Menu for Hope

A friend of mine (who goes by the moniker themostrighteous) alerted us to this wonderful charitable campaign:

Every year, Food Bloggers from all over the world join together for a fundraising campaign. We call it 'Menu for Hope'. Last year, we raised over $90K for the UN World Food Program.

This year Menu for Hope 5 again raises funds for the WFP's school lunch program in Lesotho, Africa. This is the second year we are supporting this program, which assist the WFP's efforts to supply the program by buying directly from local farmers who practice conservation farming methods. With this program, we help feed the kids (which keep them in school) and support their parents and community farming. This sustainable approach to aid is something we believe in and strongly support.

Please join me in supporting this organization! Oh, and did I mention - every donation enters you for a raffle for some really wonderful prizes!

Jumilla and Ginger Key Lime Saffron Shrimp

Wine: 2006 Bodegas Olivares Jumilla Panarroz
Meal: Ginger Key Lime Saffron Shrimp

Tasting notes on the wine:

Color: 5/5
Black plum, color bleeds to edge, good saturation and clarity.

Nose: 11/15
Black cherry, oak, licorice, cough syrup, sweet thyme. Sweet, fruity. There's a little burnt rubber that's a little off-putting. Nice, but not extraordinary.

Flavor: 6/10
Spicy and fruity, and oaky. A little one-dimensional. Mostly dark fruits on the palate, with something weird that I just can't put my finger on, but I don't care for it. It's okay. Nothing spectacular.

Finish: 7/10
Decent little finish, goes down smooth and calls the tannins out. Again, nothing special about it, just a lingering of the flavors across the palate.

Aging: 3/5
It may be too early. It's a young wine still, only a 2006. It might improve with time. There's enough structure for it to hold for a while.

Overall: 3/5
Unimpressive. It's decent, and for $9/bottle, I can't really complain. Not exactly my cup of tea (or glass of wine). It's also not exactly the best pairing - the food was pretty much just what I had lying around the house, and so it became food. I had already opened the bottle before checking my food selection, so I kind of got stuck. The food's good though.

Total: 84 pts

Want to make this meal?

Ginger Key Lime Saffron Shrimp

5 jumbo shrimp
2 Tbsp ginger key lime sauce (see below)
3 medium carrots, peeled & chopped
2 ribs celery, diced
1/4 cup frozen peas
pinch saffron

Heat up medium skillet or wok and put in sauce, carrots, and celery. Saute until carrots are tender-crisp. Add in shrimp and saffron. Cover and cook for 3 minutes until shrimp begin to turn red. Stir in peas, cover and cook an additional 3 minutes until the shrimp has turned red and cooked through. Serve in a bowl and enjoy!

Ginger Key Lime Sauce
1 bottle Les Lavandes Ginger Key Lime Vinegar
1 shallot, finely diced
1 stick butter

In a small saucepan, combine vinegar and shallot, and reduce the vinegar over medium heat until it it approximately 2 Tbsp in volume. Remove from heat and slowly stir in butter until it is all melted. Can be refrigerated and reheated at will.

Enjoy!

Notes About Tasting Notes

At long last, I'm finally getting my post up about my tasting methods and stuff. First, let me start off by saying THANK YOU to all the guest bloggers last week, and thank you, readers, for bearing with me and being so patient awaiting this post! Also, I want to give just a bit of background on how this whole week came about.

About two weeks ago on the wine.woot! forums, we got into a discussion about the tasting notes that polarbear22 had posted about the then-current offering. In an effort to clarify his scoring, we realized, hey, you know, this scoring thing is so subjective, maybe it'd be good to know how we actually do it. Corrado posted up his play-by-play notes, and I started going on about how I score the color of a wine. And then it hit me - let's get some of the wine bloggers together and do this!

And so was born the guest week of notes about tasting notes. I'm frankly honored by the response I received to this, and amazed at how quickly we pulled it together and how well it came together. Despite my unfortunate delay!

But enough chatter, onto my notes!

Color: Possible 5 points
My understanding is that color should generally be scored on clarity (shouldn't be a cloudy wine), how appropriate the color itself is to the varietal (a PS should not be pale, a zin should not be black, a white should not be rose), the depth of the color (can you see a light through it), and the top layer (does the color bleed to the edge or is there a clear meniscus on it, and if so, how badly). For example, I would expect a sangiovese/cabernet/merlot blend to be ruby toned, garnet at the deepest. I'd be a little worried if it was darker or lighter than that. I'll start taking points off for color deviations, and for how far from the edge of the glass the color fades out or goes clear. If it's a red and it becomes clear more than 1/8" from the edge of the glass, I take a full point off, for example. Whites are harder since it's typically more difficult to see where it stops being "color" and starts being clear. It's HARD for any wine to score lower than a 4. Very hard.

This is the first thing I look at when sampling a wine. I'll hold the glass up at an angle toward a good bright light, and see if I can see the bulb through it, and asses the color from there. Here ends any sort of scientific rating, and begins everything that's subjective. The glass gets a swirl and my nose dives into it.

Nose: Possible 15 points
It usually takes me three or four good sniffs before I start actually judging what I'm smelling. The first couple of whiffs help clear out any other scents and make sure my sinuses are fully filled with the scent of the wine. The more I can pull out of the scent, the higher I rate it. If it's totally off-putting, it gets a lower score. If it's one of those sit-and-sniff-all-day noses, it gets a higher score. But at this point, I don't put a number on it yet. I'll keep track of all the scents I pull out, and my impression of it (did I like it, was it strong, did it burn my nose from the alcohol).

Next up, the glass is tipped, and a taste is taken.

Flavor: Possible 10 points
I'll take a sip and give a quick swish and swallow without paying too much attention to it, just to coat the inside of my mouth with the wine and abolish all other flavors. Then I'll take a good little swig and do the lovely aerating thing by sucking in some air. This sometimes results in coughing and spattering as the wine goes down the wrong pipe... but I've gotten pretty good at it. I'll do the same thing here, swirling it around in my mouth, keeping track of all the flavors I pull out of it, along with the impression of it for whether I liked it, and how hot or smooth it tasted. But once again, no point value is given yet.

And then the official swallow.

Finish: Possible 10 points
How smoothly the wine goes down plays a big part of the finish to me, as I keep track of it from swallow to the point where I can't taste it anymore. The length of the finish doesn't really play too much into the score I give, unless it is unusually short or nonexistent. Again, I keep note of the flavors that come out post-swallow, how pleasant it is, and how sharp or smooth it feels going down. ClayFu of ClayFood once commented about how a wine made his throat "uncomfortable", and this saying stuck with me for describing the smoothness of a wine's finish. If it makes my throat uncomfortable, it gets a lower score for being harsh. If it goes down so easily that I almost forget I'm drinking wine (dangerous!), it'll get a higher score. This is also where I make note of the tannins and how strong they are. This will play into the next scoring portion as well. And yet again, I don't actually assign a point value yet.

And here's where the REALLY subjective part comes.

Aging: Possible 5 points
How long do I think this will hold up? I'm no expert at this. My understanding is that the stronger the tannins and fruit, the longer it's likely to hold up, and maybe even require more time. I've certainly had a few "too young" wines, and a few "past its prime", so at least I have some basis. Whites generally score lower in this than reds do. The residual sugar may help, but I think the tannins play quite a big role. Sometimes I'll come back and update the aging potential score a few days after the initial tasting because I'll have the wine in the fridge for a few days before trying it again. The longer it holds up in the fridge generally indicates a longer cellarability potential.

Overall: Possible 5 points
These are the points that can sway just based purely on how much I enjoy the wine. While there is SOME objectivity to the nose and flavor of the wine, this one is purely me. A wine can be varietally "correct", but I hate it anyway. That's just my own palate preferences.

