My Minds Hazy And My Bodys Lazy

I woke up this morning fairly toasty. 

2005 Groth Chardonnay - The first white wine of the season for us. Light, sweet and not very acidic. Not as buttery as I'm used to but still fairly good, might have been better if the weather was warmer. Hopefully we can elaborate more on white wines as global warming creeps up.

2005 Stag's Leap Winery Merlot - Yeah whoa. I'd much prefer the Pine Ridge Crimson Creek Merlot for the same price but sometimes it's nice to try something new. How else would any one discover something good? Honestly, I don't remember this too much which may mean it was unmemorable.

2004 Robert Mondavi Cabernet - Interesting. Lots of tannins, yeah I said that. Could even cellar this for a few years, yeah that happened too. Solid cab from possibly the largest Napa wine producer. Decent price but it's like eating at a chain restaurant, if that analogy works. I'm sure you can find other smaller scale wines to try.

Rogue Morimoto Soba Ale - Beer and wine don't mix. Although they are usually sold in the same establishments, they really don't work well with one another. This was good. Real good. Crisp with a slight Pale Ale like bite at the end. I could see this working well with a nice salty bowl of soba noodles and tempura. Although it didn't take me back to all those times i've had it at SobaYa, it was still went down well.

Three Wheelin'

I really need to upgrade my wine vernacular. Besides smooth, delicious, fruity and disgusting, my wine related vocabulary is pretty limited. I may invest in one of these to help with describing wines. What say you? It's an aroma wheel and was developed at UC Davis.

Not to be overtly pretentious, I don't want to bombard the small handful of readers to terra firma, terroir, bouquets in the wine recaps etc. Cause at the end of the day, your palate is your palate. Unique like a fingerprint. People have preferences in what they like and you shouldn't let anyone tell you otherwise. Two buck chuck to $1000 Bordeaux's, whatever floats your boat. 

Can You Stop The Rain?

Yeah this is kind of ridiculous now. Damn near excessive. I need to step back and reassess what's really going on here. I may have even gained a few lbs over the past week which is not good as I'm trying to get into bikini mode or banana hammock mode whichever you like to picture me in.

2005 Seriously Good Wine Stag's Leap Cabernet - This is win-win on all counts. At $14.99, it's taken the driver seat in the wines under $15 range, an unstoppable run away mack truck careening down the grapevine. So good.

2003 Trefethen Oak Knoll Cabernet - Ballin. I won't comment on why this was consumed but it was and on any other day it would have been drank first but the powers that be were what they were. Mad good.

2005 Les Caves Joseph Bordeaux - Trader Joe's oldie but goodie, revisited. Solidly good.

Don't Judge Me.

Yes, I read. Read good. I read books on wine even. Actually I've been reading a lot in general lately. Perhaps its the extra time one has when jobless. granted I probably shouldn't be buying so many books since you know, I'm unemployed but I rationalize it as calling those purchases educational allowances. Anyways, the Judgement of Paris was mentioned on the blog a few times before and how the hiSTORY of it all piqued my interest as it should all those who are getting into wines or like wines for that matter. After a few searches, I found that there was a book written detailing the accounts leading up to the event by the very journalist who covered the tasting in person. A very good read, part storytelling, part history lesson, I may have finished the book in a few days. A definite must read for those into California wines and wine in general. Available on borders.com for a cool price of $5.99. Say word!

Heineken Light

These are absolutely delicious. I know a light beer, are you mad?!?! Neel bought these a while back ago on a whim, cause they were most likely on sale, but they ended up being a such a winner that these are the only beers I will drink to help with my waistline. Unbelievably smooth, crispy and refreshing, you can down a six pack and not worry about being bloated. While regular Heinekens are a good beer, I can't drink too many due to the bitterness that develops, these Lights are the exception. Everything about it from the bottling to the advertisements say excellent beer, I don't know what took them so long to release them. Now if anybody knows how a human can easily drink 6 beers in half an hour but have trouble drinking the same amount of water in the same amount of time? Truly perplexing.

Double Up & Double Down

Two nights, four wines, one blog.

2005 The Show Cabernet - Neel really likes this wine, he says it's really complex while I thought it was good but a tad too smoky for my tastes.

2004 Hawk Crest Cabernet - This is the cheap off shoot label of Stag's Leap Cellars. Priced at a cool $8.99, I wouldn't pay more than $3.99. Now you know why they decided to unassociate themselves with such an inferior product. Smart move.

2004 Simi Landslide Alexander Valley - I am not down with the Alexander Valley. Every wine I've had has been fairly mediocre and overpriced. This one was no exception, priced much cheaper then usual at $29.99, there's a ton of other wines in that price range that would be preferred over it. Stick with Rutherford, Oakville and the Stag's Leap appellation.

2005 Chateau Ste. Michelle Indian Wells Cabernet - This was fairly good, another Washington wine from the Columbia Valley, understandable smooth sh*t that murderer's move with. At $14.99, good value and we're all about value here.

Steller Wines for $10 - $15.

So we come to the conclusion that when you're kicking back multiple
bottles a week, you can't be ballin' too hard. Here are 4 wines under
15 dollars that will not see too often but can be found with some work
at Cost Plus or Bev Mo.

Liberty School Paso Robles Cab: Very well balanced wine. Very very

smooth, sweet and even. Good for a bottle to take over to a friends

for dinner where there is going to be a number of people drinking.

Will cater to a large audience. This wine does the things it does

very very good, and will be an instant hit. This is usually the first

wine I like to introduce to those that are occasional wine drinkers.

Always a winner.

