Wine Tasting Experience – Home Run!
What home run has to do with the wine tasting? Not much, of course, except when you try four random wines and they all taste great, somehow it seems that “home run” is a good way to adequately describe your experience.
I think nowadays Saturday wine tasting is pretty much a norm for majority of the wine stores. If I have time, I usually stop by the wine tasting at Cost Less Wines in Stamford. There are typically four wines open, and out of the four I would find one or two which I really like. This last Saturday’s tasting was different, as I actually liked all four, and they literally were one better than another.
There were two wines from Argentina and two from Chile (both wineries are owned by Trinchero Family Estates out of California). Interestingly enough, all four wines were priced at $13.99. Here are the notes:
2010 Carmen Gran Reserva Chardonnay Casablanca Valley, Chile – Perfect acidity, very much similar to Chablis – great balance, nice green apple flavor, touch of oak and very long and mouthwatering finish. Drinkability: 8-
2010 Doña Paula Estate Torrontés Cafayate Valley, Salta, Argentina – Extremely perfumed nose – you literally think that you are smelling a nice English or French soap. Of course it is a bad idea to compare wine and soap, but actual smell is highly invigorating, and I use the comparison here in a positive way – rose petals with touch of lavender on the nose. Light and delicate on the palate, however bringing very explicit orange flavors. Very balanced with good acidity. Drinkability: 8-.
2010 Doña Paula Estate Malbec, Mendoza, Argentina – it seems that lately I have a tendency of single -word wine reviews. Round! (how is that for the review?). Perfect balance of fruit, tannins and acidity, soft tones of the dark fruit with enough underpinning in the oak flavors. Drinkability: 8.
2009 Carmen Gran Reserva Petite Sirah Maipo Alto, Chile – I don’t know about you, but it was my first encounter with Chilean Petite Sirah. Dark fruit, plums and sour cherries on the palate, full bodied and powerful, very balanced, good acidity. Drinkability: 8.
Don’t miss wine tastings in the stores – whether you will like the wine or not, you will learn something new.
For more home run wine tastings – cheers!
Something Is Strange In This Picture
So it is a picture of Blue Moon beer label. Okay, it is a vintage beer. 2012 vintage to be precise. It is interesting, but not necessarily strange. I believe vintage beer can age – however, I never tried aging beer before. But – never mind the vintage part. There is something a lot more peculiar about this beer label, something which I never saw before. Do you see what I see?
Comment if you see the strange part! Happy Sunday, everyone! Cheers!
Weekly Wine Quiz #14: True American Grape
Cabernet Sauvignon. Pinot Noir. Syrah. Chardonnay. If you would be asked to name a region which makes world class wines out of those grapes, I’m sure many of you would think of California or may be Washington or Oregon first. Yes, we are fully considering all of these grapes to be “local” here in the United States. At the same time, none f those grapes were born here, they were all brought in from Europe (after all, Europe has about 7,500 years of winemaking advantage over the Americas).
Ever since the first colonists arrived to America, making wines was a fascination for many of them, including our forefathers such as Thomas Jefferson. Of course there were actual local grapes growing here, and needless to say that every possible effort was made to produce wines out of those grapes. The wines didn’t come out very drinkable, as the grapes were lacking one “minor” component – time in training to become the true wine grapes.
Determination, dedication and countless years of hard work produced its results. If you travel today through many wine trails throughout this country, you will find many wines produced from variety of actual American grapes. Yes, I agree, lots of those wines will not make you say “wow” as their big European brothers do – however, there is one grape which truly stands out on its own, making wonderfully rich and concentrated wines. The story of this grape is closely intertwined with the history of this country, following its ups and downs, so this grape is often deservedly referred to as the “true American grape”. Do you know the name of that grape?
Have a fun filled weekend. Cheers!
Wine Videos: Sparklers Showdown
It’s being a couple of weeks since we watched (and judged, of course) some wine commercials. Continuing that thread (I hope you find it entertaining!), I would like to offer you two videos to compare.
First one is a commercial for Domaine Chandon, makers of California Sparking wine:
And the second one is a commercial for Italian sparkler – Zonin Prosecco:
Which one is your favorite? Let me know! Cheers!
