Thursday, January 19, 2006


d'Arenberg, McLaren Vale, The Hermit Crab 2004 Viognier Marsanne
~$16.00

You gotta love the Aussies and their blends. This blend is supposed to be the counterpart to the famous Shiraz-Grenache from the same label. I got this wine from a friend and decided to have it last night with some Thai. It didn't pair too well with dinner because it was just too big and hot. The alcohol is a whopping 14.5% and you can feel all of it. I am glad I made my notes before dinner. High alcohol wines just don't go with spicy foods.

Color: golden straw
Nose: This wine has a good amount of oak on the nose, and a sharp mineral note. Honeysuckle and orange also make a presence as the wine opens up more.
Palate: This is one of those wines that tingle on your palate when you leave it sitting there for a few seconds. While the alcohol is doing backflips on your tongue, the other thing you notice is a good amount of acidity which makes the wine a bit more refreshing to drink. The oak comes through in the finish and length is nice and long.
Overall: This wine is not really my style but I know a lot of people come into my store looking for a wine just like this. It definitely has its place on the shelf with the rest of the aussie blends.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Check this Out!

So I found the "best blonde joke ever" , and I thought that my you all would enjoy it. It takes a while for some to understand, but once you do, it is really quite funny.

Cheers!

Thursday, January 12, 2006

What does it take to get an "A" grade?

There is a reason why I brake my reviews up into three categories: Color, Nose, and Palate. To me these are the factors that best showcase a great wine. If the wine I am drinking does not have an acceptable color, then it goes down a notch. If the nose on the wine shows some off aromas like sulfer, vegative characters, or heaven forbid, vinegar characters, it will lose quite a few points in my book. And most import the palate. I used to be more of a nose kind of a guy. The nose did it for me. But after a while, you understand that a wine can have a great nose but if the palate doesn't do it for you, it is sooo disapointing. That's what happened tonight.

Barons De Rothschild Pauillac, Reserve Speciale, 2001

I bought this wine along with 21 other bottles from a shop that's closing down. I sell it at my shop for $22 and bought it marked down for $13. Being from the Pauillac region of Bordeaux, the wine is mostly Cabernet Sauvignon although varying amounts of Merlot, Cab Franc, and Petite Verdot are also allowed. The wine has a wonderful nose full of leather and berries at first then opens to something like a greenhouse garden of flowers. Very nice. The palate is a bit weak with a quick finish but good acidity. We found that when we got into are meal of Cottage Pie, it was much more enjoyable on the palate working with other flavors. Overall, its a good wine, I am glad a paid $13 instead of $22 though. I give it a B-

Saturday, January 07, 2006


Purple Lips Trivia!

The first person to answer the following question correctly will receive a coffee table book of Napa Valley Wineries via U.S. Postal.

What are the 13 grape varieties allowed in Chateauneuf-du-Pape?

Contest will run until January 14th, if no one wins, a post of the answer and other interesting details of the region will follow.

d.o.


Here's a Quicky.

Rosenblum Cellars California Zinfandel Vintners Cuvee XXVIII
~$10.00

I decided to give this a try because I have heard many good things about Rosenblum and their "Rockpile Zinfandel" made the top 100 for W.S. What a great value wine. For only $10 you get a full bodied Zin with lots of powerful berry fruit and a smokey note. It has a long finish and a pretty good balance between body, tannin, and acidity

I give it a B+ for value

Thursday, January 05, 2006


McManis Pinot Grigio, 2004, California
~$9.00

I got this wine from one of my distributors today and I thank him kindly, It was a great wine. I made a nice rice and chicken dinner with a sauce of orange peel and and tarragon and it went great with the wine. The wine maker is none other than Jeff Runquist who made the #1 wine of the 2005 San Francisco chronicle wine tasting(Petite Sirah, Salman Vineyard, Clarksburg appellation).

Color: Light straw color with a brilliance
Nose: It has a nice creamy orange character with tropical flavors and an interesting aroma of candied banana. This is usually a yeast characteristic from a warm and happy fermentation.
Palate: Soft acidity with and a viscosity covering the palate and a citrus, lemon drop character on the way down.
Overall: I am not a connoisseur of Pinot Grigio but this was great especially for the price I paid for it(nothing) but also a great value at $9.00. I give it a B+, there's lots of it around.

Monday, January 02, 2006

Wine blogging Wednesday #17

Since this is my first WBW, I will explain to my readers what it entails. Every month or so one wine blogger picks a WBW theme and everyone chooses a wine that fits the theme and posts it for discussion. Its a great idea and helps people learn what's out there in the world of wine. The current theme is New Zealand Reds brought to us by The Cork Dork where you can check out other entries too. The wine I have chosen is a Pinot Noir from the Central Otago region. I know, not very imaginative, but the wine makes up for it.

Rowland, Central Otago Pinot Noir, Wild Thyme Vineyard, 2003
~$25.00

I cooked up some pork chops and mushrooms to serve with this wine and they paired beautifully. Pinot Noir is tough for me because I think that you have to spend a fair amount of money to get anything interesting so because of my budget I usually get disappointed with the varietal although this wine was awesome for $25 and reminded me why I love Pinot Noir when I can find a nice one.
Color: Dark ruby purple with clean sharp edges.
Nose: Classic New World Pinot Noir up front, with some earthy old world lingering after it opens up a bit. Strong cherry and pipe tobacco and lots of ripe fruit and slight crushed pepper aroma with sweet oak. After about a half hour some darker aromas of damp earth and mushrooms came into the mix with a little kick of ground anise.
Palate: Smooth tannin, not too extracted, with some spice on the way down. Very balanced and mouthfilling with the sweet oak and coffee liqueur adding viscosity to the mix.
Overall: I really, really, really, enjoyed this wine over the course of our meal and afterwards the wine changed, providing new flavors to think about. It is a talking wine that kept conversation at the table and not wandering to the TV, office, or other anti-social behavior. This kind of wine makes tasting with others a lot of fun. I give it an A.

Sunday, January 01, 2006

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a great New Years and you all got home safe not driving through traffic circles like someone in my neighborhood did. I had a long day at work and decided to stay home for the evening and then Ana convinced me to at least take her out to dinner which was ok except that the cheapest glass of wine was a KJ Chardonnay at $9 per glass, that's ridiculous. I decided to enjoy my water and enjoy the wine when we got home. So, we got home, watched a couple of movies and waited for the New Year to come and then danced to John Lennon singing Imagine. What wonderful words to bring in 2006 with. If only they would be realized by 2007.


Roederer Estate, Anderson Valley Brut
~$20.00

Anderson Valley is the place for Sparkling Wine according to Louis Roederer which is why he built a winery there to add to his portfolio of Champagne houses in France.

Color: Nice crisp straw color with fine bubbles dispersing evenly.
Nose: Green apple and grapefruit
Palate: Obviously bubbly, with lots of acidity that became a bit much by the end of the bottle.
Overall: If you can't tell from the above notes, I had a lot to drink last night and didn't write any notes down. Also, I am not the connoisseur of sparkling wines. I tend to think that the bubbles take a lot of the interesting flavors away. Anyhow, I did enjoy the evening with this wine and the price isn't bad either. I give it a B

So what did you drink last night? I would love to hear about what Sparkling or Champagne you had in the comments section of this blog.