a thought.....

from one of the best sites on the web, toothpastefordinner.com

Ridge 2005 Zinfandel - NA

Very Berry-ful. That's all we've got to say. No grade.

Terra Buena Malbec 2003: B

After a meal of expertly prepared, and extremely authentic Thai food, courtesy of Becky, we decided to open up a bottle of the Terra Buena Malbec. On the nose, I got some hotness. I am not sure if you can sense alcohol on the nose of a wine, and maybe this was simply preemptive taste judgement, but that is what I smelled. Definitely sharper red fruits characterized this one. Becky swore that it smelled like play-doh/plastic action figures. I think that may have been any one of the three shandies that she enjoyed before opening this bottles talking. On the palette,  I get a cran-licorice-hotness. The tannins are nice and make for a firm structure. Josh picks up "the pulp and the depth" of a cherry. Becky gets some plum as the wine opens up, I disagree - but the fruit is definitely getting a bit deeper as we drink on. Josh hypothesizes that the age (it iiiis an 03) may have something to do with the depth. It is not, afterall, easy to find a 10 year old malbec for 10 bucks....that's right. Did we mention that this was 10 bucks. As not a real malbec lover, I give this one a B-, but the value is really outstanding. Due the wine opening up quite a bit, we may have been selling this one short at the beginning of the post.  It might have been wiser to decant this, but the urgency of the post-thai tasting session was undeniable. We give this one a robust B.

Ten Mile Proprietary Red Wine: B+

We're digging this wine, which we originally got as part of our wine club. Josh found it for $10 at the wonderful wine store - DeVinos - in our neighborhood. He notes that when the price matches the taste, it's a bump. $10 for this wine is a true bargain. It's described on the bottle as a blend of petite sirah, zinfandel, barbera and carignane. It's got a soft spicy nose with currant/berry flavors. Josh pronounces enthusiastically that he tastes twizzlers!!! What more could you ask for. In short, it's damn tasty. 

WBW #45 coming to you from the roof deck

Becky Josh and I, with some pinch hitter assistance from the upstairs neighbor Ari, came out swinging for Wine Blog Wednesday #45 - Old World Riesling Episode. The crew, minus Ari, started the night with some fajitas and Peroni to get a little something in the system...we sort of thought of it as a warm up stretch out. Then we headed to from Chez Wilson-Hale to Chez Hale-Hale to start out with the Rieslings. As any good lawyer might, Josh preemptively declared his bias against any and all white wine, and Riesling in particular, saying "for me, every white I drink, I get an essence of pledge". Maybe not the most favorable characterization, but honest. We had Ari in the group who apparently likes, buys and drinks Riesling on a fairly regular basis to balance Josh out.

We started with the Loosen Bros 2006 Riesling, which we all agreed had lots of green apple on the nose - Josh was sure to distinguish GREEN - his exact words being "not pink lady tart, granny smith tart". That said, it was in no way sour. On the contrary this juice seemed to present a just-right sweetness that was agreeable to all parties present. At one point Ari admitted to a pretty serious sweet tooth and authoritatively asked/admitted "is there any vanilla in this? I can’t really tell any taste different than another". I certainly didn't get any vanilla - but to re-emphasize, there are no wrong answers on greatjuice. Becky got a little bitof bubble gum, which I didn't necessarily agree with, but certainly would concur that this was the sweetest wine we tasted this evening. We all agreed that the Loosen Bro's had a very pleasant effervescence on the palette. I felt a fruitiness on the nose and palette, but also picked up a floral saccharin quality - maybe even magnolia..then again i could have just spent too much time in the southeast...if such a thing exists...but i digress. My final thoughts for this one are that it is very pleasant but that it may lack a little structure in my mouth - are white wines even supposed to have structure? Bottom line, B for this wine.

