Sunday, June 25, 2006

A Great Summer White


Here is a great summer white that I had recently. Let me introduce you to Las Brisas. She is from the Rueda region of Spain's 2004 vintage, and loves warm weather. She offers a wonderful dry, crisp acidity with flavors of pink grapefruit, green apple, pear, and a slight grassiness from the Sauvignon Blanc portion of the blend; the rest being made up of Verdejo. You can find this wine for under $10.00 and its a great choice if you want to try something new to cut through the humidity here in the South.
Cheers!

Monday, June 19, 2006

A nice beer to change things up!


At work I have been ordering in some new beers from a new distributor and have been having a great time trying some out on my very thirsty palate. It's always good to get away from the wine for a bit and get back to some good, tasty beer. I have a whole range of beers now from St Peter's Brewery in Suffolk, England and decided to go with this Old-Style Porter first. It's a good solid porter with some good smoky characters but a great refreshingly light finish. It reminds me of drinking Guinness in in Ireland. Guinness never tastes better than it does in Dublin where it is born from the river Liffey. It is crisp and very thirst quenching, like this St Peter's Porter. I enjoyed it very much and felt that the $3.99 I paid for the cool pint-size flask shaped bottle was a great deal.
I give it an A.

Edna Valley 2004 Chardonnay, Paragon, San Luis Obispo County

I realized after two nights of drinking red wines with what was clearly white wine affair, I needed to get some more whites in my wine rack. I went out and picked up some whites that were all under $10.00 and this was one of them. We enjoyed it with some chicken pasta a couple of nights ago. Try this recipe!

Color: Pale-straw yellow, still looks vibrant, long thin legs showing its high, 14% alcohol.
Nose: Some melon and peach aromas are pilfering through the intense coconut, vanilla and American oak.
Palate: The wine sits nice on the front palate and then gets hot and spicy on the way down from the high alcohol. It clearly has gone through malo-lactic fermentation because of the strong diacetyl, buttery character but the acidity is still sharp helping the wine to linger for a while.
Overall: A nice wine, normally $12.99 here in GA, I think it is a decent buy on sale under $10.00. The alcohol makes it a bit hot and makes it less food friendly than I would like but it has a good amount of buttery oak which makes it appealing to most California Chardonnay consumers. The above recipe should pair nicely though. I give it a B-

Monday, June 12, 2006

A new Corkscrew


I found this new Corkscrew a while back. It is from the Canard Rouge from France. Very well made and very stylish. A good Fathers Day gift if it's not too late. It's a nice stainless steel design that screws in on itself to become nice and small, great to slip into your pocket on your way to a party, or the park, or even the beach. Check out there site here.

Off to the "RICH COAST"

My Brother and his wife will be going to Costa Rica for a while. Check out their blog to learn why they are going. They will be there a while doing some good stuff. Hopefully they will be able to get there hands on some good vino while they are there. I just found out that travelers arriving in Costa Rica can bring in 500 cigarettes or 500 grams of tobacco and three liters of wine or spirits. So stock up guys! That should last about a week. Hey you even though you don't smoke you should take the cigs to trade other travelers who have wine =).

Cheers and Good luck Philip and Shannon!

Great new wine info site

Hey everyone, here is a good wine-education site. It is called Wine Compass and it has all sorts of useful wine information including weird varietals and appellation info too. Check it out.

Saturday, June 10, 2006

BV Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, 2001


BV has made a mark for itself by making a wine for every occasion and for every palate. I have enjoyed their value-oriented "BV Coastal" wines and have even been able to enjoy their flagship Georges De Latour Private Reserve Cab. They know how to make a wine that showcases true varietal character as well as terroir without breaking the bank.

I bought this Cab for $12.99 on sale from $16.99. I have to say, for $12.99 in GA I am pretty pleased.
Color: Good and dark with some hints of age. It just about to hit its mid-40's in human terms. Not old, but just fealing it a bit in the knees.
Nose: Good fruit backbone showing black cherry and plum. Vanilla mocha comes through with a hint of herbaciousness.
Palate: Nice structure with a long finish. Tannins still sticking around after five years but the mid palate is falling apart slightly. Still, very tasty and a great value.
I give it a B

Sunday, June 04, 2006

Fonty's Pool Pinot Noir, 2004, Pemberton


I enjoyed this wine last week at a tasting put on by one of my distributors. It retails for about $18.00. When the rep came to me with the wine I was not expecting much in the way of a good Pinot. I mean, Australia doesn't really have a name for elegant wines of Burgundian style. However, I was pleasantly corrected in my thinking by this wine. Fonty's Pool is from Pemberton in Western Australia, all the way across the country from where they make those ultra-ripe high alcohol fruit bombs. That's basically like expecting the same wine coming from California and New York. Anyway, this wine made my head turn. For $18.99 in Georgia I enjoyed it more than many of the $30-$40 Pinots I have had. It is more on the Burgundian side of Pinot Noir thanks to the winemaker Ely Jarvis. It is a joint venture of a famous WA Winery, Cape Mentelle where Ely also works. The color is a dark cherry red. Aromas of forest floor, mushroom, and an undertone of ripe strawberry fill the glass and the wine sits nice and full on the palate with a solid, long finish. It has become one of my favorite Pinot Noirs in the Set and its from AUSTRALIA!
I give it a A.