Too much sipping, not enough writing

It's a great week when the bottles fill the recycle corner of your kitchen counter top. We opened and shared some delicious new wines.

Throughout the week, we enjoyed a Malbec Rose from Maipe (Mendoza, Argentina). It's a nice drinking wine, perfect for these lazy, humid afternoons.

We love Chilean wines, recently favoring SB from the Anakena winery. On Friday, we opened a bottle of their 2008 Carmenere (Rapel Valley). Inky, lots of dark berries, great with grilled steak. Later that evening, we shared an Argentinian wine: Maipe Bonarda 2009 (Mendoza). Another inky, deep red--not quite as intense as a Malbec, but lots of interesting fruit. It went well with dark chocolate and almonds.

Saturday, a friend brought a 2009 Malbec from Alamos (Mendoza), and later on, we opened an excellent 2007 Zinfandel from Amador County, CA (Sobon Estate, Rocky Top). And somewhere in the middle, we had a glass of our former stand-by (now a treat when Daryl travels to Trader Joe country): Charles Shaw Cab. The Malbec and Zin were lovely wines--bold and teeth-staining.

Better tasting notes for the next round, we promise.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday...

So, we kicked off the weekend with a bottle of rose from Provence: Domaine Fontanyl Cotes De Provence 2009. Rather, I opened the bottle with a friend; Daryl would sample this late Sunday afternoon. I'm on the hunt for good roses now that the summer is almost here--still haven't found anything comparable to our beloved Ortman's Syrah rose. This, however, came highly recommended by John from Total Wine, and it didn't disappoint. Dry but with lots of fruit. I picked up another bottle from Tavel, France, which is supposed to be top of the line when it comes to rose. We'll save that for another Saturday...

Saturday afternoon, a friend stopped by with a bottle of organic Malbec from Argentina, which we enjoyed with Manchego cheese and almonds. Later that evening, we headed out to a brand-new restaurant.Vin 21 promised good food and wine, and we loved it. We started the night at the bar and perused the wine list--I was excited about all the different Spanish wines they had by the glass. I started with an Ipsum Verdejo/Viura blend; Daryl had a Ra Nui SB (Marlborough). We then got a glass of Pinot Noir by Cartlidge & Browne, which we used to drink years ago when we first started learning more about wine. Brought back some great memories of Fermentations in Seaside, FL, where it all started.

Two glasses of wine led to a plate of crispy fried calamari, which led to a table and more wine! Had a great meal (tuna for me; fillet mignon for Daryl), yummy dessert and coffee. Unfortunately, about halfway through dinner, I stopped writing down the wines we drank, but our favorite was a delightful red blend (Cab/Syrah/Grenache) from Stickleback (Australia). ("Rhymes with Nickleback," Daryl kept saying, so we'd be sure to remember it at night's end.) Daryl's thoughts on the Stickleback: "unexpected complex wine, delicious--but the bouquet was deceptively simple."

And on Sunday, we finished off the rose. Another delicious wine weekend!

Four Wine Weekend

Four delicious wines shared with several friends this weekend. We opened a couple bottles of Angeline Pinot Noir Reserve on Friday afternoon and evening as we sat out on the back patio and ate snacks and chatted. This Pinot Noir is always tasty--nice balance of fruit and just a touch of acidity. It's one of our favorites, and it can be paired with almost anything or enjoyed on its own.

For dinner on Saturday, we enjoyed three bottles with our guests. For appetizers (again, served on the back patio--loving the refreshing weather and low humidity this spring), we drank Franciscan Merlot, Vintage 2006 (Napa Valley). We don't drink much Merlot, but we keep hearing that winemakers are doing good things again with this grape. And this one went well with carmelized onion, arugula and goat cheese mini pizzas Kath made, along with fresh veggies, crackers & cheese and hummus & pita.

We then enjoyed an excellent 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon from Avenel Cellars. This was a wine I first sipped at my first Total Wine class. Very rich, lots of berries, yet smooth and enjoyable. Nice with burgers and sausage.

Lastly, we opened an unoaked Chardonnay--La Vuelta 2009 from Mendoza, Argentina. This was a pleasant surprise. Daryl usually despises Chardonnay, due to the oak, so most of our whites tend to be SB or Pinot Grigio. This unoaked wine, however, was lovely. Smooth, not quite as crisp as our usual whites, and we tasted more fruit, usually hidden by the buttery oak. Very nice! And it went well with my lemon bars.

Good food, wine and friends--that's what Saturday Sippin' is all about.