On to the next wine. On deck was the 2004 (French)Alsatian Trimbach, the most expensive of the three and unfortunately our least favorite. This one definitely has less effervescence. I tasted some tang but Josh and I quickly became embroiled in discussion on this subject, since he says that the Loosen Bros tasted like a sweet tart, where this Trimbach tastes like martinelli without the bubbles. Becky also tastes tartness, but Josh tries to use his lawyer skills to try to convince her that what she is tasting is more of an acrid dry cider taste. I actually ended up agreeing with Josh's assesment. Josh tastes a little rubber - an assertion backed up by Becky who characterizes it as "pencil eraser". I reminded Josh that he seems to taste rubber in everything. He also detected a thin blended scotch taste – almost a light smokiness. Ari notes that this wine seems to stand up to the gale force winds that were at this point blowing across the roof on which we were conducting this particular session of WBW. We agreed that this one deserved a C+...we were not particularly impressed.

On to the third and final vino - the 2006 Mosel Saar Ruwer, Terrassenmosel. Back to Germany. the overall consensus was an overwhelming nose of blueberry on this one - so much so Becky and Josh even went as far as to say this juice smelled like the plastic head of "Blueberry Muffin", a doll friend of her eminence "Strawberry Shortcake". Not being familiar with either young ladies, I an unable to judge the veracity of their characterizations, but i do agree that the nose presented blueberry. B- on this one. And by the way, the only place I could find a legitimate image of strawberry shortcake was on a website called gaygamer.net.....interesting.

All in all WBW was a success. Many thanks to the folks at Winecast for hosting. I think that although this was not a real Riesling crowd we were pleased by the range that was was presented in these wines. It was certainly interesting to observe the tone differences between the French and German Rieslings, with the french seeming to posess a more acidic minerality. I am not sure if this is a broad characteristic, but I am certainly now motivated to find out. Over and out from greatjuice. Until WBW #46.

Unti Petite Sirah 2004: B+

In search for something to lift our spirits after the dissapoint Stag's Leap, we headed for one of my favorite vineyards Unti. Everytime I type Unti into Microsoft Word it autocorrects me to "Unit" and for a moment I think about how sweet it would be if there existed such thing as G-Unit vineyards....anyways.... Josh got a little burnt rubber on the nose, but it was Becky, being the first to taste, who seemed to hit the nail on the head by calling out the cherry. I tasted an even sweeter cherry cola characterization - not sour at all, and Josh echoed my sentiment by chiming in and adding a "vanilla". Josh has also felt a little semi-sweet chocolaty finish. This one was definitely inkier than the Stag's Leap, and fruity, but not overly bomby. There were nice tannins, and this one seemed versatile enough to be enjoyed on it's own, or with the Granja de Oro pollo saltado that I happened to be savoring tonight.....as i often do. Overall this was a great wine. Winezap has this wine costing 26 bucks, but I swear it was in the $18-$19 range. Not so sure if I would buy this wine again at 26 bucks, but at 18 i might consider a case....hence the B+. Josh concurs.

Stag's Leap Petite Sirah 2005: C

Beck-o, Josh and I gathered at chez hale-wilson to do a little petite-sirah comparison tasting. We started with the Stag's leap, purchased at Trader Joe's in Alexandria for, what Josh recalls to be "around 30 bucks". Josh and Becky started this wine out with their houseguest for the weekend, Annie Z, then realized they had to zip her to the airport so I was called in from the bullpen to help finish it off upon their return. The theory was that it might need to be decanted a bit - when we all met back up at the house it had been decanted an hour. Unfortunately, the decanting didn't have sufficient effect. We were collectively dissapointed. Josh and I both agreed that it sort of felt like we had a cold and couldn't really taste this one. Neither of us actually do. Becky put it perhaps most eloquently when she said it felt like we were tasting the wine through a ball of gauze. In an attempt to improve out tasting experience, Becky dimmed the lights...this is apparently a technique that has worked from her on past occasions....not this time beck-o. This juice really seemed to not hold it's structure - seemed to die on the front end - as Josh put it much more alliteratively, the finish falls flat. Becky's rather belligerent final assesment was simply "Fuck this, fuck it, not worth 30 bucks." well put Beckster. A more G-rated sentimet was expressed by Josh, who lamented "it’s not like you are drinking bad wine, but is just kind of like a sophisticated dud. It’s like a C student at Yale, and we all know where that has gotten us." Overall this group was not impressed. On to the next one. C+ tasting wine - demoted to a C for the price inflation/lack of value factor.