So at this point, I have actual point values assigned to the color, aging, and overall categories. This is where the research comes in. For the other three that I just kept notes on, I'll go look up what the "typical" characteristics are that you'll see for the varietal of wine, and compare that to what I got. I'll also try to get the winemaker's tasting notes, and see if it holds true. I will never make a change to my notes at this point - what I got was what I got. The more "accurate" the characteristics of this wine are, the higher the score will go. There's still some subjective enjoyability that plays into it, but for the most part I try to score based on what the wine SHOULD be.

Now that I've got all the points, I'll add them up, then add the "base 50" on to it, and voila! Final score.

I think the height of my blogging experience so far has been when I tasted the 2007 Wellington Sauvignon Blanc, and Peter Wellington let me know that I hit it pretty spot on, and was definitely in sync with what other reviewers were saying. It's always nice getting that reinforcement, especially from the winemaker himself!

Dark & Delicious - February 2009

Dark & Delicious February 20, 2009: The Rock Wall Wine Company, Alameda, California
Participating Wineries:

• Alger Vineyards
• August Briggs Winery
• Berryessa Gap
• Ballentine Vineyards
• Bogle Vineyards & Winery
• Clayhouse
• Concannon Vineyard
• David Fulton Winery
• EOS Estate & Winery
• F. Teldeschi Winery
• Field Stone Winery
• Foppiano Vineyards
• Harney Lane Winery
• Heringer
• Huntington Wine Cellars
• JC Cellars
• Judd's Hill
• Lava Cap Winery
• Marr Cellars
• Michael~David Winery
• Mounts Family Winery
• Moss Creek
• Parducci Winery
• Rock Wall Wine Company
• Robert Biale Vineyards
• Rosenblum Cellars
• Rutherford Grove Winery & Vineyards
• Silkwood Wines
• Stanton Vineyards
• Trentadue Winery, Miro Cellars
• Twisted Oak (and his rubber chickens)
• Ursa Vineyards
• Vina Robles
• Wilson Farms

I bought my ticket. Go get yours!

Post Forthcoming

Hey folks! Thanks so much for wandering along in this adventure with the guest bloggers! I hope you enjoyed the week as much as I did.

I was going to round out the week with a post of my own about the way I rate wines and the meanings behind my numbers to give you a better understanding it. However, I slipped and fell on a little bit of ice Thursday morning and landed on my hip. My back has been out pretty much ever since, and of course that's the day my chiropractor is closed. So first thing in the morning I am heading over there when the office opens. Hurts just a little more than a bit to sit around and type, so I'm going to have to beg your forgiveness and patience, and hopefully sometime this weekend I will be able to get the post put up.

And that's about all the time my back is allowing. Later, folks!

Gabe's View on Tasting

Special thanks to Gabe from Gabe's View for his views on reviews!

Cat has asked me to check in today and speak to how I go about reviewing wines, so here I am. There will be a link to this post from my blog, Gabe's View. First of all I should mention that I don’t currently use a numbered rating system. It’s not that I’m philosophically opposed to them, they have a place, it’s just not the direction I’ve chosen to go. My approach starts with being a writer first. From there, I take a great deal of time considering each individual wine and doing the best job I can every time out in describing what the wines taste like to me and how my palate reacts to them. Along those lines I’m equally concerned that the words I use to describe them are carefully considered and well put together.

In terms of evaluating the wine and deciding to recommend it or not I take several things into consideration. Quality seems like an obvious one so I’ll just mention it. While it’s certainly possible to simply evaluate a wine on it’s own with no other considerations I take several other things into account. Perhaps one of the less obvious elements I look at is intent. A $10 wine made in prodigious quantities can’t in my mind be considered the same way as a $50 wine of which a few hundred or a few thousand cases were made, let alone highly allocated wines made in tiny quantities. In each case the winery or winemaker had different goals and plans for each wine. My goal in looking at intent is to decide if they met what my impression of that wines goal or intent was. An example of this is the Gnarly Head Cabernet Sauvignon I reviewed the other day. 100,000 cases of it were made and it’s commonly available for $10. For that price it does a good job. Clearly though, it’s not meant to fill the same parameters a single vineyard Cabernet from Oakville would.

In terms of how I actually go about things, my usual approach is to taste the wine by itself first. Then I continue by pairing it with whatever I’m eating that day. Most of the people reading my reviews are going to drink the wines with a meal. Taking that into account I evaluate them with a meal and often comment on how they went with that particular food. Many times after having the wine with a meal I take it back with me to my computer, or over to the couch if I’m parking myself there for awhile. This allows the wine to continue breathing and gives me the chance to evaluate it further. As an extension of this I’ll sometimes re-taste a wine after it’s been open for a full 24 hours. If it has held or improved I make a point of commenting on that as it speaks at least to a degree to that wines shelf life.

A few times a year I run a series I call “12 Days of…” where I focus on 1 varietal for 12 days. In those instances I often taste 2 or 3 wines side by side each day over a period of time and then write about several each day. This approach allows me to take a quick peek at one varietal over a semi-extended period. The wines chosen for these situations are a combination of various things. I try to mix and match well known examples, somewhat obscure or small production offerings and wines I’ve never had. On top of that I usually mix in some I’m quite familiar with so I can check in with how they’re doing in their current vintages. The ones I know well can also act as a measuring stick of sorts for the unfamiliar ones.

In selecting wines to write about I tend towards those that speak to me. I’m only going to be able to write about a small percentage of the wines out there so I prefer to spend my time and energy with the ones I’m passionate about. As long as a wine moves me or impresses me for some reason or another I’ll write about it. Sometimes that’s simply because it’s an amazing bottle, in other cases it’s due the particular release being it’s a good value that’s widely available. Or perhaps the wine strikes me a filling a particular niche well. People sometimes ask if I write negative reviews. I will but it’s rare. A wine needs to stand out as truly terrible for me to be moved to write about it. Words don’t come as quickly or easily for marginal wines. With good and great offerings, the words tend to come easily. Many of those reviews seem to write themselves.

As for what I drink? Well I’m willing to taste just about anything. My penchant leans towards the smaller productions and more obscure. But I tend to taste and write about just as many large production wines as I do smaller offerings. There aren’t any varietals I don’t like, but of course I have my preferences. My tendency is towards things made in what strikes me as their natural style. Pinot Noir and Chardonnay made with Burgundian intent. Merlot made with structure and age ability in mind. Deep, dark and brooding Petite Sirah etc. The list goes on.

I’d like to thank Cat for offering me the opportunity to share my thoughts about tasting on her blog. If anyone has any questions feel free to e-mail me through the contact form on my site, which I of course hope you check out.

Gutshot Wine Rating

Special thanks to Loweeel of The PSychos' Path for this insight into the PSycho's PSyche!

Hi, I'm Loweeel, PSommelier over at The PSychos' Path (are you sensing a pattern yet?), the one and only blog devoted to Petite Sirah. My good friend "Octocat" asked me to share how I "rate" wine with you. Tonight's sample is the 2001 Petite Sirah (Napa Valley) from Blockheadia Ringnosii. I picked out this particular bottle because the rear label claims that it is a "rustic, provincial wine[] with characteristics of peppercorn, earth and game with the influence of oak flavors kept to a minimum." I got this bottle for fairly cheap ($17.25) on winebid.

There's not a lot about it on CellarTracker -- the rating is 89.7 on three ratings, only one of which has notes (89); the other two are 89 and 90, by the same user, without notes. The ratings range from October 2004 through December 2005, so they're not particularly helpful with this wine.

