So yesterday, if you remember, I inserted a Wine Shield into my partly consumed bottle of Perrin & Fils 2008 Rasteau L'Andeol ... the shield is suppose to protect the wine from the air and let it last longer after opening ... so the second glass should be just as good as the first, in theory. Truth is I thought the second glass was even better than the first with big raspberry notes on both the nose and taste, just a hint of that pepperiness on the palate from yesterday, but it was there. Now, would this have happened anyway had I not used the wine shield, I think it might have - the more I think about this experiment the more I realize I have to sacrifice two bottles to see if this will work, obviously 2 of the same wine ... Let's see if I am wiling to do that for the sake of "science". For now I will continue with my bottle of Rasteau and skip Sunday's glass to see what happens with Monday's by then the wine has been open four days and by then I am usually ready to dump it down the sink - though I have to admit a bottle rarely, if ever, gets past the first night in this house, it's a shear sign of will-power that I have allow a bottle this delicious to last this long.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011
Perrin & Fils 2008 Rasteau L'Andeol - Part 1 (France)
So tonight I did my first trial with a product called Wine Shield which is a product designed to prolong the life of your wine after it has been opened. It's a bit of a complicated process to get the Shield into the bottle and I am still not quite too sure I did it right - guess I won't know till I finish the bottle - but from my reading it is a plastic food grade blanket that sits on top of the wine protecting it for the air so that each glass tastes as good as the first, or at least the wine won't spoil as quickly. Tonight I gave it a try with this Rasteau from the Cotes du Rhone region of France, and a good one at that: Perrin & Fils. I read somewhere that their name on a bottle is as close to a guarantee of quality that you are going to get - and I have to admit that I am rarely disappointed in their wines. This wine is a blend of Granache and Syrah, with the majority being the Grenache (usually about 80%) ... upon opening it had a lovely nose of plum, dark cherry and spice; the palate showed lots of spice with dark berries and black pepper bite. Dinner choice was marinated steak and it went quite well together. I then installed my Wine Shield (hopefully correctly) and now we wait until tomorrow to see what happens.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Newton 2004 Napa Valley Claret (California)
"Claret" is what the English would call wines from Bordeaux ... but this is not a Claret in the traditional sense of the word, claret, as a Bordeaux, would contain a blend of 5 specified grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot and/or Malbec; but this version of California Claret forgoes the Malbec in favour of Syrah (8%). The result is a wine that is smooth yet with a peppery bite ... dark fruit leads the charge on the tongue, doling out blackberries especially, but spiced/peppered plums are also found on the palate. A delicious wine with meat stew, which is what I had for dinner tonight at my parents house - though I did not ask what kind of meat, maybe I did not want to know - afterall these were the folks that served me tongue at a young age.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Zinsational 2008 Old Vine Zinfandel (California)
I love visiting the U.S. Sure I now have family there and we get together for a drink (or 12 - you get a chance ask my wife about Friday night), but the real draw is the wine stores on every corner and the variety you find on the shelves (and the family of course). But while my wife is catching up with her sister-in-law or friends I find time to slip out and check out a local liquor establishment (even if its just the Wal-Mart around the corner). This time I ended up at a Parkway Liquor Store (?), at least that might have been what it was called ... they had floor to ceiling liquor, beer, coolers and, from what people told me before I went, they had recently renovated to expand their wine selection. Needless to say I just had to check it out, and while there bought a few bottles (mainly Zinfandel). One I specifically bought for dinner that night, which was going to be some BBQ from a place in New Balitimore, MI called Bad Brad's BBQ (place was excellent, the brisket was amazing and so were the St. Louis style ribs) ... anyway I got this bottle of Zinsational for just such an occasion and shared it with my father-in-law (I had no idea he was a wine drinker) ... the wine was full of plum and spice with black cherry and vanilla notes and went very well with the BBQed fare ... granted we drank the wine out of juice glasses, but it was the kind of wine (and dinner) that suited juice glasses perfectly.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Cline 2005 Red Truck Cabernet Sauvignon (California)
If you read the little red truck's license plate on the front label you'll see that it says Cline, but otherwise you would have no idea this wine is from one of the top Zinfandel producers in the US - just thought I'd mention that as an aside. But don't worry about that for a minute and think about this easy drinking juicy red (when it was first released) what has now happened to it at 6 years from vintage date? Well I can tell you that it is really at its peak - especially if you like a layered juicy Cab. The nose is black cherry, cassis along with some vanilla and cinnamon. The taste is even better and continues to evolve over a two hour period. It starts out as a smooth red, almost creamy, with plum, black cherry, vanilla with a hint of pepper on the finish, which mixes with subtle tannins ... 2 hours later it's the finish you'll most remember: plum- chocolate and some alcohol soaked cherries, a few more sips and I was thinking back to black forest cake ... now that's a wine that keeps on giving: great for dinner and then great for dessert.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Double Shot of Road 13 Wines (British Columbia)
As a freak occurrence I ended up with a number of bottles of Road 13 wine (formerly Golden Mile Cellars) and tonight, with friends in attendance on this holiday Monday I opened a couple of those bottles. The first to be opened was on the deck and turned out to be the beauty of the batch: 2010 Old Vines Chenin Blanc. This was just the cat's ass (if you'll excuse the language) with aromas that filled the air the moment I poured it (even outside you could smell the tropical fruit plain as day coming from the glass), this wine had what I like to call "sniff-all-day-edness" to it. The palate was just as inviting loading on those sweet tropical fruit flavours of pineapple and hint of mango, yet also with some restarined mineral notes and citrus flair, especially on the finish where grapefruit and lemon pith intermingled to keep that sweet fruit at bay and bring out all the lovely enjoyment of the wine. It was on this high that we then opened the 2010 Rosé, a primarily Gamay Noir based pink wine to go with the pork dish for dinner ... alas, it could not stand the scrutiny of the crowd won over by the Chenin's charms, nice but nothing spectacular; maybe we should have started with the rosé.
L. Mawby M. Lawrence "Wet" (Michigan)
It's Friday night, time to celebrate the weekend so I went deep into the cellar to find something unusual but tasty. Here's a bottle of bubbly I picked up in Michigan a couple of years back at a sparkling wine house called L. Mawby, a place that now boasts 15 sparklers with names like "US", "Consort", "Jadore", "Detroit" and "Sex" ... this one is just plain "Wet". Wet is a blend of Pinot Gris and Pinot Meunier done in the Cuvee Clos method ... flavours are of sweet almond biscotti and over ripe apple. This wine was probably a little fresher a few years back but it was interesting to taste it with a little age ... and in truth it was delicious and as advertised: Wet.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)