November 25, 2011

Quick Wine Review: ***** More grape juice than wine.

Day after Thanksgiving AKA Black Friday.  Fortunately, we did not partake in the madness and decide to sit back and relax until after the crowds died off.  We did some shopping and were luck in some fronts and found a few Christmas gifts.  We came back to make a soup/stew type dinner meal from the remaining turkey.  This is a Rachael Ray recommendation so I'm expecting big things.  While making the dish my mom and I continued to drink wine from her extensive collection.  I sampled the Los Vascos wine from yesterday one last time to ensure I had the review from yesterday correct.  I stand firm with my recommendation that this was not a good wine.  

We ended up opening a malbec/merlot blend from Argentina which is one of my mom's favorite regions.  This was not a good selection.  It had more of a grape juice flavor than the wine taste I enjoy. It tastes almost vinegary which may be a sign of a bad bottle rather than a bad wine.  This wine also had the synthetic cork which I am not a fan of because it dissent immediately show any bottling issues as the cork doesn't absorb the wine and allow the cork to stay moist.  Despite that fact, I will stand with my review until I am able to try a new bottle.

Name: Wandering Grape

Vintage: 2007 

Cork Type: Synthtetic 

Grape: 65% Malbec, 55% Merlot

Origin: Mendoza, Argentina

Alcohol Content: 13%

November 24, 2011

Quick Wine Review: ***** Extremely tart and earthy taste.

Thanksgiving!!! What am I thankful for...family and friends of course!  Today all throughout cooking we tried a plethora of wines, most which I have already reviewed, but a few which I had not, but do not recommend from the few sips I took.

The Thanksgiving day preparations were fun as me and my mom put all the main course and side items together - part of family tradition. I made the mushroom medley I had earlier this week courtesy of Chris.  It was quite tasty, but not as good as the master himself.  We drank the wine with the scary faced man (the Texas surprise) and the petite syrah Bogle I had tried earlier in September.  I had a few new wines, which I thought had more of a grape juice flavor than wine so needless to say, I was not a fan.

I was absolutely stuffed after turkey day dinner and couldn't help but feel like a much deserved nap was in my future.  However, we had tickets to see the cirque du soleil show Dralion.  It was fantastic and the people in the show certainly raise the bar for talent.  All sorts of acrobats, juggling, trampling bouncing, jump roping and intense balancing highlighted the show.  It was my first time to see one of those and I would definetly recommend it to anybody who hasn't had the opportunity.  The show is broken up into different "acts" by these comedians who were pretty hilarious and the show was overall very well put together considering it was here in Beaumont.

Name: Los Vascos Reserve
Vintage: 2008
Cork Type: Conventional
Grape: Cabernet Sauvignon
Origin: Colchagua Valley, Chile
Alcohol Content: 14%

November 23, 2011

Quick Wine Review: *****

Tonight is Thanksgiving eve, so last chance to eat a normal meal before ridiculously over stuffing ourselves.  Before going out to eat, we started off the night with some wine.  My brother's recommendation was a cab sav from California, not Virginia (ahem).  It was a pretty tasty wine, but I wouldn't say it was anything spectacular.  It was on the dryer side and wasn't as smooth as other cab's I've had in the past.

We decided to go out to dinner at Pappadeux to stalk my mom's dinner party.  I had some delicious fried calamari, shrimp cocktail and fried alligator.  Yummy. Afterwards, we went to the grocery store to get the final ingredients for tomorrow's Thanksgiving fest.  I'm pretty excited to start the holiday season!! When we got back home, we spent some time in the backyard with the puppies and then decided to finish off the night with some more wine.  The wine of choice was a barbera from Italy, which my Dad has really taken a liking to from our trip to Wine Country, USA.  I'm surprised since this is one of the older vintage's I've tried.  The barbera is a less dry wine with a bit of spiciness, but overall I think this is a pretty good wine and it is quite an enjoyable wine to sip.  We are going to watch the final episode of Harry Potter while finishing off the wine, so it will be the perfect way to bring in Turkey Day!

Name: Joel Gott 815
Vintage: 2009
Cork Type: Conventional
Grape: Cabernet Sauvignon
Origin: St. Helena, Napa County, California
Alcohol Content: 13.9%

Name: Barbera D'Asti - Castello del Poggio

Vintage: 2004

Cork Type: Conventional

Grape: Barbera

Origin: D'Asti, Italy

Alcohol Content: 13.5%

November 22, 2011

Quick Wine Review: *****

Tonight we are having another dinner party with Chris and Elena! I'm so excited to try his baked chicken that Elena raves about - the skin should be nice and crispy after having over a day to dry.  The plan is to have dinner and finish off the night with some games.

