Lot 61 & 71 & 91

Yeah, more Cameron Hughes action. They seem to be releasing a whole slew (yes a slew!) of wines lately and after a period of lackluster releases they are back to bottling decent to very good wines. Score for us, the value driven consumer.

2006 McLaren Vale Australia Cabernet aka Lot 61 is really good. A whopping 15% alcohol content, it doesn't drink that way. A solid cab to through into the mix at $9.99, sign me up. Eaten with puttanesca and caprece.

2004 Alexander Valley Cabernet aka Lot 71 was really good with beef tri-tips. Very dry, fruity and while it had a 14.5% alcohol level, it didn't taste like it. $12.99 aint bad, aint bad at all. Seriously good.

2006 Russian River Valley Chardonnay aka Lot 91 was okay. Lot 59 was really good but this offering from the same region had me disappointed. Priced at $9.99, I'm looking back and wishing I had snagged extra bottles of Lot 59 instead.

More wine blogging to follow, devoid of tasting notes and chock full of generic adjectives to describe wines. =)

Pockets Like Rabbit Ears

Times are tough but life is too short to drink shatty wines.


Drinking Good Wines During Rough Economic Times (Serious Eats)

Ten Recession-Proof Wines (Forbes)

I must say that Malbecs are my shit these days! Who needs overpriced Napa wines(Neel, Holla!). Where the value at playa! Two come to mind easily found at Costco. The Pascual Toso & Kaiken, both under $10. Now that's value. Any other wines below the $10 equator?

Nothing Says I Care Like...

Serious Eats!

Shocked!

Premiered at Sundance...
Official Trailers...
Grab your wine in a box or can or bag and head on down to your local cinema...

Compound in Red Wine Fights Ravages of Age

Compound in Red Wine Fights Ravages of Age

By Alan Mozes
Washington Post
HealthDay Reporter
Thursday, July 3, 2008; 12:00 AM

THURSDAY, July 3 (HealthDay News) -- A key compound in red wine known as resveratrol appears to protect against many of the health ravages associated with growing old, new animal research reveals.

The Whip Sippin' On Sizzzurp?

Prince Charles converts his beloved Aston Martin to a green machine... run on English wine

"As part of cutting his carbon footprint, the prince has converted the 38-year-old classic car - a 21st birthday present from the Queen - to run on 100 per cent bioethanol fuel distilled from surplus British wine."

This is some pretty baller shit! Prince Charles is riding dirty indeed!

Anyways, to think our blog was left for dead like those bank-owned foreclosures in Elk Grove, never that!!! Ain't no quick/short sale going on here. Rest assured folks, we have been drinking it the f**k up, it's just that the weather is too dan nice to be couped up indoors letting you know of our libations.

Anyways, we'll get back on the wagon soon enough. Sit tight, big things lay ahead. Maybe.

A Taste of a "Quiet" Wine

So not one week after pegging Columbia Crest as one of the weaker wines tasted at our "meeting of the wine minds" the other weekend, I find out that Chateau Ste Michelle, the producers of Columbia Crest (among many others), has signed on to be a sponsor of my theater. Looks like I am destined to give these Washington wines a chance.

My co-worker then tells me that the Chateau Ste Michelle Riesling is excellent. Okay, I tell her, I will have to give it a try. That same day, Danny tells me that my former secretary has given him a bottle of wine to try. Behold! It just happens to be the Chateau Ste Michelle Riesling, a 2006. How weird is that.

So we (or shall I say I) decided to open it last night. It was quite nice - peachy, with a hint of sweetness and very mild. Definitely a lot less sweet than your typical Riesling. I think I'm starting to get what Rich means by non-overpowering Washington wines. I would say this wine fits in exactly with that description. I very much got the "chill" vibe from this wine - very laid back, "hey, take it EZ man" libation. So interesting. Now I can't wait to try more and see if that character is consistent among all WA wines.

Danny did mention a slight bitterness to the wine, which I barely noticed. And I guess I should mention that the reason Pam gave the wine to Danny in the first place was because she didn't like it. I, however, give it a thumbs up. Definitely worth a taste, especially for appx. $8.99/bottle.

Glaxo Says Compound in Wine May Fight Aging

If you needed any other reason to drink wine...

Glaxo Says Compound in Wine May Fight Aging
By ANDREW POLLACK
Published: April 23, 2008

Like many aging pharmaceutical companies, GlaxoSmithKline has been looking for rejuvenation. Now it thinks it might have literally found the elixir of youth.

Glaxo, a British drug maker, said Tuesday it would acquire an American biotechnology company that is pursuing the notion that a compound found in red wine might retard aging and let people live longer.

Glaxo will pay $720 million in cash, or $22.50 a share, for the company, Sirtris Pharmaceuticals. That is an 84 percent premium to Sirtris’s closing price Tuesday of $12.23.

Sirtris, based in Cambridge, Mass., was founded in 2004 after Dr. David Sinclair of Harvard Medical School found that a wine ingredient, resveratrol, made yeast live longer. Subsequently Dr. Sinclair, a co-founder of Sirtris, showed that the compound could counter the effects of a high-fat diet in mice and extend their lives.

Christoph Westphal, the chief executive of Sirtris, said Tuesday that drugs that mimic resveratrol, by activating enzymes called sirtuins, could “treat in a safe, natural new way, many of the major killers of western society.”

Because the Food and Drug Administration does not consider aging itself a disease, Sirtris is testing its compounds against illnesses associated with aging.

Two early-stage clinical trials provided preliminary evidence that Sirtris’s formulation of resveratrol could lower blood sugar in people with diabetes. Sirtris hopes to soon begin trials of a synthetic compound that is much more potent than resveratrol.

Glaxo and other drug companies have been paying high prices for biotech companies to bolster their drug pipelines.

Moncef Slaoui, chairman of Glaxo’s research and development arm, said Sirtris had “potentially transformative science.” Sirtris will remain an autonomous unit within Glaxo, with Dr. Westphal in charge.

The Aftermath

I am happy to appear to be the FIRST! to report on the Norcal/Socal meeting of the wine minds that took place last weekend. First off, I would just like to thank Rich and Neel for making the trip down here with a great supply of wines for us to try. Despite my illness and semi-drunkenness, I do remember tasting six wines - 6th Sense Syrah, Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc, Twenty Bench Cab, Seriously Cab, The Show Cab, and the Washington "chill" Cab which I think was Columbia Crest?

I must say I was pleasantly surprised by the 6th Sense Syrah, despite my initial misgivings. I really don't like those syrahs. However, this one was quite nice. I immediately tasted the spice to it, and it had a nice clean finish. It started to taste bitter to me toward the end, but I think that was my cold coming through to my taste buds.

I just have one word for the Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc: YUMMY!

The Twenty Bench, Seriously, and Show cabs were all very good, but I think my favorite was the Seriously.

Okay, I wasn't a big fan of the "chill" cab from Washington, but it could be that by that point everything was mixing into one big non-identifying taste. I've decided to give the "chill" cab another try one of these days.

After these six, it was on to the Santa Ynez wines that Alex brought, starting with the Foley Pinot, mmmm. Unfortunately, by that time my sickness was dragging me down and it was time for me to go. Sorry I couldn't forge onward guys; looking forward to our next trip.

Get it crackin'

'Yeah, ummm yeah... I'm gonna need you to come in on the weekend'
It's going down! The Norcal/Socal meeting of the minds goes down this weekend. Danny, Laurie, Neel & I will be popping corks, decanting, sniffing, tasting, pairing and buzzing all in the name of critical analysis. Look for the full update next week.