As Gary Vaynerchuk keeps emphasizing, rating is very subjective. I'll be the first to admit that the results of my ratings are neither particularly consistent nor rigorous, and have a lot to do with my impression of the wine at any given time, how true it is to a platonic ideal of the variety or wine region, what food I'm having it with, my mood, and even the stemware. But what I do try to do when rating wine is describe in objective terms, or as close as I can get, what I'm smelling and tasting at any given time. Often, I'll keep a time series, and note how the wine changes -- e.g., write down the sensory data at pop'n'pour, and after every X minutes in the decanter. I also try to keep track of the stemware I use and how long I decant the wine.

Upon opening, there was some nice sediment attached to the cork, so I busted out the strainer/funnel, which trapped more sediment Other sediment remained in the bottle This being PS, I didn't want a blank data series, so I decanted the wine for about 2 hours 15 mins in the WineCountryConnect decanter before pouring my first glass into Riedel Vinum Syrah stemware I paired the wine with Buffalo London Broil
(marinated in cheap red wine for 90 mins, then packed in kosher salt for ~45 mins before grilled medium rare) sliced and drizzed with my famous Solera-style steak sauce, accompanied by sauteed spinach cooked in balsamic vinegar and red wine with cumin and pepper.

Upon pouring, dark ruby translucent rim, brilliant clarity without a hint of cloudiness (as might be expected from all the sediment that precipitated out of solution), but a very dense, deep, dark red color.

On the nose, not screaming aromatics, but quite pleasant. Blackberries, anise, pencil (graphite and wood), just a hint of tar. No real oaky or vanilla/cinnamon aromas.

On the attack, blackberries, black pepper, plums, softening in favor of the pepper and graphite towards the midpalate. Gets a bit liqueur-like right before the finish, which adds black raspberry and black cherry to the mix. Tannins are perfect right now, sweet and slightly chewy, noticeable but not dominating, and as usual with PS, the acidity is excellent as well, cleansing the palate for the next bite of food. The finish is about 20 seconds.

The wine really shines with some meat in the mouth, the fruit and leanness complimenting the gamy grass-fed buffalo.

My gut is that this wine is just short of 4/5 stars. Here's why -- The fruit, tannins, and acidity are all in balance. It's true to varietal in color, flavor profile, acidity, and tannins. The oak is extremely subtle, and pairs well with the food. It does nothing wrong (so loses no points), has an intruiging nose, and some layers and depths of flavors and scents that I can't quite pick apart yet, but which will reveal themselves more fully as the wine continues to open up.

And I'm right -- the 2nd glass is much more open. Blackberry pie filling on the nose, with a few bits of what smells like game meat in there as well, on top of the graphite from before. The more intense flavors carry over to the palate as well, fleshing out what was in the first glass a lean but enjoyable wine. It's still elegant and balanced, just more muscled -- it went up a weight class or two, but is still in wrestling shape. 3rd glass is more of the same -- a bit of cream from the Maltolactic fermentation, but still nice sharp acidity and a nice blackberries-and-cream finish. If I had to put a number on it, I'd give it a 91 -- it does everything well, has nice evolution as it opens, and shows wonderful complexity without being too big to have with food. And of course, I'd be lying if I said that the price were not a factor.

If you see this on winebid, or elsewhere, snatch it up if it's cheap. It's a nice bottle of wine.

How I Taste and Rate Wine

Special thanks to Sonadora of WannabeWino for today's blurb about tasting wine!

Cat recently asked me if I would be willing to contribute to a series she is doing on how wine bloggers taste and rate wines. I’ll put the post up here and cross-post it at my wine blog.

Let’s get rid of the easy one first: I don’t rate wines on my blog. The only place (I think, at this time) you’ll find “scores” from me is on WineQ where they ask you to to input a star rating from 1 to 5 stars. I honestly never found scores for wine particularly helpful. Theoretically, I understand the purpose in the marketplace and yada yada yada, but nonetheless, it truly does not help me in the least to see a giant “91″ plastered on a shelf-talker for a wine. Because I don’t necessarily know anything about the palate of the person who rated it, I have no idea if they have similar tastes to mine or not. I prefer to seek out people who seem to like the wines I do, and take their recommendations. For example, Dr. Debs over on Good Wine Under $20 and I seem to like a lot of the same wines. I trust her opinion and would easily buy a bottle (and I have bought bottles) that she’s written complimentary things about. I also like to find retailers whose tastes seem to run like mine and I will often take their suggestions for bottles I might like. I think I annoy Jill of Domaine547 because I tend to refuse to actually use her website and instead make her send me emails with recommendations.

Finding someone whose palate I jive with is more important to me than a score a wine received, and in writing my blog, I’m hoping people get from my descriptions and recommendations of various wines a sense of my palate and whether or not they like similar wines to the ones I do. I think that perhaps, over time, as consumers have wider access to the internet through various devices like iPhones and Blackberries, that maybe people will look for information on a wine they are considering as they are considering it, rather than relying entirely on a point system. Unless of course you like the wines your retailer recommends, then great, you’ve got an excellent way to find new wines to try that might be to your liking.

As far as tasting wine…well, I’d venture to guess that a good 75% or more of my tasting is done either at my kitchen table or on my couch. We have wine with dinner nearly every night, and my ritual is to pour the glasses, take the pictures, and take an initial sniff and sip before I have any food. I’ll taste a bit more as I eat, to see if I’ve made a good match with our dinner. My note taking occurs later, after I’ve finished dinner and moved over to my computer on my couch.



Me in my natural habitat.

And yes, I mean my couch, we each have our own :) I sit with my glass that has now been open for a good hour and start taking notes on the nose. This can last for a good hour or more depending on how complex the nose is. That’s where my comments about Matt being through his 2nd glass before I’ve even touched my first come from! Next I taste the wine. I do that gross sounding slurping thing to aerate the wine even further in my mouth. But I also sip the wine and drink it like a normal person drinking a glass of wine. Not everyone aerates wine , and I want to be sure it still tastes good, has a good mouthfeel, and finishes nicely if you are just sitting around sipping at the glass.

The rest of my tasting is done at wineries, restaurants, and organized tastings. The restaurant tastings tend to follow the method I use at home, usually minus the pictures and computer. At wineries, I have my trusty note pad, I ask lots of questions, and generally get annoyed when the staff tries to tell me what I should be tasting in the wine. Sorry folks, but really, that ticks me off. I spit everything in tasting rooms. Whoops, there’s another pet peeve…please keep spit buckets handy, I hate having to look around to find one, or worse yet, discovering there isn’t one at all and I have to ask for a 2nd wine glass to spit into! Gross! At large tastings, I become a juggler, with my notepad, tasting glass, water bottle, and spit cup. My trusty notebook suffers the most at these tastings as it becomes tie-dyed with various spills of wine. I taste quickly and move on to the next table. Generally, I only like to go to these during trade hours, otherwise they are far too crowded and people wear perfume. (Seriously, what is up with that?? How can you taste wine when you smell like a cheap….ok, we’ll censor that expression since this is a family friendly blog )

So there you have it. How I taste and rate (or rather don’t rate) wines! Thanks to Cat for posing the question to me! Seems especially relevant at this time as we seem to be embroiled in another dicussion in the wine blog world about the place and function of blogs, ethics, and many other navel-gazing topics.

Don't Be a Menace to Sonoma While Drinking Your Wine in the Parlour

Special thanks to Corrado from Corrado's Wine Diary for posting this little detour from the norm!

