Not all French wine is good. This wine smells like bad asparagus. Also, it tastes like bad asparagus. I don’t even like asparagus to begin with, so this likely isn’t the wine for me.

This is a Rhone white blend, so I assumed I would like it. But actually, not so much. It’s a blend of Grenache Blanc (60%), Viognier (20%), and Roussanne (10%). I don’t know that I’ve ever had Grenache Blanc before, and Viognier is hit or miss with me. From some quick Googling, it seems like the red was a bit more well-received than the white.

It looks like this wine runs from around $13 - $17, and for that price, lots of other better possibilities exist. I snagged this bottle from work, and I’m not really sure I can even drink one glass.

I had this wine at two completely unrelated events this week, so it’s not as though I didn’t give it a chance. At the first event, I was suspicious. Typical California Chardonnay is not my favorite. But I figured I should at least taste it. As it turns out the typicalness was not its problem. It smelled terrible. It tasted terrible. It’s not that it was overwhelmingly buttery and oaky– it just had a bit of butter in the finish and a touch of oak in the middle. I just didn’t like it at all. I switched to the red (that was very good, although I can’t seem to remember at the moment was it was — possibly because I had four glasses). When I was at a different event later in the week and came across the same way, I thought I’d give it another try. This time, P. wouldn’t even taste it after he smelled my glass.

But I don’t know. Apparently Wine Enthusiast called the 2002 “crowd-pleasing”, so maybe I just have odd taste in wine. I am drinking an Austrian white right now that Kieca might call “awesome”, so I’ll try to write that up soon so it doesn’t seem like I hate everything.

It’s nice to try two wines side by side. I seem to really be able to tell a lot more about a wine when compared to another. I first tried the Barrelstone Syrah (Columbia Valley; WE 86 points) on a flight not too long ago. I thought it was fairly tasty, but I must admit that I was heavily under the influence of anxiety-calming Xanax at the time. I saw it in the store the other day at around $10, and I thought I’d try it again. We also had a bottle of 2002 Sandrone Luciano Barbera D’Alba open (appears to be around $25), a gift from a friend.

When I tasted the Sandrone by itself, I liked it. It had great vanilla undertones and oakiness that wasn’t too woody. But once I tasted it next to the Syrah, I liked it even more. The Syrah was inoffensive, but drinking it next to the Sandrone, I could more easily tell that the flavor didn’t stand up. It had no complexity, wouldn’t age, and was watered down compared to the fuller, layered range of the Sandrone (blackberry, toast).

So, the tale ends thusly: the Barrelstone is drinkable and not at all a bad tasting wine for $10, but if you have both choose from, go with the Sandrone.

I should preface this by saying P. and I really don’t like Silver Lake. We have been to their tasting room several times (once to try it, and a couple more times with visitors who wanted to check it out), and each time we’ve been there, we’ve barely been able to get through the tasting.

P.’s parents were big fans of Silver Lake before they tried the wine. Some friends of theirs are shareholders, which sounds pretty cool except once you start reading the fine print, it sounds just like belonging to a wine club other than it costs a lot more and also you can get personalized business cards.

Anyway, they were all excited about trying it until we brought them to the tasting room.

When they came out for Christmas, they met up with their shareholder friends, who gave them this bottle of 2002 Merlot. They promptly regifted it to us.

When I got home tonight, P. had opened it. I don’t know what he was thinking. He poured me a glass. I gave it a swirl and a sniff. It had aromas of Welch’s grape juice with undertones of dirt. Seriously. I tasted it. It tasted like stems. If I were being generous, I might say it was woody, but that implies flavor nuances from aging in oak, and I mostly tasted stems. I could tell there was a bit of fruit underneath, trying to get out, but it was way too faint.

I’m thinking this wine will never balance. The fruit will completely fade away before the tannins calm down. And anyway, I don’t even think young tannins are the problem with this wine. It’s the stems.

P. couldn’t even drink a second glass. That’s how you can really know it’s bad because you would think he came from the depression with how much he can’t waste anything. We’ll see if he tries it again tomorrow.

So, I’m drinking this wine right now. I never drink New Zealand wine, so I’ve been trying to seek it out. I found this at Safeway, so I’m sure it’s not exotic or anything. Anyway.

I have a cold, so I could be way off here. But it smells like asparagaus. And also, it tastes mostly like asparagus. Supposedly, it has a racy acidity (warning: PDF). But I would call it a “slight” acidity.

It looks like you can get it for as little as $10 (I think I paid a bit more than that, sadly), but I don’t know that it’s worth it, really.

I haven’t made many original recipes lately. I’ve been starting work at about 7am most days, and by 7 or 8 at night when I finally get out of the office, I’m more hungry than creative.

This week, has mostly been Italian. So much for low-fat cooking.

A few nights ago, I made three Rachel Ray recipes. Say what you want about her, when it’s 8pm and you need to stop at the grocery store on the way home to pick up ingredients and you’re going to have to work some more after dinner, the thought of a 30 minute meal is a pretty good one.

I made Florentine meatballs, Papa al Pomodoro and onion tartlets.

I didn’t veer too much from the recipes, although I spiced up the meatballs a little more and used fat-free milk and fresh provolone in the sauce. For the soup, I used cannellini beans, even though she specifically says to use something smaller, mostly because the lame Safeway by my house didn’t have any smaller beans. Tomato sauce, bread, and parmesan cheese? There’s no way to go wrong with that. I made the tartlets with french bread, rather than white, which worked out pretty well. I used about half as much cheese as the recipe called for though. A pound of cheese! I love cheese more than most people, but seriously, that’s a lot of cheese.

Then the next night, I made some angel hair pasta and pesto and some garlic bread, but I also tried the malfatti recipe from Accidental Hedonist. Oh Kate. It sounded so good. And I made it so badly. My dumplings fell completely apart when I tried to boil them. I know that she warns of that and cautions of less-than-dry spinach. I guess that could have been my problem, although I had a bad experience with watery spinach and ham lasagna years ago, which has served as a cautionary tale ever since. I wring out my spinach and wring it out some more and then I bake it in the sun and leave it in the sauna for a while. The problem might have been the ricotta. I used a combination of really good (and dry) ricotta, and some low-fat (somewhat watery) ricotta. I should never try to go low-fat with cheese.

I fished out my watery spinach and drained it on paper towels. It tasted OK with the quick tomato sauce I threw together. But it sure wasn’t as good as Kate described it. I’ve just never been able to make dumplings of any kind. I’ll have to keep trying.

The tomato sauce was easy. I softened up a chopped onion and some minced garlic in olive oil, and added some salt and pepper, red pepper flakes, dried basil and oregano. Then I deglazed the pan with some red wine, added a 15 oz can of tomato sauce and a 6 oz can of tomato paste. I simmered it for about 20 minutes and added a splah of red wine vinegar. I normally would have used diced tomatoes, but tomato sauce was what I had on hand.

We had all this with a 95 Terra Blanca cab. We were at the Terra Blanca winery over labor day weekend (we’re big fans of the late harvest gewurtz). We tried the 2001 Red Mountain cab, which was really good, and the Onyx blend, which was even better. We snagged a few bottles of the Onyx, but we ended up with a case of the 95 cab. It generally sells for $25 a bottle, but we got a case for $75 because sadly, it’s peaked. It still has aromas that give you a hint of how flavorful it used to be, but the taste has faded. But it’s still a great tasting wine at $75 a case. (It’s a pretty poor wine for $25 a bottle though.)

Believe it or not, I have cooked things and eaten them in the last month, but first, what I’ve been drinking lately.

Tonight, it’s margaritas, unsurprisingly enough. We’re grilling up our own grilled stuffed burritos, along with Spanish rice and Spanish potatoes. And by “Spanish”, I mean, assuredly like nothing you’d find in Spain, but I’m throwing in lots of onion and garlic and oregano and cumin tomatoes and saying “hola” a lot. Also, after I cooked up the onions and garlic and poblano pepper for the rice, I deglazed the pan with tequila. Surely that counts for something.

Speaking of margaritas, we were at the liquor store yesterday and we noticed that our favorite tequila (El Tesoro anejo) was marked “close out”. We asked the cashier: close out? Surely that doesn’t mean you’re not going to carry it anymore. He told us yes, that once it was gone, it was gone. I turned to P. “We should buy more. The rest they have. I’m not even kidding.” I wasn’t even kidding. I’m still thinking of going back. Not tonight, obviously, as our state-run liquor is not available for purchase on Sundays. I wonder how many I can find…

Yesterday, we were helping a friend work on his house, so obviously, we were drinking beer. Later, he made us “vampire kisses”, which were 2 parts vodka, 1 part chambord, and a splash of cranberry juice. I highly recommend them. For dessert, we had Godiva chocolate liqueur and cream. And also vanilla ice cream topped with both the Godiva liqueur and Bailey’s. Also highly recommended. (Also, we ate Chinese food, in case you were thinking we just drank our dinner. Which we only did sort of.)

Friday, I was at my work’s corporate office and of course there was beer as it was Friday afternoon. When I’m sitting out on the patio, drinking a beer, soaking up the sun, I wonder why I don’t head over to work more often.

Thursday night, also at work, I spent the evening on another patio, this time with Clos du Bois Merlot. By the time we got to the two buck chuck Chardonnay, I thought it tasted OK. I mean, not good or anything. I wasn’t that drunk

Wednesday night was also Merlot. Francis Coppola. My hotel room had a gift basket with a half bottle in it. I don’t normally drink Merlot, but I thought both of these were pretty tasty. Not super complex and intriguing and the best wines ever. But tasty and drinkable

I probably wouldn’t drink that two buck chuck again. Well, not if it was my first glass anyway.

We picked up this wine in January of 2004 at the Bonny Doon tasting room. That was when we were just barely getting into wine and hadn’t even heard of Bonny Doon. I think Kieca suggested we stop by there when we were out in the area, doing some tastings.

We barely ever have Zin. I’m not sure why except we seem to mostly have Northwest wines, which doesn’t seem to include much Zin. We should drink it more often if much of it tastes like this wine. We both really liked it (which doesn’t always happen — a few nights about, we had a Pinot Gris that I really liked and P. pronounced “ass”).

You can read some reviews of it at Bonny Doon. It’s very berry, spice, and vanilla. Almost no tannins. According to winegeeks, it’s around $22.

Oh, and it’s screw top. Which means I didn’t accidentally get cork bits in the wine like I normally do.

I used this in the Manicotti I made the other night, and we drank the rest with the meal.

It smelled great, but then I generally really like the aroma of Syrahs. It had a nose of blueberry and cherry. It tasted toasty and spicy, which muted the fruitiness of the palate. It had a long, nice finish. P. said it was “chewy” and “chunky”, which was his way of saying it seemed to have been aged in new oak. At 14.1% alchohol, this isn’t a timid wine, but it’s not overpowering. It was great with (and in!) the manicotti.