get ready for WBW 45

when i was living in the ATL, my friend erwin dink would, on a monthly basis invite me to his home to participate in a lively ritual called wine blog wednesday (WBW for short). for those of you not familiar with WBW, it is a chance for wine bloggers all over the globe to do a sort of simlutaneous tasting, record their thoughts, then send links to their posts to the host, who does a write up. a theme is selected each month by that months host, and participating bloggers all taste and write on that theme. although i am no longer participating under erwin's auspices at winefoolery.blogspot.com, i have decided to start back up with WBW. this coming month (May 7th is the day), the theme will be 'old world riesling'. more info can be found on the host's website here: http://winecast.net/2008/04/11/old-world-riesling-for-wbw-45/

this should be good fun. anyone in the DC area who would like to participate, please don't hesitate to email me and come on over for the imbibing. we may even taste multiple vinos.

2005 Stryker Monte Rosso: A

This Stryker is Juanita's favorite. Josh describes it as "dark passion fruit with butter." Where do you even go from there? Ted likens it to a cherry cobbler and Josh agrees because he thinks it tastes like fruit and shortening. Juanita interjects that it's not SWEET but rather rich. It has enough tannins and zip to hold up to a variety of fruits.

2001 Renwood Barbera: A+

Ted thinks that the Renwood 2001 Barbera is spicy, peppery but velvety. It has deep cherry with earthy tones. It has enough body to hold up well to spicy food - even the panang curry we had for dinner tonight. Ted says simply "a delicious wine, I would say." He's right. Josh adds that this has something more complex in it's structure - a successful balance of more flavors than the Stryker we've also reviewed. That being said, the Stryker is a wine that we'd want a CASE of, because it's versatile and yummy. *This wine is plainly in a higher class of the wines we normally drink. It's an A+ on the greatjuice scale.

2002 Windsor North Coast Cabernet: A & B

To preface, we're not lushes, but we have broken into our second bottle of wine tonight, and I think it's fantastic. I'm giving it an A, but my husband disagrees and is giving it a B. It is wonderfully smooth, deep with an earthy finish. At the same time, it's very jammy (again, Josh disagrees) but I'm right. Josh thinks it's too thin to be jammy, and thinks it has a nice body but he thinks it's more like a chutney than a jam. 

2005 Ridge Geyserville: A

We've enjoyed two wonderful vinos tonight. We headed to our great neighborhood spot, Cashion's, and had a 2005 Ridge Geyserville. It had a lush syrupy consistency of a petite sirah married to an active, fruit-filled zinfandel. It had a chocolate/cherry overtone - the kind that you bite into and get a nice mouthful of fruity flesh and get a cherry finish that's not overpowering and very smooth. Yum yum yum. I friggin love Ridge, just in general. My husband is responsible for the in-depth, prosaic description above, I'm responsible for the "friggin love" part. 

Zolo Torrontés 2006: B+

I have been a bit remiss in not posting for close to a month. Alas the rigors of grad school have kept me away, that and the spring blossoms in DC seem to scream "drink girly cocktails", so the wine consumption has waned a bit. Tonight I decided to crack open one of the handful of whites that I should admit I only bought so that I would have a reason to use my dual temperature zoned wine cooler doo-hickey. The choice tonight was an 06 Torrontés from Mendoza...or is it. The label on the bottle says "100% torrontes from La Rioja" which I am assuming means that the actual fruit was originally from Spain, but grown in Argentina. Not sure about this though. This one sort of faked me out. On first sniff i got a very minerally nose...on second sniff the minerals warmed into a youngish fruit maybe like unripe mango or even softer - green banana. On the palate, it got cozier and even a bit sweet for my taste, yellow fruit, although i wouldn't say particularly citrusy. It has a pleasant finish and a green-yellow hue. I definitely like this wine and although I don't remember what I paid for it (i gotta start writing that on the bottle or something). On the web it appears to be around 10 bucks, less even in some places. At that price, I would say this is a great wine. Once again, value seems to be the name of the game from our neighbors to the south.