So Cheron asked if I’d rap a bit about how I taste and rate wine. Some background first. I would say I’ve been serious about wine for about 2 years, corrupted by this little site called wine.woot.com. My typical daily drinker is in the $12 - $18 range. The most expensive bottle I own is $120 (Retail value, Mondavi Cabernet Reserve). The most I’ve ever paid for a bottle of wine is around $60 (2006 Ty Caton Tytanium, Iron Horse Q Pinot Noir). My “diamond in the rough” wine is a 2005 Morgan Twelve Clones Pinot Noir, purchased for $18. Best Pinot Noir I’ve had under $30.

All that background wasn’t intended to be showy. My point was to give you, the reader, a paragraph glimpse at the wino writing this. Wine.Woot built my cellar and Vaynerchuck (tv.winelibrary.com) helped build my vocabulary. What follows is an unintentionally vino-erotic, blow-by-blow description of how I taste & rate wine.

I've pulled a bottle of Woot Cellars “Tøøthstejnn” (Sangiovese blend) from the cellar (55F; love winter in Vermont!). I paid about $10 for this bottle and purchased it about 2 months ago. Narcoleptics may want to simply skip to the next blog post or watch the dust collect on the nearest flat surface.

First thing I do is pull off the tin cap on the wine (I usually have to cut the plastic ones off) I've noticed that you can tell a serious winery (or at least one that wants to be serious) by whether or not they splurge on the tin caps. I've never had a better-than-average/good wine with a plastic cap. Sorry, off topic… (how's that dust lookin'?).

Next very important step is to remove the cork with my kick-ass double-action wine decorkerizer (note that this does not apply to screwtop wines). I check the cork for condition and see if there's anything cool printed on it. I sniff the cork and comment to self that I'm being retarded. Sniffing a cork is like Sex on Cinemax – all show & completely meaningless. I check the inside of the neck for schwag. If schwag = yes, strain into decanter, else proceed directly to glass selection.

My default tasting glass is a Waterford Mondavi Cabernet glass for meatier reds and a Spiegelau Vino Grande Burgundy glass for lighter bodied reds. I pour a bit of wine into the glass, swirl, sniff, ponder, swirl, sniff, taste. Assuming the wine is fine, I pour a proper amount (1/5 to 1/4 bottle) into the glass. Party on, Wayne!

Now the fun begins. I note the color, clarity, opacity, and saturation of the wine. This is where I try to come up with a new way of describing "red." Clarity is rarely an issue. I can’t recall the last commercially produced wine I had that had clarity issues. Opacity and saturation are different in my book (I haven't yet resorted to giving hue and gamma comments). For the Tøøthstejnn, I would say it’s wine.woot-website-theme red, bearing the typical moderate-bodied appearance of a Sangiovese. Colors out toward the edges getting more earth-toned. Color score: 5/5.

Now that I've dicked around the wine for 5-10 minutes, it's had a chance to open up a bit and ready for some serious schnoz action. A few vicious swirls and into the glass with the nose. I begin thinking of different ways to say, "smells like wine." Sometimes I get absolutely nailed with something obvious. Most of the time it's repeated trips back to the glass to try to tease out a few things. Fruit I'm decent with. Spices, not so much. I just realized that I tend to close off my right nostril with the glass and sniff with only my left; tried sniffing with my right nostril and didn't exactly get the same things (time to get out the pledge yet??). For the Tøøthstejnn, I'm kinda lost. I'm getting a lot of musty/woody aromas (socks?), some black raspberry, and wine (no, @&*%$... dammit, where’s that Thesaurus?). I'd probably give the TS a 10/15 on the nose. While it is fairly aromatic, it's got a pretty one-dimensional nose and doesn't do a lot to wow me.

After all this work, I'm now hella thirsty! To quote the great Paul Masson, I will drink no wine before its time… and IT’S TIME TO GUZZLE WINE! Since I've been writing for a few minutes, I take another sniff and decide that there's some kind of Tootsie-roll or molasses thing goin' on in the back ground. Beaming with pride at having pulled that out of my ass, I taste. I take a bit in, gently caress it around in my mouth, roll it around on my tongue (down people! I'm married!! Get back to dust patrol!), try to aerate a bit by sucking in air without drooling wine or aspirating it into my lungs (both of which occur at some point while learning to do this and are equally entertaining to those around you). Here I really just to figure out what's going on and what I want to pay attention to on subsequent glugs.

For the second taste I pay a lot more attention to what's going on. How does it feel? What's going on? Does it start off with a bang? What seems to happen between the instant you take a sip through the 10 seconds or so you move it around your mouth, to the instant you swallow, to what's left afterwards, how long it lasts, and if that finish continues to evolve new flavors after the wine has reached Mr. Tum-Tum.

For the Tøøthstejnn, I'd say it starts pretty big on flavor (dried cranberry), but doesn't really take off from there and coasts on through the mid-palate. Mr. Tannin and Mrs. Acidity wave their hands out the window to say, "Hey, we're here, but just passing through!" leaving a plume of earthy dried fruit that lingers on the palate quite pleasantly. Flavor I'd give 7/10 and Finish 8/10 or a total of 15/20 for Parker's scoring. I break them up because, well, I do. I typically like to describe each independently and always ended up scoring that way in my head so... voila. (Can you write "Pledge me!" on your coffee table yet?)

Now onto the BS portion of the show. Aging potential? I'm still way too much of a novice to be taken seriously with any predictions. I think I can tell when a wine will improve with age, but knowing when it should peak and when it will die, I'll leave that to the pros. I break Parker's "Aging/Potential" category down into "Potential" and "Overall" ratings. Potential is where I describe what I think the future holds for the wine. Low potential means peaked or past peak. High potential means the wine will be better in the future than it is today. Overall is where I steal 5 points for my subjective rating of the wine and put it all together.

For the Tøøthstejnn, I'd give it an aging potential of 3/5, which is my default for, "I don't know, but it's a new vintage, so it can probably drink well for a few years, but it's drinking pretty damn well now." As an overall, I'd give it a 4/5. I can see where some folks would review it as 'watery' but I've had similar northern Italian reds that have a similar mouthfeel. This is not what I would call a "lush" wine, but it has good flavor, very nice balance, and doesn't have the fakeness you're likely to get from $10 wine (like the bottle of wine my in-laws brought to Thanksgiving dinner this year).

My Corrado-rating puts the Tøøthstejnn at 87 points, my 'gut rating' would have been 88 (where I would expect it to come out if I took the time to rate it properly). A better nose and fuller flavors could have pushed it up towards 90, but it's a solid 87+ wine today.

...and now my glass is empty, it's time to go fill my 375ml swing-top bottle, put it in the fridge, and enjoy the second glass of wine for the night. Come back tomorrow night! We’re going to do… FRACTIONS!

And now for something completely different...

Hey folks! Just in time for the Holidays, I've got something a little different and special cooked up for you. It's not wine nor food, but it is a special collaboration of a few wine bloggers. Over the next week or so, I'll be featuring a special guest blogger each day sharing his/her thoughts and comments about how we all score wines, just to give you a little insight into our psyches. I'm hoping this will add some depth of meaning to what you're reading here (and on their blogs) and provides extra value so that you really know why we score things the way we do.

Hope you enjoy, and have a great Thanksgiving!!

Veal Stuffed Peppers and Merlot

Merlot has been snubbed a little too often lately as being just one of those all-too-common wines. But this varietal has a lot of flavor that shouldn't be passed on. It's truly versatile, and pairs well with a wide array of meats. So for tonight I chose a meat that is considered white but eats like a red - veal!

Wine: 2004 Reininger Merlot Helix
Meal: Veal Stuffed Peppers

Tasting notes on the wine:

Color: 5/5
Inky, dark purple, almost black. The color runs just about to the glass. The liquid is clear, but opaque. Absolutely beautiful.

