November has Come and Gone

Hello, wine lovers. My apologies for dropping off the face of the Earth during November. Turns out trying to do NaNoWriMo, my online class, spend time with the Scotch Man and the Jedi, and overall keep my sanity, I did not, in fact, have time to do my wine blog, as well.

This weekend I am working on the final exam for my online class, but then for the next month I will be free like the wind. Once free, I will write lots and lots of wine blogs.

I am excited to share my stories about my Election Night wine tasting, the new wine store the Scotch Man and I found, and tell you about all of the bottles I've tried since my last post.

Look for me to make my full-fledged return next week! Hope to see you then.

Red Wine Reminiscence

Thanks for your Patience!

Hello, Readers. I haven't posted the past couple of weeks because I haven't been drinking much wine. It took me awhile to finish both bottles from the wine tasting, and I've still been trying to watch my calories for the Scale Down Challenge.

However, it is now November, which means it's National Novel Writing Month. I usually drink a glass or two of wine in the evenings while I'm writing, so I will have new bottles to review soon. I hope to be back to my regularly scheduled weekly posts every Sunday starting next weekend!

If you want to know how Nanowrimo is going, feel free to pop over to the Confabulator Cafe. I post every Tuesday morning.

See you next week!

Brutocao - 2007 Pinot Noir vs. Zinfandel

Sounds impossible, but I think wine tastes different depending on where you drink it and who you drink it with.

Tonight, I did a little taste-testing experiment with my sister. She's off living the big city life now that she's living and working in Kansas City, and she's loving it. She stopped by this evening to pick up some mail, and I roped her into staying to try out some wines with me.

Awhile back, Cork and Barrel had a clearance sale. They were rearranging their wine, and decided to sell what wasn't moving. I bought two bottles from the same company and decided to do a back to back tasting to truly discover what the difference in grapes was like.

I bought the Pinot Noir and the Zinfandel from Brutocao. The vintage was 2007 for both, although the Pinot was grown at Anderson Valley (Mendocino) while that Zinfandel was grown at Hopeland Ranch (also Mendocino).

Our overall impression was that the Pinot Noir was a little yummier. Both were very delicious, but whereas the Zin was spicy (verging on dusty), with a slight taste of fruit before the dry bite and a complex finish, the Pinot seemed warmer, much more fruity, and didn't have as strong as a finish.

The Sister and I both liked the Pinot Noir better.

We had quite a lot of fun trying both bottles and using Kroger Swiss cheese as a pallet cleanser between glasses. I love drinking wine with my sister. She has this amazing, contagious laugh that sets me off, even when she's laughing at me, and wine makes her giggle all the more freely.

She is one of my favorite people to hang out with.

Kendall-Jackson - 2008 Summation

I started this bottle at the Scotch Man's house but it was neglected for awhile and lost a lot of it's flavor by the time I got back to it. Finally finished a couple of weekends ago. It was still drinkable though. I'm pretty impressed.

Sadly, this will be my last bottle for awhile. The next bottle I open will probably take me a long time to drink, because the Scotch Man and I are doing a weight loss competition through the University we work at. The first place prize is $400, and the Scotch Man is in it to win it. We will be pacing ourselves when it comes to alcohol, since it's a lot of empty calories.

He has been drinking more scotch than wine lately. He drank scotch as I drank this bottle of wine, which is another reason it has taken me weeks instead of only a week to get through it.

I hope to be able to continue to write every week, but I might have to take a week or two off in order to consume enough wine to write about it.

It's a ten week challenge. We only have six left to go!

Wish us luck.

Davenport Orchards and Winery 2012

Some of you may remember my trip to Davenport Orchards and Winery last year the weekend I went to pick grapes.

Well I went back for more again this year. And this time I dragged the Scotch Man along with me.

Here we are at the vineyard!



We spent about three hours picking grapes off the vine with the other volunteers and seasonal workers. Look at all the grapes we picked!

Ok, so the Scotch Man and I didn't pick all of these. We probably only contributed three or four bins out of the total forty-nine.

After they fed us lunch (along with a complimentary glass of wine!) we got to watch them load all of the grapes into the de-stemming and crushing machine. They put us back to work helping out. I got to swap out bins to catch all of the stems and other trash came spewing from the back end of the machine.

I got a little messy.

Ok, so this might be a bit embellished for effect, but I did get pretty messy. The guys working there took some extra gunk off the machine and made me rub my hands in it before we took the picture, hehe.

After we finished working, we went back to the tasting room and tried all of the different wines they had for tasting. The Scotch Man bought a bottle called Jazz Man, and I got one called Matrot - which is made with Norton grape, the same type of grape we were picking today.

Overall it was a long, exhausting day, but the weather was amazing, I got to see a lot of awesome stuff, and I  got to spend the day with my man. He did a good job helping out. Here he is helping mash the skins back down into the fermenting liquid.

I can't wait to drink the bottles we got today. And I can't wait to go back in a couple of years to get a bottle made of the 2012 Norton we helped pick this year.

Heron - 2009 Mendocino Merlot

This bottle of Merlot I opened while talking on the phone to an old friend of mine that I don't get to see very often anymore. He scoffed at my choice of Merlot and made a recommendation of a wine that he regularly drinks that I promptly forgot (and still can't remember - something about sisters). I see he still hasn't posted it on my recommendations page, even after a long tangent of him trying to log into his own Blogger account while we were chatting.

