good evening friends,
as i watched the olympic ceremonies, i was sipping osborne solaz. this is a spanish red blend of 80% tempranillo and 20% cabernet sauvignon.
i don’t claim a very sophsticated palate, but i usually do not care much for blended wines. this inexpensive red is very smooth, tasty and a bargain for about $7.00 us a bottle.
Well you’ve got me.
I woke up drunk and started drinking. First I had a beer, around 2:00 pm.
Then I went straight to shots of Jagermeister, and rum and coke. Those dried up, so I went back to beer.
10 hours straight.
Yes, I’m a lech.
A nice 2003 Mad Dog 2020. Chilled to perfection, just like the label suggests.
Was tired last night, and mother in law in town, so wasn’t drinking a whole lot. Had a glass of the same riesling I was drinking last week - Annie’s Creek, IIRC, then went out to dinner. Red Lobster (m-i-l’s choice) doesn’t exactly have a great wine list, so drank some Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling and called it a night.
Saturday here, but what the hell - Robertson’s 2002 Shiraz. Berries, I smell berries…
I went to the best bit of the cupboard last night and had Penfolds Bin 389 1998 (aka Poor Man’s Grange). Certainly ready to drink although it’ll go another decade.
Spadina. A Nero d’Avolo from Sciliy. Very nice, very Italian. I nearly bought it for $15 a pop at a local snooty place, but then I found the same thing at our local HEB for $7. 
Last night we had a Gewurztraminer from Larson Family Winery in Carneros. Light, not too complicated. I’m planning to have some of the better wines I picked up during my Sonoma trip later this month (after they’ve settled down from being shipped). My eye is on the Gundlach Bundschu Tempranillo and Tempranillo Rose, in particular. Yum.
It’s Saturday, but last night I drank the same thing I drink every night: Black Box Chardonnay. I love the new boxed wines. For one thing, I’m pretty poor, and the box is 4 bottles for $20. For another thing, if I open a whole bottle I drink it all (with help from my boyfriend), but the box lets me have just one or two glasses, while my boyfriend (who doesn’t really like white wine) sticks to Old Style (again, he’d rather be drinking Youngs or Samuel Smith, but we’re too poor).
ZJ
Just an fyi, but if you drink any American wines, the varietal stated on the label only needs to make up 75% of the wine. Unless one of the labels specifically has a percentage listed for the varietal or varietals, there’s a good chance you’re drinking blended wines more often than you think.
I drank a very forgettable pinotage form Trader Joe’s last night. I expect this weekend to be a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale weekend.
My wine? Barley. JW Lee Harvest Ale 1999.
With a chocolate chocolate chip cookie. Mmmmm. Filling.
Dirty little secret, but unless they specifically state so on the label, you can take it for granted that the wine you’re drinking is blended; it may be blends of the same varietal, but it’s unlikely that all the grapes came from the same vineyard. There may be other additives as well–the lastest “scandal” among oenophiles is that many pinots are watered before aging to reduce the sugar content and keep the alcohol level down.
Anyway, there’s nothing wrong with blended wines, just as there’s nothing wrong with blended whiskeys; it takes more care and craftsmanship (and risk) to make a good single malt, but the taste of the end product should be what counts.
I had a split of the Saintsbury Garnett Pinot Noir last night and I’ll probably go home and finish the bottle tonight unless I get the urge to go out and be rejected by pretty girls. An excellent, relatively inexpensive wine that goes with many foods, including the spaghetti with braised spinach and sun-dried tomato I had for dinner last night.
Stranger
i don’t know enough to determine by taste if other types of grapes have been added to the gnarly head old vine red zinfandel i am drinking this evening.
jftr: i love red zin, and the gnarly head is making me happy
i do know that the bottle that i tried that was labeled as a blend of merlot and cabernet tasted awful.