights. So I finally opted for their un-oaked Chard and two reds (Syrah and Philotimo).

It took about 15 minutes to get our wine. The Chard was half decent. The Syrah was ok at the start but after a sip or two it really just tasted like grape juice. The Philotimo tasted like dirt.

As we were tasting the wine, we ordered some food. Flatbreads were on happy hour special for $4. Sure! A simple pizza-like dish. We requested it with no mozzarella, just feta because of the lactose intolerance. It took over 25 minutes to get this simple dish. Ok.

My friend and I finished our first (not great) wine and opted for a second round and more food, too. I opted for a glass of Hungarian red and my friend got a local wine.

We also ordered a mezze platter and the avocado toast. At this point there were about 6 people in the restaurant. It took over 45 minutes to get our food, which didn’t seem normal since it was not really a cooked meal. Another problem, once the food came out, the avocado toast had cheese on it after the waitress knew I was lactose intolerant. So, had to be returned. It took another 15 minuted to get the proper order, which is just guac spread on bread.

If you can’t tell, I’m not overly impressed with this place. Long wait, high prices, not great wine, bad service. Not going back.

Barcelona (DC)

Posted on January 11, 2016 by melsmosaic

Finally made it to a Barcelona Wine Bar in DC. They have several locations and I hit the one in Cathedral Heights.

I was going to have wine, of course, but when reading the menu I was lured to the sangria. At this time of year they make it with lavendar, sage and rosemary. That…tasted…so…good.

The venue is tapas-styles, so small plates with many cheeses and charcuterie. After much glancing at the menu, with many choices of sheep and goat cheese, we opted for the Cabra Romero, which is goat’s milk crusted in rosemary and the drunken goat, which has had it’s share of wine.

Also went with some Hand-Sliced Jamon Mangalica, which is cured Hungarian pig and a Catalan sausage (I believe). They bring this all out with some amazing bread.

I can’t believe it has taken me so long to get to this place. I can’t wait to go back and try more of their food and wine. They also have locations on 14th St. and in Reston.

Breweries, Wineries and Cideries (?)

Posted on October 18, 2015 by melsmosaic

Have been checking out some local places of imbibement lately and have had much fun. What else is there to do after hiking and running vs. supporting the locals while refueling?

#1 Forge Brew Works, Lorton, VA

Visited this one after hiking in Prince William State Park in VA. The hike also turned into 15 vs 9 miles. Great signage in that park, let me tell you. In the brewery’s tasting room, they have well over a dozen options on tap, from traditional to seasonal brews and you can get 4oz samplers at a great price to get a feel for the menu. My friend and I each got a spread of the 4oz pours so we could tackle the taps effectively. Some were very creative, some not up my alley, but awesome to check out. Dog friendly place (which is why we went — they have tons of water and treats for them) and you bring your own food if you want to munch on anything.

(Jet was passed out on the floor while we were sipping, eating and watching football)

#2 Distillery Lane Ciderworks, Jefferson, MD

I keep calling this a cidery because it goes with the flow of the sentence with winery, brewery… Ok, so it’s a distillery. They distill (hard) cider. Anyway, on we go. I mapped this out to visit after completing a half marathon as part of refueling. As a map point, it’s about 30 minutes from Harper’s Ferry and maybe an hour+ from DC. They have a big range of hard cider, from bubbly stuff, to ones with some additional flavor influence (fruit, sweet), to dry & sweet, to barrel-aged stuff. I never knew there was so much to this. When you buy your tasting, you get to pick whatever you’d like to taste — $5 for 4 pours, and the souvenir glass. And when you go with somebody else…sip & share, share & sip.

The whiskey-barrel influence stuff–nice! The cherry and maple (independent) fused stuff, yeah, not so much. The bubbly — where’s my champagne flute? They also have that regular apple cider that you don’t need an ID to buy and those healthy apple things that you buy to just add at this cool place.

#3 Big Cork Vineyards, Rohrersville, MD

(cork stool, oh yes)

It’s 5-10 minutes from the cidery, darn, I meant distillery. Isn’t cidery just a natural name? That’s why we visited it next. I’d tasted their wine a couple times at local farmer’s markets. But, they just opened they gorgeous tasting room this year. My friend and I decided to split a tasting so we splurge and went for the big one — 7 wines — watch out! It was $14 for this ‘more’ tasting.

Some were ok, nothing to write home about. There is still just something missing in MD wines. VA is gaining power and MD is next door so I don’t know why they can’t do it (at least for me, though I know I’m not alone in that comment).

#4 Right Proper Brewing Company, Washington, DC

Was simply googling breweries in DC and this one came up. Had never heard of it so had to investigate. It’s in the Shaw-Howard area of DC. So much on tap, innovative options, what do I pick? You can get half pours (no flight options). My friend and I opted to play with the wolves and ordered some Wild Wolves and Raised by the Wolves. We had some sips to ‘sample’ before ordering our half pour of choice too. I stopped here before a big dinner so didn’t get to do enough investigation but definitely plan to go back to do a deeper search.

#5 Boxwood Winery, Middleburg, VA

Located in a historic, very nice area 1-1.5 hours outside of DC, this winery is growing well. They used to have a nice tasting room/wine bar in Friendship Heights which has unfortunately closed. They still have one at National Harbor and in Reston. These are definitely VA wines, unique tastes and good to keep an eye on. I like a couple but I just can’t justify paying the price for some of them. The price was $10/tasting, and we got to keep the glass (add to the collection).

