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.