From the winemaker:

distinguished by dark complex fruit aromas of fig, black cherry, and rasberry with spice notes of cinnamon, clove, and a hint of cedar in the backround. The wine is substantial in the mouth but remains well-balanced. It finishes with subtle chocolate notes from the barrel.

Aged for 22 months in 34% new French and 53% new American oak barrels, and 13% older French and American oak. 3,000 cases produced.

Herb pairings: basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary

As for price? wine.com has the 2001 for $32.99, discounted to $24.99. I’m not sure what we paid for this 2002. I think we got it as part of a wine club selection.

Restaurant Wine gave it a score of 4.0:

Excellent: supple and intensely fruity (nearly sweet to the taste); a full bodied wine which is long and persistent on the finish. It tastes of blueberry, pepper, lavender, toast, and plum

If you like toasty Syrahs, this one is worth checking out. (However, I don’t know that I would seek it out solely for the “subtle chocolate notes” as those are quite subtle indeed.)

A couple of Friday afternoons ago at work, we had a wine and cheese tasting. A couple of coworkers came up with some great pairings and some really interesting wines.

Fromage with Ken Forrester Petit Chenin 2004
This Chenin Blanc ($9) is from the Stellenbosch region of South Africa. I was excited to try a South African white wine, since my only other experience with South African wine was for Wine Blogging Wednesday, when Cook Sister gave lots of great information about South African wines.

It was very tart and acidic. My first thought was green apple, although I’m not sure if that’s quite right. Definitely fruity. Wine Spectator gave the 2003 87 points.

Rich and forward, this plump Chenin sports honey, nectarine and star fruit flavors, with a full, round texture and finish. Lacks Chenin’s bracing edge, but solid.

Wine Squire found it to taste more the way I found it (maybe the 2004 is fairly different from the 2003?):

Yet another fine example of what Chenin Blanc can become as interpreted through South African terroir. A bright, crisp spring and summer quaffer! Aromas of orange blossoms, key lime zest, and watermelon rind transform into clean flavors of young apricots, kumquats and straw with a citrus zingy acidity. Great for grilled seafood, fava bean salads and light poultry dishes.

Cantal with Vila Marija Pinot Grigio
This was my first experience with Slovenian wine. Slovania is very near Italy (in fact, one of the write ups I found for this winemaker situated the vineyards in Italy) and some of the vineyards are quite old.

I found out some information about this wine ($10) here. And I found a cached page from the Athens Banner Herald that:

The Vila Marija Pinot Grigio 2003 is not subtle and creamy on the palate as is the previous wine. Instead, it screams volumes from the glass as it is poured. By its color and concentration, one can see this is no ordinary Pinot Grigio. This wine is fresh and vibrant yet golden in color, atypical for young Pinot Grigio. Cool and fresh aromas of lemon, pineapple, orange and tangerine literally scale the inside slopes of the glass and scream, “I am no overwrought insipid white wine, I am what Pinot Grigio can be.”

These mesmerizing, crystalline flavors of pure fruit, bright sunshine, cool winds and glacial soils are captured solely by fermentation and bottled only in minute amounts.

And I found out a little more about Slovenian wine here:

Slovenia, a winemaking region since Roman times, is wedged between Austria and Croatia, sharing smaller borders with Hungary and Italy. It is along that Italian border, just north of Slovenia’s tiny seacoast on the Adriatic, that father Mirko and son Ales Kristancic make their marvelous Movia and Vila Marija wines.

If you like Italian whites but are looking for something a little different, give Slovenian wine a try! (My coworkers got this wine at Whole Foods, so it’s readily available.) We had with cantal cheese, which is a French cow’s milk cheese.

Ossau with Tres Ojos Old Vine Garnacha 2003
This Italian Grenache (about $9) comes from 50ish old vines and is aged in steel vats for 12 months. It’s spicy and fruity with hints of rasberry and pepper. Wine Advocate gives it 87 points. We had it with Ossau cheese.

St. Agur with Block 45 Petit Syrah
This California wine is, according to Whole Foods, “full-flavored with spice, blueberry and plum on the palate, finishing as smooth and polished as you would expect. ” We tasted it with St. Agur blue cheese from France. This was a fantastic pairing.

Parrano with Memo Sangiovese
This Italian wine (about $10) is very fruit-forward , which makes it a great pairing with the parrano.

A few weeks ago, when we were at Cafe Juanita, we asked our exceptional waiter about a particular wine we saw on the wine list. It was by Bastianich, from the Friuli region of Italy. The wine was called Vespa and was a white blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay with a bit of late harvest Picolit. We hadn’t tried a lot of either Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay from Italy, but we do especially like wines from the Friuli region. Our waiter highly recommended it and said it was one of his favorites of the whites on the list. We tried it and found it to be excellent. We were with P.’s parents, who are generally not white wine drinkers, and they loved it as well. It was so crisp and refreshing and different.

As we were nearing the end of that bottle, we started looking over the wine list again, and the waiter suggested that we try the Bastianich Vespa Rosso. It’s a blend of Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Refosco. Trying the same wine in a red sounded like a fine idea, so we took him up on it. We were very glad we did. It was perfect with food: smooth with a long finish and not at all bitter or overpowering. It didn’t compete for attention but was a wonderful complement.

Apparently, both are blends of finished wines — that is, blends combined after fermentation.

The waiter wrote the information down for me, along with the name of the local distributor (Chosen Grapes). Here are some information I found about these wines. I would provide more of my own tasting notes, but that dinner was several weeks ago, and the details have faded.

Bastianich produces wine in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region (where one of our favorite wine producers, Silvio Jermann grows wine). The Bastianichs are not from Italy, but rather Manhattan, although they visit often to oversee operations. Joseph Bastianich is the son of TV chef Lidia Bastianich and is a partner of Mario Batali. You can read more about him in Food & Wine.

The Bianco is their flagship wine, with all grapes picked by hand. Each varietal is aged in both stainless steel and barrels (by some reports, half and half), and then once combined, aged another 18 months in the bottle before release. blanchards.net says:

The result is an extraordinary white wine with great depth and a creamy mouthfeel: rich, but not at all heavy or over the top. In fact, this was plainly designed, as the best wines are, to accompany food, not to overpower it. Sublime with any seafood!

The winelist of trattoriadelia says:

This flagship wine became the youngest white vintage to be awarded Gambero Rosso’s Tre Bicchieri. A blend of Chardonnay, Sauvignon and Picolit, aromas of wildflowers, clover, honey and mature pear fruit, well-balanced mineral and citrus, barrel aged, full, rich and complex with a stunning finish; to be enjoyed throughout a meal.

The Rosso is the estate red. These grapes are also hand picked, then aged in new French oak barrels for 18 months, and then another year in the bottle. I couldn’t find good tasting notes on the Rosso, which means that I need to try it again soon and write some up.

During my Googling, I ran across some notes from my friend Kieca, who noted (of the Bianco), “named “Vespa” because when harvesting they had a wasp attack and the winemaker or someone got eight wasp bites and the wine was named Vespa because that is what he would have needed to get away (Vespa is also Italian for “wasp”) almost buttery finish but very well-integrated and well-done.” (The Internet is such a small place.)

It looks like the Bianco retails for around $26 and the Rosso retails around $34.

I don’t know how this happened, but I haven’t participated in Wine Blogging Wednesday since #7. I decided I should make up for some lost time by tasting two wines for #12, the theme of which is “drink local”.

I wasn’t sure how I would pick the closest. I am lucky enough to live just a couple of miles from Woodinville, WA, where a number of wineries have set up shop. Granted, you’ll mostly only find vanity vineyards there, as most of the grapes are grown in Eastern Washington, but I don’t think there are vineyards any closer. The tricky part was figuring out which Woodinville winery was closest.

In the end, I went with what was available. I didn’t want to get wine from Chateau Ste. Michelle or Columbia, because although that would be holding to the letter of the theme, it wouldn’t really be keeping with the spirit of it. I wouldn’t be discovering anything new.

I was a little cautious about what I might find though. A few weeks ago, P.’s parents were visiting, and we took them around to some of the Woodinville tasting rooms. At every tasting, they said, this is pretty good wine! And we said, eh, it’s OK. And then we took them to Chateau Ste. Michelle, where we picked up our wine club selections and tasted them, and they said, oh, this is much, much better. I know that mass-produced wine that is meant to appeal to the widest possible audience tends to be uninteresting and unappetizing, but mostly Chateau Ste. Michelle knows how to create quality wines, especially in their single-vineyards and limited editions.

In any case, I stopped by my local wine shop and asked about Woodinville wines. They had eight or so brands represented, and not a Columbia or Chateau Ste. Michelle to be found. I appreciated that, since you can get those wines in any grocery store in town. The little guys need some help.

Choosing a wine was a little tricky. I wanted a white and a red. The wine shop only had two whites, and both were Sauvignon Blanc. One was from the generic “Columbia Valley”, which basically means “grapes found throughout Washington, in one place or another”. The other was from a single vineyard in Red Mountain. I find many Sauvignon Blancs to be a bit bland, but I was willing to give it a shot. As for reds, he suggested a Cab blend and I asked about tannins. He admitted that yes, the wine would be a bit better if I laid it down for a few years. Huh. I explained that I needed to drink it a bit sooner than that. He said that my best bet from what he had available was a Claret.

JM Klipsun Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc (Red Mountain) 2004 ($18)
Klipsun vineyard supplies wine to many wineries, including JM Cellars. The tasting notes from the winery are:

The fifth vintage of this special wine from what many consider to be Washington’s premier vineyard (one of the 25 best vineyards in the world according to Wine & Sprits), located in the Red Mountain appellation. Paul Gregutt (wine editor for Seattle Times & Wine Enthusiast) chose the 2003 vintage as one of his top Washington wines of the year. Blended with 5% Semillon, our Sauvignon Blanc is crisp and dry, showing aromas and flavors of apple, pear and anise. Excellent with shellfish or grilled halibut. (Release Date: June 4, 2005; 200 cases produced).

I wanted to like this wine. It sounds like it should be good. But really, it was kind of bland. Unoffensive, unobtrusive, but lacking in flavor. It was crisp and dry, although the aroma and flavors were hard to find. The finish was a little bitter. It was very pale in color and that paleness seemed to permeate the wine’s character. Probably it’s better with food. P. didn’t really like it much either, and mixed himself a margarita and wandered off.