Wine, Food

It's truly a talent to pair wine and food. I say this because I totally lack any sort of skill in this area. I assume white for fish and chicken, and reds for dark meat. But that's not always true, and I've read or sampled pairings that seem incongruous at first (like a red and cheese, for example) that end up working beautifully. One of these days I'll read enough or develop a better palate to put together some amazing, unexpected pairings. In the meantime, I'll stick with what's tried and true.

This weekend, we opened a Torrontes from Uruguay. This was another bottle I picked up from my recent wine class. Pisano Rio de Los Pajaros is 100% Torrontes and is similar in color to a Chardonnay, more straw than pale gold of a SB or Pinot Grigio. It's not quite as thick as a Riesling but has a little texture and body to it. It's off-dry with notes of peach and apricot.

We brought this wine to our friends' home to serve with a Greek feta cheese, asparagus and shrimp risotto. Great pairing!! And great risotto! I found the recipe online at Cooking Light, but instead of Arborio rice, I used a short-grain brown rice, which gives the dish an al dente texture, rather than the traditional creaminess of the starchy Arborio. We sipped the wine with some pre-dinner Spanish cheeses, and it also complemented those.

Nice weekend, good food and wine, and great friends!

Sunday's Celebratory Sips

Happy Easter! Happy Spring! Whatever you're celebrating, it's April and lovely. Time for some new wine!

For Christmas, Daryl got me a five class punch card for wine tasting classes at our local Total Wine. Usually, we prefer to buy our wine at a locally owned shop; however, our nearest one shut down within a month of our relocation to Florida. Total Wine opened up, and we are actually very impressed with their selection and prices. And I'm especially enjoying these classes: Our instructor has over 20 years in the business, and she explains wines in an interesting but non-intimidating manner. In February, I tasted Sauvignon Blancs and Cabernets from all over the world; March's class (held this past Wednesday) was called "Grapes Less Traveled: A Look into Fun Alternative White and Red Wines". I picked up today's bottle from that tasting.

To complement our non-traditional Easter meal (grilled rib-eye steaks served with asparagus, green salad, mashed potatoes and Publix's holiday cupcakes), we have opened a delicious Zinfandel: Sobon Estate 2007 Fiddletown Zinfandel (Amador County, CA). Oh, this is a lovely, complex wine. Deep, rich purple with an aromatic bouquet (to borrow from my tasting notes). It tastes of dark fruits, spice, pepper and earth. It's high in tannins and acidity. Daryl adds that it's "excitingly bold and perfectly paired with the Easter rib eye". We have a winner!

A few interesting facts I learned about this wine and region: Amador County is slightly south of Sacramento and known for its Zinfandel. Fiddletown is an AVA, which I learned stands for Agriculture Viticulture Area (like the DOC you see on Italian wines). The grapes are organically grown on this estate, and it's family-owned and operated.

Happy holiday!

Monday's Thoughts on Weekend's Wine

Two wines to talk about on this rainy Monday morning. Horse Head Sauvignon Blanc (Washington State): every time we go to one of our favorite seafood restaurants (Captain Charlie's Reef Grill, Juno Bch), Kath always orders this wine by the glass. Two visits ago, while waiting for 45 minutes for a table with a large party, we shared a bottle of this fantastic, crisp SB. Little did we know, until we actually looked at the bottle, that we had been enjoying a Washington wine all along. We tend to look for SBs from New Zealand because we love their fruity crispness, and we drink ones from CA, enjoying their more mineral notes. This wine is tasty: crisp, nice balance of acidity. We didn't notice quite as much big tropical fruit notes like you would taste in a glass from Marlborough. Very nice wine and delicious with seafood (Kath ordered the sauteed cobia and Daryl got the pan-fried scallops).

We also opened a Cabernet Sauvignon from Argentina to enjoy this weekend: Maipe Andean Culture 2008 Cab from Mendoza, Argentina. We always think Malbec when we consider picking out an Argentinian wine, but we were happy with this Cab. I first tried this wine at a tasting class in February and loved it. It's medium bodied, low tannins and medium acidity (from my notes--on weekend sippin', we try not to get too technical). It's a great wine to drink on its own. We paid around $10 for it and will keep this on our restock list.

Easter is next weekend, and I have another tasting class on Wednesday. Will look for some new wines to try for another lovely spring weekend.

Coming Back!

We had forgotten how much fun it was to write about our wine discoveries. Look for new posts soon--the weather is getting beautiful, and we're ready to open some new bottles!