I forgive him. For not visiting my site, for thumbing his nose at my choice in wine, and for only talking to me for two hours in the last six months.

I'm a pretty good friend. Once you're friends with me, you're pretty much stuck with me forever. I'll always be here waiting.

Merlot, in general, I've discovered are pretty dry. This one had the typical dry burn, and no noticeable flavor afterward. I've decided that that's what makes a good wine to me. If I can still taste some of the grape, or some other flavor, through the dryness. I know there is probably a good wine term for that, like finish or something.

I've been drinking wine for long enough that I feel like I should have a better idea of what I like and what I don't, but I am still learning. So far it's been mostly blends that I've liked them most, but every blend is different.

Heck, I've found that even different brands of the same kind of wine are different. It's so hard to settle on something I'm really happy with.

Although why settle on one? There are too many wines out there to try. My work has only just begun!

Columbia Crest Grand Estates - 2008 Merlot

My sister stayed with me for about three weeks at the end of the summer as she transitioned from one great life event to the next. I was happy to have her, in spite of my initial reservations. I should have known we'd be fine. It took three years living together for us to drive each other crazy, and this was only three weeks.

I had gotten so used to her being around, actually, that I found myself a little sad when she told me she had found a job and an apartment and would be moving out within the next few days. So we cracked opened a bottle of wine to celebrate and commiserate.

The bottle I chose was the Columbia Crest Grand Estates Merlot from 2008. I've tried a couple of different bottles of the Columbia Crest, and while this particular bottle wasn't too bad, it wasn't nowhere near as delicious as some of the other bottles of theirs I've tried.

I'm not sure I'm much of a Merlot fan.

So while we drank, we filled out these "Rate that Wine" forms Luigi gave me for my birthday. They have silly rating systems like "murky as a polluted lake" and "medley of vinegar" and "harmoniously tongue loving" or my personal favorite "will also linger in my dreams" to describe each part of the wine. Using this form you can give the wine a 1-5 on label, color, clarity, nose, body, flavor, and finish.

Of course neither of us really knew what we were doing, but overall we both rated it about a solid 3 out of 5 overall. My sister, who isn't a fan of red wines, noted that her overall impression was "meh, not bad for a red."

And as we drank, we became somber and philosophical, and talked late into the night.

A week later she was gone, and I finished the rest of this bottle on what would have been Mom's birthday, feeling sorry for myself that we lost her the day after she turned 56, two years ago.

A melancholy bottle of wine, it was.

Five Rivers - 2009 Pinot Noir

I bought this bottle at Cork and Barrel's closeout wine sale (the one I bought six bottles and spend $70 at) and I have to admit the sole reason I bought it was because the label was pretty.

Popping the cork was a pleasant surprise, as well, as it is inscribed with the word "Goddess." The wine itself was pleasant but nothing extraordinary. It didn't keep as well as some bottles: after a week it had gotten a bit bitter to drink. Probably a drink in one setting bottle, if you can.

This bottle I drank with the Scotch Man at his place, and the main story here is that I am still adjusting to having his son, the little Jedi, around full time. Some nights after trying to keep that kid entertained I am in serious need of a glass of wine.

Could having three kids be why my folks always drank a beer or two every night? I wonder sometimes. I often thought it was just a holdover from their college days (Mom was pregnant with me when she graduated) but now I'm not so sure.

I also wonder what our kids will think about us drinking wine (and Scotch) almost every night. Just like my parents, I wait until the kid is in bed to pop the cork, but the collection of wine bottles rivals the collection of beer cans my folks collected over the weeks. We had a great big black trash can that we collected the cans in for recycling.

Right now I just collect the wine bottles because they are pretty. My collection is large, however. I need to start recycling them and only keeping the really nice bottles.

But I'm going to start keeping all of my corks. Especially this one, since it says Goddess on it.

Lagar de Robla - 2008

A little on the dry side, but still easy to drink. I actually was quite distracted while drinking this bottle. I drank it each night we watched the Olympics, which made me feel both lazy and inspired at the same time.

In my wine infused euphoria, I swore that I was going to become a runner. Watching those runners run, just watching their bodies, was amazing and beautiful. I was just in absolute awe of the gymnasts, hurtling themselves through space, and the swimmers wiggling their bodies as if they were fish. The most painful night, a night I had more than one glass, we watched the BMX races. Ouch! Those wipeouts are violent and epic. Of course, the Scotch Man watches the Olympics just to see the accidents, so he enjoyed it way too much.

The rest of the bottle was finished while I watched the Scotch Man play the videogame Bioshock. It's a first person shooter, but it's heavily laden with story, and has a fantastic 20s horror feel to it. I couldn't tear myself away. Several nights he'd turn it on and I'd forget what I was even working on. It was fun to get a bit buzzed and watch as the story unfolded and things kept getting more and more disturbing.

So, as I mentioned, this wine was less about the wine and more about drinking wine while being entertained and amazed. I remember it being good, but nothing that blew me out of the water.

White Tail Run Winery LLC

Scotch Man and I went to this winery for a tasting for our six month anniversary. It was a scorcher of a day, maybe the hottest we had all summer, my air conditioner in the car could barely keep up. We broke into a sweat just walking from the car to the tasting room. The guy was very friendly as he presented us all six bottles of his current wine selection. We observed how pitiful his vines looked, and I actually honestly worried he might not have much of a crop left after this summer and dry winter.