And The Answer For Wine Quiz #13 Is…
Wine quiz #13 was about wine and history, “When wine is a matter of life and death“. I would say that this quiz worked better, as different answers were chosen by about the same number of people (in most of the previous quizzes there was a clear majority preferred answer). I might have to learn about history of Haro in Spain, which was one of the historical centers of Rioja, but correct answer is Jamestown.
In 1619, at the first representative assembly of the New World, held at Jamestown church, Acte 12 was passed: “…every householder doe yearly plante and maintaine ten vines, untill they have attained to the arte and experience of dressing a Vineyard, either by their owne industry, or by Instruction of some Vigneron. And that upon what penalty soever the Governour and Counsell of Estate shall thinke fitt to impose upone the neglecters of this acte”. And the penalty was eventually decided to be the “pain of death”. I will tell you in one of the follow up posts about the source of this information, but for now you have your answer.
Whomever answered “Jamestown” can pat themselves on the back and have an extra glass of wine (or two). Until the next quiz – cheers!
Rosé!
The weather fully turned around, and despite way too much rain (at least here in Connecticut), summer season has started. Which means we can start drinking Rosé, and feel good about it!
In the US, Rosé had being a very interesting phenomenon. Even 6-7 years ago, it was pretty hard to find Rosé wine on the shelves of the wine stores. Tavel (one of the world most famous Rosé wines from the Rhone region in France) was practically the only Rosé you could find in the better wine stores. Mind you, I’m talking specifically about dry Rosé wines, not White Zinfandel or any other sweet concoctions. I guess many years of the pink colored plonk trained US wine consumers that you can not expect anything good from the pink-colored liquid, therefore stores had no incentive to offer Rosé. Little by little, situation changed, and now you can see lots of different Rosé coming from all over the world, made out of every possible grape and occupying more and more shelf space at the wine stores.
What I like about Rosé wine is that it combines light and refreshing qualities of the white wine with the fruit and structure of the red, making Rosé a perfect complement to anything you do and anything you eat on a hot summer day. Don’t get me wrong – personally, I’m happy to drink Rosé at any time of the year, but somehow it has a notion of being ”summer wine”. I remember being in France in November of 2006, and when I asked for the Anjou Rosé offered on the restaurant wine list, my French companion said with the expression of disapproval on his face ”but you only supposed to drink Rosé during summer?!”. I’m very happy that summer is here and glass of Rosé is officially appropriate.
Couple of days ago, I had an opportunity to taste 8 different Rosé wines which my friend Zak was considering for his store – and I’m glad to share my tasting notes with you.
2011 Les Quatre Tours Espirit Sud Rosé, Coteaux d’Aix-en-Provence – this was the first wine of the tasting, and it set it on the right foot. Provence Rosé in general are some of the best wines in the world, which is probably not very surprising considering the fact that Provence is a birthplace of French winemaking. This particular wine is a blend of Grenache, Cinsault, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. Pale salmon hue in color, strawberries on the nose, subtle and delicate on the palate, with very good acidity. Drinkability: 7+
2011 Chateau Les VaValentines Le Caprice de Clementine Rosé, Cotes de Provence – second wine from the Provence. This one is a blend of Cinsault and Grenache.
This wine had bigger body compare to the first one – however, it was not very balanced and had too much bite (may be needed some time, but I will leave that for you to check). Drinkability: 6
2011 M. Chapoutier Les Vignes de Bila-Haut, Cotes de Languedoc (13.5% ABV) – yet another wine from France, this time it is from the area called Languedoc. Bila-Haut wines are made by M. Chapoutier, a very respected producer. I had some Bila-Haut reds in the past, and they were very good, so I was definitely interested to see how Bila-Haut Rosé woud fare. This wine is yet again a blend of Grenache and Cinsault.
Nice pale pink color, not very expressive on the nose, same on the palate – the wine showed some bite and tamed fruit. Drinkability: 6+
2011 Carpineto Dogajolo Toscano IGT (12.5% ABV) – Carpineto produces Super Tuscan wines, made out of Sangiovese with the addition of Cabernet Sauvignon and other grapes.
After being pressed and left in the contact with the skins for the short time, this wine was fermented in the stainless steel tanks and bottled in January.
Solid pink color, this wine showed some good fruit, but was somewhat lacking the acidity. Drinkability: 7-.