We're back

We've been drinking lots of wine, of course. Life has been very busy over the last 5 months, and while we've opened many new bottles along with old favorites, we haven't had time to sit down and write about them.

We've made some wine drinking friends and found great places to shop for wine in Florida. We love the prices. We've found our favorites (Freixenet Cava and Nobilo SB) for under $10. Enjoying our Wine of the Month club selections from Winestyles.

A new white that we are excited to try: D.O. Alella from Spain. We have a bottle sitting in our rack. After it's opened, we'll report our impressions.

Another New White

We haven't reviewed a Californian Sauvignon Blanc yet, and this weekend we opened one. Raymond Reserve Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2006. Excellent! Not as much juicy tropical fruit as our beloved NZ SB. Daryl thought it had an acidic overtone, and I tasted a hint of citrus. We opened it with last night's catfish and finished the bottle with happy-hour's Cheez-Its. We have a bottle of their Merlot, which we are curious to try.

Getting out of a rut

Last time, we talked about trying new white wines. The Chilean white was a start, and this week we opened something brand new to us: Berger 2006 Gruner Veltliner, an Austrian white. Very nice! Smooth, very dry, excellent with grilled pork chops and chicken. And it should go well with tonight's fried rice. Versatile.

This was our September white wine of the month--proving again why we love being members of a wine club. We probably would never picked this up on our own, but now that we've tried it, we'll look for it again.

Oh, and we recently tried the Gewurztraminer from Washington State...another great, new wine for us--unexpectedly peppery and crisp.

Looking over some recent purchases, we can't wait to open a bottle of Syrah Rose from France (and see how it compares to our favorite from Paso Robles) and a Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc to see how it compares with ones from Chile and New Zealand.

Chilean Sauvignon Blanc

From the "roots of the Andes"...this weekend's wine is a delicious 2006 SB from Anakena (D.O. Valle Central). Crisp, light, a touch acidic--this a great, refreshing wine! We had it last night with barbecue and finished the bottle this afternoon with spinach dip and crackers. It's been a long time since we drank any sort of Chilean wine, and we're wondering why. The price is always excellent (this bottle was around $7), and the quality is good. We're still stuck on Rueda and NZ SB, but maybe it's time to branch out and look for wines, especially whites, outside our comfort zone.

Have a great week!

Settling In

The lease has been signed and most of the boxes are unpacked. A few more days to slowly adjust until work starts and school begins. And, yes, we found a couple new wine stores!

One is a superstore, carrying wine from pretty much all over, plus a great selection of domestic and imported beers. Excellent prices and no more Ohio markup, woo hoo! We found our favorite NZ SB (Nobilo) for $8. We also stocked up on some crisp summer whites: Rueda from Marques de Riscal, an Italian Pink Pinot Grigio and a Gewurztraminer from Columbia Valley, Washington. The last is a new white for us; look for a review soon.

We also found a locally owned shop, where we met the owner and joined the wine-of-the-month club. We're excited to try some new reds and whites--stuff that the bigger stores may carry but that we'd never find on our own. We already have August's bottles: white from Austria and a Californian red. We're looking forward to trying those.

Yesterday, after many hours of unpacking, we opened a new Spanish red: from D.O. Somontano (a new region for us) made from the Moristel grape. A very relaxed, mellow red. It was great just drinking a glass by itself, and it also went well with tonight's pasta. We're partial to Spanish wines--very good value and overall high quality.

Last Sippin' in Ohio

Where does the time go? A month ago we chatted about moving on and finishing our wines, and here it is--five days before the movers get here. Amazing. Sad as we are to say good-bye to Ohio, we are ready to move on to a warmer, sunnier spot...year round.

As for the wine, we've slowly been depleting our cellar, deciding what to drink and what to carry with us (we anticipate carrying one or two cases). We've been drinking our special reds; two nights ago, we opened a very tasty Merlot, Parcel 41 Napa Valley Merlot 2004. We generally don't care for Merlot, but we found this one in the back of our fridge, most likely a stashed wine-of-the-month selection. It is very good. Rich, complex and sharp. Not quite as earthy or possessing the same berry notes as a favorite Cab but intriguing.

Speaking of Cabs, we've opened several of them in the past weeks, and enjoyed them. We've also celebrated the summer with our favorite Ortman's Syrah Rose. Last weekend, our friends brought back a Rose from Switzerland, which we enjoyed. It was light and had just a hint of sweetness, making it a nice summer table wine. They also shared a sparkling wine made by Gruet of New Mexico.