Nose: 14/15
Unlike the previous post, this is definitely one of those sit-and-sniff-all-day wines. Black cherries, blackberries, plum, leather, vanilla, woodsmoke... just wow. Very complex nose. Just beautiful.

Flavor: 7/10
Not as impressed with the taste of this. It's still really good, and drinks pretty well straight out of the bottle, but after a nose like this one had, the flavor is a bit of a let down. Jammy and tannic, some hints of cocoa come out. Fairly smooth, and after about 20 minutes in the glass, all the heat blows off. Oaky, dark fruits dominate the palate. Pleasant and easy to drink, but not as complex as I was anticipating.

Finish: 8/10
Smooth finish, lasts about 30 seconds. More oak, and once the wine opens up, you get vanilla and plum as well. Nothing special, but it's clean and enjoyable.

Aging: 3/5
It's truly a New World style, and I think there's enough tannic action and fruits going on that this will continue to develop for a few more years. Definitely ready to go now, but will probably drink well for at least another 6-8 years.

Overall: 4/5
A nice daily drinker. Easy to drink, and I can see this one holding up well to stronger meats, as well as being subtle enough for the more delicate cuts. Maybe a little overpowering for poultry and pasta, but pork and veal are just fine, as would be filet or strip.

Total: 91pts

Want to make this meal?

Veal Stuffed Peppers
3/4 lb ground veal
1/4 c white rice
2 large bell peppers
1 Tbsp butter
1 rib celery, diced
1/4 small red onion, diced
1 small tomato, diced
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, divided
pinch Kosher salt
1/4 cup dried shitake mushrooms
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried sage
1/4 cup panko

Reconstitute the mushrooms in warm water. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Meanwhile, triple wash the rice and put in a small pot with 1/2 cup of water on high heat. When water begins to boil, reduce heat to low and cover, allowing to simmer for 15 minutes.

Slice the tops off of the peppers and remove the seeds and stem. Dice up the tops, leaving the bottoms intact as a bowl. In a medium skillet, melt the butter, and add the diced peppers, celery, onion, and tomato, and sprinkle salt on top. Cook down until onions are translucent and veggies are tender-crisp.

Strain off the mushrooms, reserving the water, then dice the mushrooms. Pour 1/4 cup of the mushroom water into the veggies and allow to simmer uncovered for approximately 5 minutes. Strain the veggie mixture and reserve the liquid.

In a medium bowl, combine cooked rice, mushrooms, lamb, rosemary and sage. Mix in veggies until well combined. Add 1/8 cup cheese and panko, and mix well. Spoon into pepper bowls and place in a loaf pan with about a cup of water on the bottom. Sprinkle a little more panko on top. Bake for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, pour reserved liquid into saucepan over medium heat and stir in remaining cheese, and reduce by half. Remove from heat until peppers are done.

Once peppers are done, plate peppers, and pour the liquid from the loaf pan (along with any solids) in with the reduced juice. Return to medium heat and reduce again by half. Spoon sauce over top of the peppers and serve.

Enjoy!

Capellini Prawns and Sauvignon Blanc

Shellfish and whites are a no-brainer, but sometimes finding just the right white for the preparation of the dish can be tricky. You generally want to find something crisp, light, and refreshing, and not overly sweet or fruity. This one pairs pretty well, although I think I could have done better.

Wine: 2007 Wellington Vineyards Sonoma Valley Sauvignon Blanc
Meal: Capellini Prawns

Tasting notes on the wine:

Color: 5/5
Sparkling sunshine. There's a few bubbles clinging to the side of the glass. Perfectly clear though, and the color runs very nearly to the edge of the glass. Excellent cling, especially for a white. It's a happy color to look at.

Nose: 12/15
Minerally, earthy. I get some pear and lemon zest in there, but it's a little hot. Pleasant, but not one of those sit-all-day-and-sniff noses.

Flavor: 9/10
Very true to the varietal, there are definite grassy and tropical tones to it. Grapefruit, pineapple and pear lead the forefront with a touch of dandelion. It is crisp, slightly tart like a sweettart, but a little on the oily side. I think this is because I had this closer to room temperature than intended. A second glass, chilled, removes the oiliness and keeps the flavor, even making it a little more tart. Although Sauvignon Blanc is typically a dry wine, this one seems to lean a little more to the semi-dry, almost semi-sweet side. Really nice by itself, works well with food too.

Finish: 10/10
This is one of those finishes that just goes on and on. You can still taste it long after you've put the glass down. Much more grassy on the finish, like lemon-grass and more of the dandelion. Very smooth and pleasant, and leaves behind a fresh feeling. Superb!

Aging: 1/5
It's a white, and Sauvignon Blanc is not exactly known for its aging potential. This one is ready to go, right now, and I wouldn't keep it longer than 3-4 years. Then again, I'd probably drink all mine long before then anyway! Drink this now - 2011.

Overall: 4/5
Really nice white. Well balanced, as I've come to expect from Peter Wellington's wines, and really easy to drink. I'm pretty excited about this one!

Total: 91pts

Shellfish is obvious for this, the sweetness and crispness should balance well with the typically sweet shellfish meat. I'd like to give this a swirl with sushi, and I think pasta with marinara would be good as well.

Want to make this meal?

Capellini Prawns
1 rib celery, diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1/4 red onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
pinch Kosher salt
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp artichoke dip
2 Tbsp freshly grated hard cheese (like parmesan), divided
1/4 cup dry white wine
6 prawns
balsamic vinegar
4oz capellini (angel hair) pasta

Cook pasta according to package directions.

In a medium skillet over medium heat, melt the butter and add celery, carrot, onion, garlic, and salt. Allow to cook, stirring occasionally until the onion becomes translucent. Place prawns in skillet, allowing them to sit directly on the skillet (not on top of the veggies). Add wine. Cook prawns thoroughly until the shells are pink, then remove and set aside. Stir in artichoke dip and 1 Tbsp cheese. Remove from heat.

Toss skillet mixture with pasta and plate. Place prawns on top, drizzle with a little balsamic vinegar, and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Enjoy!

Serena Salsa Frittata and Gewürztraminer

Who says you can't have breakfast for dinner? And who says wine doesn't go with breakfast? Here's a meal to dispel that unpleasant myth!

Wine: 2006 Castello di Amorosa Gewürztraminer
Meal: Serena Salsa Frittata

Tasting notes on the wine:

Color: 5/5
Shimmering damp hay, with a touch of sunshine. Gorgeous color.

Nose: 14/15
Floral and citrus, and a bit of aromatic spices. Really nice, fun to sniff.

Flavor: 9/10
Vanilla, spice, and citrus. Tangerine or grapefruit, maybe a little of both. Very easy to drink, nice and smooth. This begs to be a morning kind of wine, really nice with the eggs. Drinks pretty nicely alone, too. I started this one cold out of the fridge and sipped at it as it warmed up, and I have to say, it's a lovely wine at any temperature between fridge cold and room temp.

Finish: 8/10
Nice finish - nothing overpowering. The floral notes come back on the finish, lasts a decent length - maybe about 30 seconds. It's pleasant!

Aging: 3/5
Since I'm writing this up a few days after having first tried it, I've been able to taste it over a few days. Maybe almost a week? It has held up really well this whole time, so I'd like to think that this will actually have some time available in the cellar. Not several years, perhaps, but a few at the least.

Overall: 4/5
Wow. Really. This is a beautiful, gorgeous wine, and if you can find it, you should definitely get it. VERY nice, well balanced, great effort!