2011 Tasca d’Almerita Regaleali Le Rose Sicilia IGT (12.5 ABV) – another Italian wine, this time from Sicily. The name of the wine comes from thousands of roses which had being brought from all over the world and are happily growing at the Regaleali estate. The wine is made out of 100% Nerello Mascalese, an indigenous Italian variety growing primarily in Sicily.
The wine showed beautiful strawberries and cranberries both on the nose and on the palate. Overall, wine had very good body and great balance. Drinkability : 7+.
2011 Fattoria di Magliano Illario Rosato, Maremma Toscana IGT (13% ABV) – One more Rosé from Italy, again from Tuscany. This wine actually comes from Maremma region which is famous for its Super-Tuscan wines. This wine is produced by Fattoria di Magliano out of 100% Sangiovese grape.
The wine was similar to the previous one, showing red fruit with nice acidity, but a bit more delicate on the palate. Drinkability: 7+
2011 Tombu Rose Castilla y Leon, Spain (13.5% ABV) – Something different – this wine comes from Spain, from the Castilla y Leon region, and it is made out of indigenous grape called Prieto Picudo.
As far as tasting notes are concerned…Would you accept a very short and simple “WOW!” as complete tasting notes? Saturated pink color, akin to cranberry juice, this wine starts from the concentrated nose of fresh cranberries and continues to deliver an exuberant punch of fresh zesty summer on the palate – perfect balance of fruit and acidity, extremely refreshing. Best of tasting! Drinkability: 8+
2011 Adelsheim Pinot Noir Rosé, Willamette Valley, Oregon (13.4% ABV) – Last but not least, this Rosé comes from Oregon, and as you would rightfully expect it is made out of 100% Pinot Noir which was sourced from 6 different vineyards in the region.
Inviting nose of strawberries and cranberries, may be a hint of sour cherries, beautifully balanced on the palate with the same fruit and right amount of acidity. Again, very refreshing and just what the doctor ordered for the hot summer day. There are only 1,200 cases produced, so if you want this wine, you better not wait. Drinkability: 8-
I don’t know what you think of Rosé wines, but I can’t stress their greatness enough. If you were ignoring them until now, it’s time to change. If you had being a fan all along, I will be glad to learn about your favorites! Whatever you do, don’t let summer heat get to you – protect yourself with some Rosé in your glass! Cheers!
Following Wines Til Sold Out – Top 100 Tuesday
If you are reading this blog regularly, you probably have seen some of the previous posts about Wine Til Sold Out, one of the best online wine stores. Every once in a while Wine Til Sold Out (WTSO for short) hosts a special “marathon” events, where they offer lots of wines during 18 or 24 hours period – here is a link to one of my previous “follow” posts.
About a month ago WTSO run a new type of marathon – this time, all the wine offered for sale were listed in various Top 100 lists by Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast and other wine publications. Marathon started at 10 AM on Tuesday, April 24th, and was continuing until midnight. On average, new wine was offered for sale one per hour – however, couple of wines (Bodegas Los Astrales and Orin Swift Saldo) were sold out within 5 minutes of being offered, so the other wines had to take its place. For most of the offers it was necessary to buy 4 bottles to receive free shipping, however for some of the wines it was only 3. All in all, lots of great values were offered – you can see for yourself in the table below. I also couldn’t resist but to include the last wine in the table, White Cottage “Risa” – it was not the part of the Super Tuesday, but it represented a great value.
As always, here is the guide to rating abbreviations typically used in the WTSO offers: WS – Wine Spectator, WA – Wine Advocate, ST – Steven Tanzer, WE – Wine Enthusiast, WRO – Wine Review Online, W&S – Wine and Spirits, MS – Mari Stull, JHN – Jonathan H. Newman, D – Decanter Magazine, rating goes in stars ( 5 stars is max).