Wines that we couldn't bear to open are ones that have special meaning for us, like two bottles of Long Island Chardonnay that we received at a wedding several years ago, or Italian wines that family picked up for us on trips. We have a Cincinnati red that we'll keep as a souvenir, as well as a Louisiana bottle from Kath's 2005 trip to New Orleans.

What will Florida bring? We'll keep you posted!

Cheers and see you in a few weeks!

Mid-June Posting

Happy Father's Day! Hope everyone took some time today to enjoy their dads. We took Daryl out for Italian food (and I tried a nice Chianti), and otherwise, we relaxed.

Austin was all work, and unfortunately, we never had time to check out the music scene. It was a productive visit, however, and in a few weeks, we should know where we are going next. We did get out one night to eat dinner downtown with some friends, but other than that, the airport Hilton treated us very well. On our last night, we checked out their wine list--not too bad! Daryl found a NZ SB, which was very good, and I tried a Texas Chenin Blanc, light and crisp. You can read about Texas wines here.

This weekend's wine is a delicious Napa Cab: Twenty Bench 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon. Great, great Cab--rich, smooth, nice! Daryl grilled flatiron steaks, and Del made fried rice and stir-fried veggies with chicken. Twenty Bench is an excellent value at around $20, if you purchase it directly from the winery (see the website for details). We'll look for this one again.

As we anticipate moving in about six weeks, we're going into the back of our wine cooler, finding wines we don't even remembering buying, it's been so long. We'll be opening some of these bottles in the next few weeks, and we're looking forward to trying them.

Ohio WineFest

It was a hot and muggy day; thunderstorms threatened but never arrived, and we're hoping for cooler weather. We got out to the Ohio WineFest and despite the noon heat, enjoyed ourselves as much as we did last June. Daryl's mom arrived safely yesterday, so she brought the kids through the market, treating them to stuffed animals and Popsicles, while the two of us tried Ohio wines.

So many different wineries. Some from our area, the Miami Valley. Others from closer to Cincinnati and the Ohio River. And quite a few from the Grand River Valley in the north. Like we wrote last year, many of these wineries offered samples of sweeter stuff, like fruit and ice wines, even mead! We passed on those. Daryl stuck to dry white and reds, while I ventured to the slightly sweeter side, opting to try a blush and a raspberry-infused Riesling. That was good! (Daryl, however, was not impressed.)

Overall, we liked almost everything we tried but still found some of the wines to be on the syrupy, sweeter side when we didn't expect them to be. Our one complaint was that some of the wineries hadn't chilled their sample wines; I tried a warm Chardonnay, which probably would have been decent had it not been as warm as it was (we were pushing close to 85 degrees outside!).

We didn't take tasting notes, but the following is a list of the wineries we "visited":

Miami River Valley:
The Winery at Versailles: Daryl loved their Petite Sirah, and I thought their blush was tasty.

Ohio River Valley/Cincinnati:
Kinkead Ridge Vineyard and Estate Winery: Their Revelation wine is a crisp blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon.

Woodstone Creek Winery & Distillery: They offered mead and also distill small batch spirits (not available to taste).

Amish Country
Breitenbach Wine Cellars

Grand River Valley/Northern Ohio
Debonne Winery

Ferrante

Maize Valley Market & Winery

I wish I wrote down which winery sold that raspberry Riesling!

It was a great couple of hours...spent some time in the market afterwards to pick up fresh-baked bread, Amish cheese and cookies.

For more information on Ohio wines, see here.

We'll be in Austin, Texas, next weekend for work. If we have time, we'll try to check out the scene. We hear there's great music.

Cheers!

Memorial Day Reading

In honor of Memorial Day, please check this out...

(We found this link on Mark Fisher's blog. Check it out here.)

That's a Cabernet...?

Before we begin this post, we'd like to note that this is a positive review...but we know what we like, and after four years of learning about wines and trying different varietals and vintages, we know what to expect. So, when we opened today's bottle of Barefoot Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon, we were a bit shocked. Not bad shocked, but...let's say after trying very good Cabs and other reds (a recent Meritage comes to mind, as well as a tasty Zinfandel from Kendall Jackson which we drank earlier this week) this one tasted...weak??? Not bad weak, just different. "Light" would be the better word to describe this Cab. Simple, tasty--definitely tasty--but not a true, rich, full-bodied Cab. It is pleasant, and at $5 at our local Trader Joe's, you can't beat the price! However, if you're looking for the typical Cab, you won't fine it here. We enjoyed it, however, and thought it had a cute label.