Twenty Bench California Cab: Also very well balanced. A lot more bolder
then the Liberty School. This is the kind of wine you would graduate to
drinking for something like a Liberty School. Expect a bolder, heavier flavor.
Very good stuff.

Seriously Good Wine Co.Stag's Leap District Cab: A new wine that we

came across (as Rich mentioned before) Well balanced, but does take a
little time to open up. Finishes up with a strong flavor, and does

have a very slight bit. This wine will go over well with those wine

drinkers that are a little more experienced. Stag's Leap is a very
coveted wine region/appellation in Napa, and this is definitely the

best bang for your buck in that class. This wine is very Napa. This

wine will do well over time.

6th Sense Syrah. A totally different wine. Very deep and very

fruity. Very good wine to throw into the mix, especially with those

that like a deep wine with out much of the bark and bite that come

with most cabs. Very artisan, just look for the cheesy label.

The Show Cab: A very different cab. This is a good bottle for that

experienced wine snob, but still very cultish. Very complicated
flavors, lots of flavor with a nice oaky bite. Grapes from the central
and north coast of California, produced by 3 veteran winemakers. I
personally think this bottle will get a lot better over time. Can be

a little much at first, but I think there will be a lot of potential.

You can't go wrong with these wines. Guaranteed enjoyment.

Selecting a Good Year as they relate to Ageing

I dont usually write too many blogs, i usually let my amigo Rich
opinionate on my behalf, but I thought I should offer up some
advice/opinions of my own from time to time.

Rich does most of the heavy lifting when it comes down to individual
wines and such, I tend to keep my blogs more broad based. One blog
that I've been throwing around is selecting a good year and how to age

wines. So here is the breakdown, Napa/CA red wines (mainly cabs) are
very cyclical. I cant really speak on how to pick a good year, but I
can usually do a taste test and have some opinions based on that.
Wines that offer a sweeter taste tend to mature quicker and really get
as good as they are going to get after a certain period of time.

Wines that deliver an even flavor overall with some high notes tend to

do better with age. Peppery wines are usually pretty bad and wont do

well over time either. Then there's that oaky ass wine that Napa is

so famous for. These are the wines to keep your eye on. These are
your Silver Oaks, Caymus Cellars, Cakebeards that you find going for
such high prices everywhere. These are the ones that you can you put
away for a good 10 years and really get the full effect of the wine.
These wines are exactly what Napa is all about.

Most people are thinking, ok that's fine and great, but what years are
good? Well here's a breakdown of years and what i think of them.

2001: An excellent year for their ease of drinkability. These wines

are very even in flavor and offer a very full flavor. Remember, not

all wines from 2001 are going to be good (reference Rich's blog about
our older vintage disasters.) If the wine sucks when you try them,
it's gonna suck after 10 years.

FYI, many people consider the 01's to be an excellent vintage to put

away, lots of 90 point wines ranked in that class.

2002: Similar to the 01's, will do well with age. A little bit spicer
then 01 but still good.

2003: Spicer then the 02's, but still good. I think the 02 is a
better year, and may not do as well over time then the 02's.

2004: Sweeter wine and very even in flavor. I compare it to the 02's

and 01's, but not sure where they will fit in.

2005: Very well balanced wine and even flavor delivery. I also
compare this to the 02's and 01's as well, will be very interesting to
see how the later two years will play out. (editor's note: 2005 looks
to be another great vintage on par with 1997 a California El Nino
year)

In order to figure out what vintages will play out over time, I'm
doing a bench mark on a great bottle of wine: Groth Oakville Cab.
Easily my favorite bottle in the $50 range, and definietly in my top 5
over all. So far I have an 03, 04, and will be picking up an 05 next
time I hit up the Costco. Stay tuned for a report in the next 2-5
years on more thoughts.

Until we drink again.

I knew a girl named Edna.

The wine input has been pretty ridonkulous lately. I'll put back a few bottles with the holmes Neel and also drink a bottle with dinner with my parent's who seem to enjoy my selections. Probably not so much if they were a regular reader of the blog however. Sulfites are a bitch.

2005 Edna Valley Paso Robles Cabernet - $10.99 at Costco, like other wines from the central coast of Paso Robles near San luis Obispo, these wines are delicious and sweet. Wonderfully smooth and drinkable. Think Estancia, Liberty School & Justin.

My mom doesn't seem like she really cares but my pops does, so I'm more than down to try new bottles whenever i'm shopping at Costco or at the Korean supermarket. As long as the bottles are in that $8 to $15 range, I'm willing to experiment. They are really down with Washington State wines as they tend to be more subtle (there's a B in subtle?) and less in your face than napa cabs. Up next to bat sometime this week is a St. Francis Red Table wine, we'll see how that goes.

Side Note

As you all well know we like to drink...here at L-NRD we believe in alcohol and water. If its in there we'll drink it.

Many years ago my great friend Rich (also the biggest contributer to this blog) introduced me to a beer made from the same stuff the black noodle, aka soba is derived from...Buckwheat. He found this concoction at a Noodle shop called SobaYa located in Manhattan, NY.

Feeling like Rich hyped up this beer wayyy too much i decided that i needed to find out on my own how good this beer really is. I must warn you, it is not for everyone. I like to believe it wasn't because of the miles of walking in NY, the panging hunger pains, or the record breaking 26.9" snowfall (night of feb 12, 2006) that made the beer taste sooo good. I have since then searched high and low from my desk at work to find this beer.

All i can say is Rich has come through after numerous calls and emails to both Rogue Ales (the mfg. of this beer) and the actual restaurant itself, even with calls by yours truly, to find this magic elixir.

RICH IS DA MAN!!!!! stay tuned for a pic of the bottle from SobaYa