Total: 93pts

As I mentioned above, this one works really well with breakfast type foods - the citrus really shines gorgeously, and complements the eggy, cheesy goodness quite well. I could also see this going with a stuffed salmon or tilapia, or a creamy pasta.

Want to make this meal?

Serena Salsa Frittata
5 1/8" slices of 3 Sisters Serena cheese
3 eggs
1 Tbsp milk
2 Tbsp salsa
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp dried chives
1 bell pepper, diced
2 tsp oil
pinch of salt

Heat a skillet over medium heat with the oil. When it thins out and spreads evenly (because it may not get to the smoke point), toss in the bell pepper and salt. When the bell pepper has begun to brown, drop in the salsa and stir.

In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk. When the liquid from the salsa has bubbled off, pour the eggs into the skillet and spread to coat. Arrange the cheese slices around the top, and sprinkle the seasoning and chives over it all. Cover and let cook for approx. 5 minutes, or until the eggs have set and are cooked all the way through, and the cheese has melted.

Loosen the edges with a spatula, and slide the frittata out onto a plate. Mine had an unfortunate accident on the way out of the skillet and ended up flopped over. It was so pretty!

Enjoy!

Lobster and Chard

This past Friday I was treated by a friend to a wonderful lobster dinner with roasted fennel and risotto. She was kind enough to share with me a couple bottles of wine that I'd not yet had. What a meal! This is a little more complex of a meal than I've posted so far, but definitely worth it. I also only took formal tasting notes on the Chardonnay, so the TyTanium will simply be my impressions.

Wine: 2006 Laura Zahtila Vineyards Chardonnay and 2003 Ty Caton TyTanium
Meal: Lobster medallions and claws with saffron cream sauce, roasted fennel, and risotto

Tasting notes on the wine:

Laura Zahtila Chardonnay
Color: 5/5
Totally translucent and golden. Beautiful color. Clear at the edges to about 1/8" in.

Nose: 12/15
A little simple on the nose. Earthy and minerally, a little granny smith apple. Simple, but nice.

Flavor: 8/10
Okay, I'm not a fan of chardonnay. Typically. This is not your typical chardonnay. My notes say "red drinkers' chardonnay" - you don't get that over-oaked, buttery flavor that you find with most chards these days. It's different. Grassy, with green apple and citrus notes. A little hit of oak, but not in your face by any means. It's a little tart to me, and not my favorite flavors, but a good effort.

Finish: 7/10
The finish falls short. Nothing of note there - it didn't really last long enough to pull anything out.
But it wasn't unpleasant. Just ... forgettable.

Aging: 2/5
Not exactly a cellarable wine. But that's fairly typical for whites. I'd say drink this in the next year or two.

Overall: 3/5
Worth a try, especially if you don't care for your typical chardonnay. Definitely a better wine with food than without. Good with creamy things, and shellfish. So probably a seafood alfredo would be absolutely divine!

Total: 87pts

This chard with the risotto is quite possibly one of those "perfect" pairings. The creaminess of the risotto with the earthiness of the mushrooms in it just accented the wine beautifully, and really toned down the tartness of it. The fennel, well, not so much. I wouldn't recommend doing that - the lemony flavor of the fennel just makes the wine super acidic and extra tart. Not good. But the lobster was quite good with it - better without the sauce, in my opinion, but good either way.

We had the TyTanium as dessert, and even though it's not a dessert wine, it sure holds up well as one. Cocoa was the dominating flavor on the palate for this, with a lingering vanilla spice finish. Very memorable wine, and gut instinct rating without working out the numbers would place this at a 90+ wine. Beautiful offering.

Want to make this meal?

Saffron Cream Sauce
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon crumbled saffron

Wrap the saffron in a foil packet and bake in a toaster oven for about 5 minutes at 300.

In a medium saucepan heat the cream until just simmering. Crumble in the saffron, crushing it between your fingers. Let the sauce reduce by about 1/3, and remove from heat.

Lobster Medallions and Claws
3 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 lb lobsters
2 Tbsp olive oil

Kill the lobsters using the method found on Lobsters with Laura. This is the most humane way to kill them as it is swift and painless. Don't be surprised if the lobsters still move even after they are dead; the muscles have reflexes that will activate while you are preparing them.

Break off the claws at the main joint, place in a shallow pan, and roast in the oven at 400 for 20 minutes. These can be placed in at the same time as the fennel.

Cut the tails into medallions but cutting them at each joint. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil until it begins to lightly smoke, then add the medallions, cooking them for about 3-4 minutes on each side until the meat becomes opaque.

Plate with a little of the saffron cream sauce poured on top.

Roasted Fennel
2 fennel bulbs (thick base of stalk), stalks cut off, bulbs sliced
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Preheat oven to 400°F.

Rub just enough olive oil over the fennel to coat. Sprinkle on some balsamic vinegar, also to coat. Line baking dish with silpat or aluminum foil. Lay out piece of fennel and roast for 15-20 minutes, until the fennel is cooked through and beginning to caramelize.

Recipe courtesy of Simply Recipes

Creamy Risotto
4 chicken or vegetable stock
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
1/3 medium red onion, diced
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine (we used Sake)
Salt to taste
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup mixed dried gourmet mushrooms, rehydrated

Put stock in a medium saucepan over low heat. Put oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a large, deep nonstick skillet over medium heat. When it is hot, add onion, stirring occasionally until it softens, 3 to 5 minutes.

Add rice and cook, stirring occasionally, until it is glossy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add white wine, stir, and let liquid bubble away. Add a large pinch of salt. Add warmed stock, 1/2 cup or so at a time, stirring occasionally. Each time stock has just about evaporated, add more. After about 5-10 minutes, add the mushrooms.

After about 20 minutes, begin tasting rice. You want it to be tender but with a bit of crunch; it could take as long as 30 minutes total to reach this stage. Remove skillet from heat, add remaining butter and stir briskly. Add Parmesan and stir briskly, then taste and adjust seasoning. Risotto should be slightly soupy. Serve immediately.

Recipe adapted from The New York Times

Enjoy!

Malbec, Take 2

Wine: 2006 Bodega Catena Zapata Malbec Alamos Selección
Meal: Pan-fried Panko Breaded Chicken with broccolini

Not much difference in the flavor of the wine today, after 5 days in the fridge. Still quite good, and I stand by my previous notes and scoring. The only real noticeable change is that I'm now getting black cherry flavor coming through on the palate and the finish, and the tannins are completely calmed down at this point. It's much easier to drink by itself this time.

So without further ado, the recipe!

Pan-fried Panko Breaded Chicken
1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
1/4 cup panko
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
1 Tbsp paprika
2 tsp dried sage
1 egg
1 tsp milk
1 tsp water
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp unsalted butter

In a shallow dish, combine panko, salt, cumin, paprika, and sage. In a small bowl, combine egg, milk, and water.

Using a meat mallet, pound out the chicken until it is approximately 1/4" thick throughout. Dip the chicken in the egg mixture, then into the panko mixture, tossing to coat.

Heat oil and butter in a skillet until the butter has melted and begins to smell nutty. Place breaded chicken in skillet, and cook for about 6 minutes on each side, or until the chicken has cooked through.

I cooked up the broccolini in a similar method to the previous veggies (garlic and olive oil), except that that I simply placed the broccolini in the pan and then covered it, and let it cook until tender-crisp.

Enjoy!

Malbec and Veal

Wine: 2006 Bodega Catena Zapata Malbec Alamos Selección
Meal: Grilled veal chop with garlic-sauteed green beans and bell pepper

Tasting notes on the wine:

Color: 5/5
Dark, black plum, clearing out at the edges, clean, with good legs.

Nose: 12/15
Right out of the bottle, bacon predominates the nose. Through time, floral notes show through, along with leather and dark fruits.

