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[10/31/2008, 08:54]
2003 Bolla Amarone della Valpolicella | | To wrap up Halloween Week, here's a dinner so terrifying my roommate left the house for the entire evening. Enjoy!
After the post on the literary James Bond's Vesper cocktail versus the vodka martini of the movies, I decided to tackle a similar movie/book/beverage change. In the film version of The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal Lecter memorably said, "A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti."
 In the book, it was a "big Amarone". As I thought about this, I realized that some well-prepared liver, fava beans, and a nice Italian wine would be a pretty good dinner, if in somewhat questionable taste. Let's just go ahead and get this straight: this is a normal cow's liver from the grocery store. Benito's Wine Reviews does not endorse cannibalism practiced upon census personnel or anyone else for that matter.
Despite the disclaimers, it still freaked out The Roommate, as this movie gave her nightmares for years afterwards and one of the house rules is that I don't do my Lecter voice around her. More liver for me!
 Liver and onions is a pretty common pairing, and I looked at a few different recipes. A big contender was Mario Batali's fegato alla veneziana, but I settled on Anthony Bourdain's foie de veau lyonnaise. At the end of the recipe, he suggests several variations, including adding apples and pork to the onions. I sliced up some of those Ozark Gold apples and a bit of prosciutto to go along with the onions, and the liver was just lightly fried on each side. The best parts of the liver were the least cooked, sort of a medium rare pink. It's difficult to achieve this using the thin slices commonly available; I'd like to get a full liver and cook one-inch cubes in the future.
The fava beans were prepared with onion, bell pepper, and tomato paste, amongst other spices and seasonings. I started with dried beans (I've never seen fresh ones around here), and by the time the dish was done the beans had fallen apart into a chunky mush. This did not affect the flavor of the dish, which was rich and savory. While there are many substitutes for Italian classics like fava and cannelini beans, somehow the real thing is always best.
And what about the wine? The 2003 Bolla Amarone della Valpolicella was a real treat. $46, 15% abv, made from a proprietary blend of partially-dried Corvina, Rondinella, and Molinara grapes. It had gorgeous aromas of fig, fennel, and cedar, with flavors of pomegranate and currant. I allowed it to decant for about two hours before the meal and it went along very well with the meal. This bottle, and other Amarones topping $100, would fall under the "special occasion" wines for most folks I know, but I felt it was well worth it here. It helped elevate the dish far above the sad, overcooked liver and onions that rest under heat lamps at diners and dives throughout the country.
All in all an unforgettable meal. While I won't be replicating it precisely anytime soon, I do want to experiment further with liver, and I think that fava beans could be a great addition to the Thanksgiving table.
Still image copyright MGM. | | | |
[11/10/2008, 14:30]
Long Winter Nights? A Chilean Red Could Be the Answer | |  After daylight savings ends, my thoughts turn increasingly to red wine. Once I set the clocks back, it gets dark faster than I expect. I start cooking dinner. The heat comes on. I wonder "is there a red wine in the house?"
And then there are the winter foods that start sounding just perfect right about now: beef stew, chicken chile, and soups made with late fall vegetables.
If this sounds like you right now, I've got a red that will knock your socks off and have you praising the wine gods. It's from Chile, which (like Argentina) produces some excellent value wines. This one is no exception, and it's made by Veramonte, the winery that also makes exceptionally good value Sauvignon Blancs.
The 2005 Veramonte Primus represents the best of what Chile has to offer to people seeking great value and great taste. This excellent QPR red wine drinks like a wine that's two or three times the cost. It's big, bold,a n balanced. Made from a mixture of 51% Merlot, 32% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 17% Carmenere, the first thing that will strike you if you get your own bottle is the beautiful, dark plum color. Then you will be bowled over by heady aromas of plum, blackberry, spice, and plum blossom. I loved the way that the promise of the aromas was delivered in the flavors, which echoed the smells beautifully--although the plummy notes did take center stage. The wine had rich, satiny texture that seemed more opulent than a wine with an under $20 pricetag deserved--but I'm certainly not complaining. Well-integrated tannins and a taste that reminded me of the spicy smell of my mom's cedar chest rounded out this nicely made, well-balanced wine. It's drinking very well now, but if you find some for a good price I think you might want to buy a couple of bottles and put them away for drinking between now and the end of 2009.