Gascon Malbec 2006: B/B-

Some pros and cons about this vino, which we're having with a fancy meal of spaghetti, goat cheese and crackers. First, it's a good buy, at a whopping $11.00 (Trader Joe's). It's got the tart full-balanced charm of a good Argentine malbec with cranberry overtones. The label claims a hint of mocha but Josh isn't tasting it. It's too tart and tight to call smooth, but balanced enough to drink in gulps, which is exactly what we're doing...given our week. Final word: if it were $9.00 a bottle, Josh would buy two cases tomorrow. As it is, I'll probably just pick up another the next time I'm at Trader Joe's. 

South Coast Winery Syrah: B+

This syrah is really lovely. Josh and I are drinking it with Indian food tonight, and it's one of those wines that I bet would be good with just about anything. It's full but not heavy, very drinkable, on the dry side with dominant plums and cherries and a soft licorice finish. This is not a syrupy, juicy syrah but has some structure and body. We are fans. 

Ray's Station Cabernet Sauvignon 2005: A-

I loved this wine. I really wish I had written down why last night while I was drinking it. I remember thinking, "this wine is great - i am going to give in an A- because i like it so much" but can't exactly recall why. i do remember that it was a bit fruitier than one expects cabs to be. i also remember how every time my glass neared empty, i got excited about pouring myself more. also, it is in the medium price range ($13-$17 depending where you get it)....like the rest of this annoyingly vague post, i don't remember where i bought this, but did i mention, i really like it :)

Ridge "Three Valleys" 2005: B-

The text on the bottle of this blend says that it is 74% Zin, 13% Petite Sirah, and 8% Carignane with the balance Grenache and Mataro. It was definitely a bit of a gearshift from the syrah, and there were all around more positive comments. josh felt that the three valleys was brighter, detected cranberry on the nose. I wouldn't have come up with cranberry myself, but wholeheartedly agree. there was a really smooth tang that for me characterized this wine in the nose and the mouth. despite its "brightness", this juice didn't lack body or structure. Becky said that it reminded here of the ridiculously priced whole foods yuppie elixir (AKA POM juice) that she had consumed earlier that evening. She also noted earth and butter - and when we all looked at her like she had three heads, she reminded us that there are no wrong answers on the wine blog. true dat becky, true dat. All agreed that maybe the lemon chicken wasn't the best pairing, but i think most of us might buy this again if given the opportunity. I should note, that i think this wine is slightly overpriced at $21 - i would by it again for $17. The price knocks it down a letter grade from a B to a B-.

Madroña Syrah 2006: C

Two nights ago the whole greatjuice gang gathered at chez wilson/hale for a pre-oscar wine and dine experience. paola and i were in charge of salad and the hosts whipped up a spectacular Moroccan lemon chicken with couscous. when we arrived beck and josh were already half way through this bottle of Madroña syrah that they had received through their wine club. so here's the thing about wine club wines - i feel like they often send you wines that they know most people will like. i would join a wine club, not because i expect to like every wine, but because i want my palate to be expanded and would even expect to receive some bottles that I downright hate. Unfortunately, in my experience this is not the case. It seems like lots of clubs say that they give you a wide variety, and by that they mean they send you all sorts of varietals, but if they all taste like something that i could get at my local grocery store, i am not sure what good that does me.

but i digress... so we hopped in on the drinking of the Madroña and really had very few complaints, but i don't think anyone was blown away either. Becky seemed to think that it tasted moldy and sharp, then realized that she had chased her sip with a chunk of blue cheese and recanted her characterization. she did detect a slightly floral nose. josh concurred and added that he liked the deep purply color (i agree) and thought that this was a rather well rounded and balanced wine.