And here is the table:
| Time | Wine Name | Rating | Orig. Price | WTSO Price | % off |
| 10:00 am | Bodegas Los Astrales Astrales Ribera Del Duero 2008 – #53 Top 100 WS | WS94 | |||
| 10:04 am | Markus Molitor Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spatlese Riesling 2009 #78 Top 100 WS 2011 | WS93 | $36.99 | $24.99 | 32% |
| 10:45 am | Bodegas Resalte de Penafiel Ribera del Duero Crianza 2005 #26 Top 100 WS 2010 | WS94 | $36.99 | $23.99 | 35% |
| 11:04 am | Domaine Louis Cheze Caroline Cuvee Prestige AOC Saint Joseph Syrah 2009 #98 Top 100 WS 2011 | WS92 | $65.00 | $29.99 | 54% |
| 12:00 pm | Orin Swift Saldo Zinfandel 2008 – #69 Top 100 WS 2010 | WS91 | 35% | ||
| 12:05 pm | Allegrini Palazzo Della Torre IGT Veronese 2008 #60 Top 100 Wines WS 2011 | WS90, WA89 | $23.99 | $16.99 | 29% |
| 1:00 pm | Bodegas Dinastia Vivanco Seleccion de Familia Rioja Crianza 2008 #59 Top 100 WS 2011 | WS90 | $19.99 | $13.99 | 30% |
| 1:05 pm | Fattoria Viticcio Chianti Classico Riserva 2007 #40 Top 100 WS 2010 | WS93 | $34.99 | $21.99 | 37% |
| 2:30 pm | Fonseca Late Bottled Vintage Port 2005 #96 Top 100 WE 2010 | WE92 | $26.00 | $17.49 | 33% |
| 3:30 pm | Cascina Adelaide Preda Barolo DOCG 2007 #37 Top 100 Wines WE Italy 2011 | WE94, JS93 | $86.99 | $42.99 | 51% |
| 4:30 pm | Super Tuscan 2007 Terrabianca Campaccio Toscana IGT #36 Top 100 WS 2011 | WS93,WA92 | $34.99 | $22.99 | 34% |
| 5:30 pm | Bodegas Ondarre Reserva Rioja 2004 #58 Top 100 WS 2010! | WS91 | $22.99 | $11.49 | 50% |
| 6:30 pm | Rivetto Barolo Serralunga 2007 #59 Top 100 2011 Wine Enthusiast | WE94,WS94 | $74.99 | $37.49 | 50% |
| 7:30 pm | 2010 Albarino Rias Biaxas Bodegas Martin Codax #77 Top 100 WE Best Buys 2011 | WE90 | $17.99 | $12.49 | 31% |
| 8:30 pm | Domaine Louis Cheze Caroline Cuvee Prestige AOC Saint Joseph Syrah 2009 #98 WS Top 100 | WS92 | $65.00 | $29.99 | 54% |
| 9:15 pm | Michele Chiarlo Reyna Barbaresco 2006 #6 Top 100 WE 2009 | WE93 | $50.00 | $29.99 | 40% |
| 10:15 pm | Bodega Tikalo Kios Elite (Vina de la Tierra de Castilla) 2004 #77 Top 100 Wines WE | WE91 | $34.99 | $16.99 | 51% |
| 10:50 pm | Bodegas Ondarre Reserva Rioja 2004 #58 Top 100 WS 2010! | WS91 | $22.99 | $11.49 | 50% |
| 11:26 pm | Super Tuscan 2007 Terrabianca Campaccio Toscana IGT #36 Top 100 WS 2011 | WS93,WA92 | $34.99 | $22.99 | 34% |
| 12:00 am April-25 | White Cottage Estate ‘Risa’ Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 | $45.00 | $19.99 | 56% |
If you are not following Wine Til Sold Out – you really should, WTSO means real savings. Enjoy! Cheers!
Weekly Wine Quiz #13 – Wine as a Matter of Life and … Death
Continuing our historical angle, here is a new quiz for you. While reading a wine book, I was surprised to learn about harsh ways wine industry was using in order to promote itself. What do I mean by the harsh ways? So there was a town which enacted a law, requiring all households to plant and tend for grape vines. The penalty for not complying? Nothing less than “pain of death”! Don’t know about you, but that doesn’t sound pretty for me.
Anyway, would you care to guess which town was it?
Have a great long weekend! Cheers!
Wine, Pick Me Up, Please!
So you had a bad day at work. During the meeting, the boss kept giving you the look, you know, that one. Engineering just informed you that project delivery will be delayed [yet again] by 4 weeks, and you are the one to come up with the third(!) apology/excuse to the customer. And actually, this Sunday you will have to be on the plane, and it will be 3rd week in a row you have had to travel over the weekend and cancel all your plans. Is that bad enough, or do we need to throw in a flat tire and a speeding ticket on the way to work?