Flavor: 8/10
Very fruit-forward, but not quite a fruit bomb. Lots of blueberries and plum, smoke, and violets. It makes me think of a cross between Petite Sirah and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Finish: 8/10
Lasts about 30 seconds. At first it didn't seem very tannic, but as time wore on, the tannins began to show through, which I thought was kind of backwards to what you typically see. I get a good hit of oak and berries.

Aging: 3/5
With the fruits and tannins, I'd say this one will do just fine with some time in the cellar. Drink now - 2015.

Overall: 4/5
Really great wine. Easy to drink, but it does better with food than on its own.

Total: 90pts

With the characteristics of both PS and CS, this wine becomes a very versatile drink. Good with chicken, beef, lamb, veal, pork... Just about anything. It takes about 20 minutes in the glass to really open up nicely, and at about 40 minutes hits its sweet spot and holds steady for quite some time. If you're into the "correct" stemware, I found that this works better in a Syrah glass than a Cabernet - which, as it turns out, is what Riedel recommends.

Want to make this meal?

Grilled Veal with Garlic-Sauteed Veggies
1/4 - 1/2 lb veal chop, cut to 1/2" thickness
kosher salt
1/8 tsp coursely ground black pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup cut green beans
1 yellow bell pepper, diced

Salt and pepper the veal chop and allow to rest for about 10 minutes before placing on the grill. Cook for approx. 8 minutes on each side. Remove from grill and let rest.

In a saute pan, place olive oil and butter and heat until butter has melted. Add garlic and a pinch of salt, stirring gently until garlic becomes fragrant. Toss in green beans and bell pepper, and saute until tender-crisp, or about 5-6 minutes.

Enjoy!

When you wish you could go back in time...

Last post about the Havens Albariño, but just as a "I wish I had made this when the Albariño still tasted like limey-lemonade" post. I went for a quick dinner tonight, with whatever I could find lying around. I found shrimp, pasta, butter, red bell pepper, garlic, shallots, parsley and Old Bay seasoning, along with the final dregs of the whites sitting in my fridge. Once it was all put together and tasted, it really felt like it needed a little lemon and acidity, which the Albariño would have given just beautifully as a pairing. But here's the recipe in case you'd like to try it.

Shrimp and Penne with White-wine Butter Sauce
1/2 cup white wine
1 tsp olive oil
1 stick unsalted butter
1 large red bell pepper, diced
1 small shallot
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
handful fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 package penne pasta
1 lb medium shrimp
kosher salt

Bring 6 cups water to a boil.

Pour the olive oil in a small sauce pan, add the shallots, garlic, and red bell pepper with a pinch of salt, and saute until the shallots begin to become translucent. Add the Old Bay seasoning and wine and bring to a boil, and allow to reduce by half. Cut the butter up into chunks and add, along with the parsley. Stir to let the butter melt evenly. Allow to simmer while the pasta is cooking.

When the water is boiling, add a couple of healthy pinches of salt, and the pasta. Cook according to package directions, about 11 minutes. Use a steamer basket on top of the pasta pot to steam the shrimp for 4 minutes until the shells turn red.

Remove the shrimp and rinse under cold water for 30 seconds, and then peel.

Once the pasta has cooked, drain and place in a large bowl. Add the sauce and shrimp, and toss to combine.

Enjoy!

Forget the Milk and Honey

I'll take Lamb and Petite Sirah for my heavenly meal any day! This classic combination is quite possibly one of the best meals you'll ever have the pleasure of consuming. Don't be afraid of the lamb; it really is quite simple to make. Just make sure your grill is fired up and good and ready for it, at medium to medium-high heat.

Wine: 2005 Concannon Vineyard Petite Sirah Limited Release
Meal: Grilled lamb chops with a veggie side

Tasting notes on the wine:
First of all, this wine should be decanted for about 2 hours before drinking. I like to decant and then pour it back into the bottle for serving.

Color: 5/5
Deep, dark violet. Very nearly black. Coats the glass beautifully, with good legs.

Nose: 13/15
Floral and leather, chocolate and spice. Touches of oak here and there if you breathe deeply.

Flavor: 9/10
Very correct PS flavors, and loaded with blueberry. My notes have "BLUEBERRIES" capitalized and underlined about 5 times. Vanilla and spice shine through as well, with hints of other dark fruits. Oh, and did I mention the blueberries? Good, full mouthfeel, jammy. By the end of the glass, expect to need to brush your tongue, and maybe your teeth, too.

Finish: 8/10
Lasts about 30-45 seconds, with a good punch of tannins. Doesn't leave your mouth cotton-dry, but you might want to keep a glass of water handy.

Aging: 3/5
It will be interesting to see how this one develops over the next few years. It's got the body and fruit to last a while, so it should last pretty well in the cellar for quite some time. Drink now through 2017.

Overall: 4/5
Talk about excellent QPR (Quality Price Ratio). Available locally for between $10-$15, this is a massive purchase. An excellent everyday quaffer, provided you have the patience to decant it properly. Love this stuff.

Total: 92pts

As mentioned before, Petite Sirah and Lamb is a perfect combination. PS is one of those immensely flexible wines that goes really well with just about anything, but it really shines with grilled meats and barbecue. And I admit, I cheated on the meal and used pre-packaged veggies, but sometimes you just want something easy.

Want to make this meal?

Grilled Lamb Chops w/veggies
1/2 lb Kosher salt
1/2 lb lamb chops (3-4 3/4" thick chops)
1 pkg Green Giant "Healthy Vision"

On a piece of foil, pour out half of the kosher salt, and arrange the chops on it. Coat the top of the chops with the remaining salt, making sure they are all covered. Close up the foil and allow to sit for about an hour.

Rinse the salt off under water and pat dry, and allow to rest for another 5 minutes. Place chops on grill over medium to medium-high heat, and cook for 5-6 minutes on each side for medium-rare. Allow to rest for 3-4 minutes before serving.

Cook up the veggies according to package directions and serve alongside the chops.

Enjoy!

Leftover Luck

No picture tonight, sorry folks. Didn't plan on posting this one. However, I realize that I'm not the only unlucky soul out there that's unable to finish up a bottle of wine in a single night (let alone TWO), and so it might be of interest to post about how a wine is holding up two or three nights later in the fridge.

The Havens Albariño has been in the fridge now for three nights. This morning I looked in my fridge and saw I had a half dozen chicken wings that had been thawed for a couple days, and knew it had to be cooked up. So I pulled out the crock pot, placed them in there, poured in about a cup of my many-weeks-old leftover 2006 Mandolina Pinot Grigio, and about a cup and a half of leftover marinara sauce. Topped it off with a few sprigs of parsley, put it on low for 10 hours and tottered off to work.

When I got home, the smell was just incredible - this chicken was ready to go. I originally thought about putting it over angel hair pasta, but it turned out I ran out of that. So I just ate them as-is, with a freshly poured glass of the well-chilled Albariño. Let me tell you, not only has it held up, but I feel it is much better tonight than it was on Monday.

The limey-lemonade flavor is still there, but it's much subdued. There's a greater complexity of flavor to it, and one thing I pulled out was this raw snack-tray vegetables flavor. Like cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots, raw. Take a bite of each, and that's the flavor you get. The nose has improved as well, now bringing with it cantaloupe and honeydew. There's also a touch of new-leather scent, but the citrus scent is still predominant.

I think now, after being opened for a few days and being well chilled, this one bumps up to an 89-90 point wine for me. Chill this wine. It deserves to be well chilled.