I discovered I'm ruined for sweet wines. The only selections I enjoyed were the more dry Chambourcin wines.

And, surprisingly, the dry whites.

The Scotch Man went home with the semi sweet red, and I, surprisingly, chose the white semi sweet Seyval.

The Chambourcin we polished off over a couple of nights watching the Olympics. The Seyval I broke out to toast my sister getting a new job she really wanted. The white has been so nice with as hot as it's been.

It was nice, going to the free tasting. I almost wish I could sample all wines before I bought them to be sure I'll like them. It's always an adventure, going into a wine I haven't tried. I highly recommend this winery and vineyard, though. On a cooler day, they have a nice porch you can sit on, overlooking the vines, while you drink the bottle you purchased and even bring a picnic lunch. I'd highly recommend them, especially their prize winning Chambourcin.

Check out the pictures at the bottom of this page: White Tail Run Winery LLC

Senda 66 - 2008 Tempranillo

As I mentioned last week, this is another flashback post.

Not long after the night of the Arizona Stronghold wine tasting and my second bottle of Chupacabra, I went to visit my little sister at the liquor store she used to work at. My brother and his girlfriend were in town, and we went to keep her and her roommate, who also worked there, company until they closed.

This was the night of my Wine Education. I told my sister's roommate that I was starting to get into red wine, but I didn't know the first thing about the different kinds, so she took me from row to row, telling me about the characteristics of each. Based on her descriptions, I decided I most wanted to try a Cabernet Savignon and a Pinot Noir.

That night, though, I settled on a cheap bottle of Mexican wine that I chose mostly because I thought the label was pretty. The Senda 66 Tempranillo, which my sister's roommate actually knew nothing about.

While my sister ran the store and her roommate and my brother talked about names for the vineyard they wanted to open, my brother's girlfriend and I sat in the back of the liquor store on the boxes upon boxes of beer while we drank. I've never seen so much beer, and several of the cases were fashioned into what looked like cardboard thrones.

Interestingly enough, the liquor store didn't have a corkscrew (probably to discourage people drinking on the job), so my sister's roommate used a tool to push the cork through. Not only was the wine not that great, it also tasted like cork. And unfortunately, my brother's poor girlfriend had an allergic reaction to it. She's since decided she's allergic to something in red wine, so I've lost her as a drinking partner. It's so very sad.

I won't lie and say I don't still have a tendency to pick wine based on the label, but after this bottle I try to pay more attention to brand, and rating/description if there is one.

And thanks to my sister's roommate, after that night I had a good idea where to start my wine journey.

So here I am now!

Merkin Vineyards - 2006 Chupacabra

I think my photography skills have gotten much better

Over the next two weeks, I will be going back in time a little to talk about some of my first red wines, which ultimately led me to starting this blog.

The Merkin Vineyards Chupacabra takes us back to the summer of 2010, during a visit from the BFF, Luigi.

Luigi is one of those friends who it feels like no time has passed when we see each other, even if it's been years. We always pick up right where we left off. For this particular visit, she brought me a present: a bottle of wine from the vineyard owned by one of my favorite band's lead singers. Some of you may be familiar with James Maynard Keenan of Tool, and some of you might even know he has a vineyard and winery in Arizona. This is a bottle from his Merkin Vineyard, which is a part of the Arizona Stronghold wines we owns with his partner.

After Mexican food and margaritas, we went back to my place and prepared for this lovely bottle. I was quite excited.

I remember both of us thinking that this was the best wine we had ever tried. Dry and full-bodied and delicious. Back then, I only really drank white, but after tasting this nectar from the gods, I decided maybe I was missing out.

By the time we finished the bottle (yes, we finished the bottle between the two of us - we had a habit, back in the day, of very drunken shenanigans), we were much more intoxicated than we thought. We both swore pictures from that night would never see the light of day, on penalty of death.

I've mostly kept to that promise.

The second time I tried this wine was only months before I started this wine blog.

I finally got a hold of the Arizona Stronghold documentary Blood Into Wine, and from that moment, my wine education began. I discovered that there is so much more to wine - from growing grapes to fermentation to even tasting - than I could ever imagine. The wealth of stories that could be told was extensive. Just learning about Maynard and his story during that documentary was enough to plant the seed in me.

I miss my BFF when she's far away

About a week after that, I discovered that the Eldridge Hotel's monthly wine tasting that month would be featuring Arizona Stronghold wines.

It was too much of a coincidence not to be fate. I dragged a friend of mine along with me to the tasting. We both dressed up in fancy clothes and pretended to be very sophisticated as we tasted the different selections. My allusions were shattered a little bit when I realized I knew more about the wines being presented from the documentary than the people showing them.

After the tasting, my friend and I went straight to the liquor store. They didn't carry any of the whites we wanted, but I got my second bottle of Chupacabra, remembering how much I loved it the first time.

The second time did not disappoint.

And so, folks, this is the wine that started me down the path to drinking red wine again. I was given a push by a book I read that encouraged drinking red wine a few times a week for health benefits. What better excuse to imbibe a little than it's good for you, right?