Okay, you arrive home in a sufficiently bad mood. Sit down, relax, and maybe put on some nice music (I don’t know about you, but Stan Getz, Frank Sinatra or Tony Bennett will fit the bill for me). Will a glass of wine help to cheer you up? Most probably. But what bottle should you open? If your answer is “the only one I already have”, this post might not help you much…
My wine teacher Kevin Zraly always said that “the wine should give you pleasure“. So another short answer would be “the one which will give you pleasure” – and what we need to keep in mind is that the wine I would enjoy immensely might be completely not your thing. Let’s put this aside, and let’s assume that I actually had a bad day at work. Well, it would be the easiest then to write this blog post empirically and emphatically, but I’m not sure that if I actually had a bad day at work, I would be able to write a good blog post, so … did I lose you yet? Let’s get back to the subject.
Here are three important criteria for selecting the “pick me up” wine. First, it should be an “instantly on” wine. What I mean is that the wine should be ready to drink as soon as the bottle is open. This will effectively exclude lots of big Italian wines, such as Barolo and Brunello, as well as many California Cabs (unless you have something aged to perfection in your cellar and it is actually ready to drink now) – anything which needs decanting or prolonged breathing time should be avoided here.
Then I would suggest that the wine should be familiar. It should be the wine you had before and you know how it will taste like. There is nothing wrong with opening a totally unknown bottle of wine, but – you are in a bad mood already, are you sure it is worth taking chances?
The last factor I want to throw in here – I want this wine to have a great smell. I think the “pick me up” process should start from the very first whiff of your glass, way before you take a first sip. Smell has a great power to transform your mood right away – and the great bonus or a great smell is that you can smell the wine indefinitely as opposed to drinking it.
Oh, wait, there is one more desired feature here – the wine should be good. In other words, it should give you pleasure. In my personal book it means that the wine should be balanced and as an added bonus, have a sense of place.
Let me give you some examples of wines that should be able to improve one’s mood (I’m sure they will work for me).
2010 Fiction Red Wine Paso Robles by Field Recordings. I talked about this magnificent wine a number of times already in this blog, so let me just quote myself: “First and foremost, it is a smell which doesn’t let you put the glass down. Fresh flowers, meadows, herbs, fresh summer air – it is all captured in the smell of this wine. On the palate, this wine shows bright red fruit, like raspberries and cherries, all perfectly balanced with great finesse. Any time you want to experience a beautiful summer day, reach out to that wine.”
Flora Springs Soliloquy Sauvignon Blanc 2009. “One of the very best California Sauvignon Blanc I ever had. Beautiful combination of traditional grassiness with fruit-forward and finesse. Outstanding!”
Rozes Over 40 Years Old Port. “My best port ever. I can close my eyes and imagine the smell and taste of this wine – multiple layers, tremendous complexity, and great opportunity to reflect on life when the finish lasts for 15 minutes or longer.”
2007 Inniskillin Cabernet Franc Icewine – “This was definitely the best Icewine I ever tried. Light and effervescent (not your usual descriptors for the icewine), with perfect acidity complementing beautiful fruit. A true masterpiece.“
There you have it – I’m sure either one of these wines will greatly improve your mood. However, there is an extremely good chance that any [your personal good] bottle of wine will help too. Besides, having a bad day at work is not at all mandatory to enjoy a glass of wine (or two). Tell me, what will be in your glass today? Cheers!
And The Answer For The Wine Quiz #12 Is…
It seems that lots pf people took study of Prohibition experiment very seriously, which is showing in the results of the Wine Quiz #12, The End of Prohibition. Correct answer is State of Utah, which had a [deciding?] Vote #36 which put an end to the Prohibition (note that both Ohio and Pennsylvania voted on the same day December 5, 1933, but Utah is listed as having the deciding vote).
Here is an answer to the quiz in the form of the picture, as the event was commemorated by High West distillery in Utah (I have to thank W. Blake Gray for this discovery of a great cocktail in a bottle):
You can read all about it on the side label:
Until the next time – Cheers!
Last Bottle Sign Up ($10 credit)
Talk-A-Vino 