The Value Wine: 2004 Les Caves Joseph Bordeaux

Sometimes you just gotta buckle down and go cheap. Especially when you are kickin down 4 bottles with your fellow wine snob on a given night. Until recently, I always considered Liberty School to be the only value wine for me. But even at 11-13 bucks a pop, it can get a little pricey.

I was turned onto a 5 dollar value Bordeaux from Trader Joe's. Normally, Bordeaux are your very expensive French wine. When I say very expensive, I mean VERY expensive. An average bottle of decent Bordeaux (think something like a St Supery or Provenance) would set you back about 50 bucks, at the least. The 2004 Les Caves Joseph is an excellent alternative to these.

The wine itself is a very different wine to what I normally drink. It is a blend of 60% Merlot and 40% Cab grapes. Typically, I stay away from the Merlot scene, but this wine hides it very well. While nothing spectacular, it is extremely smooth and decently flavorful. I definitely recommend trying it. I recommend opening up the bottle about 30 minutes before you drink it. Decanter it if possible (see other blog about decanters), and pour a little into your glass. Be sure to swirl the shit out of the wine. This wine loves oxygen, and definitely needs it. For 5 bucks you can't go wrong!

Storage Solutions

So you got yourself a 2001 Silver Oak, a 2001 Joseph Phelps, maybe even a 2001 Jordan Cabernet... if you're smart you'll hold onto those and let them age. Now the question comes to mind, where to store them? Wine isn't something you leave out, being sensitive to sunlight and temperature changes, you really shouldn't be letting it sit on your kitchen countertop next to the oven.

One way to store them and this is how I do it is use a cooler. A simple igloo ice cooler is all you need. granted it is a pretty pedestrian remedy, it works fairly well, at least I hope. Just make sure to store bottles sideways and tuck the cooler away in a closet someplace cool.

Another way to do it is converting that old mini fridge you had in college into an inexpensive wine cooler. This is what Neel ended up doing and it seems to work well. Just remember to turn it down so it isn't so cold, you don't want to end up with frosty cabernets.

Wine coolers range from your affordable 8-bottle holders to massive industrial sized ones, from $100 to the thousands. Why spend it on that when you can spend it on more wine? Happy ghetto-rigging.

yellow tail cab 2004

not bad for $5.50. pretty strong vanilla flavor. Laurie likes it. now u go give it a spin.

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.