I received my bottle as a sample, but you should be able to find bottles of this wine all over the US for between $14 and $26. And they bottled some in 375 ml bottles, as well, which are retailing for $7-$14.
Enjoy the change in seasons. Get some red wine, snuggle with the one you love, and catch up on your movies and TV now that the election is over. Long winter nights can be a good thing, after all. | | | |
[09/13/2007, 04:19]
Tait The Ball Buster 2005 | | | Tait The Ball Buster 2005 $15 Wine Label says: G’day Mates, I don’t know what aromas and flavors you’ll find when you try this wine - wine appreciation is so subjective and often too pretentious for my liking. I make my wines the way i like them - big, thick, juicy an deep in color. I wanted to [...] | | | |
[09/26/2008, 11:48]
Gaja: relax Brunello rules on Sangiovese | | A two tier qualification proposal for Brunello? I can't believe it's come down to this... talk about making a mountain out of a molehill. Richard Woodard (decanter.com) writes: Italian winemaker? Angelo Gaja has said that Brunello should operate a two-tier system and allow other varieties other than Sangiovese.
As the Brunello grape blending furore continues, the veteran Piedmont producer - who also makes Brunello di Montalcino ? has suggested DOC? Brunello should move on and no longer demand the wine is made from 100% Sangiovese.
In an article published this month in Italian newspaper Libero and local Tuscan paper La Nazione, Gaja says that if indeed Brunello producers have been adding other grapes illegally to the wine, then those producers should have been lobbying to get the appellation? rules changed.
» Full Story Tags: melgab, wine, brunello, montalcino, appellation, italy, south-africa, South Africa | | WorldWine Tags: melgab, wine, brunello, montalcino, appellation, italy, south-africa, South Africa, | | | |
[11/20/2006, 11:28]
Dink while you drink | |  Marking the first anniversary of the 24 hour drinking licence laws, a 'rescue remedy' called Dink has been released.
It is supposed to mitigate the ill-effects of binge-drinking with ingredients that mop up free radicals produced by the liver when it is processing alcohol. It is also cheap and readily available. It is being marketed to "people who like to get merry". Presumably because they feel it is unwise to market it to people who like to get smashed out of their skulls every Friday night and throw up partially digested burgers on street corners. I think we know who it is actually aimed at. I must admit that my first thought was "great idea", sounds so useful. But while I'm no Catholic I do think the pain of hang-overs is justly deserved and should reflect any excess. The sparkle generated by a few drinks with friends too easily degenerates into boorishness and incapacity beyond a certain point. There are very few elegant drunks.