as for me, i thought there was a subtle spice to this one that was rather pleasant and a bit of blueberry on the nose. In terms of tannins, both paola and i agreed that there was a minor bit of tannic cotton tackiness in the mouth, but it wasn't at the back of the mouth where we usually feel it, rather near the front. overall not an unpleasant experience, but i am not sure we will be ordering a case anytime in the near future.

as a last note/questions, josh notices that this wine, like a couple others he has tasted, induced in him a trance-like state. as weird as this sounds, i think i know what he is talking about. i would like to think that something in certain wines makes me stare off into space, or at the kitchen counter for unacceptably long periods of time, but I suspect it may have more to do with the amount of wine consumed as opposed to some magic ingredient that certain wines have. then again, i have heard something about sulfites giving people headaches and such. any thoughts?

Montes Alpha Syrah 2004: B+

Josh and I finally opened an 04 Montes Alpha that we'd been saving. Looks like grape juice - wicked purple. Also, this wine is endorsed by Andean Indians. What more could you want? Josh says "Core attribute is full-bodied flavor of dark berry and spice." He thinks it would stand up well, next to smoked meat or perhaps spicy Peruvian chicken...not the pesto pasta we're eating right now. Maybe I thought this bottle tasted even better because we've been saving it...my judgement might be off. 

A Chant to Soothe Wild Elephants 2007: A+

Ok, so clearly this is not a bottle of wine, but a book. Not any book, but a book written by my friend Jaed Coffin. Jaed is a talented young Maine author, and this, his debut novel has received great reviews thus far. I am in the process of procuring a copy myself to read while I am home in maine in a couple of weeks. keep on rocking in the free world Jaed. If you want to learn more about the book, or jaed, go to jaedcoffin.com.

obama: wine vs. beer

I recently came across this snippet on an article from the Chicago Tribune by reporter John McCormick: "Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), in his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, has had more success among "wine-track" voters -- characterized by "higher incomes and more education" -- than he has among "beer-track" voters". this whole categorizing voters according to their preferences in alcoholic beverages is a new political phenomenon to me, seems sort of ridiculouse, and frankly it leaves me wondering what i am. is there such thing as a "pepperoni pizza track" voter?

Quady Elysium Black Muscat 2006: C

I like wine. I like dessert. This should mean that I like dessert wine, right? mmmm....not always. I picked up this bottle (375ml) of black muscat at Trader Joes for 12.99, admittedly attracted by the fact that i had no idea that black muscat existed. Similar to my experience with the rosé from last week, I can tell that this is a well made wine. It has interesting structure and taste, but it just isn't for me. Unless I am drinking ports (Prager is among my current favorites - the make a white hazelnut port that is wicked rad), I have a strong preference for much lighter fresher and dryer desert wines that are less syrupy. The Elysium seems quite viscous but is pleasantly smooth. definitely lots of sweet floral flavors on the nose - wait, can one smell flavors? even though i know this sounds ridiculous, this muscat, for me, had really strong grape taste. but chris, you might say, maybe this is because wine is made from grapes. i know - just try it, i think you will see what i mean....not just like it tasted as thought it were made from grapes, rather it actually is characterized by a strong almost flat grape soda kind of a taste. I have come across a couple of suggestions to pour this wine over vanilla ice cream. that could definitely be tasty, but i don't know if I want to have to pour my wine over ice cream to get excited about it. If I am honest with myself, I will never buy this wine again. that said, take this rating with a grain of salt, as I am not a real dessert wine guy. C

Montes Cherub Rose of Syrah 2007: B

In celebration of the weird weather yesterday in Washington (72 degrees with apocalyptic skies in mid-February) Paola and I decided to crack open a bottle of chilean rosé of syrah. I claim no comparative ability given that i have never, in my recent memory, had rosé, but what Paola termed the "weather for being outside in a hammock or playing cards" it seemed like the right choice. Knowing little about rosé i did some quick research and the most succinct coherent blurb i found was on wine.com: "Rose is a wine that goes through the red winemaking process, but is stopped before extracting too many red wine characteristics. Almost always made from red varietals, the grapes are pressed and the juice sits with the skins for fermentation - but just for a little while - enough time to get a bit of color and a bit of the skin characteristics. Then fermentation continues as a white wine, most often in stainless steel."

