unlike my cohorts, some of which make empty promises. I will not promise any update...if anything very few.
just so u know i will venture into making wine....i'll keep u posted.
the ultimate goal here is to graduate to making vodka. or some wine too strong to drink without mixing.
til next time. been keepin it real w/ the drinking
-Cameron Hughes Lot 43 Zinfandel drink it...while eating ribs...damn!
I honestly don't know why I didn't do this from the get go but hindsight is always 20/20. This past year has been filled with some ridiculous wines, granted we've posted here and there about some of them but I just don't know why we didn't just post the bottles, good or bad, with or without descriptions or opinions on the blog. I know up here in the Northern Californian division of the blog, Neel and I will meet up every 3 weeks or so and get our fill on grape juice or as some may call purple drank.
So with the start of 2008 which looks to be an even more awesomer year, hopefully we can post up all the bottles, good or bad on this bad boy for all to see. I'll get this rolling with the rundown of what was on the tasting menu the last time Neel and I met up.
1st Rounder - 2005 The Show Cabernet Sauvignon ($12.99 @ Cost Plus; decent more on this later)
2nd Rounder - 2005 Ridge (Ponzo Vineyards) Russian River Zinfandel (extremely spicy probably better with food)
3rd Rounder - 2004 Clos du Bois North Coast Cabernet ($8.99 @ Costco or wherever wine is sold)
Now some may see this and call it a bit excessive, damn those pundits! I say f*ck the pundits, thats why they're pundits! It's just a way to fight the good fight. The fight against free radicals as wine is jam packed with antioxidants.
Til next time.
(Currently listening to Frank Sinatra & the Count Basie Orchestra: Live at the Sands, Las Vegas)
This entry is dedicated to Rich, who has been faithfully posting to this blog while all the rest of us have no doubt still been enjoying wine, but have been too lazy (or drunk) to write anything down.
Today at lunch I opened my mom's refrigerator and saw an open bottle of Maddalena Pinot Grigio (from the San Antonio Winery in L.A. - http://www.sanantoniowinery.com/). I gave this bottle to my mom for Christmas, which I think is when it was opened. Not one to shy away from a glass of wine at lunch, I decided to try it. A newly opened bottle of this wine is quite nice. It has a refreshing taste filled with fruit flavors. I'm still trying to perfect this tasting and identifying of the flavors thing, so I'll just include the San Antonio Winery's description of the wine here:
Maddalena Vineyard Pinot Grigio reveals aromas of citrus with hints of wildflowers. The mouth is filled with ripe fruit flavors, including melon and green apples. Bright acidity and mineral notes frame this structured and balanced wine.
I would say that's pretty close, as far as the citrus and fruits are concerned. Not quite sure what wildflowers taste like.
At any rate, the two+ week bottle of opened wine was not as bad as I expected it to be. It was actually still quite refreshing, although I think that the "bright acidity" mentioned in the description above turned into slightly "harsh acidity." But not enough to make it undrinkable.
My only other complaint about this old wine was that it did not leave me with any type of afternoon buzz whatsoever, but then again, I only drank about half a glass.
I'll try to be better about posting. I got a book for Christmas of "unusual" wines, along with what was considered a bottle of an "unusual" wine (Cardinal Zin), and have made a resolution to try and drink every one of the wines listed in the book!
This wine sucked. It may not be entirely representative of wines from Japan but the gold & silver sticker claimed it had won awards at major Japanese wine events. With a name like Chateau Mars how could it have gone so wrong? Granted I still have no idea if it was a Cabernet, Merlot or Malbec. It was red and cost only 1400yen so I tried it. It was red water. The alcohol content must have been 2.8%. It was almost undrinkable but with beer costs in Japan so high, I couldn't let it go to waste. I let it sit. Maybe it would open up with some air. I let it sit in my bag for 4 days. It opened up but just barely, still somewhat undrinkable but whatever. If you ever see it, no matter how tempted you are by the snazzy Japanese kanji and the awards it won, stay the f*ck away. What was I thinking drinking red wine from Japan while in Japan? Should have gone with rice wine, otherwise known as sake or nihonshu to the Japanese. Next time indeed.
You can get with this? Or you can get with that!
I love me some sangria. I associate it with Spanish tapas of course, warm summer evenings, friends, great conversations and no cares in the world. Unfortunately, it's one of those drinks you always get at a restaurant or bar, considering just how easy and cheaply it can be made, why not make it at home? The ingredients vary from version to version but usually it'll contain some cheap red wine, some rum or brandy, fresh fruit, orange juice and some carbonated soda. Pretty easy and from what I can tell, it'll last in your fridge for a while. I suppose it can one of those things you can whip up if a particular red wine tastes like ass and you'd rather not drink it.