And aren't we supposed to be cutting down binge drinking, as a society? We need a cultural shift that comes collectively - social evolution if you like, of the kind we've seen with smoking, drink driving and wearing seat belts. Most Friday-nighters, though by no means all, are young people with their whole lives ahead of them and of course there is a natural protective urge to want them to stay healthy. The price that many of them pay for their excesses can be heart-breaking. Blaming them as being responsible for their own actions is ridiculous if the message they absorb is that getting really drunk and doing stupid things is clever and/or funny. And now we are giving them the tools to avoid hangovers. I like drinking and sometimes I drink more than I should, but I also know that my body hates it when I do. It's a natural defense mechanism to show us our limits and should not be overlooked as a preventative. If we no longer have any medical consequences we will push our bodies over the limit as a matter of course. But often the real trauma of binge drinking is the wider physical and emotional damage caused by violence, bravado, promiscuity or recklessness . Can we develop a pill for that too? | | | |
[11/15/2008, 03:31]
WBW 51: Baked Goods | | Well it’s Wine Blogging Friday for me this month, but hopefully I can sneak into the summary. The theme for Wine Blogging Wednesday this month comes by way of Philly-based wine blogger Joe who goes by 1WineDude online. And it’s a complete departure from our basic formula of wine variety, region or something a bit quirky. In fact, he has challenged us to actually drink madeirized — or intentionally heated and/or oxidized — wines. This style of wine is found in Madeira, Australia?s Rutherglen Tokays and Sherry. But Joe was also mindful that these wines might not be available everywhere so he included all fortified wines including Porto for his “Baked Goods” theme.  I knew at some point there would be an occasion to write about Sherry, a wine I’ve had over the years but didn’t really get into until a visit in June of 2007 to El Puerto de Santa María in the so-called Sherry Triangle. As a guest of Osborne, I visited their winery and tasted Fino literally pulled from the solera. But the most surprising part of this visit was a dinner with only Sherry served. I knew the starter would be easy with a Fino or Amontillado and the dessert course would be matched with a sweet Sherry of some sort but the entree would be a challenge. That’s when I was introduced to Oloroso which was a revelation at the time. But the best wine that night was a sweet Sherry made from a very old solera and the Pedro Ximénez grape. I rated it a 99, the only wine I have ever rated that high.
But before I dig my notes out for that wine let me flash forward to this week when I was looking for a Sherry to review for this tasting. As someone now a bit more educated about Sherry, I know that Fino is best consumed before 6 months from it’s bottling date. Most every Sherry producer has some sort of bottling code that indicates the day and year of bottling. Many times these are cryptic with Roman numerals used for the year but Osborne uses a more understandable code. So while I am continually disappointed in the stores here in the Twin Cities where Fino is “fresh” at 9-10 months past bottling, I was surprised to see a bottle of Osborne Pedro Ximénez “1827″ on the shelf with a bottling date of June 23, 2007… just 5 days before my visit to the winery. For those not familiar with how Sherry is produced, a quick aside before my tasting notes. The production of Sherry is very old, in it’s current form since the the Moors ruled Spain some 1,200 years ago. Some, according to this piece in Wikipedia, track this style of wine back to the city of Shiraz in modern day Iran, literally the cradle of viticulture in antiquity. The production of Sherry starts with grapes grown in very chalky soils around Jerez, Spain from Palomino or Pedro Ximenez. In the latter case, the grapes are dried for two days before pressing and fermentation begins to concentrate their sugars. After primary fermentation, the wine is fortified with brandy to levels of alcohol determined by the style of the final wine. Fino or Amontillado are fortified to 15 degrees alcohol so that flor yeast can survive to complete the wine. Oloroso is fortified to 17-18 degrees alcohol to prevent the growth of flor and the wine is primarily shaped by oxidation in the solera. The solera is a system of large barrels between 3 and 9 in number usually stacked in a pyramid shape. This allows for the young wine to be introduced at the top of the solera to fill the lower barrels where the finished wine is drawn for bottling. Sherry is aged in barrel for a minimum of three years but this time in barrel is much longer for more highly prized and rare Sherries. Through reduction and oxidation the resulting wine gains complexity and since all the barrels are neutral, no aromas or flavors from the oak. This is a truly unique and old school style of wine that I hope more wine lovers will try. Tasting Notes:
Bodegas Osborne, Pedro Ximenez “1827″ Sherry ($21) - Mahogany in color with powerful aromas of fig, molasses, espresso, hazelnuts and some heat from the alcohol. Rich and sweet in the mouth with fig, maple syrup, cocoa and caramel flavors finishing very long with enough acidity that balances the luscious sweetness. Decadent, delicious and an excellent value at around $20 a bottle. Also very nice poured over vanilla ice cream as it’s own dessert. 17% ABV
Screwtop closure
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars Bodegas Osborne, Pedro Ximenez “Viejo” Sherry ($100/sample tasted at the winery) - Almost black in color with very complex aromas of fig, dates, espresso, dark chocolate, molasses and a hint of baked orange. In the mouth, very rich and layered fig, caramel, baked orange, spice and nut flavors mingle with quite a bit of sweetness that is balanced by acidity. This wine has a finish that seems to go on forever. One of the most extraordinary tastings of my life and as close to a perfect wine I have ever encountered. Buy it, if you can afford it. 16% ABV
Natural cork closure
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars Thanks to Joe, the 1WineDude, for getting me back into this style of wine. I’m going to continue to explore Sherry both here and on my podcast… and might even post those recordings made in Spain some 17 months ago. | | | |
[10/28/2008, 02:46]
philippe charlopin 2006 gevrey chambertin | | | I rarely see a Philippe Charlopin, so it was a surprise (for me) to see this on the shelf of a French supermarket. Very tasty wine. 2006 Philippe Charlopin, Gevrey-Chambertin Medium-plus colour. Slightly murky nose with a little vanilla and a faint mushroom - slowly fills out with deep and impressive primary red/black fruit to [...] | | | |
[08/21/2008, 22:33]
Slovenia's Culinary Diversity and My Favorite Rebula | |  What with the Summer Games currently placing China and its regional cuisines in the limelight in terms of reflecting nearly a continent?s worth of complex, multi-ethnic influences, we should also consider other similarly impressive culinary miracles that geographically take up an infinitesimally tiny fraction the size of China?say Slovenia. In my understanding at least, Slovenia has always represented a fascinating crossroads within an impossibly modest amount of land. Many diverse and even warring influences have laced Slovene customs, viticulture and cuisine. Somehow though, like a cultural or culinary manifestation of the metaphysical concept in J.L. Borges? The Aleph, individual influences never amass into an incomprehensible amalgamation, but rather, remain clearly discernible.
Whether in its fairly recent history as a sovereign republic, under communism or seemingly serving as the geopolitical puck between Napoleon and the Habsburgs? shuffleboard match, Slovenia?s former overlords and neighbors include decidedly unique food cultures?Croats, Istrian Italians, Hungarians and Austrians, among others. Bearing all of this in mind and turning our thoughts to the central concern here on Enotheque, I would like to recommend this wine from the Gori?ka Brda region. Aside from being one of the wines I?ve been enjoying recently, I chose to post on it because I strongly feel that it?s indicative of the impressive quality-value dynamic that importers and retailers could benefit from should markets seem more receptive to the artisan wines of Slovenia.
Even if one is already familiar with the Colli Orientali of Friuli?s Ribolla Gialla, the Slovene version, Rebula, is more than worth trying. As a whole, Slovenia and the Gori?ka Brda produce white wines of impressive caliber, be it from more distinctly regional varieties or others introduced from abroad: Briski Tokaji, Teran, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Sivi Pinot, Pinela, or Rebula for that matter. In terms of this one, vintner Matjaz Cetrtic farms Rebula on wide, terraced limestone vineyards, purposefully limiting yields to ensure lush, concentrated and nuanced wines. My notes follow for the 2004 Matjaz Cetrtic Ferdinand Rebula Brda:
Tasting Notes?
Appearance-wise, this wine is medium gold. The nose is clean and of medium intensity, with highly unusual though pleasantly different aromas of caramelized or burnt orange peel, citrus, flowers and minerals. Strange, delightful palate with just enough lemon acidity, hint of underripe green fruit flavors, minerality in the form of pebbles, as well as the aforementioned burnt orange peel flavor that leads into a nice finish. If in search of something wildly, completely different, I wouldn?t doubt to reach for more Slovene wines such as this Cetrtic Rebula.
