Don't Be That Guy!

2004 Sockeye Cab

Sockeye Cab 2004:
Neel was able to price this wine just on taste alone. $9.99 at Sam's Club this wine has a smooth finish, but not much flavor, stick to the Black Mountain Cab.

Eat Drink & Be Merry

Now I'm no expert when it comes to wine, in particular pairing wines with food. I will eat and drink with reckless abandonment regardless of any complimentary pairing before me.

Now some experts will say that certain foods bring out the flavours and the aromas of wines, I won't discount it but being the young novice I really don't have the time or the patience. I'm sure red wines will pair most excellently with braised lamb shanks or perhaps even a roast duck with the mango salsa, or maybe white wines will taste superb with grilled swordfish steaks but for me who really cares?

Let's be serious here, who eats 7-course meals daily? Last time I checked, I don't have a a souz chef or a sommelier working for me nor do I want to do the dishes that come with such a meal. Being a regular joe, I eat regular joe food.

For example, don't discount pairing red wine with some smoky barbecued ribs, the Wednesday Subway sandwich of the day (smoked turkey), falafels, New York style thin crust pizza, Philly cheesesteaks, a bowl of udon, homemade corn tortilla quesadillas, an 20oz bone-in ribeye steak or maybe even some sashimi.

Moral of the story? Wine is good with anything. Tip your glass and salud!

Why you should decanterize your wine

The decanter is a red wine's best friend. A decanter, for those of you that don't know, is a vase-like container that red wine is usually poured into. The better decanters usually have a very wide base followed by a narrow opening.

So what is the purpose of a decanter? Well, you normally see people swirling the shit out of red wine in their glasses. The purpose of this is to "oxygenate" or "open up" the wine. Wines that have been sitting for a few years in a bottle tend to be tight at first (hence the swirling, and pouring very small tastes at first as to oxygenate the wine). When oxygen is thrown into the equation, much of the tightness goes away contributing to the overall smoothness and taste of the wine. Oxygen "completes" the wine making process, and helps with the "polymerization" of the complex sugars found in wine. (yeah, i know, I lifted that off some other paper :P)

So how do you decanter a wine? Basically you pour the entire bottle into the decanter (unless you have a jankey one like RIch had, then you pour maybe 1/3 of it) Make sure you dont pour it in like it's a glass of grape juice, slowing pour over the neck of the decanter, as it "water falls" or cascades into the base. This way, all the wine gets exposed to the oxygen.

Another good oxygenation technique- another good idea to do for a nice bottle of red, is open your wine (and decanter it if you have one) maybe 30 or so minutes before you drink it (longer if the bottle is older) this is a trick i picked up from my dad, it really cleans up the taste and that sucker becomes crazy smooth. Another cool trick is to freeze the bottle for a few minutes- just to give it that straight out of the cellar chill. Freezing the wine for a few minutes freezes up the acids in the wine, and brings down the acidity, giving it a much smoother taste. If you are lucky enough to have a mini wine fridge, this isn't a necessary step, because you typically store it at below room temperature, which does the trick.

A decanter is probably the single most thing you can do to greatly enhance the wine drinking experience. If you are serious about red wine, I would suggest that you go out and pick one of these suckers up. Just dont expect a bottle of 2 buck chuck to turn into a 97' Caymus Special Select (probably my fav wine by the way :P)

Discovering Cardinale

I discovered San Antonio Cardinale the same day I discovered that there is actually a winery located right on the outskirts of downtown Los Angeles. You can read more about the San Antonio Winery here: www.sanantoniowinery.com. San Antonio Cardinale is a sweet red wine, claimed to be "a proprietary blend created by the Riboli family," which owns the San Antonio Winery. This wine is easy on the palate and very delicious slightly chilled. Definitely a dessert wine. Almost tastes like super sweet alcoholic grape juice (description for the lay person, ha). Priced at $6.95 at the winery and online. Have also found it at some Chinese markets in Cerritos and in a wine/beer tasting cellar in Solvang!

