“[God] made wine to gladden the heart of men; do not, therefore, when at table you see your neighbor pour wine into his glass, be eager to mingle water with it. Why would you drown truth?.. Man...is framed in a manner that he may raise his glass to his mouth...Let us, then, with glass in hand, adore this benevolent wisdom; --let us adore and drink!” - Benjamin Franklin
“Wine, madam, is God's next best gift to man.” - The Devil's Dictionary
“Wine is the most civilized thing in the world.” - Ernest Hemingway
And perhaps my favorite...
“A mind of the calibre of mine cannot derive its nutriment from cows.” - George Bernard Shaw
Touché, Shaw!
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Pinot Noir
First off, I LOVE Pinot Noir. Love it. I definitely prefer red wines (though I hate what it does to my teeth, tongue, face etc.) ;-). So I had been having a bad day and popped over to the grocery store for a little food/alcohol pick me up. I splurged a little (it was approx. $20), but when I saw the label that said "Gold Winner - San Francisco Chronicle Wine Tasting 2007", I knew it'd be worth it. It so was.
Jekel Vineyards (Monterey County) 2005 Pinot Noir
Jekel Vineyards (Monterey County) 2005 Pinot Noir
Attributes:
Smooth, gorgeous burgundy color, very easy to drink (not syrupy, not thin - just right!). 13.5% alcohol by volume, but you don't taste it (I've noticed that I'm pretty sensitive to the amount of alcohol in the wine - I hate when you take a sip and get a hint of vodka [the liquor I most associate with the taste of alcohol]). Unfortunately, my palette isn't that developed, but it has both oaky and fruity qualities, not too sweet though. Actually this wine is unbelievably perfect. Buy it when a) you want to impress a group of friends or b) when you want to totally indulge yourself in something that just tastes... like heaven. No exaggeration.
I wish I could comment on food pairings - I'm sure it would be good with steak or other red meat or flavorful fish - but the wine was my dinner. =) Enjoy.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
No Tasting Notes Yet
I did open my standard bottle of white two night's ago with the intention of making notes to post on here. But just as I took my first sip, my dear M called for our phone date, and two hours later I'd enjoyed a few glasses of vino, but had been far too distracted by the delightful conversation to notice anything of note about the wine. Fortunately, I'll take good conversation over focused wine-drinking any day, and, furthermore, it is my go-to white, so I'm sure there will be ample opportunity for me to redeem myself in the future.
That experience also seems to coincide (albeit, obliquely) with a snippet from yesterday's 30SWA:
"The lesson of this sermon is simple: Wine appreciation is not a solitary pursuit, it's a social hobby. Get a group of wine friends together to share fun, food and fine wine, and it's awfully hard to make them stop; and that's a good thing."
So when do a group of us get to get together for a fun tasting?
That experience also seems to coincide (albeit, obliquely) with a snippet from yesterday's 30SWA:
"The lesson of this sermon is simple: Wine appreciation is not a solitary pursuit, it's a social hobby. Get a group of wine friends together to share fun, food and fine wine, and it's awfully hard to make them stop; and that's a good thing."
So when do a group of us get to get together for a fun tasting?
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Skoll!
In the spirit of Let's Dish, here comes Let's Drink to further our Bacchanalian endeavors.
I've been reading about wine since I was about eight years old, and for a while, in my junior high years, I wanted to be an oenologist (until I realized that (a) wine production is all science and (b) I do not have a knack for science). I would sit on the couch with my parents and my godfather, listening to them discuss politics and art and comment on whatever wine they were drinking. Every once in a while, I would be allowed to take a little taste -- but only after I looked up the wine in the Larousse Encyclopedia of Wine. At twelve, my tastebuds still weren't quite conditioned to actually enjoy the tastes of these oft-forbidden drinks, but I knew -- knew -- that one day, I would appreciate them.
That day came. Quite a while ago, actually. I'll often sip a wine, maybe even comment to whichever friend or companion I'm with (or, let's be honest, to myself, on occasion), and think "That was definitely worth the price tag. I'll have to buy that again." Sometimes I do. More often I'll go back to the liquor store, stand in the aisle, and look at the same few labels I bought last time. Trying desperately to remember which was a great find, and which was a disappointment. I realized I needed a system. I scoured bookstores and wine specialty shops for the perfect tasting journal, but never found one that seemed quite right.
Inspired by some of the vino-themed reading I've been doing recently (particularly a spectacular newsletter called the 30 Second Wine Advisor, which shows up each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in my cluttered inbox) and the recently established Let's Dish, I decided it made the most sense to blog my notes.
Following Robin Garr's model (at 30SWA), I propose we use the general format of:
Title Line: Name of Wine, Vintage (Cost)
Body of Post: Wine producer
Variety
Appellation or Growing Region
Food Pairing, if applicable,
Tasting Notes
Link to site and/or picture of label when possible
Of course, this is a rough guideline. There's no need to get too fancy with tasting notes, but at the same time, this is a place to practice descriptions and really get a sense of different notes and flavors. Do as much or as little with it as you like. I think the broader spectrum of wines -- regions, varieties, price points -- the better.
And so:
Skoll! Let's Drink!
I've been reading about wine since I was about eight years old, and for a while, in my junior high years, I wanted to be an oenologist (until I realized that (a) wine production is all science and (b) I do not have a knack for science). I would sit on the couch with my parents and my godfather, listening to them discuss politics and art and comment on whatever wine they were drinking. Every once in a while, I would be allowed to take a little taste -- but only after I looked up the wine in the Larousse Encyclopedia of Wine. At twelve, my tastebuds still weren't quite conditioned to actually enjoy the tastes of these oft-forbidden drinks, but I knew -- knew -- that one day, I would appreciate them.
That day came. Quite a while ago, actually. I'll often sip a wine, maybe even comment to whichever friend or companion I'm with (or, let's be honest, to myself, on occasion), and think "That was definitely worth the price tag. I'll have to buy that again." Sometimes I do. More often I'll go back to the liquor store, stand in the aisle, and look at the same few labels I bought last time. Trying desperately to remember which was a great find, and which was a disappointment. I realized I needed a system. I scoured bookstores and wine specialty shops for the perfect tasting journal, but never found one that seemed quite right.
Inspired by some of the vino-themed reading I've been doing recently (particularly a spectacular newsletter called the 30 Second Wine Advisor, which shows up each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in my cluttered inbox) and the recently established Let's Dish, I decided it made the most sense to blog my notes.
Following Robin Garr's model (at 30SWA), I propose we use the general format of:
Title Line: Name of Wine, Vintage (Cost)
Body of Post: Wine producer
Variety
Appellation or Growing Region
Food Pairing, if applicable,
Tasting Notes
Link to site and/or picture of label when possible
Of course, this is a rough guideline. There's no need to get too fancy with tasting notes, but at the same time, this is a place to practice descriptions and really get a sense of different notes and flavors. Do as much or as little with it as you like. I think the broader spectrum of wines -- regions, varieties, price points -- the better.
And so:
Skoll! Let's Drink!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)