As a closing note, should the unbelievable degree of complexity in tiny Slovenia?s food and wine heritages impress you and compel you towards further learning, visit the culinary section of what appears to be their official tourism portal on the web. | | | |
[11/19/2008, 07:22]
The Trudge | | La Faticaccia
 Not good news from the front lines of the selling game. From what I am seeing, getting to the end of the year unscathed will be highly uncertain. We?re in the thick of things now, the deep trough, the slog through the sludge. Forget about keeping your mukluks sparkly clean, we?re going into the uncharted terroir of the slime. And it ain?t autochthonous. Or archetypical.
 Funny how wine geeks love to talk about the feel of the soil. But when it gets soggy and tracks through the house, folks be singing another tune. Until the end of the year, the wine business is joining the rest of the economy in just getting through these days.
Small or large, importer or distributor, terroir-driven or industrial-fashioned, wines in these times, and selling them, have some particular challenges. Call it Stock and Awe.
First, the warehouses are full. As, I am sure, are the winery stockrooms. Just like the car lots and portside lots, space is running out. Meanwhile, folks aren?t running out to buy a car or a TV or the same bottle of wine.
In a short survey today, while driving from Dallas to Austin, I talked to importers. Some have a niche market of artisanly crafted wines and others have more commercially made offerings. In either case, marketers are telling me they are worried. Vintages are starting to back up.
 Another concern is the Europeans. Since they perceive the dollar is stronger, and they are wrestling with inflation and recession, some camps think they will push for price increases to bolster their margins. That would be a huge mistake to entertain such fantasies. Not because they aren?t entitled to recoup margins after holding back their prices while the dollar was in the tank. Unfortunately now there are other things in a tailspin and to have any price points spiral up would be suicide. But I am sure many of those folks won?t be reading this blog. Those who do, would save time and lost sales and just bite the bullet for the next eighteen months.
Forget about the problems about Brunello. It will seem small by comparison to the next wave that is in motion. And a year or two from now let?s see if this seemingly pessimistic assessment will be prophetic or aimed in the wrong direction. I hope it is erroneous. In the interim, it will be crucial that the industry moves forward slowly. Introducing new items? This probably won?t be a good opportunity moment. Beefing up inventory? We?re going to see a new definition of just-in-time. It?ll probably be more like, when we run out, then we?ll order. After we sell some other product sitting, waiting for its day.
What will be telling? When, like the auto industry, folks decide instead of waiting around for a bail-out, they start selling wines, at reduced margins in order to just move product out to make room for the next round of offerings. Both products have a shelf life; cars rust, wines get tired.
 I feel for a friend, who has recently taken the leap to import and self distribute, with containers just showing up. Unknown wines in a time when even things known have slowed down. This is not a good time to be exposed to the elements of the downturn. It?s going to take a lot of street beating, wearing out some of the old shoe leather. Forget about chasing maidens around the primordial ooze.
 So the fancy Beatle boots of the dandy salesman, like the three martini lunch, is a sullied white elephant in today?s climate.
 Maybe a drill sergeant?s pair of boots would be more suitable for the combat in the streets, Main or Wall. The situation on the ground calls for a little less speculation (and editing of the fantasy-dream sequence) and a little more real time pounding of the concrete. What some of the old bull elephants in the selling game call getting out of the mud bath and trudging into the village. Stay tuned.
