Archive for June, 2010
Varietal: Syrah; Grenache
Region: France – Rhone
Cost: $20.50
Red and black fruit aromas dominate the nose with flavors of creme de cassis, herbs, and hints of pepper and spice. Pairs well with roast leg of lamb, ratatouille, grilled meats, grilled vegetables, tomato and cream based pasta dishes, and pizza.
Recommendations: If there’s one area of blatant weakness in my wine knowledge, it’s French wine. It’s not that I haven’t enjoyed it when I’ve partaken in it, it’s simply that I haven’t done enough with it to feel truly comfortable selecting it on my own in a store. Because of that, I was actually quite happy when the International Wine of the Month Club sent me a sample of the Guigal Cotes du Rhone Rouge.
Deep purplish red in the glass, I got some aromas of berry, but the 13.5% alcohol was very prevalent. Paired with a dinner of wheat pasta with tomato sauce and ground Italian sausage, the wine was quite enjoyable. Juicy is the best word I can use to describe it in the mouth, with some of the berry that was on the nose coming through and pairing nicely with the sauce from the pasta. Read the rest of this entry »
If you’re luckier than me, you have a room in your home that is completely devoted to storing all of your wine. If you are lucky enough to have such a room, there’s a good chance you either already have it temperature controlled, or want to have it temperature controlled. If you’re in the latter group, or really even in the former and just looking to upgrade, here are some wine storage cooling units worth looking at.
The Breezaire wine cellar cooling units range in price from around $650 to almost $1600. Designed to be nearly vibration free as well as running quietly, the line of Breezaire cooling units provide cool air to help maintain both temperature and humidity in your wine cellar, protecting both the wine and the labels and corks contained within, and can cool 2,000 cubic feet of space.
The WhisperKOOL wine cellar cooling units can also cool down 2,000 cubic feet of space, and range in price from $1370 to $4240. Capable of handling temperature variances of 55 degrees, depending on the model, these cooling systems are ideal for maintaining wine integrity no matter the external temperature.
Varietal: Chardonnay
Region: California – Livermore Valley – USA
Cost: $15
Light golden in the glass with pear and guava on the nose and flavors of fresh peach, guava, and pear with hints of lemon, herbs, and brioche with a creamy finish. Pairs well with pork loin or pasta with cream sauce.
Recommendations: I’m always wary of opening a bottle of Chardonnay to share with my wife as she doesn’t like oaked Chardonnay (she doesn’t like the buttery finish). However, when fixing a dinner of pork tenderloin, the bottle of Concannon Chardonnay called out to me. I got a bit of pear on the nose, and flavors of peach. The finish was nice and mellow, with just a hint of the typical buttery finish that you associate with Chardonnay that has spent time in oak barrels. Read the rest of this entry »
Varietal: Pinot Noir
Region: California – Carneros – USA
Cost: $22
Dark plums, cherry, cola, and leather on the nose with flavors of soft vanilla, fruit, and subtle tannins with a lingering finish. Pairs well with grilled salmon, beef, pork, turkey, and lamb.
Recommendations: After having tried the 2008 Waterstone Chardonnay, I was admittedly ready to give the 2007 Waterstone Pinot Noir a try. I shouldn’t have waited so long. Light red in the glass, I picked out some aroma of cherry, but the nose was overwhelmed a bit by the wine’s high alcohol content (14.3%). It got better as the wine opened up, but it was still there.
Flavors of cherry, red fruit, and a hint of cola on the end (which weirded me out when I read about it, but was actually rather enjoyable once I tasted it), lead into a very subtle finish that was the perfect match for a dinner of salmon and orzo pasta tossed in olive oil with a bit of fresh basil and garlic thrown in. Read the rest of this entry »
Varietal: Sangiovese
Region: Italy – Chianti
Cost: $6
Earthy notes with subtle flavors of crushed red fruit and a nice tartness with a good tannic finish. Pairs well with pasta, pizza, chicken, and beef.
Recommendations: I have a great wife. I really do. This past weekend, while we were up visiting our families, I was spending some time with mine, and she with hers. While out with her family, they stopped into the local Wegmans and she picked me up a bottle of wine – the 2008 Le Altane Chianti. I told you I had a great wife.
After a dinner out on Monday (for our 2nd wedding anniversary), we came home and opened up the bottle she had bought as we relaxed and let our dinner settle. A deep red in the glass that was nothing so much as brown (not in a bad way), the wine was subtle. A subtle earthiness with subtle flavors of red fruit, with a subtle tartness and subtle tannins on the finish. Subtle. Read the rest of this entry »
Varietal: Tempranillo
Region: Spain – Rioja
Cost: $10
Vanilla and cherry on the nose with crushed fruit on the palate. Pairs well with roasted chicken and grilled meats.
Recommendations: I’m a big fan of Spanish wine, Tempranillo in particular, so I was looking forward to this wine when it showed up at my office. My wife and I took the bottle with us when we headed up to visit our parents in Northern Virginia for the Father’s Day weekend, knowing that we would all be having dinner together – and I was tired of my father picking on me for not sharing some of the samples I get.
On Saturday we opened the bottle during a dinner of grilled chicken and beef tenderloin with roasted potatoes. The wine was lighter than I was expecting, and it was a good pairing for the beef tenderloin, but it did somewhat overwhelm the chicken for me, but that might be because the chicken wasn’t very heavily seasoned. Read the rest of this entry »