our initial observations were that the color seemed to be a deeper ruby than the picture we had in our minds (see pic above). on the nose, the first thing that comes to my mind is champagne. on the tongue, there is an effervescence that i am not sure is characteristic of rosé or not. the taste to me is strongly similar to pino grigio actually, except that it finishes much larger than a white wine. i am only familiar pinot grigio with because it is my mom's vino of preference.

While I am having a hard time putting a grade on this one, I have the impression that as rosé's go, this one is pretty good. If I had to drink a Rosé again, i would definitely consider it and therefore give it a B.

Pillar Box Red 2006: B+

so...to continue the dribble...i opened up a bottle of pillar box red (preferred wine of Tom Brady and the future super bowl champion New England Patriots - see photo to right) that i got on sale at the corner liquor store ("martin's" - on corner of Florida and T Street, next to the Washington Hilton) for 9 bucks. this wine falls into the aforementioned "wine i open when i am alone so i don't feel bad if/when i don't down a whole bottle". initially attracted by the smart looking screw cap and the simple cover art, this juice was a pleasant surprise. on the nose i had a hard time identifying the dominant characteristic, but settled on a combo of carob, prune, and date. any carob fans out there? i didn't think so. i only know what carobs are and taste/smell like because my mom used to occasionally try to trick me into thinking she was putting a chewy chocolate chip granola bar into my lunch box, when in reality they were carob "chip" granola bars from the health food store. for the uninitiated, carobs taste nothing like chocolate.

when tasted, this shiraz/cab/merlot blend was not overly big and fruity and had nice tannins - just the right of top of the mouth cotton for my taste. when i smell from the top of my glass, it has a really different nose then when i stick my snout down in - like almost savory, i want to say some kind of gamy meaty smell. this juice seemed to flatten out as i drank it and lose some of the initial tannic punch. i think i actually liked the jumpier tannins when i first opened it up. over all a great value - especially at the martin's sale price.

admission of guilt

following a seemingly endless thursday of reading, reading, more reading, then class with former special assistant to president clinton for latin america arturo valenzuela, i was ready to flop in my apartment. i had a great comfort food dinner of grilled cheese and homemade french fries with paola and retreated to my apartment to clean up and, of course try out a new wine. i find myself entangled in a recurring dilemna where i never want to drink an entire bottle of wine by myself, but i am not a real "save the rest for tomorrow" wine drinker. wine just never tastes quite as good to me after spending a night in the fridge. as a result, i oftentimes drink half a bottle of wine, save the rest only to have a half a glass the next day and then pour it out a week later when it is clearly no longer drinkable. i am aware this is a terrible and incredibly wasteful offense, probably deserving of a one way ticket straight to wine hell, or at least purgatory. The only half-solution i have found so far is to have a couple of cheaper bottles of wine around that i feel less bad about wasting. needless to say, this is a bad solution. of course i usually share bottles with one or more friends, so this isn't an issue, but on the off chance i get in a wine drinking mood when i am alone in my apt, this conundrum presents itself. any thoughts? i have had mixed success with the air-sucker-outer apparatuses.

The bourgeois prefers comfort to pleasure, convenience to liberty, and a pleasant temperature to the deathly inner consuming fire.

while i'm not sure i would go as far as herman hesse, i am gaining an appreciation of "pleasant temperature", especially as it refers to my wines. my parents, in an act of extreme kindness and generosity not uncharacteristic for them, bought me a wine.....cooler i guess you call it. i have always sort of thought that the only things that qualified as wine coolers were produced by bartles and jaymes, came in such flavors as green apple and fresh strawberry, and were consumed en masse in the early to mid nineties, preferably poolside. lucky for me, this is not what they got me, rather a wine cooling apparatus , more specifically the "Vinotemp 21 Bottle, Thermo-Electric, stainless steel, 2 Zone Wine Cooler"

i love my new wine toy, but it's presence in my apartment has had three immediate effects:

1. i feel really cool, knowing that i am treating my wine the way a proper wine connoisseur would treat his or her most prized bottles (when i'm feeling this way, i am of course ignoring the fact that i am not a proper wine connoisseur in any way shape or form, or even really know what that might mean).