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[04/23/2007, 07:12]
La Paulee, Part Two | | | It was time for the main event, and there must have been four or five hundred giddy people gathered in downtown Manhattan. One or two of dozens of Burgundy’s elite winemakers sat at each table in anticipation of this Bacchanalian orgy. The long, army-style lunch room seating had to have about forty people per table, [...] | | | |
[11/03/2008, 10:00]
The Wines of Paloma Vineyard | | 
In 1980, Barbara and Jim Richards were living in Midland, Texas, and began thinking about a second home. They had an interest in wine and started looking for some property in the Napa Valley to build a home and plant a small vineyard. They realized their dream in 1983 when they found a property located five miles west of St. Helena and over 2,000 feet above the Valley floor near the top of Spring Mountain. Vineyard exposure is generally east with many variations, and the soils are derived from the Sonoma volcanics and from Franciscan sandstone. Total acreage is 20 acres with 15 acres planted. In 1985, after clearing, ripping, and terracing about ten acres, they planted 3,555 bench graft Merlot vines, and 945 Cabernet Sauvignon vines. By 1987, the Richards? recognized their previous absentee landlord role was insufficient to monitor the vines. So, Barbara came to manage things from January through harvest, while Jim would come to help when he could get away from his business as a petroleum geologist. Their first small harvest was sold to Conn Creek Winery. In 1988, they planted another 2,300 Merlot vines in their last five acres of vineyard. The early ?90s were momentous for the Richards?. By 1993, Barb and Jim had moved into their new home in the vineyard, and Pride Mountain Winery released a 1991 Merlot, made from their grapes blended with Pride?s Cabernet Sauvignon fruit. The Richards? agreed to sell their grapes to the Prides beginning in 1994 and their wine maker, Bob Foley, agreed to make wine from part of the grapes into Paloma Merlot for the Richards? new label, debuting their Merlot-based blend in 1996. Also, Barb and Jim decided to plant a block of Syrah to see how it would do, and by 1996, they started making the wine commercially as well. Unfortunately, they?ve since pulled up the small Syrah vineyard, and replanted with Cabernet Sauvignon. In 2000, the Richard?s finally decided to construct their own winery on the property. A few years later, their son Sheldon joined them in the business, and to this date the Richards? Paloma Merlot still stands as one of the enduring benchmarks of the variety in California, and indeed the world. Join us as we talk with Barbara Richards about Paloma ? their early years, and what it was like to basically become pioneers on Spring Mountain, and well as Merlot?s place in Napa Valley. For more info on Paloma Vineyard: www.palomavineyard.com Sponsor- Gold Medal Wine Club: www.goldmedalwineclub.com Click Below to Play the Show: Download audio file (GR-ENG-USA-2008-11-03.mp3)
| Show #219
(36:18min 26MB) |
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[06/28/2007, 16:22]
How to Tell a Wine Geek from a Cork Dork | | | Recently, at a dinner with friends, one man's date turned to me and complained, "He's so boring. All he ever talks about is wine. All day long he talks about wine." I probably looked hurt, because I was just as engrossed in our discussion of Syrah as he was. Lorraine leaned toward me and whispered, "She's right, you know. We're all hopeless wine geeks. Look at us from an outsider's point of view." | | | |
[11/21/2007, 23:01]
Planta?e Vranac Reserve 1998 | |  This is a premium Montenegrin red wine made from the indigenous Vranac grape. The Reserve is produced from particulary good years, in small quantities, aged in barrels for several years. It is also aged in bottles for one year before being released to the market.
This is a dry wine, with a pleasant fruity nose. However, the impressions are far lower than it’s price. If you want to experience the Vranac variety the Montenegrin way, go for a regular Planta?e Vranac or their Vranac Pro Corde. They are much cheaper and the experience is almost the same. Wines of the Vranac variety are produced throughout the region, apart from Montenegro, you can find them in Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia and Herzegovina. Score: 7/10
Price: 15 euro (in Montenegro) Technorati Tags: Vranac, Montenegro, Montenegrin Wines, Wine | | WorldWine Tags: Vranac, Montenegro, Montenegrin Wines, Wine, | | | |
[05/26/2006, 11:36]
Wine Woot - One Week, One Wine | | | What am I doing around 1:00 am EST almost every night? Checking woot.com for the latest woot item, of course!
Being a computer/tech junkie, I am always finding random good deals on woot. Now, they have made my life complete, with Wine Woot.
