White Zinfandel through a straw

I just finished reading a book on how to live more like the French called Lessons from Madame Chic: The Top 20 Things I Learned While Living In Paris (Jennifer L. Scott, $2.99 on Amazon Kindle books), as recommended to me by a colleague with similar taste. Though at times poorly written (she basically threw her blog posts at some binding glue and called it done), it was excellent in that it revitalized me, made me think, and made some amazing points. If you can get past the moments of bad writing, it is a complete self-help, life-changing gem. Beyond giving great advice about dressing, eating, entertaining, and decorating – the author, Jennifer Scott, gave great advice about living as a whole. She suggests at one point in her book that 

“Seeking out nothing but quality in your life is not about being snobby or pretentious – it’s about being selective and discerning. It is about respecting yourself and your loved ones enough to realize that every moment in life is previous, so why not fill it with the highest quality things or experiences as possible?” 

This excerpt encapsulates my life philosophy - from the way I like to eat and dress, decorate my home, spend time with people, and finally the way I like to drink my wine. Ben likes to tell me that I’m being snobby and pretentious (about everything, not just wine), and I like that Jennifer Scott understands. There’s nothing wrong with wanting quality in your life, where you can afford and access it. There is just as little reason to drink low-quality wine out of the wrong glassware, as there is to eat rotten vegetables off of a Frisbee with a stick (except maybe when cost or alcoholism is severely limiting you). With wine so remarkably accessible and inexpensive (Target, Fred Meyer, Safeway, even gas station convenience stores, have great, well-priced offerings) , there is no reason to be tapping into your Franzia box with a reindeer mug on a Saturday night, unless, of course, you’re 17 and that’s all that you could get someone over 21 to buy for you (the mug is still inexcusable -it’s March!). If you can’t afford a $75 bottle of Chateauneuf-du-Pape (sobs) or one of Parker’s contested 100-point Bordeaux, there’s no reason to throw in the towel and chug a jug of Carlo Rossi or Yellowtail Moscato. Take the Columbia Crest Two Vines Chardonnay, for example, which is $6.99 at my local Walgreens and received 86 points with the Wine Spectator, or a bottle of Barnard and Griffin Rose, on the Wine Spectator’s top 100 wines list in 2008, for only $11. They may be triple, even quadruple, the price of two-buck chuck, but let’s be honest; shelling out an extra $3 for about 86 more points in value and taste is a remarkable deal not found in many other arenas of our material lives.

In addition to drinking quality wines, I think it’s rewarding to drink your wine out of the proper glassware (no more mugs, you recent grads, and god forbid anything plastic – we’re not camping). I recently was gifted Riedel glasses and a Vinturi aerator (definitely out of my personal price range, but perfect for gifts), and was blown away by the difference between drinking out of a stem-less red wine glass from Fred Meyer and the thin crystal Riedels designed for drinking wine. My mom recently purchased red wine glasses by Riedel Vivant, the Target line of Riedel, which were considerably less expensive ($40 for a set of 4 red wine glasses) and was also thrown at how much the glasses increased the quality of her drinking experience. She didn’t quite believe me when I said that the difference in taste was not only noticeable, but life changing. The glassware may encourage your now blooming wine to go down more smoothly, but it also allows you to fully experience wine the way it was meant to be experienced.

If $10 a stem is $10 a stem too much for you, I also recommend lurking around Goodwill or other thrift shops as they often have great glassware for fifty cents to a dollar a stem. Ben got a set of brand new Riedel beer glasses from Goodwill for a ridiculously good deal, and my champagne flutes are also from a local thrift store (fifty cents a flute and New Year’s Prosecco was a go). Additionally, TJ MAXX has excellent deals on stemware. I purchased my most recent entertaining wine glasses (my Riedels are for private tastings between Ben and I, not company) there and found a set of gorgeous Lenox non-leaded crystal red wine glasses for $20. 

Once you’ve thrown away your plastic sippy cups, stained purple from many a night alone with a Bota Box of wine – you’ll be amazed at the difference in experience proper glassware and good wine will make. Your enjoyment of the afternoon glass will turn into enjoyment of the experience of uncorking a bottle, pouring it through the decanter (or just swirling it around the glass), and drinking out of a glass made to accent the vivid fruit, lingering spice, and mouthfeel of a sip of wine.

Or, I guess, you can just sip a Beringer White Zinfandel with a straw and call it good…

Dreaming of drinking

I just had my wisdom teeth out – all four, at once – which has severely curbed my culinary pleasures. I spent lunch today thinking about eating and plan on spending dinner drawing pictures of crunchy St. Helens BLT sliders from Maxwell’s and wishing I didn’t have what seems to be an emerging case of dry socket.