So, friends, after the past several months of you reading about my various wine adventures, you now know what started it all: an amazing bottle shared with my best friend, a powerful documentary, a serendipitous wine tasting, and a book that outlined the health benefits of drinking red wine.

It didn't take the writer in me too long to realize the stories I'd be able to tell.

Villa Parini - 2010 Montepulciano d'Abruzzo

Photo credit

To be totally honest, I don't speak Italian, so I wasn't even sure what was the grape and what was the winery. I had to do some internet research, and found out that my use of common sense was correct. The vine is the Montepulciano d'Abruzzo. I learned lots of cool stuff at this website.

I bought this particular bottle as a Wine of the Week from Cork and Barrel, even though I have overspent my wine budget for the next three months. Cork and Barrel had a closeout sale last month, and I brought home six bottles of wine. I couldn't help it. The description of this one sounded so delicious. According to Cork and Barrel, winemakers call this one "fresh and fruity with raspberry and cherry tones and a touch of wild flowers." How could I resist that?

So I went in to pick up the bottle on my way to somewhere else, so I was in a hurry, but not too much of a hurry not to stop and grab a small plastic cup from the free wine tasting table. Apparently a brand new ordinance allows liquor stores to have in-store tastings now, so they have a tasting of the Wine of the Week every Wednesday, a selected vendor every Saturday, and as I discovered, random tastings whenever vendors want to set one up. The wine I tried there, which I didn't catch the name of because I took the cup he handed me and hopped into the checkout line, was a really sweet red. I am much happier with the bottle I took home.

I'm glad I didn't resist this purchase. It was, in fact, quite fruity and fresh. It had a pleasant bite to it, which I have come to love about the dry reds, but it wasn't so acidic that it was painful to drink. It was light and tasty. The Scotch Man and I used it to toast our writing successes. And I attempted to write the story due for my writing group - which, ironically, takes place in a wine cellar - while drinking this.

I might have had a bit too much. I realized when I was trying to have a serious financial discussion with the Scotch Man and I was having a hard time finding the words to express that I was trying to say.

Overall, this wine has made me start thinking that maybe the Italians really do know how to do wine right, and that's why all of the best wine is supposed to be Italian.

Chapelle-St-Arnoux - 2010 Cotes-du-Rhone

This was a fancy bottle from Rhone Valley, France. It's the second bottle of Cotes-du-Rhone I've tried, and I’m starting to think this blend might be bad luck.

The first time I tried it was the Thanksgiving where I embarrassed myself by bringing wine to a gathering where nobody drank.

The night of this bottle was the night of a rescue mission. I had my first glass, started to relax and mellow out, and I was trying to watch a scary movie with the Scotch Man. Not even ten minutes into the movie I got a frantic call from my friend who was on vacation. Her dog, who I watched for a couple of days until her friend could come get him, had been alone in the apartment for a week because her friend never picked him up like he was supposed to.

I told her I would immediately go check on him, so I dragged the Scotch Man along with me. Convinced he'd be dead when we got there. I have never been so relieved to find something alive. He wasn't his usual peppy self, but otherwise seemed fine. He had trashed her the apartment, drank two bowls of water while we were there, and didn't want us to leave, but he is a survivor. He may never be quite the same, but hopefully he will make a full recovery from his abandonment issues.

The Scotch Man works in Law Enforcement, so he's seen his share of bodies - which is part of the reason I took him with me - so he explained that my being hungry and horny afterward the ordeal was pretty normal. Something to do with adrenaline and glucose and feeling alive.

I barely tasted the second glass of wine I had when we got back to his place. And almost poured a third, but it was late and I had to go home. It was nice to have something to take the edge off, that's for sure.

Sad to say I don't have any distinct memories of the actual flavor of this wine, but it did come with a hell of a story.

Castle Rock - 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon

This was one of the bottles that the Scotch Man purchased the night of our exploration of Mass Beverage.

I didn't find this bottle nearly as good as the Zinfandel Luigi gave me for Christmas. It wasn't as mellow, and was really acidic. Of course, I still drank two glasses of it the night we opened it, none the less. 

It was another chill evening, all of us on the couch doing our own thing. The Scotch Man has his son that night, and after he put him to bed, he disappeared into the kitchen. I was engrossed in my book, but then I heard the resounding pop of the cork being removed from the bottle, and looked up with glee. Which he teased me about. We hadn’t had wine in awhile, and we didn’t traditionally drink with the munchkin around, so it was a pleasant surprise. 

Overall this seems to reaffirm that the cab sauv grape is too dry for my taste. I am curious to try some other grapes from Castle Rock, however.

Columbia Crest Grand Estates - 2008 Syrah

It was a hot one the day I cracked open this bottle. I think it got up to 107, which is pretty hot for June. July and August, usually in the 100s. It was so hot that there were asphalt roads exploding and a couple of people died. It’s shaping up to be a long summer that requires lots of wine. 

That night, I went to the liquor store looking to get the wine of the week, but it was a white, so I walked right past it. It’s probably better weather for a white, but I got two bottles of Syrah (one Syrah and one Shiraz, which apparently are essentially the same thing??) instead. So far, I'm not much of a fan of the Syrah. Too dry.

After a glass, I met Luigi on Gmail video chat and we talked for two hours while we drank. She showed me around her new apartment and we reminisced about relationships (current and past) and our high school days. We’ve been friends for 15 years, so I’ve known her half my life. Back in high school, we used to celebrate the birthdays of all of the Beatles together in high school. We were lamenting because we missed Paul’s this year. 