If you ever have a chance to visit the winery, I would highly recommend it. They give free tours and wine tastings, and there is also a cafeteria-style restaurant at the winery that's decent. This is the winery that supplies all of the sacramental wines for religious ceremonies to many of the Catholic churches in Los Angeles (not that this fact will matter to any of you, just thought it was interesting).

Speaking of dessert wines, can anyone comment on ice wines?

Browsing the Isles at Ralphs

Voga Pinot Grigio:
$8.99 (on sale, Ralphs) Don't buy it. If I could give a negative rating on the wine itself i would. The bottle is awesome, just like a bottle of VOSS water. Sadly the only reason why i decided to buy this wine. The taste reflects something you would find out of a box. The wine just doesn't want to leave your mouth. Did i mention you get a chill like u just took a shot of vodka when take your first sip, and every sip thereafter. Oh and if u are as lucky as me, I kept getting that same chill seconds later because that damn taste just won't go away.

Sutter Home Chenin Blanc:
$3.50 (on sale, Ralphs) Buy it if it's on sale. I wouldn't be willing to go over the $3.50 sale price for this wine. It is very light and crisp. like a lighter not so sweet Muscat. if u got the extra $.50 opt for the Beringer.

Beringer Chenin Blanc:
$3.99 (on sale, Ralphs) Clean finish, excellent taste. Nothing more u could ask for. It's semi sweet just like the Sutter Home version, but with a better balance. A very well crafted wine, something you would expect from Beringer.

Wine on the go!

This is insane, two posts in one day! This particular post is dedicated to those instances when drinking alcoholic beverages i.e. wine in public with a blatant disregard to any sort of rules or laws is absolutely necessary.

One such instance is the movie theatre. What better way to quench ones thirst then some wine in a juice box or a mini aluminum can. Take it back to your youth when mini apple juices reigned supreme.

Two options:

Target stores offer a 4-pack of individual sized wines perfect for a brown bag lunch and comes highly concealable. They don't go far in terms of taste, are fairly cheap but what do I know, I drink wine in the movies.

Coppola Wines also offers a 4-pack of sparkling wines called Sofia Minis, although on the pricey side especially considering you will be smuggling wine in non-alcoholic designated areas, they are very refreshing.

Drink up and don't get caught.

Cameron Hughes

For those of you who are fortunate to live by a Costco and have a membership, Costco stocks wines by Cameron Hughes. Go check out their website at www.chwine.com for more information. Basically, they are not a winery, they go about buying wine juice from high end premium wineries who have excess wine and bottling it as there own. Think generic with good tastes and great value. The website has some interesting information including an audio clip where Cameron Hughes speaks with Tom Leykis about his 'wine' as well as a breakdown of why wine costs differ so much from winery to winery. Check it out and be informed.

Okay,

...someone else needs to add something to this blog before I start looking like a wine-o.

Don't Drink This

While perusing the aisles of Trader Joe's one fine afternoon, I came across a new Black Mountain wine that I had never seen before - a 2005 (I think) Malbec, $4.99. The label promised "notes of violet and plum" and a "pleasing experience." It did taste like plum, but a very sour plum. It was also rather acidic upon first taste, although it did mellow out a bit the longer it sat. Almost thought I had bought a cooking wine, but upon further investigation, apparently it is an Argentinean wine that has experienced "declining popularity" over the last 40 years and is now typically used as a minor blending variety with merlots and cabernets. I think I can see why. I would not recommend it; save your 5 bucks for the Black Mountain "Fat Cat" Cab or a couple bottles of Charles Shaw.

Here is some additional history and background on Malbec:
http://www.uncork.com.au/tidbits18.htm

A Nice Vanilla Finish

Last week Danny, Rodney and I drank a bottle of 2006 Yellowtail Cabernet Sauvignon. It was a mild cab with a really nice vanilla finish, which I enjoyed very much. If you don't care for the essence of vanilla in your wine, I wouldn't recommend it, because the taste was pretty bold (I think Rodney didn't care for it), but if you do like vanilla, then I would encourage you to try it. I believe it is an inexpensive wine (well, aside from the fact that it was free for me and Danny, I think it was probably inexpensive for Rodney too).