Ultimate Pinot Party

Posted on October 5, 2015 by melsmosaic

I’m part of a Meetup group that is in love with wine and hosted an event last night with the theme — Ultimate Pinot Party. Guests had to bring a wine related to Pinot — Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Pinotage, Pinot Gris/Grigio/Blanc, etc.

Quite the selection came to the table. I think the breakdown was roughly

3 Pinotage (my favorite, love South Africa)
Many Pinot Noir (Mendocino, Napa, Willamette Valley, other)
Pinot d’Alsace a blend of 3 Pinots: Blanc, Gris, Noir and Auxerrois
Pinot Meunier
Pinot Grigio
Pinot Blanc

There were likely a few others. Some of them were empty come the end of the night! Amazing to smell and taste the differences in vintages and regions, and of course varietals. Cheers!

Blinder than Blind

Posted on September 12, 2015 by melsmosaic

Wine tasting on weekends are some of the best things to attend. Recently a wine shop in DC presented a blind tasting. They admitted when we got there that maybe they could have made it a bit easier and made it one region, one varietal or narrowed it down in some fashion. Why? Because we felt like we were taking the test for a Master Somm. It was awesome.

We had one bubbly, 3 whites and 3 reds. This store sells mostly old world wines and everything we tasted was sold in house. It was tough for me because I lean new world.

All I can say is I got a huge F on this test. I was writing/spelling wrong at some points because I was confused and failing so badly! I was close on some, region-wise.

Does that mean I need to take it again and taste more wine? I was definitely blinder than blind is this one.

A Year in Champagne

Posted on July 28, 2015 by melsmosaic

Sometimes you can catch great movies on the plane. I recently had the pleasure of watching A Year in Champagne, a documentary about the ins and outs of champagne making. It followed several champagne producers and shows how difficult of an industry it is for us to be able to enjoy this bubbly liquid.

Producers/vintners have code to follow, tough seasons, some have small shops (and even crops), but all have one goal — to deliver a delectable bottle with a cork that pops and a liquid we enjoy. It was also wonderful to see how there are still the small family-owned businesses working against the big corporate ones. There is a lot of behind the scenes work and business that happens, from sales to chemistry to timing and more. A quality line in the movie and one or my favorites, perfect for the industry was along the lines of ‘Don’t trust anyone who doesn’t drink.’

Some of the greatest highlights:

-one vintner has 750,000 (yes 3/4 million) bottles they turn by hand (frequently) over the course of a year to deliver the best taste

-vines are restricted to a certain height, otherwise licenses can be revoked

-they have a specific/allocated amount of time in which they can harvest, otherwise licenses can be revoked

(image source: ayearinchampagne.com)

Bordeaux Walking Tour

Posted on July 8, 2015 by melsmosaic

While exploring France had to determine the best way to explore what was at my fingertips. Was referred by a friend to a great way to explore the city of Bordeaux and of course enjoy their great drink — Bordeaux Walking Tours. I enjoyed an afternoon exploration of the city.

Got to see the city on foot and learn about historic sites along the water and throughout the town.

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Then we visited the Wine & Trade Museum.

At the end of this visit, we got to taste several French wines. We received the full rundown on history, varietal, region, etc.

(Chateau LaJarre was definitely my favorite)

After this great tasting we headed off to our next stop after learning much about wine at the museum. During our tour we learned about the Bordeaux region and how the Gironde River determines a lot of the ‘taste’ of the grapes — earthy vs fruity. Those on the Right Bank of the river tend to be fruitier, those on the Left Bank tend to be earthier.

(photo credit: totalwine.com)

Turns out our next stop was a blind tasting to apply what we learned about the banks.

I got 2 out of 3 right, and mostly only loved one of them, the Chateau Bardin, from the Right Side. This was such a fun way to learn more about wine and I did learn that old world wine really isn’t that bad. I can expand my horizons beyond new world.

I’m a Vintner!

Posted on June 22, 2015 by melsmosaic

I got to check out this great Blend Your Own Bordeaux competition last week. Wasn’t sure what all this would entail other than wine and some form of mixing. This took place at American Eats Tavern, just outside of DC, and was in the company of Master Sommelier Andy Myers and Barboursville Vineyards Chief Sommelier Jason Tesauro.

The evening started off with some bubbly and intros and then the rundown on what had to be done.

(that’s the Master Somm)

We had four varietals to play with (Merlot, Cab Franc, Cab Sauv and Nebbiolo) and we would taste them and play with each to determine how much of each we wanted to combine to make our own perfect blend. It was a chemistry class with all the toys we had, too.

In our instructions, we received definitions of each piece, percentages for mixing and what all we could do.

Playtime!!!!

You could not just plug the pipette with your thumb to fill it. You had to actually suck on it to get a good amount in there.

After determining your best (personal) blend based on taste and trial & error, it was bottling time. You also had to label it to the best of your ability.

The after-shock was quite a mess.

We were told when we started blending that there would be awards for the best wines. Jason from Barboursville was the main taster/judge of the wines, while Andy and the Somm from American Eats also took part. They had 15 or so wines to judge…the rough life of wine folks.

After their long-lasting time of judging they had some announcements to make. Much to my surprise, I had a podium finish!!! I brought home the bronze medal. That meant great bragging rights, my wine and a bottle of Barboursville vino. I am now a vintner. What more could I ask for?