On a side note, I mentioned I had the 2006 Mandolina Pinot Grigio leftover in my fridge for many weeks. I honestly don't remember when I opened it, but it may have been close to a month ago now. This one is a white that I know and trust, and don't mind sipping at it slowly and working on other bottles while it just sits there. It holds strong in the fridge for weeks, fantastically. It's still drinkable, although it's declining and is better for cooking with at this point.

Twofer For You!

There's a little bit of Spain in the air tonight. I was originally going for just something for the Altos de Luzón, but while I was making the dish, it dawned on me that maybe a white would be called for instead. So I figured why not try both and see which goes better!

Wine: 2005 Finca Luzón Jumilla Altos de Luzón and 2005 Havens Wine Cellars Albariño
Meal: Spanish Paella

Tasting notes on the wines:

Altos de Luzón
Color: 5/5
Rich, dark berry. Clear to about 1/8" from the rim.

Nose: 13/15
Complex nose, and yet the individual scents each present themselves clearly. Spices, particularly cloves, with dark berries like mulberry and black raspberry, a little bit of tobacco, and after letting the initial touch of heat blow off, a noseful of bacon fat.

Flavor: 10/10
I may be a bit biased, but this is one of my favorite wines. Velvet smooth. Chocolate is the first thing to hit the palate, like a dark Belgian chocolate. Following on the mid-palate are plums and dark berries, with delicious raisinettes. There are beautiful tannins nicely balanced in, soft and chewy, but they definitely make their presence known. The best part about this is that you can pop and pour with little to no decanting. Perhaps a little aeration in the glass, but not much. Nice, big, leathery mouthfeel to it.

Finish: 8/10
The raisinettes carry through the finish ending with a gentle mocha flavoring, which lasts a decent 30 seconds or so.

Aging: 3/5
Plenty of fruit in this one, and it's very well balanced. Should last for quite a while in the cellar, if you can resist drinking it that long. Drink now through 2012.

Overall: 5/5
What can I say? From the very first time I tried this wine, it became a favorite of mine. I just absolutely love it. This wine drinks really well either on its own or paired with food. The chocolatey characteristics lend well to drinking it after dinner, almost as a dessert, although I would not call this a sweet wine.

Total: 95pts

Havens Albariño
Color: 5/5
Pale straw colored, clear to about 1/8" from the rim. There's some small bubbles lining the side of the glass, not sure where they came from.

Nose: 12/15
Fairly simple nose to this one - tangerines are the first thing that spring to mind, followed by watermelon and lemon. Very citrusy.

Flavor: 7/10
Not as big a fan of this, although it's still quite tasty. It reminds me very much of a limey-lemonade. Tart, and lime, lots of lime. It's like drinking an almost-flat 7-Up with its characteristic lemon-lime flavor. It's a little rough around the edges. Very summery, for sure. Would probably work really well for making some wine-based cocktails from. This may not have had enough time to properly chill before I tried it, so it might benefit from a little more time in the chill chamber before being poured.

Finish: 6/10
Short. Very short finish, almost non-existent. A little on the bitey side. Still with the lemon-lime, maybe a touch of fennel on the very back end of it.

Aging: 2/5
Drink now through 2010. Might not last much beyond that. Not a whole lot there to hold it up.

Overall: 4/5
It's a nice wine, really, if a little one-dimensional. If anything screamed for shellfish, this would be the one. Not spectacular, but not bad.

Total: 86pts

The paella consisted of four different proteins mixed in with the rice. Chicken, chorizo, mussels, and shrimp. It's precisely because of this mixed meat approach that made it so difficult to choose one wine over the other to pair with this. The chicken and shellfish called out white to me, but that chorizo with it's spicy kick just said, "I need a red with a little bit of structure to it." I'm glad I ended up going with both of these wines. They both pair equally well with it and bring complements to the dish that really ought to be experienced.

The rice turned the Havens a little on the sharp and acidic side, which I found to be quite nice. Didn't really do much for the Altos, my notes simply say "nice". The sausage, with its lovely spices, overpowered the white, while the red very nicely cut the heat of it. It also brought out the chocolate flavor even more of the Altos, and brought a new bacon flavor to it. Both the shrimp and mussels had the same effect - overpowered by the red, but the Havens became like a butter dipping sauce for them. That lemon-lime flavor of it really cut the "sea" flavor from the mussels and turned it into something beautiful. This is one of those dishes that you can just pick your favorite wine, red or white, and you shouldn't be disappointed. I ended up, unsurprisingly, going for the Altos to finish my meal.

Want to make this meal?

Spanish Paella
This is a one-pan dish, but you MUST have a large enough skillet for it! I recommend going out and getting a 16" skillet with a good-fitting lid, if you can't find an actual paella pan. Yes, they make special pans just for paella. Mine was only 14" and, well, let's just say I have a good bit of cleaning to do on the stove from overflow.

1/2 cup olive oil
4 chicken thighs, bone-in, skin removed
1 small white onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 teaspoon salt
a pinch saffron threads
1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes, with juice
1/2 cup peas (frozen is fine)
3 cups long grain rice
14oz can chicken broth
4 cups chicken stock
8-10 mussels
12-15 medium shrimp, peeled
1 lb chorizo, sliced into rounds
handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 tsp smoked paprika
2 bay leaves
1 tsp ground cayenne
1 tsp dried sage
6 wedges lemon

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat until it begins to smoke. Place chicken thighs into oil and sear until golden brown on both sides. Remove and set aside.

Stir in onion and garlic, and cook until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 1 minute. Add bell peppers and cook for 2 minutes more.

Stir in salt, paprika, cayenne, sage, saffron, tomatoes, peas, rice, stock and broth until well combined. Add bay leaves. Return chicken to the pan, add chorizo, and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally.

Scatter the shrimp over the top, and press the mussels into the rice. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 12 minutes. Add parsley to the top, and simmer for an additional 3 minutes. Garnish with lemon wedges.

Serves 4-6.

Enjoy!

Harry's Tap Room

This past weekend, I was in the Washington, DC area. Local friend of mine PSith Master Loweeel of The PSycho's Path recommended Harry's Tap Room in Arlington, VA for brunch, and I would like to share that recommendation with you! It was so fantastic that we ended up there for brunch on both Saturday and Sunday.

Brunch begins every day with a basket of muffins and scones with fresh strawberry compote and cream.


Saturday:
I selected the Jumbo Lump Crab Cake Benedict (above), and my companions had the New Orleans Benedict (below) and the Traditional Benedict. Selected libations were Harry's Kir Royale and Classic Sparkling Mimosa.


Sunday:
There were 8 of us on Sunday, and I can't remember what we all ordered. I had the Steakhouse Omelette, various Benedicts were ordered, and the French Toast with fresh strawberries. Coffees all around, and again the Mimosa and Kir Royale found their way to the table, as well as the Weekend at Harry's Coffee.

From the menu:
Harry's Kir Royale - "A classic cocktail with a new flare. Made from sparkling wine and Chambord liqueur, garnished with a sugarcoated strawberry."
Classic Sparkling Mimosa - "Made with fresh-squeezed orange juice and bubbly."
A Weekend at Harry's Coffee - "When you need a wake-me-up and elixir at the same time. Made from Kahlua, Amaretto di Saronno, and Bailey's Irish Cream."

The setting at Harry's is upscale casual, with a friendly atmosphere and terrific staff. The food was all incredible, and unlike many restaurants that just plunk down your food on a plate, the chefs here put effort and thought into their presentations, which always makes the food that much more enjoyable. The portions are quite generous, and made from quality, fresh, local ingredients. The preparations seemed to be simple, but the best flavors were brought out because of this. I would highly recommend that if you're in the area, you visit Harry's and check out their menus - including their lovely wine list.