Matthews Claret (Columbia Valley) 2002 ($25)
This wine from Matthews Cellars had a stronger aroma than the white. It had hints of blueberry and cherry, so I was eager to taste it. The winemaker’s notes are:

Winemakers in Bordeaux select lots for the ‘Chateau Grand Cru’ during and following fermentation. The leftover picks are often blended together and referred to as a Claret. These wines are typically aged in once or twice used French Oak barrels for a period of 12-14 months, rather than 22-24 months, as are premium ‘Grand Cru’ wines.

The lots chosen for the Matthews Claret resulted in a wine containing 52% Merlot, 44% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Cabernet Franc and 1% Malbec. Blended in January of 2003, the wine was then placed in French Oak barrels previously used for aging the 2000 Yakima Valley Red Wine. Following the fourteen months in barrel, this wine was bottled unfiltered and lightly fined in order to soften any harsh tannin.

Huh. Nothing there about the taste. And oddly, there wasn’t much taste at all. It had a little spice and was a little chewy. I can’t really explain how it seemed chewy without having overwhelming tannins, but it did (although that was unfiltered might explain it). It had a nice long finish, which made me wish I had more taste in the actual, well, taste. Do I have to even say that P. didn’t really like it? I liked this one better than the white though.

Unfortunately, I didn’t discover any new and wonderful local wines, but I have plenty more to try, so I’m not giving up yet. I wonder if part of the problem is that both wineries seem to buy their grapes, rather than grow them, so they don’t have control over that part of the process. (In fact, I notice that Matthews Cellars also has a Klipsun Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc. It would be interesting to see if it is very different from JM’s.)

Update: We had the red again last night. In fact, P. who is not much of a red wine drinker, went right past the white to the Claret, so it was pretty obvious which one he had preferred. It was better the second day, after a bit of aeration, and with food (I know it is summer and definitely not Thanksgiving, but I made some turkey breast, stuffing, and mashed potatoes). Still not a “wow that was a fantastic wine”, but definitely better than my original impression led me to believe.

I love this wine. This was the Chardonnay that helped us realize that all Chardonnays weren’t in the typical California style. Before we tried this one, we just thought Chardonnays were full of butter and oak inherently. After we tried this wine at the Herbfarm in January, we went to our local wine store and picked up several bottles.

Last night, we had the last bottle. You should really try it. It’s wonderful.

I like this one a little more than the 2003, which I liked a lot. It’s very tart and acidic, and seems to be better with food than on its own. It has a nice finish, so the wine starts brightly and ends on a smooth, mellow note.

On the 4th, we had only gotten the kitchen unpacked. We have our priorities. We barbecued Kobe beef (sirloin and NY strip), seasoned with salt and pepper and grilled on each side for just a couple of minutes. It was pretty good, but not as good as Kobe that we’ve had in restaurants (or, for that matter, Kobe burgers that we’ve grilled ourselves). But still, really really good.

P. made a balsamic reduction for them. I’m not sure exactly how he made it, but I think he sauted some garlic, shallots, and mushrooms in butter, then added balsamic vinegar and let that simmer and reduce for a while (45 minutes?). Possibly there was more to it than that. A friend of mine is about to publish her second cookbook and we talked about adding a few of our recipes to it, including that one. Which means P. will have to write it down and then I’ll know for sure.

We also made twice baked potatoes. I basically followed the Joy of Cooking recipe. I noticed a variation that used bacon and pepperjack cheese. I decided to use some of the wild boar bacon we had. I also used butter, buttermilk, sour cream, green onions and possibly a few other things I’m forgetting. But I’m sure you have the cookbook, so no need to repeat it all here.

I made some cauliflower, baked in a cheese sauce, also from the Joy of Cooking. I would recommend doubling the sauce. I used one head of cauliflower and it was a little dry. Very tasty though.

We tossed together a salad with lots of greens and veggies and that balsamic viniagrette that I like to make and that I make differently every time. (Mostly it’s balsamic, olive oil, garlic, shallots, citrus juice, salt and pepper, honey, and honey mustard.)

We made some bruschetta with goat cheese from Quickies for Couples. We had that out on the deck before dinner with some cheeses, breads, crackers, sausages, and mustards. Oh, and margaritas. We could have just had a full dinner of that.

I made up a dressing I found in Sunset magazine (a magazine from which I will make every recipe listed as to recoup my investment as I realized only as the cashier was ringing it up that it was $9.99. $9.99 for a magazine!) with olive oil, mustard, shallots, garlic, thyme, and other sundry spices that I brushed on sliced summer squash, red onions, and grape tomatoes and then skewered. We grilled these along with some corn on the cob that P. brushed with some type of melted butter concoction and then wrapped in foil.

We had some Chateau Ste. Michelle Eroica Riesling and then some of their limited edition 2002 Sangiovese. Eroica is our favorite Riesling, and this was the last of our 2002. The Sangiovese was great with the steak.

We also made a lemon meringue pie (also from Quickies for Couples, but we were way too full to eat any of it.

We had this Australian Shiraz last night with spaghetti that I threw together with some random vegetables and ground turkey. P. even liked it and as I’ve mentioned here many times, he very rarely likes reds. It had very low tannins, and was fairly light and fruity. It also had a pretty high alcohol content (14.5%). We still drank the entire bottle between the two of us.

It’s not at all an overpowering wine, so it matched very well with food. I picked this up a while back, because I wanted to check out Shiraz from the Barossa Valley. I don’t remember how much I paid, and I admit, when I opened it last night and saw that it was a screw top, I hesitated. Was this something I got for $4 at Trader Joe’s? But then I tasted it and remembered that a cork is not the only indicator of quality. (Looking online now, it seems to go for about $18 - $23.)

Here are some reviews:

wineanorak.com

Ripe, smooth sweetness to the nose, which is quite aromatic. Lovely purity of fruit on the palate with good intensity. Good acidity and quite elegant. Very good/excellent 90/100

winewarehouse:

asting this wine. Blind perhaps you would think it was a top Crozes Hermitage, but why take away from the brilliance of Australian Shiraz. This wine is fantastic with cool, dark berry fruit and peppery spice. An elegant wine.

And Robert Parker has weighed in as well.

Light, fruity, nicely balanced. And screw top convenience. Good stuff.

We’re not really sure where this wine came from. We must have picked it up somewhere, although probably not from a random trip to the grocery store, because we never get Chardonnay that way. It’s just not an impulse purchase for us. We didn’t visit the winery either. Maybe this was from a wine tasting at a wine shop? No idea. Generally, we remember how we came to own wines, but maybe this means we’ve accrued a few too many bottles. Is there any such thing as a “few too many?” Surely not.

In any case, we could tell this wine was made in the style of the typical California Chardonnay (although it hails from Washington), but it wasn’t over the top buttery or oaky. It had nice acidity to balance it out. Probably this is why we got it. We tasted it somewhere and thought, “this isn’t bad for a Chardonnay” (before we knew that there are other kinds of Chardonnay than the oak and butter kind). It had a slightly metallic undertone, but not anything like the Poet’s Leap Riesling did. It simply added to the complexity of flavors rather than made the wine taste like a tin can.

I’m finally beginning to understand how the winemaking process affects the wine. As for this one?

Clear-settled juice was put into a combination of new and used French oak barrels. After fermentation, the wine remained in the barrel “Sur Lee” and was stirred frequently for a ten month period. Ninety percent (90%) malolactic fermentation was attained. A final blend was made that eliminated any barrels that did not contribute to the ideal cuvee.

Northwest Wine says:

Smoky oak aromas with right-on acids make this a delicious and delightful wine that would be an excellent accompaniment with a variety of seafood or creamy chicken dishes… The rich wine has an attractive golden hue in the glass and a complex array of aromas including citrus, honey, spice, pineapple and sweet oak. Upon sipping, the wine lingers on the palate with food-friendly acidity and a round, buttery texture, the flavors following from the bouquet.

And what does Apex winery have to say?

From the beginning, the concept behind Apex wine has been to produce a limited quantity of reserve wines so special and so outstanding that they represent the ultimate in winemaking, “ne plus ultra.” … The commitment to exceptional quality for making wines of this caliber begins in the vineyards. Winemaker Brian Carter works with the growers to select the most promising vines and to make sure they produce exceptional grapes. The process continues through every step of the winemaking process, including aging for an extended period in oak cooperage… The result is wine that can be enjoyed now or cellared for additional depth and complexity. This is wine exceptional enough to bear the Apex brand… Today Apex Cellars is one of Washington’s most respected wineries. Its three brands, Apex, Bridgman and Apex II, cover the spectrum of wines from superpremium to super ultrapremium.

Price: $17.00

P. picked up Poet’s Leap Riesling the other day at our favorite wine shop based on a recommendation by the owner. He said that it was a little sweet, but not too sweet, and was very good. Wine Advocate gives it 89 points:

Pears, flowers, candied apples and underlying minerals can be found in its highly expressive aromatics. . . it offers an off-dry, medium-bodied character packed with linden, verbena, honeysuckle and hints of white pepper. Lush, suave and creamy-textured, it is an excellent, fruit-forward offering.

The Poet’s Leap winery is part of a consortium called Long Shadows that wants to help Washington become acquainted with famous winemakers. This wine is made from grapes grown in Washington, but was made by Germany’s winemaker Armin Diel of Schlossgut Diel.

The winemaker’s notes are:

This 100% Riesling has classic pear and grapefruit flavors which lead to a crisp and seductive mouth feel. The natural acidity well balances the delicate sweetness with an enormous charm. All ends with a dazzling clean and tangy finish which last for a long time.

It was very light in color (expected for a 2003 Rielsing) and did indeed have a pear aroma. But the taste? I first could taste the acidity and sweetness, but was then hit with a long finish of… metal. It had a really metallic taste in my mouth not unlike you sometimes get with light beer from a can. P. said he didn’t taste metal, but he didn’t think it tasted very good either. Was it the tangy finish I was tasting? Was it the underlying minerals? I just know that I didn’t like it.

However, on researching this wine, I find that others thought it outstanding. The Seattle Times called it “a perfect embodiment of the riesling renaissance that is now a fait accompli.”

So maybe it’s better with food? Or maybe, like all wine, it’s just a matter of personal taste.

Last Friday night we decided to drive up to Bothell to check out a wine shop and a restaurant we had read about. We made our way along the winding street, sure we had past it, when we came upon a cluster of buildings decorated with little white lights. All the buildings seemed to house antique shops. P. got a little nervous.

Country Cottage Wine Merchants (located in Country Cottage of course) assuaged his fears pretty quickly. We weren’t able to spend a lot of time there, since we had to make our dinner reservation, so it was more a taste and run. They have free wine tastings every Friday from 4pm to 8pm and Saturdays from 2pm to 5pm. The shop looked really big and inviting, and I can’t wait to go back and explore it. This time, we didn’t make it past the huge wine bar that dominates the entry.