We haven’t lived in the same town since high school, but we chat online pretty much every day and video chat whenever the two of us have time. I’m lucky to have such an amazing best friend.

Founders Reserve Sandeman Porto

There is a liquor store next door to the grocery store where the Scotch Man does his shopping. I tagged along with him the other night, and we decided to stop by for wine, even though neither of us really needed any more bottles.

One of the three bottles he bought was the Sandeman Porto.

This was the first port either of us had tried. We brought it home that night and researched how it is supposed to be served. We learned that it is a dessert wine, served either chilled or normal red wine temperature, usually with chocolate or some other kind of dessert.

Holy cow they weren’t kidding about this being a dessert wine. It was initially incredibly sweet and then almost immediately bitter right after swallowing. For me, it wasn’t really a wine you can just sit and enjoy while you relax. I’m tempted to give it another chance when we have some chocolate, since that was the suggested pairing.

We offered this bottle for dessert at our Father’s Day gathering that we hosted at the Scotch Man’s house (thank, babe) on Father's Day, and luckily, both my Daddy-o and his girlfriend loved it. At least someone did! So the Scotch Man doesn't have to drink it all by himself.

Lomas del Valle - 2010 Malbec

I loved this bottle of wine. It was dry but had a lovely finish that was smooth and had a very fruity flavor. I think Malbec might be making it's way up there as far as preferred grape. I think the only two bottles that compared to this were the Amitage and the Castle Rock Zinfandel.

I have new bottles from both vineyards to try soon, so stay tuned for those reviews.

A couple of months ago I managed to really hurt my neck somehow. It was bad enough that I went to the doctor, who ended up prescribing me physical therapy and muscle relaxers. After a week straight of taking muscle relaxers every night, I decided to try an evening without, so I treated myself to this bottle with the pretty blue design on the side. It was a relief to be "high" on something other than drugs. Especially since this was such a pleasant, mellow bottle.

After a few weeks I was finally feeling more like myself, so I finished off the bottle with the Scotch Man. It resulted in a relaxing evening with a sexy conclusion.

I noticed when photographing the bottle that this wine was is a product  of Chile. I always have had a thing for the Latinos.

But don't tell the Scotch Man. He actually is Scottish. ;)

Castle Rock Mendocino County - 2006 Zinfandel

My 31st birthday back in December was a mixture of happy and mournful. Mournful because, dear God, I am now not just 30, I am IN MY 30s.

But the day itself was filled with love and family and fun. We partook in our traditional New Years Even bowling and fireworks down in Aggie Ville, where more people than ever before joined us. I was also coming down from the high from my first date with the Scotch Man the night before.

Overall it was one of my more memorable birthdays.

And on that night, this bottle of Zinfandel was gifted to me by my best friend Luigi. All parts of the gifts she got me were wine-themed, which was great. Thanks, lady!

This was excellent sit and chill wine. I drank this bottle over a few nights of just relaxing and decompressing while watching movies or TV. It made splendid wine to dash of writing blog posts for the Confabulator Cafe. The Scotch man drank Scotch on these evenings instead, of course.

I enjoyed this wine enough that I'd definitely get it again. It was mild on the tongue but still flavorful. I'm quite excited, because Scotch Man purchased another bottle of Castle Rock on our last wine purchasing spree. I'm excited to try it and see if it matches up to this lovely bottle.


For those interested, here's a picture from my birthday at the bowling alley. Fun times were had by all! Although this was before my Daddy-o and his girlfriend arrived, so imagine one more happy couple making silly faces. It is also sadly lacking my new beau, who would eventually become the Scotch Man. I may have been an 11th wheel that night, but never again!

Sabor Real - 2008 Toro

Image borrowed from here

Yowza that's a dry wine. Stung my eyes and my nose. Part of the description says spice box, and it did kind of remind me of what it's like to stick your face in a spice cabinet and inhale deeply.

The night we opened it, we spent a good 30 minutes in a new (for me) liquor store called Mass Beverage. It felt a little bit like cheating, buying wine somewhere other than Cork and Barrel, my usual watering hole, but this place had a nice layout and a great wine selection. I recognized a lot of brands, and that made me happy. Makes me feel like I'm maybe a little tiny bit becoming more knowledgeable about wine. The fact that I recognize labels and wineries might not mean much, but it means I don't feel nearly as lost in a liquor store.

It was kind of fun to actually just browse through the wine, because lately I've only been popping into Cork and Barrel long enough to pick up the Wine of the Week if it sounds good.

That's where the Sabor Real came from. After we got home from Mass Beverage, I made him line up our purchases on the counter so we could decide what bottle to open first.

Instead of any of our lovely new bottles of wine, we went with the one I had already bought.

This one. I don't think I'm really a fan of the Mexican/Spanish wines, really. I don't think I've tried one I've liked much yet.

But. I'm not disappointed, really. Just excited to try the next bottle.

Sebastiani Sonoma Coast - 2009 Pinot Noir

I have really liked all of the different Pinot Noir wines I've tried. It might be overthrowing my old favorite, the Cabernet Sauvignon. I find the Cab Sauv too dry these days.