 It has been quite the ordeal at our house this week, what with me mewling on the couch, the cat having a nervous breakdown over the appearance of “Red Bug” (or the bug that comes out of the laser pointer when you least expect it), and Ben tending to my insistent cries for “more jello!” or “do you think I’m going to die?” We didn’t get to spend Valentine’s Day with a Joel Gott 815 Cab (like I would have liked), nor did we get to kick off the weekend at our usual Thursday night haunt with a ½ off bottle of wine, maybe a Balboa Merlot or a Sharecroppers Cabernet. Nor did it help that when skyping with my Mom, she poured herself a glass of red to tease me from 2,500 miles away. Instead, I worried near constantly, went through about 90 bags of ice, and now have a messy house and a very very sore mouth.

Needless to say… I’m dying for a glass of wine. Anything really. I’d have a Zinfandel at this point, heck I’d even try a White Zinfandel if it meant that I could sit back and each cheese and crackers and drink something. However, the pain, my insane neuroses, and the jarring mental image (sorry!) of wine filling up my exposed gum holes, only to come swishing back out again and down my throat, has completely turned me off pretty much everything. My diet right now consists of things that don’t make me want to immediately vomit – applesauce and tomato juice. I’m sure that this image has now made you want to vomit and stop eating applesauce and tomato juice, but such is life. Misery loves company. I’m probably making a bigger deal out of this than necessary, but somehow using a syringe to irrigate food particles out of your surgical wounds doesn’t put a skip in my step.

So, instead, I’m thinking about things I’d like to eat as if I was facing my last meal. And, in lieu of writing about anything I’ve discovered recently, I’m going to plan a dream wine menu (feel free to enjoy without me) - 

If I could drink any wine I want right now, I would start with a Prosecco toast among friends. I tried an Adami Prosecco ($14) at a wine tasting the other day and it was so light and so crisp I could see drinking bottles of it and not getting tired of the delicate taste. With the right amount of bright citrus, yet a dry finish, this wine was perfect on its own and I’d recommend it that way. And then, as the bottle ran dry, a Kris Pinot Grigio ($10-12). Clearly, I’d be on a sunny porch in some foreign country, airing out my tanned and impeccably toned legs, and I would be eating caprese, the fresh tomatoes bursting with seeds and red juice. The wine would be cool, clear, and almost sparkling, the pale yellow in the glass picking up the sun. And then, I’d move, as the sun set over a glistening and very warm sea, to a Bethel Heights Pinot Noir ($30). With it I’d nibble on thin slices of raw Ahi, slather some bread with a thick mushroom bruschetta, and spread soft blue cheese on thin baguette slices. And then, as the air got chilly and the breeze picked up a hint of faraway places, and the leaves started to rustle in a natural chorus, I’d open a bottle of Reserve Perrin Cotes du Rhone (you all know that this is my favorite wine), and serve up some mushroom and herb encrusted lamb (in this dream I am no longer a kind-of-vegetarian) with a wilted spinach salad. And for dessert, hours later, into the painted black of nighttime in a quiet place, I'd drink a glass of Warre's Warrior Port ($16) with a tiny bit of Stilton cheese and absolutely die of happiness.

Mm… and now back to my lukewarm applesauce.

Half-priced bottles of wine!

My closest friends and I go out to a fantastic restaurant called Maxwell’s (I know, I’m always writing about it) every Tuesday or Thursday to eat a St. Helen’s BLT with a side of chips or fries, and drink half-priced bottles of wine. We talk about work and friends and what’s on the menu for our next dinner party and generally leave feeling sleepy and full of both food and friends. It is the highlight of my week, to sit under the big sparkling chandelier, a Christmas tree lit up in the window, and drink Merlots or Cabernets from their restaurant Riedels. 

There is something ridiculously fun about ordering a bottle of wine at the table. We get to scan a long wine list, and without labels and without any guidance but tastes in varietal, we pick a bottle that could be completely awful (but never is)… and then, the tasting. I love how the waitress pulls out the cork and places it, wine side up on the table, the deep purple soaked through the cork, covering the vintner’s monogram or little design, and then pours you a tiny sip. I always feel a tiny bit silly swirling my wine around, breathing in the nose, and then tasting that almost warm, always juicy first sip of wine. 

And then wine is poured around the table, swirling through each glass, catching the light, and everyone tastes and comments and usually sighs with post-work-first-glass-of-wine happiness. I don’t know if it’s the community feel this whole ritual, or the fact that it’s a time-honored process that we just inherently know how to do, but I always feel older and wiser and more stable when I’m sitting at the table ordering a bottle of wine.

A couple of weeks ago we ordered an 2009 Owen Roe Sharecropper’s Cabernet Sauvignon  from the Columbia Valley. It was $42 at the restaurant, and then half price, bringing it down to just a bit above the store price ($15 retail) – which is a steal, if you ever buy wine out! The wine was in a squat bottle with a rustic label of a horse pulling a cart and I felt like we should have been in a barn drinking wine on straw bales. The wine was just as lush as the farm notion – full of ripe berries like plum and cherry. The finish was lush with structure and some noticeable tannins. It was a great warm, lush winter wine.