2. i feel like the kid whose parents foolishly buy him the nike air jordans (4th generation, black, gray, and red) the day before junior high basketball tryouts and then he doesn't make the team and is left playing rec basketball with a sweet pair of jordans.

3. i spend time that i should be using to not fail grad school wondering about the temperature at which i should store my wines.

it is this third point that is the purpose of this entry. after doing some quick research on the web i am thoroughly confused. of all the temperature advice, i think my favorite comes from a website that i can now of course not find, but summing up, said "twenty minutes before serving, put your red wines in the fridge, and take your white wines out". Wine Intro has a chart with some rather impractical temperature guidelines. can anyone offer any guidance in deciphering all of this - in the meantime, my vinotemp air jordans will be set at 53degrees and 61degrees.

Clos la Chance Syrah 2005: B

last night paola and i decided it was time to pull out the decanter and give this syrah (which coincidentally was a christmas present from my sister and brother in law - they correctly assume that wine is always a safe gift for me) a try. We had wanted to get a table at bistrot du coin, the french spot two blocks from chez moi, two nights earlier, but it was full and i think both of us were left with the urge, even two days later, to wash food down with wine. granted, had we gone to B du C, the food being washed down would have most likely been an onglet á l'échalotte, not the safeway pepperoni oven pizza that i was able to whip up last night in less than 14 minutes time, and far from the Roasted Pork with Molé Sauce, Grilled Lamb with Blackberry Sauce recommended on the back of the bottle.

upon first taste, paola's reaction was that it tasted sort of woody, even oaky, something that seemed sort of a funny to me. i certainly didn't taste any oak, but i also wasn't bowled over by big dark fruit. this wine is rather inky in color so i expected it to have a bit bigger taste. it was definitely good, and i would drink it again without hesitation, but it didn't have the bold flavors or aromas that i expected it to based on it's color. i would say that i tasted a pleasant mix of red and dark fruit - maybe heavier on red, with soft tannins. as for Paola's woody characterization, on the clos la chance website for this particular wine it says that "barrel allocation consisted of 28% new french oak and 7% new american oak" - so i guess we know who has the keener palette of the two.

I think that a second tasting of this wine is in order, paired with something different than crappy pepperoni pizza. aside from the fact that the aforementioned cuisine choice has a pretty overpowering taste, we were so hungry that i think we ate it too soon after it came out of the oven and kind of burnt our mouths - not conducive to fair tasting judgements. i will keep you informed as to how tasting #2 goes when/if i can get my hands on another bottle of this juice.

ps. i wicked love Bistrot du Coin and highly recommend it to anyone who is in DC and hasn't already been. you gotta love a place that in true western european social democrat style is open 364 days a year....every day except???...christmas? NOPE......new years?? NOPE....Bastille Day?? NOPE.....Labor Day?? Mais oui!!!