This particular bottle, the Sonoma Coast Sebastiani, was a fun one. I drank it with the Scotch Man on our first vacation together. The week following Easter, we spend a few days at a cabin we rented at the lake. It was nice to get away from everything.

We giggled, flirted, and chatted philosophically (I think), but we didn't get any writing done, which was the original plan. That first day was supposed to be something of a writing retreat, but the day was spend driving out there, making a complete circuit of the lake before we found the cabin, unpacking the car and getting things organized in the cabin, trying to soothe his very upset dog, breaking in the cabin's double bed, and cooking a lovely dinner.

I don't regret the lack of writing, though. It was fun to play house in our little cabin and relax at the end of our busy day. The wine definitely helped me fall asleep that night. There was something decidedly freaky about being in the middle of (almost) nowhere with coyotes howling in the distance. I do regret, however, that I don't have much recollection about the flavor and pallet-ableness of the wine. Considering we drank the whole bottle that first night, my guess is that it was quite delicious and easy to drink. I wouldn't object to trying this particular brand again.

William Hill Estate - 2006 Bench Blend Cabernet Sauvignon

Looks like the bottle is either bleeding or crying

I was so excited about this bottle of wine. It's a really expensive bottle, normally. I got a special deal on it since I'm a member of Cork and Barrel's VIP Wine Club. Normally retailing for $40, I got it for $20. I wanted to save it for a special occasion, but instead I brought it over to share with the Scotch Man after he had a really rough day. I brought him his favorite kind of wine - the Cab Sauv - and dark chocolate, the two things that usually cheer me up when I'm feeling depressed.

However, it turned out to be bitter wine for bitter news.  Neither of my decadent treats managed to cheer The Scotch Man up, although he did manage to drink two glasses to my one before I spilled it.

All over books and his tie. His son's books, and his new, not cheap tie, I might add.

It was not a good day for either of us.

It's really too bad since it was expensive, but it was too dry for my liking, anyway.

As a side note, his dog ended up eating my chocolate. I apparently suck at cheering people up.

Somerset Ridge Buffalo Red

Somerset Ridge Vineyard and Winery

After three months of dating, I decided it was time for the Scotch Man to meet the family. Dun dun dun! We chose Easter weekend, since both he and I had vacation the following week.

This bottle was a gift from my sister for Christmas, and she made me promise not to try it without her, so it seemed like the perfect weekend to open it up.

We drank this bottle with Easter dinner. It is definitely a dessert wine - it was very sweet. Maybe even too sweet for me! I was so full of good food that I didn't have enough room to finish my wine. Everyone else seemed to enjoy it, so for that I'm glad.

Everyone else also seemed to like the Scotch Man, too, which I am also very glad about.

The bottle for this wine was neat - Kansas and buffalo seem to go hand and hand - and I always like to try local wines. Somerset Ridge Vineyard and Winery is a decent drive from town, so I've never been, but I'd like to go do a wine tasting there someday. Ever since my day picking grapes at Davenport, I've been crazy about local vineyards. I'd like to tour them all. It might be fun to put together a Kansas wine tour.

Layer Cake - 2009 Malbec

The Scotch Man wanted to relax the other night. Wine and a movie, he said. I thought maybe wine and writing, which is one of my favorite combinations.

I now have a new favorite combination: wine and Wii!

I'm finally almost recovered from my never-ending illness, and it was the first night I had been feeling like myself for weeks. I was feeling silly. In a brief moment of actual wine research, we both swirled our wine and sniffed our glasses to try and detect what we smelled, using what we learned at our wine tasting last month. After some debate, we decided we smelled black licorice and pencil lead (although I think he was kidding when he said that).

But after half a glass of wine, there was nothing on TV, and in order to watch a movie, he had to move plugs from the Wii to the DVD player. So instead of flipping endlessly through Netflix menus, I told him we should just play Wii, since it was plugged in.

So we did.

The most entertaining part of the evening was when we were attempting the balancing exercises for Wii Fit after 2-3 glasses of wine.

We managed to kill the entire bottle of Layer Cake. It was very full bodied and dry, and actually reminded me a bit of the Birthday Cake martini I had at Johnny's Tavern West one night when all of us writers got together. That's not necessarily a compliment, since neither one really tasted like cake and both were kind of painful to drink

But that's ok. Both nights had another thing in common, as well: good nights with the Scotch Man.

Sean Minor - Carneros 2009 Pinot Noir

My post is tardy again, for which I apologize. My fellow editor at the Confabulator Cafe has been out sick, so I've been working double shifts. On top of my own illness, and a nasty migraine that put me out of commission Saturday (the day I had planned to write this blog), I've barely been keeping my head above water.

You don't even want to know the state of my apartment.

As soon as this respiratory plague is over, I am going to drink an entire bottle of wine in one sitting. By myself. I need it.

Anyway. To tide you over for now, I'd like to talk briefly about the bottle of 2009 Sean Minor that I drank not too long ago. Briefly because I don't remember the actual wine, however I did drink the entire bottle. My guess is while it was good, it was nothing to write home about.

Or a blog about?

But the night I bought it: that's where the story is.

When I go into Cork and Barrel and wander around, the staff there is always really good about making sure I'm finding what I'm looking for. There is this particular clerk who I just love. She's this tiny, semi-goth looking girl whom I find incredibly cute and always very helpful. A few summers ago I got into trying new beer, and she always gave me good recommendations for good brews.