So where was I going with this? I just wanted to post some pics of tetra-pak sangria from Barcelona. I had the option of choosing one or the other as I was on the verge of going European bankrupt, the exchange rate sucked. Low on the Euro funds, I had to make an executive decision on one or the other. Carrafour vs. Don Simon. 78euro cents vs. 1.15 euros. You know what I chose, and considering the cost and the fact that I drank it room temperature, it wasn't half bad. Too bad the only sangria one can buy these days is from Target I think. Maybe you'll get a post about it in the near future once the weather warms up or better yet get culinary on that ass and make your own batch. Until next time. Salud!
Remember my last post nearly a month ago promising many many posts in the coming days? Well I'm a damn liar and should probably be relegated to drinking nothing but malbecs. Apologies as I'm having a hard time finding an internet connection, the time to blog when i'm not pondering about my future and/or next travel plans.
So here I am the day before christmas with what looks like the last post of 2007. It's been a great year, drank a whole lot of shitty wines but luckily drank a whole lot of great wines too. Visited a bunch of wineries and talked wine with some great people (Danny, Laurie, Neel)!
With that said, drink Clos du Bois. Just the Cabernet Sauvignon. At a cool price of $8.99 at costco, I find it a nice drink to mix in with the regular rotation of players (i.e. Liberty School, 6th Sense, Twenty Bench, etc). You could probably find it for sale at Safeway or Ralph's or at the asian markets too. The wine drinks well, nothing overtly complex, slightly sweet and fruity. They say 2004 is a good year for Napa wines, it wouldn't hurt to stash a bottle away for a few more years to double your investment!
Ok, have a safe and happy holiday. Get a designated driver or crash on someone's couch. I leave you again with more promises to blog often!
Has it really been over 2 months since the last post? Rest assured that we have been drinking it up. But before I get into anything else worth the trouble of reading, let me say that the previous post on Twenty Bench is/was pretty gay. I extend my apologies for the outcome of that particular post. As easily as deleting it would be, leaving it would be best as it gives you a pretty good idea of how unpretentious we are. There will be no posts about notes of boysenberry and asparagus and pairings with delicate French cheeses either. Now that I got that off my chest, just know that the Twenty Bench is a really solid wine. I don't know just how I can emphasize that statement. Pick one up and see for yourself.
Be ready for a barrage of posts in the next few days. Once I find a reliable internet connection for my unemployed self, it will be on.
In the meantime you can read about the wikipedia entry about the Judgement of Paris that was also mentioned in a previous blog entry concerning the movie Bottle Shock. Fairly interesting. See you in a few.
2005 Twenty Bench Cabernet Sauvignon
*at BevMo*
Neel: Dude, I've been looking for this wine ever since my pops mentioned it to me 2-3 years ago along with the Liberty School Cabernet Sauvignon & the 6th Sense Syrah but this motherfucker has eluded me ever since.
Rich: Well if your dad mentioned it, I'm game. The other two were legit.
Neel: If this is anywhere close to the other 2, we may have another 'everyday' wine!
Rich: Let's do this.
*at Rich's*
Neel: Smells full bodied.
Rich: I'm stoked.
Neel: Pretty good but needs some air.
Rich: Word.
*minutes pass, wine decants & swirls*
Neel: Oh shit. This opened up nicely. Very nice and robust.
Rich: Oh damn. Strong.
Neel: Peppery.
Rich: Pretty damn good.
Neel: This might be another keeper.
Rich: Dude, at $15 we have another keeper and it's budget friendly.
Neel: This will mature well over the next few years. Maybe put a few away for later.
Rich: For a 2005, this wine is freaking good, just imagine in a few years.
Neel: I tried to find this when I lived in SoCal, searched the Ralph's, the Pavilion's, the BevMo's etc and no go!
Rich: We've been the that BevMo a bunch of times and this is the first time I've seen it!
Neel: Glad we finally got to try it.
Rich: It tastes like wine molecules surrounding a water molecule.
Neel: Yeah, probably just needs a little more maturity but you can drink this now!
Rich: This is good dude. Your dad came through again.
*Rich proceeds to pick up 2 more bottles, one to drink and one to put away. Neel proceeds to do the same. Within the span of 6 days, that BevMo location sold 5 bottles of the Twenty Bench*
Who says this blog is only for promoting good wines? The Beaulieu Vineyards Chardonnay, Carneros Napa Valley is really bad. I bought it on a whim at Costco, actually I may have been influenced by Robert Parker's Wine Spectator rating and at $13.99 was a bad choice.
The chardonnay lacked any butteryness and sweetness and tasted more along the lines of alcoholic blandness, almost salty. I was fairly disappointed.
I also tried the Heitz Cellars Chardonnay at $12.99 and it also disappointed. Tasting more like a sauvignon blanc than a chardonnay. While very crisp and sweet, it did not have have the butter that good chardonnays have. *sigh*
With summer coming to an end you can proceed with drinking reds now. Look out for more reviews of red wines forthcoming...
"I am not drinking any fucking merlot!" - Miles
For those interested, filming for Bottle Shock has already begun. Basically a movie pertaining to the birth of the wine industry in Napa and how a little ole white wine from an nondescript area north of San Francisco shocked the wine world by beating a French Wine. More information can be obtained here and here.