The place was hopping and Jeff Hammer, owner and winemaker for Carpenter Creek Winery, was behind the bar pouring tastes of six of his wines. A very jolly guy who appeared to be the wine shop owner owner waved us in and made sure we had room to start trying the wines.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get the chance to talk to the winemaker much, but this was mostly because we were in a hurry and he was already engaged in conversation with a large group who was there before us. The winery is located in Mt. Vernon and produces less than 3,000 cases of wine a year. The vineyards are located “across the street” from Red Mountain. Maybe we can’t put Red Mountain on our labels, but our wines are just as good! was the vibe I got.

We tried six wines that ranged from “skunky” to “yum I want more!”

2003 Barrel Fermented Semillon ($14) is aged in new French oak and goes through malolactic fermentation and Sur Lie aging. So, yeah, it had a bit of a finish that one might expect from a Chardonnay. It was interesting, because the winemaker was talking to the other group about California Chardonnays that use oak and malolactic fermentation to disguise inferior grapes, which is true, but interesting that he then put his Semillon through the same processes. It wasn’t bad, but somewhat forgettable.

2003 Chardonnay ($9.95) is aged in new American oak. Although it wasn’t woody, so maybe it wasn’t aged very long (unlike those CA Chards he was talking about). But here was the problem with the Chardonnay. It was terrible. P. snifffed it and then leaned over and whispered to me, “it smells like skunk!” Then I sniffed it, and wow, it did. And then we both tasted it and it tasted exactly like it smelled. And then the woman next to me tried it and exclaimed, “this wine is great!”, proving definitively that wine is a subjective taste.

2002 Syrah ($38) is described thusly: “This huge powerhouse red is our most full-bodied wine to date. Blackberry, black cherry, and plum flavors dominate the complex bouquet. Only 100 cases produced.” This was our favorite wine. Even P. really liked it, and as I’ve mentioned before, he’s a hard sell on reds. I really wanted to buy a bunch and age it, because although it was good, I think it would be even better in a few years. With only 100 cases, I doubt there will be any around to buy in a few years. The tannins were already fairly soft, but I think it would be a fantastic wine a few years down the road.

2003 Adagio ($16.99) is an interesting wine. It’s a blend of 90% Blue Franc, 8% Syrah, and 2% Merlot. It’s described as “fruit forward with lots of spicy current flavors. Luscious blackberry, mint, pepper and vanilla compliment the well-rounded tannins. Soft and supple yet structured and complex. ” Blue Franc is called Lemberger in Washington State, but the winemaker said that he thinks that’s a silly name, so he goes with the European name for the grape. It’s funny because when we visited FairWinds Winery, the winemaker there also mentioned that Lemberger is a dumb name (and sounds instead like the name of a stinky cheese) and the name is probably why the wine doesn’t sell well. This wine was a little odd-tasting. Very spicy. Good, although not my personal favorite. The woman next to me (who loved the Chardonnay) told the winemaker that she thought the wine was corked. He tasted it. No, this is exactly the way it’s supposed to taste. I think maybe her Chardonnay opinion should be taken with a grain of salt.

2003 Green Apple Riesling ($9.50) is 11.5% alcohol and 3% residual sugar. It does indeed smell and taste like green apples. I would say that it’s off-dry. It’s certainly not a sweet Riesling. It was bright and tart and probably a good wine for food, although not so much for drinking on its own.

2004 Semillon Ice Wine ($17.99) was pretty good for its price. It tasted entirely different from the ice wines we’ve had lately, which have all been Rieslings. The Riesling ice wines taste mostly like honey, and this tasted more like tangy fruit. As the tasting notes say, “the result is an intensely sweet cornucopia of tropical fruit flavors including mango, banana, and passion fruit.” It was unexpected and refreshing.

The wine shop carries all of these wines, and they are also available directly from the winery. I’m not sure how readily available they are otherwise. And the wine shop is a pretty cool place that makes the trek worth it.

I figured that finding an obscure red wine for Wine Blogging Wednesday wouldn’t be too difficult, since most red wine is obscure to me. I nearly went with a Greek wine that I’ve been holding on to since a wine tasting at a Greek festival last year, but I thought I’d venture out into the world and see if I could find anything new.

What I found was a 2002 Primo Amore Primitivo di Manduria, bottled by Cantine Pervini, Manduria, Italy. What caught my attention was not only that I had never even heard of the this Primitivo grape (see above re: it’s all obscure to me), but also that I haven’t seen a lot of red late harvest wines. The red dessert wines I’ve tried have been well-known standbys (and very good with chocolate). But most of the wines I’ve had that have been specified as late harvest have been whites. So, I thought I’d try something a little different.

Of course, after I’d done the tasting and the write up, I looked at the rules again and saw this:

Don’t get me started on Gamay (the constituent of all Beaujolais and the remaining reds from the Loire) or Zinfandel/Primitivo. Both are banned. No arguing at the back there; who said this was a democracy! ;-)

So, I’ve learned something new: that Primitivo is the Italian origin of the Zinfandel grape. And even though I’m completely disqualified for trying a banned grape, I still expanded my knowledge, if only a little bit more, so it was worth it. I don’t even mind my punishment, because the wine was pretty good (unlike my first attempt at WBW with that icky Mad Housewife Chardonnay that we ultimately poured down the drain).

My only defense is that it is obscure to me. European wines and red wines are the areas to which I have been exposed the least and this wine is both! Surely the courts will have mercy on me! (Or at least mock me quietly.)

I paid $8.99 for a 375 ml bottle. It has 4% residual sugar and 15% alcohol. It was very dark red in color, and smelled of berries, possibly rasberries. When I first tasted it, I thought it was pretty good, not anything great, a little bitter in the finish. But then. Then, I tasted it with gorgonzola. I’ve always taken the whole wine/food pairing thing with a grain of salt. Yes, I’ve found some truth to it, but I’ve never noticed a marked change in the taste of either the wine or the food. My view has changed entirely with this pairing. Gone was the bitter finish, gone was the overbearing saltiness of the cheese. It was a perfect match. The blend was an entirely new flavor that enhanced them both.

I think you should go try this pairing right away. Just maybe not for WBW’s missive of trying an obscure red.

I was at my local grocery store the other day, where they frequently change wine inventory. This means that they always have a large selection of clearance wine that is the remnants of what they’re not going to carry anymore. I’ve gotten quite a few great wines for half-price in the clearance rack. I was looking through the bottles, and the wine guy came over and saw that I was checking out this Riesling. It was originally priced at $17.99, marked down to $7.99. He told me that it was a great wine, that it didn’t sell because no one knows what it is. (This may be the same reason this grocery store carries maybe a dozen French wines yet several hundred wines from California.) He said it was a little sweet, but had a dry finish, so it was a great food match. With the reduced price and a pitch like that, how could I pass it up?

A distributor for Selbach-Oster had this to say:

“You may have noticed our wines are a bit drier the last two vintages than they used to be,” said Johannes Selbach. “We know how to make reductive fruit-bombs that get high scores and stand out in big tastings,” he continued, “but the problem is everyone writes about those wines but nobody drinks them. We want to make wines for food, that people can use in their everyday lives.”

The results are some of the deepest of all Mosel wines. They refuse to be merely aesthetic. They strive for (and often attain) a sine qua non of Mosel-ness. They take you through the gift-wrapping of mere flavor and they show you something you may not know how to see.

“sine qua non of Mosel-ness”, huh? Well, I see that the label of my wine says “Mosel, Saar, Ruwer” and “Mosel River Valley”, so that looks to be the region. And possibly “Bernkasteler Badstube” is the vineyard? I see that the bottle says:

“Since the 17th century, the noble Riesling grape has been the premier grape grown on the steep, rocky slopes here, yielding unique, crisp, and delicate wines of great distinction. ”

“From the gentle slope rising behind the town of Bernkastel. The soil here is light, finely grained, cumbly Devonian slate.”

Well, beyond that I’m not sure if the slopes are steep and rocky or gently rising, what can I learn about this wine? “Mosel-Saar-Ruwer” is apparently the region. “Bernkastel” is obviously a town near where the grapes are grown. I couldn’t find this exact wine on the Selbach-Oster Web site, so I guess I’ll just wing it. It’s German. And Rielsing. Germans are known for dry Rielsings. To the tasting–

This wine was very light in color, lighter than I would expect for a 2002, actually. But maybe it’s just that we’ve been trying so many French Chardonnays that I’ve forgotten how much lighter the Riesling grape is comparatively. It had a bit of a fruity nose, but the taste was surprising. It tasted effervescent. Almost. It was bright and acidic, which possibly gave it the allusion of carbonation, but it was a little offputting. And despite the wine seller’s assurances of a dry finish, it mostly had no finish at all. Our final evaluation was that it probably was worth what I paid, but not really worth the original price. It just didn’t have enough substance to it, other than that hint of fizziness. Which isn’t really a flavor or a complexity as much as it is a sensation on the tongue. Maybe it was the “sine qua non of Mosel-ness” that we were experiencing.

The latest wine in my continuing attempt to brave the European labels. This is a Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire valley. It was about $18 at my nearby Thriftway. Which, by the way, has a pretty extensive selection of wines for a grocery store, with lots of pricey ones. They have enough wines to categorize them by region. However, I had to hunt to find the French wine. For a while, I thought they didn’t have any at all. They have twice the selection in Australian wine. Which is not to say that Australian wine isn’t worthwhile, but come on. I think this was the only Sancerre they had. Fortunately, it was a good one.

I couldn’t find any information on this wine online in English. I did find this:

You will have certainly heard of the ‘famous’ 2003 vintage and its early harvest. The harvest period in September was remarkable because of the long days of beautiful sunshine. The preceding months were full of unusual events. After a gentle spring with little rain which led to a relatively early bursting of the buds, April experienced unusual frost conditions. The consequence was that most of the buds which ceased developing due to the frost left no place for the base buds which normally would take over to grow on the fruiting cane for the future fruit. In May, violent winds shook the branches supporting the still unpollinated grape bunches, which resulted in serious breaking of the branches. Trellising was carried out in one operation, and so the more advanced vines had to wait until the less developed vines were ready. During this time, these more advanced vines were exposed to strong winds, leaving a lower chance of normal production. Due to the unusually high temperatures this summer, grapes were enriched by the setting sun.

2003 has presented a vintage already being described as ‘generous’ and the fruit resulting from this harvest will surely have captured the wild natural elements of the unusual weather conditions, to produce an enchanting vintage.

In any case, both P. and I liked it a lot. It was bright and grassy, a little fruity but not sweet, with a long finish. We liked it so much that it was suddenly gone and we both lamented that the bottle was so small. P. said, “they should really make larger wine bottles. I can’t believe they expect that to be enough for two people.” (Yeah, I think we had plenty too.)