 Every week they will be featuring a single deal on wine. Take it or leave it, but when they are out of stock, you are out of luck. If this turns out anything like the regular Woot.com, a good deal will be sold out in minutes. The wine deal they have up there right now looks pretty good: St. Supéry 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot Sampler. Seeing as how these would fit the Cheap Wine Reviews rule of 15 bucks or less, I might give this wine a try. | | | |
[11/19/2008, 03:18]
Perrin & Fils Gigondas La Gille 2005 Wine Review (NW) | | 
Tasting notes:
Perfumed nose of cherry, rose blossom, plum sauce, charcoal, and spice
Plush texture on the palate
Long finish of wild berries, black currant, cocoa, and tar
No kidding- this wine has a lot going on! While a precise description of all the layers might be elusive, there's clearly nice depth here. I'd summarize this wine by saying there's a bright fruit and floral quality that is offset by a dark, smoky quality. Amazing combination!
Great Southern Rhone wines can pull this off. Grab a bottle of Chateauneuf-du-Pape or Gigondas. Gigondas is simply another classified area near Chateauneuf that is considered a kissing cousin at lower prices. I paid $22 for this wine, which is the equivalent of stealing. A Chateauneuf of this caliber is $50 or more. I believe Wine Spectator awarded 93 points here. Raise a glass!
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[02/25/2008, 03:03]
Romance with 2002 Zinfandels | | Okay, it was actually a few days before Valentine?s. But clearly our uncharacteristically small group of Vancouver American Wine Society members who had gathered to compare a horizontal flight of ten 2002 Zinfandels were jumping into the spirit of romance.
Here they come in the order we tasted, and although it would be fun, we can take no credit for the final ?heartfelt? evaluations of the ten offerings ? each was delivered from an appointed, if sometimes reluctant, spokesperson at a different table.
 Wine #1: Paso Robles Westside from Peachy Canyon Winery
Thin, weak, and presenting surprisingly little fruit either on the nose or the palate. This wine is like a ghostly and somewhat disappointing lover. Neat tasting room though as seen at the right.
Wine #2: Alexander Valley Todd Brothers Ranch from Dashe Cellars
Made with 4% Petit Syrah, the general consensus was that this wine was approaching ? or perhaps even past ? its prime. Tannins were still a bit coarse, and there was definite sediment. This wine was ranked as a dark and sultry, if a bit over the top lover.
Wine #3: Sonoma Valley Rhinefarm Vineyard from Gundlach Bundschu Winery
Softer and with a better balance than the previous one, most people agreed this wine showed coffee, chocolate, and mint overtones. The finish was longer, smoother like a well-oiled lover ? apparently appealing as this wine was ranked Number One of the evening.
Wine #4: Amador County Grandpere from Renwood Winery
Made from old vines though from a newer winery (shown right), this wine was deemed somewhat austere. Oak on the nose but light in fruit, this wine ? according to the table?s spokesperson ? would not be finding its way onto her table nor into her bedroom even on Valentine?s Day.
Wine #5: Dry Creek Valley from Chateau Souverain
Not offensive, merely flat and faded from time with not enough fruit remaining to be worth mentioning. This wine is one lover who simply doesn?t deliver ? even after midnight.
Wine #6: Dry Creek Valley from Foppiano Vineyards
Although we knew this vineyard specializes in ?affordable,? this vintage was rather like  stuffing your face full of penny candy in the general store. A fickle lover ? even on a one night stand, first he thought he loved her, then he didn?t, then he did.
Wine #7: Napa Valley from Napa Wine Company
Like a chameleon, this wine exhibited the most dramatic amount of change of any poured this evening and garnered second favourite in the process. On the palate cedar, tobacco, and barnyard. In bed, an almost schizoid lover ? but definitely one you?d happily suggest a roll in the hay with.
Wine #8: Napa Valley Old Vines from Fife Vineyards
Simple and somewhat nondescript but still comfortable, this wine is from old vines. Good for mindless quaffing on an open-air patio. A lover wearing nothing but flannel pajamas.
Wine #9: Napa Valley from Ravenswood Winery
Although this wine didn?t open as much as many of us had expected, it was ?no wimpy wine.? Brawny and well structured, a few people found a hint of cream soda. This one is a somewh |
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