It’s a little late to be getting this started, but let’s see if anyone has pulled a cork tonight. It is the first Friday of the month, after all.
I’ve actually got a few bottles open. I hit a wine sale tonight and have a few sample bottles going that I bought earlier in the week. The one I’m enjoying right now is Ridge’s 2003 Three Valleys Zinfandel. I really like Ridge Zin. This is a pretty good one. Not especially complicated or profound, but very nice for the money ($17). It’s got a nice jammy flavor which I like. I tend to go for Zins that are more on the jammy, than spicy side. This one went down really well with the Thai food I brought home tonight.
Anyone else care to share? Also, since we haven’t had a thread for a while, did anyone participate in Open That Bottle Night?
I’m trying Pineau des Charentes for the first time, and I’ve decided that I don’t like it. Roughly speaking, it’s analogous to a French version of tawny port–except for the fact that tawny port is good and this stuff isn’t.
tonight, i have a glass of francis ford coppola’s red zinfandel at my elbow as i type. i never really thought about it as jammy. it is nice and smooth, with a very pleasant after taste.
last spring there were a few posters here discussing a love for tawny port. i bought a bottle (can’t remember which label, but i paid about thirty bucks for it) it was not to my taste at all.
I have a fruit fly and/or fungus gnat problem so I’m using an opened bottle with a little bit wine in it. The little buggers fly in thinking its’ rotten grapes, get a buzz from the fumes, take a wrong turn into the liquid, and drown. In theory. I’m not a big wine person, maybe I just haven’t developed the taste for it, so I picked up a relatively inexpensible bottle of Red Diamond shiraz (2003) at the grocery store. In retrospect, maybe I should have gone with a white wine so I could see if the little guys are in the bottle.
Its’ okay, but again, I’m not a wine person. Hopefully the fruit flies like it more than I.
Tonight I’m lucky enough to be enjoying a 1974 chateau lafite rothschild.
Just kidding. I’m actually having a very charming Cloudy Bay Sauv Blanc. New Zealand is producing the best sauvignon blanc in the world right now.
OK, I’m late as it’s now Saturday morning rather than Friday night but
Last night we opened a Bogle 2002 Merlot. My husband and I aren’t really all that fond of Merlot usually but this one was very nice (and nicely priced at $8.99) Very smooth. Tobacco and leather on the nose followed by a very jammy note. Nice mouth feel not very tannic. Quite drinkable and it went well with dinner which was pork Chop, red wine mushroom gravy and noodles with buttered bread crumbs (decadent and fattening but wow did it taste good) a side dish of swiss chard with loads of garlic.
I have to agree with JCorre I just love the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. It is a regular at my dinner table.
My new favorite red is Malbec from Argentina but I stil harbor an unbridled lust for Zinfandel. I haven’t tried Ridge. I’ll have to look for that.
No wine for us yet this weekend, but I did put a bottle of a Bordeaux Rosé (Pink Cricket 2004) in the fridge to chill. If we don’t go out later I might be able to report on it.
Last weekend was our wine weekend. My husband and I spent last Saturday wine tasting and picnicking in Healdsburg (Russian River Valley area), about 10 or 15 minutes north of here.
We tasted a total of about 15 wines between the three wineries we stopped at(J Vineyards & Winery, Hop Kiln Winery, and my personal favorite, Roshambo) and enjoyed a Hop Kiln 2004 Old Windmill Zin with our picnic lunch at the winery near a lovely duck pond. The wine was excellent, big and bold, spicy yet smooth, with hints of cherry and raspberry, and very well balanced. We ended up purchasing half a case of it (hooray for interwinery discounts!) We also purchased a mixed half case at Roshambo.
This weekend is Barrel Tasting Weekend, and while it’s very iffy, we might be inclined to head off tomorrow for some sampling.
