I have seen and heard about wine changes, packaging-wise. Was in a rut the other day and saw one in a can. Had read good reviews about it — Underwood’s Pinot Gris, so decided to give it a try. Wow, pretty impressive. Very crisp, fruity, light, some little bubbles to best describe, since it’s in a can. You can get 2+ healthy glasses out of this. Was glad I grabbed it because it’s definitely on my list to keep around. I also love their tagline ‘Pinkies Down.’
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France doesn’t have to mean just (straight) wine. When you’re in SW France you can mix some stuff in it. When in Dax, since it’s so close to Spain, I saw a good amount of sangria on menus. So, of course had to give it a try. Stopped by Cafe de Bordeaux.
Ahh…delicious.
What was even better? The price! Think a very healthy half bottle of wine.
While sipping the sangria, enjoyed looking at this great fountain. Later touched the water…naturally very warm. Pretty interesting.
Was working another wine tasting recently and was introduced to a new wine(ry) in CA — Napa Cellars. That’s the great thing about doing the tastings — finding all sorts of new wines (and getting paid to do it)! The name sort of explains it all, location-wise. The varietals were their Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir. Both were great wines.
The Sauv had a crisp fruit taste – lemon, grapefruit. The vintner describes it as “aromas of vibrant gooseberry, pineapple and fresh pink grapefruit followed by flavors of pear, guava, passion fruit, lime, sweet clover and melon.” The price was $18 (on sale from low $20s)
The Pinot was amazing (I love Pinot!) and had some subtle leather and cherries, and unique spices. It had a good, medium body to it. When you read their comments you get “aromas of ripe cherry, sweet tobacco, raspberry, cedar and subtle spice followed by deep red cherry flavors and fantastic acidity.” The price was $16 (also on sale from low $20). These prices are in DC, so love to find out how much they vary from state-to-state, sale-to-sale.
Check them out if you’re looking for something new.
Other than the fact that my count doesn’t match the Billy Joel song, it doesn’t only have to depend upon your appetite; come on. There are so many factors to take into consideration. Likes, dislikes, meal, mood, interest in new stuff, desperation?!
Anyway, I work wine tastings on the side and the past couple I’ve done have introduced me to some new vintners, which is something I quite enjoy. I definitely have my favorites and normally stick to those — must expand!
The two reds were both Pinot Noirs from California, but very different. The first was Frei Brothers in Russian River Valley. Very light with the traditional fruit notes. Would pair nicely with a salad or light/white meat or seafood. Fruit would be great too, or why have food with it? Come on.
The second Pinot was MacMurray Central Coast. Very ‘thick’ for a Pinot. Almost a light jam texture with some fig notes, maybe some cherries and light chocolate. This could totally be paired with steak/heavier meat. Loved it! I picked one of these up before I left the store. Both of these were around $20.
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Now the bottle of white I have recently added to my list (and wine rack) is the William Hill Sauvignon Blanc. To me it screams grapefruit, which I love. It’s definitely a citrus-laden wine. Nice and crisp and runs $12-$14.
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Do you have any new wine finds?
I received a free copy of Cook’s Illustrated in the mail recently (can’t complain about that) and there was a funny/interesting piece about letting wine meet oxygen. There are so many thoughts about how long you should let a wine breathe, if it should be decanted, if you can use a simple aerator. It also depends on what varietal, the age of the wine and more. So these guys have some fun tips on doing this quickly. What do you think…and how do you normally aerate your vino?
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Popped open a new bottle of Rioja last night that I found in my wine rack. Don’t know when I bought it or if I knew why I bought it. It was Vivanco Rioja Reserva 2008. Wow…very nice. The nose had light oak on it. The wine itself had some fruit — I got cherries and strawberries, and a bit of spice. I saw on the label that I had scribbled $24. DIdn’t see that before I opened it, just to have a glass of wine with a weekday dinner. Oh well, definitely worth it.
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Came across a new (Old Vine) Zinfandel last week that is wonderful. It’s Predator in Lodi, CA. It has some nice fruit, I tasted mostly cherries, then the other taste(s) I found was leather. There was something else that I just couldn’t place. Was also thick/chewy, but not overwhelming. Great wine, and I found it in the DC-area for about $12 (at Total Wine). Totally recommend checking it out if you’re looking for something new.
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I think I’ll have them both, if you don’t mind. While enjoying a couple of the recipes I’ve posted recently, my friends were so kind as to bring over some great wine to pair with the food! So, of course we had to open them.
One was simply masked in a nice Williams Sonoma bag. I pulled it out and could not have opened that bottle fast enough. It was my favorite varietal — Pinotage, from South Africa, of course! Oh Pinotage, how I love thee. I was so happy it was a screw top to quickly open it. My only problem was that I did not have a (wine) glass at my fingertips. It was the Spier (Signature) Pinotage. It had very nice fruit to it, though it did not hold the traditional smokiness of Pinotage. It was light and had great character.
Then we decided to open the second bottle to do some comparison. This was from Spain, the El Burro Kickass Garnacha. Love the name. And let me tell you, it lives up to it. The first thing I tasted was chocolate! There were also some berries in there. Nowhere did they mention chocolate on the label, but even having some the next day…chocolate, chocolate, chocolate. Amazing.
It was a great evening of friends, wine and food. Can never go wrong with that.
A couple years ago I visited Sonoma and one of the wineries my friend and I checked out was Chateau St. Jean. After the initial tasting, they of course give you the rundown of their Wine Club. My friend told me to treat myself and sign up. Their wine is amazing and I deserved it.
So last weekend there was just bad weather going on and I decided to open up a nice bottle of wine, just because. There was nothing happening, there was really nowhere to go/there was no way I was going to go do anything. I pulled a bottle of Chateau St. Jean (2009) Syrah out of my wine rack. I opened it. It had a nose of berries and bark — yes, bark, ok, maybe some would say wood, but I got bark. The taste just made me stand still. I can barely explain how good it was. Raspberries, blackberries, that bark, and tiny bit chocolate. Some darn, darn good wine. The best part is that I know exactly why I have the bottle and enjoyed it all the more because of it. Cheers!
Do you have a favorite bottle for some reason? Do you remember a bottle you bought for a specific reason?
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Simple pleasures, that’s what it’s all about. For Christmas I had this huge box/present that I could not quite figure out (from the exterior). It did have the very fashionable type of Crate & Barrel all over the exterior. I finally opened it, then dug through layer upon layer of bubble wrap, then, oh, layer after layer of some kind of paper, oh, then tissue paper and tissue and tissue paper. Inside I (finally) found a beautiful decanter. How perfect! Somebody must know me. I broke it in on New Year’s Eve with a magnificent red from Washington — Eleven La Ronde. It tasted even better than usual. Simple pleasures.
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Mel's Mosaic 