Hope everyone is having a lovely Memorial Day weekend. We attended two parties: a retirement and a graduation. Kath was excited that she didn't have to cook two nights in a row! Today, we cooked out: steak for us and hot dogs for the kids. Good stuff.

Happy Memorial Day!

Catching Up Again

Once more, we've neglected the blog. The month of May has almost passed, and we haven't even done a quick update. The weather has been gorgeous, and with Mother's Day, Daryl's birthday and several visitors, we have been eating and drinking well--maybe a little too well! Here's a quick wrap-up of what we've sipped this month.

With the arrival of the warm weather, we've opened some favorite bottles. Daryl picked up a case of our favorite Rose: Ortman's Syrah Rose. It is crisp and delicious when served chilled, and we love it. We should have enough to get us through the summer...or at least until the move. We've also picked up Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, another perfect summer wine. Crisp, lots of tropical fruit, simply delicious. Unfortunately, we didn't write down the names of the wineries, but you generally can't go wrong with NZ SB. The price is great, too. We picked up one bottle for $12 and another for $19 (and the Nobilo we usually drink is around $11).

At the start of the month, we opened a nice Spanish red: Finca Sandoval, 2002, D.O. Manchuela. It is 91% Syrah and 9% Mouvedre. The Mouvedre gives it a nice elegance, and we didn't notice the usual peppery notes we taste in Syrah. We paid around $30 for it and enjoyed it.

On 18 May, we tasted a Meritage (pronounced like "heritage") from Paso Robles: Norman Vineyards Buzzard Tree 2004 Meritage Red Table Wine. Meritage refers to a wine made from a blend of grapes, and this wine is 44% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Cab Franc, 13% Merlot, 6% Malbec and 3% Petite Verdot. Unfortunately, we didn't jot down any tasting notes but clearly remember liking this wine. At around $15, it is an excellent value for a red.

A couple of upcoming wine events we hope to attend: The Ohio Wine Fest and Festival of the Vine. We attended last summer's Ohio Wine Fest and liked it. Ohio produces a lot of dessert-type wines, generally not to our liking, but we tried a nice Pinot Noir and Pinot Grigio from the northern part of the state and bought a red from the Cincinnati area, which still sits in our rack. We'll try that one this summer before the movers come and let you know what we think (we remember it being good but a little unusual when we tasted it last year). As far as the Festival of the Vine goes, it is a new festival and not much has been written about it yet (please see Dayton-area blogger Mark Fisher's comments on this).

We're sending out virtual champagne toasts to all the proud new moms and dads in our circle of extended family and friends: a new baby boy and twin girls! Cheers and good health to both families!!!!

Finishing the Wrap-Up

More than one post for April and actually written on a Saturday, no less! We didn't cover this week's wine in yesterday's post, so here goes...

On Thursday, we opened a Pinot Grigio from California, Bocce 2004. Very clean, bright, simple and exactly what we look for in our warm weather wines. We finished it tonight with Daryl's General Tao's chicken.

Daryl stopped by the wine bar for a Friday afternoon tasting before going to pick up pizza. He brought home a new red: Eric Ross Old Vine Carignane 2005 (Lodi). It has a delicious, tart blueberry aroma and is a lovely, clear red. It hits mid- to back of the palate with hints of berry. Very smooth and inky like a Syrah but lacking that peppery bite. We enjoyed it, and as we're always looking for dry reds, we'll keep an eye out for this varietal again.

Enjoy the weekend!

Catching Up

Our first and most likely only post for April...time to catch up!

We celebrated Easter with friends and opened Fetzer Chardonnay and Mackenzie Cabernet Sauvignon. Both very nice. We started the afternoon with mimosas made with sparkling wine from Australia and Oregon. Lovely!

Last summer, we attended a wine tasting featuring Juno Wines from South Africa (post here). A local grocery store had two of their wines on special, so we picked up their 2004 Shiraz. It was just as good as we remembered it. One thing very unique about this wine is that it is aged in oak barrels, which give it creamy toffee and caramel notes. It's not as sharp or peppery as a typical Shiraz. It's a good value at around $11.

Last weekend we opened a red from Napa Valley: Scout's Honor, Venge Vineyard, 2003. 73% Zinfandel, 14% Petite Sirah, 13% Charbono. We both enjoyed this wine: rich in color and very grapey and earthy in taste. Very nice with grilled steak.

The warm weather has finally returned to Ohio. Time to start looking for crisp whites and cool, dry roses that we love drinking this time of year. So many wines and so little time!