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.
Showing posts with label Cab. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cab. Show all posts
Monday, April 19, 2010
Sunday, June 17, 2007
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.
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.
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