We had a bottle of this wine last week with dinner at The Keg. When the waitress brought the bottle and showed it to us, it was their Pinot Noir. She got really confused when we told her it was the wrong wine. She did eventually come back with the right one, and when I gave it a taste, I immediately said that it was sweet. What I really meant though was that it was fruity. And had I been a marketing brochure, I might have said that it was fruit-forward, as much of Oregon wine is.

I couldn’t quite place the finish, although it was very familiar. The best I could come up with was bitter, but not in a bad way. It’s hard to pinpoint flavors in a restaurant sometimes, with so many smells going on around you. Reading the tasting notes, it makes perfect sense:

This beautiful, pale straw Pinot Gris displays aromas of lime, grapefruit, pineapple, and apple, accented with nutmeg spice and honey. This wine has an explosive fruit entrance with flavors of peach, nectarine, and pear, and a rich balanced mouthfeel and acidity with honey and citrus zest on the exit.

Citrus zest! That’s it! I don’t know that it was complex as all the tasting notes would imply, but I definitely got fruit, then honey, then citrus zest. Very tasty wine, and great with my chicken florentine and cheesy cauliflower.

When we got the bill, we noticed that we had been charged for the Pinot Noir, which was about $10 more. It wasn’t immediately obvious, since the bill just read “Pinot”. We brought it to our waitress’s attention, and she again was confused. She tried to fix the bill in the computer three times, but never could figure out why it kept coming up at the higher price, even after another server tried to explain she was entering the wrong pinot. She eventually charged us for a different wine that was at the same price as ours, and all was well. It’s times like this that you can appreciate restaurants with staff trained in wine, even if their markup is a little more. You’re paying for the expertise, especially if you’re looking for recommendations.

The more I learn about wine the more I realize I just really know nothing about wine. I’m trying to figure out how to read the European labels, but every time I think I’ve figured it out, a label like this comes along:

Domaine Zind Humbrecht Alsace Clos Windsbuhl Hunawihr Humbrecht - Turckheim (Haut-Rhin) France

Hmmm. Fortunately, it also said 2001 Pinot Gris. French. Pinot Gris. For some reason I thought I knew a little about what I was getting into.

Another thing I’m only just now starting to learn is just how different the same varietal can taste. (Exhibit 1: Chardonnay)

P. and I thought we knew what Pinot Gris tasted like. And then we tasted this. P. had me taste it blind and wanted me to guess what it was. It didn’t help that he kept saying, “this is not at all what I thought it would taste like.” And I was thinking, “wow, this is really great. Like honey!”

But I had no idea what it was. I said that it almost seemed like a late harvest wine of some kind, but it didn’t taste like any we had recently. I was stumped. I never would have guessed Pinot Gris.

We picked up this wine completely by accident. Larry’s was having a sale on all of their wine a while back, so we took the opportunity to pick up some more expensive wines that we hadn’t tried before. This was one of those. I’m not sure how much it was, but an online search seems to point to somewhere between $50 and $70.

Some tasting notes I found online:

From Robert Parker online:

97 rating. Medium-yellowish color. Incredibly complex and compelling nose is laden with honey, petrol, and spice. Follows through brilliantly on the palate with a waxy character and the influence of plenty of botrytised grapes. There is perfect balance between the ripe peach fruit and solid acidity; plenty of spine and attack, with everything in harmony. Very long, spicy finish. Simply superb wine, easily the best of the three vintages of Clos Windsbuhl.

From Wine Spectator:

A powerful, flamboyant white, this is lush and exotic in texture and flavor, sporting apricot, warm brioche, butter and mineral aromas and flavors, all supported by a lively structure and a hint of astringency on the finish. A wine for rich food. Best from 2005 through 2008. 280 cases made. (Aug 31, 2003) 94 points

I also found that the domaine was created when Leonard Humbrecht married Geneviève Zind in 1959, and the vineyards of the two families were united. They create expressive, powerful wines that reflect their terroirs.

In any case, this wine was great. It not only had a lot more body than what I expected from a Pinot Gris, but it was a whole lot sweeter: peach, honey, a little spice. I highly recommend it.

I was intrigued by the idea of trying a South African red, because that’s one region I hadn’t tried before. I read through Cook Sister’s entry about it and then did a little more online research, but I still felt completely lost. Well, not completely lost, but barely treading water, for sure. Cook Sister did have some great information to at least help steer me clear of some really bad choices. Kieca gave me some good ideas also, so I finally made my way to the wine store. Well, I made my way to Larry’s anyway, which as I’ve mentioned before, has a great wine selection but not so great a wine staff. I was on my own. Unfortunately, they had a very slim selection of South African reds, and they were mixed in with the Argentinian wines, so all I could do was look for labels that weren’t in Spanish.

I had an added complication. I wanted to get P.’s thoughts on the wine and he’s generally not a fan of reds. He likes the lighter reds sometimes, but it’s tricky. I decided to try a 2002 Malbec, which was labeled “Tumara”, as well as “Bellevue Estate Wine”. The copy on the back says that it’s from the Stellenbosch region and that the winemaker is Wilhelm Kritzinger. It was aged for ten months in French oak (25% of which was new). It all sounded pretty reputable and I thought I understood exactly what I was getting.

I ran into trouble when I tried to find out more about it.

Tumara is the name of a wine produced by Bellevue Estate, but it’s a Cab/Merlot/Malbec blend. Definitely not the wine I got.

I found a review of what seemed to be the right wine, but this 2002 Bellevue Estate Malbec from Stellenbosch didn’t mention “Tumara” at all. (Unfortunately, I have no idea what R59 equates to in U.S. dollars, so I can’t tell if the price is similar (I paid $18), and anyway, I’m not sure how tariffs and import taxes play into the price of wine in any case. If this is the same wine, then the reviewers found it “easy on the palate, with quite distinctive chocolate and mint flavours.”

But then I found some interesting press about the retailer Cybercellar, who has an agreement with Bellevue to market their wines under a Cybercellar label, Umkhulu (discussed here in the last article on the page). Interestingly, all of the wines mentioned as being under the Umkhulu label (Malbec, Titan, Pinotage, and Atticus anyway) were at Larry’s under the Tumara label. And then, I found this discussion on the Let’s Talk Wine forum. The posters there say “Umkhulu is a brand name used by a South African internet based merchant, cybercellar.co.za , i.e. they buy in wines or get them made to their specifications. The very solid Bellevue Estate (owner of the worlds oldest Pinotage vineyard) is one of their suppliers” and “Marks & Sparks has Bellevue Pinotage under the Houdamond label and Morrisons under the Tumara label.”

At first, that latter remark read to me as though Marks & Sparks has Morrisons under the Tumara label. But I think maybe I’m reading it wrong and perhaps this person actually meant that a distributor called Morrisons sells Bellevue Estate wine under the Tumara label. It’s the only thing that makes sense to me. Although, I admit, I’m thoroughly confused at this point. (Also, google brought up a few results for Morrisons Tumara Pinotage, but nothing for Morrisons Tumara Malbec.)

Kieca suggested I check the wine of origin tag, so if I get a chance to do that, I’ll update this post with any new I find out.

Anyway, on to the wine. The text on the back of bottle says “upfront brambles, cape fynbos and eucalyptus on the nose. Plums, wild berries, spices on the palate, ripe soft tannins, and a long, clean finish. 14% alcohol.”

This is where tasting notes from other countries make me chuckle (and probably tasting notes from the U.S. make people in other countries chuckle). Cape fynbos? I have no idea what that is, much less what it smells like. Eucalyptus? I asked P., “does eucalyptus smell kind of minty?” “Those are the leaves that Koala Bears eat that make them stoned, right?” he said. Well, that was no help at all.

Monday night, I had a small taste. Aroma? I couldn’t get anything other than strong red wine. Maybe a little mint. Maybe. Taste? Spicy. Very, very spicy. It was hard to get past the spice. Monday night, we both tasted it. This time, the aroma was very distinctively of strawberries (or maybe cape fynbos). It was still pretty spicy, and a bit of the oak seemed to come through. The finish was nice and long. I liked it. I probably would like it better in a year or two if that spice settled in a little.

Edit: I tried it again tonight and it had mellowed further, although it’s still spicy. I expect this wine greatly benefits from decanting. It seems to like air.

P. though? Well, red is a hard sell. I’m always surprised when he likes a red. So, you can’t hold it against the wine that he was having none of it. The oaky spice was just too much for him. The finish? Well, he proclaimed it assy. But honestly, don’t take his word for it. I guess if you also are a white fan and only care for a few select reds, well then sure, take his review to heart, but otherwise, I bet you’ll like this wine.

If you can figure out what it’s labeled under.

The blurry label.

We got this limited release wine as a Chateau Ste. Michelle wine club selection last year. Oddly, I can’t find anything about it on the Web. It’s not even listed on the Chateau Ste. Michelle Web site. Maybe it was more of a limited release than we thought. They do list the 2002. The tasting notes for that are:

crafted in a Vouvray style with intense and complex aromas of orange blossom, honeysuckle, melon, grapefruit, pear and mineral notes. It exhibits classic Chenin Blanc flavors of white apricot, melon, pear and spice. This is an off-dry wine with an elegant, silky mouth-feel and well-balanced acidity and fruit.

In any case, the 2003 was very good. Definitely pear flavors, with a fruity nose. P. had poured the final glass of the Mad Housewife Chardonnay that we barely touched (both during the initial tasting and the subsequent tasting during the game). It was already bad to start with, and I didn’t think aging it opened in the refrigerator for another couple of weeks was likely to have done it any favors. I told P. he should just throw it away.

“Oh no. I don’t want to waste wine.”

“The whole bottle was like $6. What would you really be wasting?”

“You’re a wine snob. I’m not a wine snob.”

“Am not. I’m just discerning.”

“Snob.”

So, I opened the Chenin Blanc and poured a glass. I gave P. a taste. He immediately walked over to the sink and poured his glass of Mad Housewife down the drain.

“That’s a lot better. I want that one instead.”

“What, you’re a wine snob now?”

“No, just discerning.”

We’ve been wanting to try this wine for a while, since before it even came out. We venture up to the winery about once a month, and we would ask about it, and it was never quite out, until one time we asked about it and it was not only out, but sold out completely. You had to be quick to get this stuff. It was sold out just about everywhere else too, and months went by. And then a couple of weeks ago, I spied two bottles at my nearby Metropolitan Market. I snagged them both.

This is only the fourth time that conditions have been right for Chateau Ste. Michelle to make ice wine. They picked the grapes the morning after Halloween, just like for the 2002 vintage.