So this particular night, not long after I had decided I wanted to start drinking red wine, I was wandering through the wine shelves, completely lost, as you might imagine. She bobs up to ask if I need help, and I asked her what her favorite Pinot Noir was. I had had enough of a wine education to know that I wanted to try a Pinot Noir (the night of my wine education is a whole other post - maybe I'll tell that story next week).

She took me down the Pinot Noir isle (I didn't even notice til months later that there are actually signs above the isles for each liquor type, although it comes in very handy now) and pointed out a fairly inexpensive bottle of Sean Minor. She said it was a good wine for the price, so I took her word for it.

As she was ringing me up at the register, I started telling her about how I was just starting to get into wine, and how I had been reading about their wines of the month on their website. She asked if I was a member of their VIP wine club. No, I was not. So she got me signed up.

The benefits for the VIP club are minimal, but I like that I get to pull out my little silver card whenever I buy wine, and that I get their wine of the week recommendation. Maybe someday I will buy enough wine to take advantage of the discount.

Respiratory Plague

So sorry for the silence, wine lovers! The Scotch Man's son contaminated the two of us with what I am convinced is the zombie plague, and I've pretty much lost the last two weeks. I hope to be back up to blogging speed next weekend, so look for a new story on March 3rd!

Thanks for your patience. I'll let you know if I turn into a zombie or not.

Eldridge Wine Tasting - Washington Wines

The Eldridge Hotel here in Lawrence holds a wine tasting every first Tuesday of the month. I've only been once before, and not only enjoyed myself but learned a lot. So Scotch man and I decided to go to the February tasting together last week.

Wine tastings make me goofy. It's just enough wine, especially before dinner, to go straight to my head. We did attempt to be serious wine connoisseurs for the first few glasses, at least. I'm afraid I dissolved into silliness by the fifth.

We began with the Willow Crest Pinot Gris. I'm not a huge fan of white, but this one wasn't too bad. The description told us that it "bursts with lovely citrus and pear fruit with just a touch of earth." At the very beginning of each sip, we did definitely taste the citrus, and the pear was more of an aftertaste. Neither of us could figure out what earth was supposed to taste like, so I'm not sure if it actually had a touch of earth or not. I did notice a slightly earthy aroma when breathing through the nose, so maybe that's what they were referring to?

Next was the Januik Riesling. White wine is very sparkly and pretty, if a bit too sweet for my tastes nowadays. The description for this one said we should taste "pineapple and other tropical fruits, as well as peach and spice." We detected the scent of pineapple when smelling it, and we could definitely taste a peachy flavor. The spice part was more of an aftertaste. It was a very light, sunny wine that I think would have been good for a summer evening.

We transitioned into reds after that. The Barnard Griffin Syrah was next. I am becoming a big fan of the syrah these days. This claimed to taste of "dark berry and layered plum flavors with hints of pomegranate and black licorice." My handwriting starts to go down the drain here, so I think what I recall from this glass is that we definitely detected the licorice and plum. He wasn't sure what "dark berry" meant, but I am pretty sure I tasted it, whatever it is.  I've never had pomegranate before, but he assures me he could taste that, as well.

At this point, we stopped looking at the descriptions before we tasted to see if we could guess. When the Novelty Hill Royal Slope Red was poured, I was convinced that I could smell caramel. What we actually smelled was what they described as vanilla. I also detected the "black cherry aromas and flavors" but not until after I read the description.

The last glass was our favorite grape, in the form of the Chateau Smith Cabernet Sauvignon. He looked at the description and made me guess, swearing I never would. I never would have. The description read "aromas of cigar box, pencil lead, cedar and currants with super refined tannins." Pencil lead? As an art major in college, he was familiar with the smell, but said he never would have associated it with wine. I think I was beyond tasting anything at this point, so I just giggled as he Googled what tannins were on his phone. I still don't think know what that means, although apparently nobody else really does either.

After we finished the Cab Sauv, we stumbled across the street to Free State Brewery for dinner. I ate heartily, and was still feeling silly even after we finished. So to be on the safe side, we enjoyed a coffee nightcap at Starbucks before heading home.

It was a great adventure and a fun evening. I hope we can do it again sometime.

Lucky Star Pinot Noir

I mentioned good "date wine" in last week's post, and how the Vitiano wasn't one of them.

Allow me to explain.

A few months before my first date with the Scotch man, I had another first date with the friend of a friend. On this date, I discovered that there is, in fact, such a thing as good wine to drink, without food, on a date.

We met at Downtown at Henry's Upstairs, which is one of my favorite bars. That's quite a compliment coming from me, since I don't like bars, as a rule. It has to be good for me to consider it a favorite. You have to walk up a rickety flight of wooden steps to the bar, which is above Henry's coffee shop. It feels more like your hippy friend's apartment than a bar. I like it because it's comfortable and broken into a handful of different rooms for more intimacy.

I had planned on arriving early enough to buy myself a soda disguised to look like something alcoholic, but he showed up as I reached the bar. Too late. So instead, I browsed their wine menu. My interest in red wine had barely begun at that point, but I decided to take my chances. I ordered the Lucky Star Pinot Noir.

I wish I could remember what vintage it was, because I'd love to go get myself the exact same bottle. It was that good.

