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Yes! (a short and happy post)
If anyone of you read my profile on twitter, you probably saw a mention of the martial arts. I’m practicing Taekwondo, and today I had my so called “tip test”. Yes, I passed the test, and got a green tip:
Now I “only” need to get five more tips (purple, blue, brown, red and black), and then I will be able to attempt the next big test. I guess if I would be 20 or 25, that probably would be “okay, great, whatever” kind of feeling (or not), but as I’m a bit older, and this stuff doesn’t come easy (I have a problem, people – my knees seriously hate me), so it feels great. Anyway, that’s done, and I’m happy.
While it is technically very early Saturday on the East coats, it is still Friday in may places in US – and this Friday, October 26th was 3rd annual Champagne Day (#ChampagneDay in Twitter terms). The way to celebrate #ChampagneDay is to open a bottle of Champagne and talk about it. Problem is, I generally don’t stock up on Champagne, so I didn’t have a bottle to open (and was publicly ostracized by thedrunkedcyclist, who really is in love with Champagne). As I wanted to honor the noble wine at least in some way, I decided to go for deconstructed Champagne:
Yes, this is the bottle of Burgundy and not Champagne, but this means that the wine is made from the grape which is a part of many Champagne wines – Pinot Noir, hence it is qualified for the “deconstructed Champagne” play.
This 2004 Domaine Dennis Carre Savigny-les-Beaune was exactly the type of Pinot Noir I love – light, smokey and earthy, with the light cherries profile, perfectly balanced with fruit , tannins and acidity, the wine with finesse and elegance. Drinkability: 8+
That’s all I wanted to share with you. Happy Friday (or may be already Saturday) to you. Cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, #GrenacheDay, #ChampagneDay, WTSO Full-On and more
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Meritage Time!
So, what do you think of Wine Quiz #29, A Guessing Game? I now understand that I goofed up with my logic (not the first time; sigh) and the way second question was asked implied the answer for the first – so I definitely have a room for improvement. I still hope it was fun, and – we have a winner!
Both reviews included into the post were for the same wine, 2001 La Rioja Alta Vina Ardanza Reserva Especial – the first one was written by Robert Parker, and second was Stephen Tanzer’s review. And the winners are (drumroll, please) whineandcheersforwine and thedrunkencyclist – both were able to correctly answer all three questions including the bonus part. Well done! As a side note, this is one of the best Rioja wines you can find for the money – it will cost you between $25 and $30, it drinks perfectly now, and will be for the next 20-30 years.
And now let’s move on to the interesting news section.
On October 2nd, the greatest purveyor of the QPR wines, Wine Til Sold Out, says “Make room in your cellars”, and I say “hold on to your wallets” – Full-On Marathon is coming. Starting at 6 AM Eastern time, WTSO will be offering wines staring from $15.99 and going all the way into the hundreds of dollars. The event will end at midnight on the same day. Knowing WTSO, this will be one amazing event which will put your family finances in a grave danger – but if anything, it will be fun to watch!
I almost missed it (changing the post after it was out) – International #GrenacheDay is coming on Friday, September 21st! There is not much time left – find that Grenache bottle and get ready to celebrate!
Champagne lovers, your special day is coming! 3rd annual #ChampagneDay will be celebrated through all social media outlets on October 25th – you can find your invitation here. You have enough time to be well prepared – start thinking about that special bottle.
There is an interesting debate going in regarding the actual state of the wine blogging – best of the best are trying to figure out if it is dead or alive (as I’m writing this post, I would consider it quite alive, but what do I know…). Here are couple of viewpoints: Joe Roberts, a.k.a. 1WineDude, and Steve Heimoff. If you have an opinion – write a blog post, join the debate!
Last but not least, St. Emilion region in Bordeaux has a new classification – you can read more about it here in Dr. Vino’s blog post.
We are done here – the glass is empty – for the moment, of course. Cheers!
Celebrating Global #ChampagneDay
Yesterday the world of wine social media celebrated 2nd Global Champagne Day, honoring one of the most special beverages – French Champagne. Here is how we celebrated it:
Louis Roederer Brut Premier NV was good, but not special in any way – nice fresh creamy bubbles, good acidity (Drinkability: 7). Louis Roederer makes one of the most famous Champagne in the world – Cristal, but this one of course was a standard non vintage version.
Champagne Chartogne -Taillet Cuvee Sainte-Anne, a growers champagne, was outstanding – yeasty, with a lot of fresh bread and toasted apple notes, refreshing and complex at the same time – this was not a simple thirst quencher, but a thought provoking wine. (Drinkability: 8).
How did you celebrate the Celebration Wine?