Wine Spectator rates it 95 points and says “Dazzling in flavor, with a sure-handed balance of sweet apricot, pineapple, honey and lemon-candy elements against clean, sharp acidity.” The winemaker says “the result is this exotic, luscious, ultra ripe wine with concentrated aromas and flavors of apricot and honey.”

My tasting notes? Heaven. It was like drinking honey, but smoother. After one sip, I wanted to toss dinner and just drink more wine. Instead, I saved it for dessert. Oddly, it smelled like fingernail polish remover to me. It sure didn’t taste that way.

A friend gave me the board game Winerd for Christmas, and we tried it out over the weekend. It’s basically a trvia game about wine, with the added bonus of wine tastings. It’s a very fun idea, but unfortunately, this game is strictly geared for the wine beginner. P. and I don’t consider ourselves wine experts in any way, and we both got most of the questions right. It was still fun though (and it made us feel very smart and intellectual), and we thought of ways to spice it up next time we play.

You need three bottles of wine (sold separately) to play: either three whites or three reds. (If you wanted to ratchet up the difficulty level, you might pick all wines from the same varietal.) At the beginning of the game, you taste all three wines and rate them using an included taste test note sheet. It’s clear that this is intended to teach newbies how to taste wine, so this game would be great for someone who is truly just starting out in learning about wine and is intimidated to even go to tasting rooms. You make notes on the color, aroma, and taste. The sheets include tips (”swirl the wine to bring out more aromas”; “move the wine all over your mouth and tongue to coat the taste buds”) and the board has a list of vocabulary you might use for the aroma and taste (fruity, tart, grassy, earthy). (Our wines were a French White Burgundy, an Italian Pinot Grigio, and Mad Housewife Chardonnay, the last of which was left over from Wine Blogging Wednesday and had gone untouched since.)

(P. and I were lucky in our first tasting room experience, I think. We spent several days in Carmel and took a wine tour in the Carmel Valley with a viticulturist. Since it was the off-season, we were the only people on the tour, and this guy was so great: very casual, yet super-informative. He tooks us around to the wineries, brought us out to the vineyards, and at the various tasting rooms, he gave us expert lessons in tasting wine. And we didn’t feel awkward about not knowing anything, because we felt like we were in an educational setting and didn’t have to prented to know what we were doing. Also, he was driving us around, so we could taste to our hearts’ content. If you are ever out that way, you should definitely take an AgVentures tour.)

Anyway, you taste the wines, you take notes, you put the wine away. Throughout the game, you land on “blind taste” spots. At that point, someone pours you some wine, and then you blind taste it and guess which one it is. This is why it might be best if the wines are all from the same grape, or in some other way have similar qualities. If you pick a California Chardonnay, a late-harvest Washington Riesling, and a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, you’ll probably get it right every time. After the first taste, P. said, “this game would be a lot better if you were supposed to pick out of 20 wines.” Now that would be awesome. If you want to throw a Winerd party with twenty wines, feel free to invite me.

You’re only supposed to take small tastes, and in fact, the instructions say you also need a “container for discarding excess wine”. However, as we are lushes, our wine did not get discarded. Rather, P. would say, “hurry and answer! I need another drink!” And so we poured half glasses at every blind taste square.

The questions are multiple choice. For example,

If a wine is described as “oaky”, it is possible to know:
A. The type of barrel in which it was aged.
B. The type of grape blends used.
C. The wine’s country of origin.

and:

Italian Soave is a:
A. Sweet white wine.
B. Dry white wine.
C. Dry red wine.

and things like:

Which Old World region produces red wines and most similar to California reds?
A. The Mosel in Germany.
B. Alsace in France.
C. Tuscany in Italy.

The answers include additional information. For instance, the last question, for which the answer is Tuscany, the card goes on to read, “Tuscany’s climate is the most similar to that of California, with both having long growing seasons. Germany’s Mosel and France’s Alsace both have colder climates and, therefore, shorter growing seasons.”

I think it might be fun to, instead of guessing just the wine when you taste, also mention a characteristic of the wine’s nose or palate. That way, you can mock people who were obviously making it all up when they wrote down “chalky and tart; green apple” and then later in the blind taste claim the same wine is “sweet and fruity; peachy”. Well, making it all up, or maybe just tipsy.

So, if you’re just starting out in wine or have friends that are, this is a fun way to learn more. Even though we got a lot of the questions right, we did learn a little more by reading the backs of the cards. And of course, it’s always fun to taste wine. We also ate a lot of cheese during the game. I would recommend this also. Everything’s better with cheese.

After our Chardonnay epiphany the other night, we wanted to try more French Chardonnay, so went down to our local Larry’s to see what we could find. As other Seattle bloggers have pointed out, Larry’s is a great place to get wine, and has an extensive collection. Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure we go to a different Larry’s, and the actual wine staff are not so great at ours.

For instance, P. and I don’t much about wine, but we really know nothing about sake. One night, we decided (I have no idea why) that we needed to try some. So, we went down to Larry’s, where they have a large selection of sakes, and asked the wine person if she could recommend a few (we wanted to try at least two, since the little we did know was that there are a variety of different styles). She started reading the backs of the bottles. Now, that’s just not a great sign. We could read the labels. That part we had covered. Finally, she admitted that it was her first day and she actually knew nothing about sake. So, we muddled through on our own.

A few months later, I was shopping and noticed a big sign advertising a wine tasting that evening. So, P. and I went back at the appointed time to check it out. No tasting. We couldn’t find it anywhere. We checked the sign. It still said tonight. We were there at the right time. So, we went back to the wine department. We found that same employees who had “helped” us with the sake. She was on the phone. Her badge said “wine manager”. Seriously, that’s what it said. I stood nearby while she chatted on the phone. She looked at me, but didn’t acknowledge me. She kept chatting. This was not a work related call. Her end went kind of like this: “oh ha ha. My husband does the same thing! No really! He does! Ha!” I walked away. I browsed the aisles. I walked back. Still with the ha ha. Finally, I interrupted, “excuse me”. She sighed. Heavily. “I am so so sorry,” she said to the person on the phone. “A customer wants to ask me a question.”

I asked her about the tasting and she rudely told me that no, I was wrong, it was last night. I told her she might want to change the sign. She instead decided to go back to her call.

The point being, we couldn’t really ask for guidance about our French white burgundy. And we couldn’t go to the wine shop that gives us great service because they primarily deal in Northwest wines. So, Larry’s it was.

So, we just stood there and stared at the labels. Which, you know, were mostly in French. I tried to remember something from the article I read, but I couldn’t recall anything other than it mentioned that 2002 was a good year. Finally, we settled on the Bourgogne Louis Jadot 2002, thinking it would be a good representation of the general area. This probably was not the best choice though. I did additional research after we bought the bottle and found that white burgundy coming from the larger region is generally not as delicate as grapes coming from specific areas, and thusly are often aged in oak barrels, and otherwise treated differently. And since we were specifically looking for white burgundy that was very different from what we traditionally knew from California Chardonnay, I wasn’t sure what we’d think of this bottle.

The official-ish tasting notes say:

While the greatest of Burgundy’s Chardonnays are produced from the grand and premier cru vineyards of the Côte de Beaune, those from Mâconnais, Chalonnais and the outlying zones of the Côte d’Or are characterized by a unique crispness, elegance and finesse.

Jadot Chardonnay is vinified and blended exclusively from Chardonnay grapes selected from the production of numerous growers in the Côte Chalonnais, the Côte Mâconnais and the Hautes-Côtes de Beaune, with a small proportion of superior village-level wines added in most vintages to improve the finished cuvée. As such, it must legally take the “Bourgogne Blanc” appellation. Styled to be fuller in body and structure than most of Jadot’s Mâconnais wines, it is partially fermented and aged in oak casks to add breadth to the ripe fruit notes. The lovely, elegant Chardonnay nose, offset by a gentle touch of vanilla, carries into excellent balance of medium-full fruit and acidity on the palate and a lingering finish.

The verdict? We didn’t like it quite as much as the Macon-Villages we tried the other night, but we did like it quite a bit. It had only a hint of butter on the palate, and the oak definitely came through. The finish had a bit of bark to it. It was pale yellow in color, with a tart, slightly fruity nose. It was, as you might expect, light and slightly acidic. It definitely did not have that heavy, overbearing Chardonnay taste, in bold, blinking font, and all caps, like you get with some Chardonnays, and Robert Mondavi, I’m looking at you. I could taste some green apple, a teeny bit of grassiness: fresh and different than what we were used to.

This is really cool, because now we can add another white to our growing list of wines we’re slowly starting to learn about (it’s more difficult to learn about wines you don’t care to drink).

I had ordered some wine from Stony Hill not long ago. I wanted the Riesling, but I could only order it as part of a three-pack that included a Chardonnay. I got the package yesterday, and noticed that it is notably Burgundian in style and that their “restrained style of winemaking creates a fruity, non-oaky, non-malolactic Chardonnay.” It’ll be interesting to contrast the French burgundy with a non-”Californian” California Chardonnay. But I’ll have to report back on that another day.

We picked this up at a little shop at Pike Place Market a while back and finally opened it over the weekend.

The official tasting notes mention that it is straw yellow, with intense fruit aromas, and an acidic and fruity palate.

We noted that it was indeed, straw yellow, with an aroma of grapefruit, and the taste was tart and fruity, possibly a little earthy. Generally, when I hear “fruity” I think sweet, but this was definitely tarty, more green apple than peach.

It was light with a long finish. Very tasty. I seem to recall that it was fairly reasonably priced as well. If you see a bottle and are looking for a light wine, definitely give it a try.

I know absolutely nothing about wine. And the more I learn, the less I know. Luckily for me, the best way to learn about wine is to drink it.

I’ve been wanting to try a Joseph Drouhin wine ever since we had the Domaine Drouhin Oregon Chardonnay Arthur at the Herbfarm a few weeks ago. When you’re at the Herbfarm, the owners and chef come out and tell you a little about the food and wine you’ll be served. They mentioned that Robert Drouhin, of Joseph Drouhin in France, became interested in Oregon grapes way back when and long story short, his daughter now runs the Oregon site. She names the wines after her children.

We drink a lot of white wine, but rarely Chardonnay. We tend to equate it with drinking a glass of burnt butter. So we were pleasantly surprised at how much we liked Arthur (the wine, not the son; we’ve never actually met him). It didn’t taste like a typical Chardonnay to us, but what do we know about Chardonnay? We liked it so much, we ordered a couple of bottles from our wine shop the next week.

Last night, when I saw Macon-Villages, Joseph Drouhin on the wine list at Bis On Main, I thought this was a great chance to try it out.

I admit, we are much more comfortable choosing New World wines. After all, we understand what Chardonnay, Merlot, Riesling mean. The grape is right there on the label so we at least have a sense of what we’re getting into. European wines? No clue. Macon-Villages? Is that a vineyard, and appellation, a town, the wine name?