The bartender poured a copious amount of the dark liquid into a large wine glass. My date insisted on paying, which I accepted with as much grace as I could muster. But I knew it was enough wine to last me at least a couple of hours worth of date, so I wouldn't have to fight him on who should pay for a second drink.

I'm not sure why this was so important to me. Maybe some attempt to assert my independence?

The date went fine, as far as first date standards go. And this is where and how I decided the Lucky Star was a good date wine: it helped loosen me up to a point of feeling giggly and mellow, so what might have become a dull evening stayed entertaining. Yes, probably any wine would have been able to do that, but this particular glass went down so smoothly that it didn't make me flinch every time I took a sip. Even after breathing for hours while we talked. Or rather, while he talked. Some of the more dry wines I've enjoyed tend to cause an involuntary grimace as I drink them. The flavor is still lovely, but the initial bite can sometimes make me cringe.

The last thing you want while on a date is to make dry wine face. Need to make a good first impression, so a good "date wine" is important.

Thankfully, my days of awkward first dates are over, although now I'm trying to learn how to drink whiskey without cringing too much, since the Scotch man teases me for it every time.

Falesco Vitiano 2009 - Umbrian Blend

There's nothing quite like the anticipation of a first date.

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I met someone. As a wordsmith, I can usually find the perfect words (or nearly perfect) to describe anything. Words elude me now. This man is amazing. Passionate, patient, kind, funny, creative, and for some reason, he loves me, my strange quirks and all. I feel like the luckiest woman alive, having found him.

But that was over a month ago. In order for us to get to where we are now, happy and in love, we had to survive our first date first.


"What is your favorite kind of wine?" I asked him. Our first date was to be dinner at his house. He would cook, and I would bring the bottle of wine.

"Cabernet Sauvignon," he replied. I had to laugh. The cab sauv had already become my own favorite, only after a couple of months of wine tasting.

"Mine, too."

"Now I know you're just making stuff up so I'll like you."

I ran into my "wine cellar" (which is really just my second bedroom where I keep the door and heating vent closed), took a quick picture of the Vitiano - a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese, and Merlot - and sent it to him.

The day of our first date finally arrived, and we did, in fact, drink the Falesco Vitiano 2009 Umbrian Blend.

It wasn't, however, the best date wine.

I now understand the concept of wine and food pairings better. It didn't go very well with stirfry, and it was too dry to stand on its own. Maybe next time I will have to do as the back label suggested and drink it with pasta or pizza.

It was dark red enough in color, however, that I worried we'd knock it over onto his white carpet every time we adjusted positions on the couch. His coffee table was precariously placed, and towards the end of the night we weren't exactly being mindful of it.

I finished up the Vitiano the same night I polished off the Falernia, and it was slightly more drinkable after half a bottle of the Syrah.

I think I will either stick with straight cabernet sauvignon after that, or possibly research food pairings a little before trying something like this one again.

At least the wine was the only less-than-perfect part of that first date.

He and I have shared some other more delicious bottles of wine since then - wines he picked out based on their funny names. Educated Guess and Sinister Hand, to name a couple. And I am sure we will share many more.

Although if I am completely honest, I think he actually prefers scotch. But I won't hold that against him. Maybe he'll teach me a thing or two about it.

Falernia Syrah Reserva 2007

The holidays and drinking seem to go hand in hand. Although these days, I'll take any excuse to uncork a bottle of wine to try it out.

My sister works at a liquor store (every now and then), and for her Christmas bonus, she got to bring us all the gift of spirits. Christmas spirits, hooray! We hit the giant bottle of Bailey's she brought hard that week between Christmas and New Years, but I have a greater appreciation the two bottles of wine she got for me.

One of those bottles we opened right away, and drank it with Christmas dinner. The Falernia Syrah 2007, a wine of Chile from Elqui Valey. Although she confessed to picking the bottle because she thought I'd like the label, it was, in fact, the perfect wine for dinner. I didn't take enough notes on this particular bottle to tell you the exact flavors, but it paired wonderfully with the turkey dinner. It was full and not as dry as some of the other wines we were drinking (I believe my Dad and Diane had a bottle of Sean Minor). My sister enjoyed it more than I did, I think, and is now exploring the Syrah grape more extensively.

I think it was better with food than it would have been by itself, but even finishing mine (and an abandoned glass at the dinner table, for shame) long after dinner was over, it still went down nicely. I've read that this wine is always better after breathing for about 30 minutes.

We didn't finish the bottle, so I got to try out my wine preserving kit I got for Christmas. I re-opened it last weekend, and finished it as part of my mission to finish all of my open bottles of wine. It still went down pleasantly even after a month of being uncorked. So either my re-stopping kit works really well, or this is a fabulous wine.

Or both!

Half Full or Half Empty?

Hello fellow wine lovers.

I have to apologize. My week off has turned into a month off. I have several wine posts half-written in my mind (and some even half-written), but none of them have made it on to the blog.

My New Year's Resolution was to continue to do a post once a week here, and I have been a complete slacker. I have a partial excuse, and that partial excuse will make a good post in a couple of weeks.

I will resume my weekly posting schedule this weekend to talk about the wine we had with Christmas dinner. And then it will be February, so be prepared for some posts about wine and love.

Because, friends, I have finally found someone special.

Red wine and giddiness are a good combination.