Name: Bonizio Sangiovese Di Maremma
Vintage: 2009
Cork Type: Traditional
Grape: Sangiovese
Origin: Toscana, Italy
Alcohol Content: 13%

Although the chicken turned out to be a little chewier than I expected,  it was delicious. The mushrooms are going to be my new addiction and I have decided to make the delicious mushroom medley that Chris made tonight for Thanksgiving. The wine was a more dry than I like, but overall it had a pleasant taste.

November 21, 2011

Quick Wine Review: *****

Tonight, I will be reviewing a wine brought over from Chris and Elena (C/E).  They have such great taste so I'm thinking it will be delicious.  We are making London broil with my favorite cabbage creation side.  I decided to put a twist on Chris' cabbage by using leeks instead of onions, so I am excited to see if it will turn out well - but then again, add a stick of butter to anything and it's pretty delicious.

The first wine had a fruity theme and definitely tasted a little richer once the tannins were allowed to breathe.  I think this is definitely a good value for the type of wine.

Name: Crane Lake
Vintage: 2010
Cork Type: Conventional
Grape: Cabernet Sauvignon
Origin: Sonoma, California
Alcohol Content: 12.5%













The second, our gift from C/E, was a red wine from italy.  We sampled this wine over one of our favorite games, Super Mario Brothers.  Unfortunately, it seems that some characters still seem to get those pesky Bowser treats in the red mushroom huts. These Italian wines always have a distinct flavor so compared to the first it had a lot more of a dry, woody flavor.  I think both were excellent, but the second had a more unique flavor than the first California wine and other Italian wines I have tried in the past. Both would make fantastic pairings with a Thanksgiving turkey meal!

Name: Vino Del Fratelli
Vintage:2008
Cork Type: Conventional
Grape: Montepulciano D'Abruzzo
Origin: Montepulciano D'Abruzzo, Italy
Alcohol Content: 12.5%

November 14, 2011

Quick Wine Review: *****  Pleasant Surprise!

Today I had a craving for a plethora of different foods so we had a protein rich, fiber rich meal with some of my favorite foods.  Shrimp cocktail, short ribs and butter cabbage...yum!  And of course, what goes better with my favorite foods than my favorite food pairing...wine!  We decided to try out the Texas wine that my mom brought over of which I had very low expectations.  It all started with the scary faced man who is plastered on the front of this bottle, and the fact that this is a Texas wine.  This was quite the pleasant surprise.  It paired well with everything that we had for dinner and was another easy drinking wine.  I would definitely recommend this scary face man red wine to any wine drinker.  Thanks Mommy!

Name: Becker Vineyards Iconoclast

Vintage: 2010

Cork Type: Conventional Cork

Grape: Cabernet Sauvignon

Origin: Fredericksburg, TX

Alcohol Content: 13.8%

November 12, 2011

Quick Wine Review: ***** Easy drinking wines!

Today was all about getting into the holiday spirits.  Me and my mom went to the Nutcracker Market at the Reliant Center to kickoff the start of the holiday season.  It's like a winter wonderland with so many vendors selling Christmas decorations, delicious holiday treats and plenty of Christmas type gifts.  We spent a good 3 hours walking around checking everything out, after which I was completely beat.  My mom said that she could go all day looking around at everything, but I'm not sure I'm built to keep up with the best.  After our shopping extravaganza we went to Block 7 Wine Bar to get some much needed revitalization.  We ended up selecting two bottles of wine both of which were delicious.  The first was dryer than the second, so I preferred the second, although both drank pleasantly.  We sipped on our wines while indulging in popcorn with truffle oil, smoked salmon and delicious flatbread pizza.  We finished off the meal with a dessert which was a little too sweet for me.




Name: Chateau Coupe Roses Minervois La Bastide

Vintage: 2006

Cork Type: Conventional Cork

Grape: Blend - 90% Grenache, 10% Carignan

Origin: Minervois, France

Alcohol Content: 13%

Name: Crasto Douro

Vintage: 2009

Cork Type: Conventional Cork

Grape: Blend - 34% Touriga Nacional, 33% Tinta Francasca, 33% Tinta Roriz

Origin: Douro, Portugal

Alcohol Content: 14.5%

November 3, 2011

Quick Wine Review: ***** Very tart.


After an invigorating Thursday evening nap, my appetite is worked up and I'm ready for a delicious meal accompanied with some tasty wine.  I decided on the French Bordeaux to accompany the fettucine alfredo which would bring out the richness of the meal.  My first glass was quite tart and I thought a few minutes would give the tannins a chance to breathe and settle the flavor to make the wine smoother.  Unfortunately, close to an hour later, it is still as tart as the first drink.  I had to break up the sips with giving a follow up hair cut (faux hawk's are my favorite!), and washing the dishes.  I would not recommend this wine after the tart flavors really threw off the night.

Name: Graves Chateau Des Proms Cuvee Bellevue

Vintage: 2008

Cork Type: Conventional Cork

Grape: Blend - 70% Carbernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 5% Malbec, 5% Cabernet Franc

Origin: Bordeaux, France

Alcohol Content: 12.5%