However, it was listed right in the middle of the wine list’s impressive grouping of Chardonnays, so we assumed that was the grape we were talking about.

But then we tasted it. It was very good, fruity but not sweet, a little acidic but not overpoweringly so, bright with an aromatic nose and a long finish. No hint of butter. No oak. It didn’t taste at all like a Chardonnay. We decided that probably it wasn’t a Chardonnay after all, but rather some other white, but what do we know about French wine anyway. We like it, and that’s all that matters.

However, looking at the Joseph Drouhin Web site, I find that it is a Chardonnay:

Mâcon is a large area located in the Southern part of Burgundy, next to Pouilly-Fuissé. The clay and limestone soil of the Jurassic era found in this region is well suited for the Chardonnay grape variety. The grape juice ferments in stainless-steel fermenters at a rather low temperature. Bottling is done early in the Spring following the harvest. Mâcon-Villages is a flowery, fruity wine with a clear and brilliant hue. It has a crisp, medium body and a clean, lean acidity. Very pleasant finish. It is a perfect accompaniment to full flavoured fish dishes and charcuterie. Try it also alone as an aperitif. As with other white wines, Mâcon-Villages should be served chilled but not cold. It is meant to be enjoyed when young, the wine being at its best after one or two years of ageing.

Huh.

But where was the butter? The oak? I had to figure this out. And then I found this:

Though Chardonnay is a great grape, its greatness is not at all obvious to the millions of casual consumers whose only encounters with Chardonnay have been with the ubiquitous buttery renditions, and who are now getting sick of the stuff.

The writer of the piece recounts how he was choosing wine for a friend who told him to pick anything but Chardonnay. He completely ignored his friend’s request and had him blind taste a few Chardonnays, which the friend “judged “terrific,” “delicious” and “fantastic” within 10 minutes. ”

He says of Macon,

The climate in the Maconnais sits right next to these places on the cooler end of the Chardonnay-growing continuum, so the wines are almost always leaner and crisper than the global norm, with fruit more likely to recall apples than mangoes or pineapples. Macon’s vineyards are also rich in the limestone that imparts the telltale mineral notes that mark all white Burgundies, and since lean wines featuring subtle mineral notes cannot support a heavy overlay of oak without capsizing, Macon’s winemakers tend overwhelmingly to go easy on the wood.

Of Macon-Villages in particular, he says:

Negociant Houses: The big Burgundy shippers also sell lots of Macon-Villages, and whereas their bottlings of Pouilly-Fuisse taste a lot alike, their Macon-Villages taste identical. Thanks again to the excellent 2002 vintage, these bottlings are much better than usual, so try Bouchard, Drouhin, Duboeuf and Jadot.

Chardonnay without the overbearing butter and oak? Who knew? It tastes like a completely different wine. Now I’m off to bring the list from this article down to my local wine shop to see if I can try a few more. You know, for the education of it. It’s entirely for science.

Wine and tacos: the classic pairing.

Well, maybe not, but why not try a little wacky pairing with some wackily-named wines? And anyway, we drank the last of the tequila Sunday night in margaritas and were too lazy trek out to the liquor store. I took this as a sign that we should take Is My Blog Burning up on the challenge and taste some wines with wacky names (hosted by, and theme created by Chez Pim).

It’s rare that I browse the grocery store aisles for wine that we’re going to drink that night, as we somehow manage to accumulate plenty of wine reserves. I studied the labels judiciously, hoping that the wine guy wasn’t around to ask if I needed help. I could just picture it: “Can I help you find some wine tonight? What will you be cooking? Are you looking for a white or red? Dry or sweet?” “Oh, I’m just looking for something with a crazy label. Do you have anything like that? Something that repels people right away from the shelf?” Fortunately, it didn’t come to that.

I managed to find two entirely different wines.

Mark Ryan Dead Horse Red 2001 is a red table wine made by a winery right here in Bellevue, WA (I think the wine is bottled in Bellevue, but the tasting room is in Woodinville). The description written by the grocery store said Mark Ryan is the hottest winemaker in Washington, and I saw that the grapes come from the Red Mountain appellation, which seems to be the hottest Washington state appellation these days. Columbia Valley may grow more grapes, but it’s nowhere hear as hip as Red Mountain (although to be fair to poor Columbia Valley, Red Mountain is contained within it; it just doesn’t get Red Moutain’s bling).

Dead Horse is a “blend of 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot, 16% Cabernet Franc and 10% Petit Verdot.” The winemaker notes say that it is “Left Bank Bordeaux in style”. I have no idea what that means, so I’ll just have to take his word for it. (He has another wine, Long Haul, which he says is made in the Right Bank style.) He says he named the wine “Dead Horse” because the vineyard where the grapes are grown, Ciel du Cheval, translates into “horse heaven” in French. Why then he didn’t just name the wine “Horse Heaven” I have no idea. Dead Horse sounds more appetizing maybe? He does note, in all caps, that no horses were hurt in the production of the wine.

Wine Enthusiast gave it 93 points; Wine Spectator gave it 90. It was $35.

Mad Housewife Chardonnay 2003 is a California Chardonnay priced at $6.99. I figured it was the perfect balance to the red, both in style and in quality.

The Tasting
We set about to taste (after some makeshift chilling). First, the Chardonnay. I was expecting a typical cheap California Chardonnay.

Me: “What does it smell like?”

P: “I don’t know. I’m not really getting anything.”

Me: “Peach?”

P: “Maybe. It’s too faint to tell. It tastes funny.”

Me: “It doesn’t really taste like a Chardonnay. No finish.”

P: “No.”

Me: “Better than the Olive Garden house wines.”

P: “Much better.”

Me: “Overall assessment?”

P: “Mild.”

Me: “That’s it? Mild?”

P: “Yep.”

The only mention I could find of this wine on the Internet was at winesquire.com. They said:

“This easy drinking white shows juicy fruit flavors of ripe apple, melon and pear that give way to hints of toasty vanillin oak, mineral, and cinnamon notes, wrapped in a soft texture that is well balanced, and gives way to a smooth, creamy finish. A very nicely priced new entry to the Seattle wine market. ”

This is when I think wine writers are just making stuff up. This wine was in no way flavorful enough to get all of that out of it. It was drinkable, it was pleasant. It wasn’t acidic and thankfully didn’t taste like a tin can. It didn’t taste like a Chardonnay either. It had none of the traditional buttery taste, and while it can be refreshing not to be overpowered, I wonder if they used any malolactic fermentation at all on this wine. It had no finish. I don’t where these people got smooth and creamy.

Had I tasted this in a blind test, I would have guessed that it was a lackluster Pinot Grigio. It just didn’t taste like much of anything.

Next, we tried the red. P. thought it smelled of rasberries. But the tannins were too much for him. They really did take hold of your entire mouth and coat your tongue. His final assessment? “Strong.” This wine had much more powerful flavors. It was complex and rich. But just a little thick. I guess this is a wine meant for a bit of aging. At 14.7% alcohol, it was strong in another way too. One glass was plenty.

I just never know what to do about red wines: when you store them, when you drink them. Wine Spectator agrees with P. about the tannins, calling the wine chunky and chewy: “Needs time to resolve the tannins. Best from 2006 through 2012.” Only 224 cases were made. Should I go buy some more and cellar it for a couple of years? Can you really know how a wine is going to age? (I said to P., “you’re a wine expert; you said exactly what Wine Spectator said. Well, you said, “bleech”, but same thing really.” “Yeah, that’s what I meant anyway,” he told me.)

Wine Enthusiast doesn’t mention aging. It calls the wine a stunning success: inky and thick, tasting of iron. Iron? I admit, my palate didn’t pick up on the iron. The black cherry, yes. Iron, no.

Conclusion: Cellar the dead horse. Pick the mad housewife over the Olive Garden house.

chipotle beef tacos with radishes
The tacos came about like this. As we drove by my favorite taco truck on Sunday, I said to P., “I want a taco!” He looked at me lovingly, ready to grant my every whim, and said “no.” He thinks I mostly wanted the taco in an abstract way, but not in an actual way, as I’m trying really hard to eat healthfully. But, no, actually, I wanted the taco. So, he said he’d make me tacos.

My love for taco truck tacos started back in high school. On the weekends, we’d head out for this dirt parking lot in the middle of nowhere. Someone always brought beer, someone else would turn up the car stereo. Sometimes, someone brought a keg. And the taco truck was always there. He got there around 10pm and stayed as long as we did. The lines were always long. Two tacos for a dollar. He topped them with whole radishes.

We made up the recipe for last night’s tacos as we went along. We cut some beef into long strips, then made a marinade of the juice of four small limes, half a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, and salt. We let that sit in the refrigerator for about a half an hour while the grill heated up. Then we grilled them for a few minutes on each side.

Meanwhile, we sauted a sliced sweet onion and some garlic in olive oil. We sliced up some lettuce, avocado and, of course, radishes.

The beef turned out great, crisp and spicy, with a coating of the chipotle marinade. I like my tacos with corn tortillas; P. prefers taco shells. We added a little sour cream to cut the heat, and a bit of cheese. They were perfect (and I think it was about 8 WW points for two tacos).

Obviously, I can’t take credit for a great find, as everyone knows this is a pretty good Shiraz and my grocery store, which tends to have good wines, had it on special with a little sign that mentioned the 93 Wine Spectator rating. But, some Shiraz I really like, others not so much, regardless of rating, so it wasn’t a slam dunk or anything.

I opened the bottle to add to a beef stew, so I thought I’d try a glass. Yum. I detected a hint of blackberry, a nice finish, very smooth, not overly tanniny. I always worry about red wines, because I’m still pretty dumb about when they need to age and when you can drink them right away.

There might even be some leftover tomorrow so P. can try it.

I haven’t been to the Olive Garden in a really long time, years probably. I had heard they were pushing wine these days, offering tastes and bringing wine bottles to your table and modeling them like Price is Right prizes.

We had about a 20 minute wait, so we wandered over to the tasting table they had set up in the lobby. You could taste the house wines… for twenty five cents! I thought that was hilarious. I tried the “Bianco” and P. tried the “Rosato”.

Tasting notes from the Olive Garden are as follows:

Rosato: “Semi-sweet, light-bodied, with a fresh fruit taste. Made from a blend of Merlot, Enatio, and Schiava grapes.”

Bianco: “A crisp, pleasantly fruity, semi-dry, light to medium-bodied wine. Made from a blend of regional varietal grapes including Pinot Bianco, Pinot Grigio, and Chardonnay.”

Our tasting notes…

P. on the Rosato: “This tastes exactly like the box wine that my mom used to buy.”

Me on the Bianco: “Ick. It tastes like a tin can. I can’t even drink it. You take it.”