Montes Alpha Syrah 2002: A-

wow. i love this wine. i first tried this bottle two years ago. i had always been curious about the montes alpha wines but had never really had the cash to justify buying one. then when i was in bolivia for work i came across the 2002 and 2004 syrah and 2004 cab in some supermarket for the equivalent of ten bucks (...oh how i long for the days of a strong dollar once again), and couldn't resist. i loved the 02 syrah the first time i tried it - i think at the time i may have even said that it was my favorite wine EVER. it just has a really great sort of brooding licorice quality to it. not too jammy really, but big dark fruit and just tannic enough to make you feel like you are drinking wine, not wicked expensive grape juice. i have since found this wine online at international cellar for 16.99, a price well worth paying in my humble, extremely un-wine-educated opinion. so this time around i got to enjoy it with my buddies seth and sobo and their respective ladyfriends at chez sobo. sobo makes a mean lasagna, not to mention he produced an amount of lasagna that would have been enough to feed the entire 1998 brunswick high school boys soccer team (of which we were both members), even including bionic swedish exchange student henrik jacobson. in any case, the lasagna made a nice food pairing. this time around maybe i wasn't paying as much attention but the 02 syrah didn't completely blow me away like it did the first time. it was very, very good - even exceptional, but i would not say it is my favorite wine ever. it tasted a little thinner to me than i had remembered and lacked the sort of dark, syrupy (but not sweet), concentration that made my like it so much last time. david ogilvie, a fellow wine blogger from "purple lips", who is actually professionally and educationally qualified to hold an opinion about such things seems to think that the '02 syrah is "not holding it's age in the mouth", which, if i am understanding correctly what that might mean, it could be why i had such different feeling about this one a couple of years. again - in my opinion, this wine rulez (yes, with a z), but is not the A+ material i had felt that it might turn out to be. that said, it is well worth your money and time.

rating system

it seems to me meaningless to just blabber on about wines that i have tasted in poorly written prose rife with tired metaphors and glaring grammatical mistakes...sooo....following in the footsteps of the aforementioned erwin dink, i will rate each wine that i taste. the grading system used is purposefully unscientific. A to F with pluses and minuses at my discretion. wines that i would drink again typically fall within the B to A+ range. of course, a wine that i give a C- could be an A to some - again...this is not scientific, but like erwin, i think it is important to give reader(s) a reference point, plus we americans like to rank everything anyways.

an important footnote

i should mention that my inspiration for this blog is another fellow wine drinker friend of mine from atlanta, erwin dink over at winefoolery.net (thanks for the correction Erwin). in addition to being a kick ass bikram yoga idol, he runs a much more respectable wine blog, complete with real knowledge and a more experienced palette. so cheers to you erwin, we raise our boxes of mountain chablis in your honor. wine on!

Cline Cashemere 2005: B-

i had this wine two or three years ago and remembered it being it concentrated, dark, velvety, deep - what i usually really enjoy. this time it was pretty unremarkable. i am aware this sounds ridiculously obvious, but the only real description i could come up with for the nose on this juice this time was "box of sunmaid raisins". it really just lacked distinction. i keep telling myself that cline makes pleasant wines at a good price...but am not sure why i am convinced of that. i definitely would not spend the 17 bucks i dropped at world market on this wine again. i even decanted this one and drank it in my fancy wine glass. i am not a huge fan of super tannic wines, but i would have liked a little more punch in the tongue from this one. it was just flat. for those inquiring minds, the cline cashmere is a blend of mouvedre, syrah, and grenache. interesting thought, a bit lacking in execution. not bad, but definitely not great. so you believe i really drank this wine...see pic.

intro...

so to give you a bit more of an idea about my wine palette...i am willing to try anything, but tend to buy more syrah, petite syrah, cabs, and an occasional carmenere, malbec, or blend. as a grad student, i often buy wines that err on the side of "light on the wallet". i also often times pair my wine with rather non-traditional (read, nasty) culinary selections...like when you are at whole foods and the fancy little card underneath the bottle says "bold, daring cabernet with hints of blackberry, cassis, and darkly toned kenyan roast arabica. enjoy with piping hot turkish mint jelly garnished rack of lamb accompanied by hand harvested organic free-frange legumes brined in sea salt. i sort of understand the point scoring system, but am never sure what to do with these descriptions and meal suggestions. if i were to write these tags, they might read: "this wine tastes especially delicious chased by reese's chocolate covered peanut butter cookies (i can tell you where to get these, they're wicked awesome)." i regularly buy my wine at gas stations, but occasionally spring for a decent bottle. i once worked in a wine store for two months. that said, nothing at all qualifies me to write about wine other than that i enjoy it. here goes.