P: “Maybe it was aged in beer cans.”

Me: “No, I think a hobo jumped off a train with his stick and his bandana and went fishing in the river and caught one of those tin cans like in a cartoon and the Olive Garden came by and stole it and aged their wine in that.”

P. on the Bianco that I wouldn’t drink: “It tastes like cheese!”

Me: “You just ate a piece of cheese.”

P: “Oh. Right.”

Conclusion: Not worth twenty-five cents.

Once we were seated, our waitress came by with a Penfolds Shiraz in her hands. She showcased it as their “featured wine”. She then pointed out how fantastic their wine menu is because it makes the wines very easy to tell apart. The white wines are listed on the left; the red wines are listed on the right. She left us alone with the wine list for a few minutes, now that we had been properly schooled on how to tell the difference. We barely held in our laughter until she turned the corner.

We picked the Bottega Vinaia Pinot Grigio, although we took advantage of another twenty-five cent tasting first to make sure that it wasn’t another Olive Garden house wine in disguise. (The Olive Garden will give you a taste of any wine they sell by the glass… for twenty-five cents, of course.) When she brought our bottle, she asked if we wanted to taste it again. I thought, well, yeah, since you taste from the bottle to make sure the wine isn’t corked or something, not to see if you like it and want to keep it. But then I felt bad for being all wine snobby at the Olive Garden, even if it was only in my head, because the waitress was really nice and I’m sure that even though the Olive Garden has decided to get into the wine pushing business, they don’t send all their waiters to sommelier school.

The Olive Garden tasting notes for this wine are: “A medium bodied dry white wine. A “Best In Class” Pinot Grigio that is truly special. each grape cluster is picked by hand only when it is at peak ripeness, sometimes requiring several passes through the vineyard. One of the only places available is Olive Garden.”

We liked it. We really like Pinot Grigio in general, but find so many flavorless ones. When we try Pinot Grigio, they seem to fall into one of two categories: good or rain water. This one was good. It was very flavorful, dry, not too fruity. It wasn’t the most fantastic Pinot Grigio I’ve ever had or anything, but I’d definitely drink it again.

I see that it’s gotten a lot of good reviews. It looks like it retails for about $16 (it was $28 at the restaurant).

Conclusion: Despite the fear that the house wines may instill, the Olive Garden does have some decent wines on its list. Just bring a quarter so you can check things out before you splurge on a whole bottle.

Cathedral Ridge Winery (formerly Flerchinger Vineyards) is at the Hood River in Oregon. We stopped by their tasting room when we were at Mt. Hood over Labor Day. We picked up two bottles of their Riesling Blush, so we must have liked it.

Tasting notes from last night:

“Was this maybe the fourth or fifth winery we went to that day?”

“Must’ve been.”

I don’t remember much about the tasting room, just that it was off the beaten path and hard to find.

This wine is a blend of Riesling and Merlot. “Sweet and fruity, it presents just the right balance between these two varietals.”

Tasting it last night, it seemed to be more of a collision of the two varietals. We could detect almost no inital aroma. We swirled, we attempted to trap any escaping wisps by covering the glass while we swirled, and nothing. And we can’t blame the glasses because we were drinking from our snazzy new Riedel Sommeliers wine glasses. Finally, I detected something: yeast! Not a good sign.

We tasted. We couldn’t really pinpoint anything. The initial taste seemed to be the Riesling: a little acidic, sweetish, maybe rotting grapes (like you get from a bad late harvest wine). The finish was completely different, but we couldn’t really pin it down. I guess that was the Merlot. In any case, the two different tastes were competing more than complimenting each other.

Anyway, it was not great. I’m half wondering if our bottle had started going a little bad, since we seemed to like it so much in the tasting room. Or, maybe we didn’t really like it much. I can’t recall anything about that visit, which is odd since I remember the other wineries we visited that trip pretty well. Maybe we were a bit tipsy after all.

I grabbed this wine at the wine shop when I was there picking up an order. The description written next to it made it sound interesting, especially that it was a red table wine (60% Zinfandel, along with Syrah and other reds) but that it was 20% Chardonnay. Also, it was a 91 point wine for $21, so I asked the wine shop owner about it and he told me that since they got it in, it had become a favorite at the wine bar.

We tried it last night. I liked it. P. didn’t. To be fair, he’s much more a fan of whites in general. But he thought it was too acidic with not much flavor. I thought it was a little acidic also, but the flavor quickly became smooth. It had a nice finish as well. It had a hint of blueberry and a bit of spice. The finish was milder, maybe vanilla, although the winery Web site claims it to be strawberry.

I’m not sure what food it would pair well with. It was definitely a wine that tasted better when sipped alone. Maybe cheese would work with it.

I’m beginning to appreciate our wine shop more and more though. Every time I order wine from them, the price is much lower than anywhere I find it online. It’s always quick and there’s no shipping charge.

I think this was the 2003.

We went to the Keg last night. I know. How I am going to lose weight under these conditions? But P. had a postcard for a free steak and lobster dinner for his birthday, so how could we not go? Right, that’s what they want you to think.

Anyway, the bottle was right around $30, and I see that wine.com has it on sale for $8.99. I’m surprised. Not that the Keg marked it up so much, but that’s it’s so reasonable generally. It was very flavorful, which you don’t normally find in a Pinot Grigio under $10 in my experience.

Anyway, hints of lime. A little fruity (the label says peach, but we couldn’t find it).

P. drank a good portion of the bottle, as I have been trying to limit myself due to the aformentioned attempt to lose weight. Also, I was driving. At the end of the night, he was wanting to do a butter shot with the leftover melted butter from his lobster.

We first had this wine on my birthday at the Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood. We liked it so much, we served it at our wine party. The grocery store near me puts wine on clearance when it changes the inventory, and when we saw this particular wine marked down to half price, we picked up several bottles. I think this may have been the last one.

It’s not too spicy, not too sweet, just a smooth, great tasting wine.

I also made pad thai from one of my Weight Watchers cookbooks. The recipe needs work.

I will say that this was not a great pairing. The pad thai made the wine taste bitter. I thought Gewurtz and spicy food never went wrong, but here it sort of did.

We had this wine with some dark chocolate truffles as we sat in the jacuzzi tub of the haunted castle. I’ve only ever had light muscats before (Chateau Ste. Michelle has a slightly fizzy one, Moscato Frizzante, that’s very good), so this was an interesting change. It’s much richer than a light muscat, not overly sweet, and great with chocolate (probably with cheese also).

We stopped by FairWinds winery (odd capitalization entirely theirs) while we were staying in Port Townsend. I really want to offer to redo their Web site. Both the copy (”Whether you have a sophisticated palate or just like tasting Washington State wines, you will find something to enjoy at FairWinds Winery”) and the entire design. I barely can stand to link to it, truly.

But, the wine is very good! It’s a really small winery in a building on the property where the winemaker and owner lives. We’ve been to quite a few of these garage-based wineries and while it’s fun to go to these little places, off the beaten path, and try new things, it can be a little awkward to taste a wine that in every way epitomizes what you might think of when you consider making wine in your garage. Especially when the winemaker is standing right there, waiting expectantly for your reaction.

So, it was quite a relief to hestitantly tiptoe into this particular garage and be rewarded with really great tasting wine. And, in this case, the adventure also paid off. We discovered wines we had never heard of. He had a light red Lemberger that was really interesting. Apparently, Lemberger refers specifically to the Washington-grown version of this varietal, and it’s called something else in France or wherever. No, I don’t recall what.

He also had a dry Gewurztraminer that was very good. P. even liked it and he’s much more fond of sweet over dry.

We picked up a couple of bottles of Aligote, which is a white wine from Burgundy. And this winery is the only one that makes it in Washington state. I noted a hint of butter, not unlike a Chardonnay, although it wasn’t as overpowering as Chardonnays tend to be. He said that the grape is very similar to Chardonnay, and that they can use the same process on it (some fancy wine term that I don’t recall), which gives that buttery flavor.

We also grabbed a bottle of the Port, made with Lemberger. Turns out we should have gotten more, because our wine store guy says that we probably can only get it from the winery.

This winery depends entirely on volunteer labor for bottling. He bottles a few times a year and said he’d send us an e-mail when that started. You get a t-shirt and a bottle of wine for your trouble. P. says maybe we can stomp on the grapes with our feet.

I picked up this wine after reading an article in Cooking Light about New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Like no other wine! So great! The store didn’t have the recommended wines, but this one got good reviews on that little cardboard sign hanging under the shelf. Also, we were making chicken with a goat cheese sauce, and the recipe specifically recommended a Sauvignon Blanc pairing.

The wine was pretty good. Not anything special. P. noted that it smelled more flavorful than it tasted and it’s true. Had it tasted more like it smelled, it would be better. It’s really light with not much of a finish.

It didn’t seem to do much for the goat cheese, although the sauce itself was a bit flavorless. What it did pair well with was P.’s cheese dip, featuring velveeta (which we had with garlic pita bread).

The dinner itself was also just OK, although it was fun watching P. pound the chicken breasts. The roasted potatoes could have used more seasoning and the sauce could have used more… anything. The best part was the salad. The nutrionist recommended eating big salads to get in that five a day thing, and I notice that when I have a big salad first, I mostly don’t go back for seconds of the dinner part.

The dressing was left over from pizza night (all measurements approximate):

4 smashed garlic cloves simmered in the juice of two limes
1 chopped shallot
2 Tbl honey
4 Tbl fig vinegar
1 Tbl olive oil
4 Tbl water
salt and pepper
juice of a lime

Huh. There may have been more to that. I don’t remember. Anyway I tossed together:
a bag of lettuce mix
sliced red onion
black olives
chopped tomato
2 small heads of broccolini, chopped
1 small avocado, chopped
2 diced carrots
grated parmesan
4 sliced green onions

I think that was about it. Tasty.

I picked this up at the grocery store for $9.99. I figured it was worth a try since the regular price is $29.99. Unlike the white I picked up that was similarly marked down, this was really tasty. And it was great with Jalsberg cheese. It didn’t have a lot of tannins, but was smooth and rich. I think I’ll go get a few more bottles.

We first had this wine at dinner on P.’s birthday in January 2004 at Pacific’s Edge, the restaurant at the Highlands Inn in Carmel. We liked it a lot, but we didn’t see it later at any wine shops. I ordered some online for P. for Christmas. We had a bottle last night with homemade pizzas we made from the California Pizza Kitchen cookbook P. got me for Christmas (and on the pizza stone he got me).

It’s very light and crisp, a little fruity, and more complex than a lot of pinot grigio’s out there. However, the wine no longer appears to be listed on wine.com. I should have ordered more than two bottles.