Last night, we went to Maxwell’s and again ordered a bottle – but this time, we tried a Merlot. My friend Whitney, who is also getting into wine, had forwarded me an article about Merlot coming back (after its Sideways-inspired, Yellow Tail-enforced, downfall). I have always been a Merlot fan, but after discovering Cotes-Du-Rhone recently, I hadn’t the heart to drink anything that wasn’t perfectly complex and rustic like the Reserve Perrin Cotes. Luckily, we ended up with a delicious bottle of a Balboa Vineyards 2009 Mirage Vineyard Merlot. It was originally $32 at Maxwell’s and half off, cheaper than the in-store cost ($22 retail). The Merlot was very well balanced, with a fruity bouquet, complimented by some acidity at the end of the sip and a bit of spice to finish the sip. The Merlot was certainly as complex and as enjoyable as the Cabernet, regardless of what silly wine movies say!

I suppose the moral of the story is that good friends, good food, and good restaurants are made even better by good, cheap bottles of wine. I suggest you keep your eye out for a half-priced bottle of wine restaurant and start working your way through an unknown, and unfamiliar, wine list!

Sipping Port in my smoking jacket

This morning while kneeling over one of those irritating table-top ironing boards, I looked over at what I'm calling "The Wine Rack That Ben Built"* and noticed that it was fully stocked with an amazing assortment of wines. I think that this is my initiation into adulthood for many reasons: 1. I have a wine rack aka furniture that didn't come with the room; 2. I have an existing bottle of wine, not just a recycling bin full of empties; 3. Each bottle of wine cost more than $10.

In the wine rack I have an Alamos Malbec, a Pinot Noir from Sonoma (from Lot18.com, a great wine site with super values), a French and a Californian Rose (also from Lot18), a Bonterra Cabernet Sauvignon and a few other easy to drink table wines. I will be tasting and testing and writing about them all... but in a fit of adulthood inspired writing, I wanted to write about something that makes me feel (and seem?) rather ancient: Port.

Port is one of those things that you immediately associate with elderly men and cordial glasses. Maybe a smoking jacket, too. Happily it's not only something pulled out of musty cellars by British men with bad teeth, but it's also pulled out of liquor cabinets by my father, who has decidedly less bad teeth than the British.

My Dad loves port and first served it to us as part of one of my parents' anniversary dinners. We had it with cheese and pears, in tiny little crystal glasses. And I thought it was the worst thing in the world, besides peas, that I'd ever ingested. Lucky for me, my Dad forced me to finish my glass (isn't this backward?)... and continued to make me finish my port glass from then (I was maybe 16) on. I remember having port on the holidays when we were visiting my grandmother, and then at home a few times in the evening while playing cards. And I don't remember liking it very much until a few days ago when I had an amazing port that was on sale at Trader Joes (you can find it at Safeway too). The Warre's Warrior Porto Wine Special Reserve (normally $18, marked down to $14.99), is one of the oldest brands of port still in existence. Warre's was founded in 1670 in Portugal by the British.

Though I don't have any tasting notes to offer you, but that it was a lighter, more palatable port (without sacrificing richness or that fortified sweetness), it did pair amazingly well with the strong cheese we had it with. If you're interested in port already and want a great one, check out the Warre's. It's consistently rated between 88 and 91 points by Wine Spectator and I don't think you can find a better port for under $20.

Some helpful Port drinking hints: If you're going to buy port, buy some pairings too - I prefer Stilton cheese, but a blue cheese will work as well. I also love pears or apples with port. Though some people prefer dark chocolates, but I think the sweetness can be overpowering. When tasting the port with a strong cheese, if you take a small piece of cheese and start to chew it, then have a sip of the port, the two together will combine to become a brand new flavor. For people that are new to port entirely, it's best as a dessert substitute. Port isn't meant to be gulped or chugged, but instead is best sipped leisurely in teensy glasses while talking about your land holdings and your impudent serfs.

*"The Wine Rack That Ben Built" is a long story with a happy ending. About a month and a half ago, as I went to order a wine rack on Amazon.com, Ben decided he was going to make me one. He designed a rack in class, calculated the angles, the lengths, the sizing... and then we went to Lowes, where it cost more than the online wine rack to buy the cart full of tools and supplies. A few mis-cuts, a few more trips to Lowes, one injured shoulder muscle, and weeks and weeks later: he was able to finish it. In summation: it may have taken forever and cost more than the $30 rack on Amazon, but it's gorgeous and a lot more love went into building it than would have gone into a credit card swipe.

Ode to Gourmet Grocery Stores (and wine, of course!)

We have a gourmet grocery store in Tacoma (and the greater Seattle area) called the Metropolitan Market and it is a magical place where you feel so happy that you empty your wallet on needless things like caramel lace cookies and five dollar creme brule desserts that come with free shaped rammakins. About once every few weeks I need something so obscure that I have to go to the Met to find it - like Japanese rice flour for mochi or coconut milk, instant polentas or pre-made tapenades. And about once every few weeks I walk out of the store with whatever obscure item I needed and about forty dollars poorer.

Because yesterday was a part of one of those weeks, I want to write a mini ode to the Met (and don't worry, their wine selection is included here!). Ben and I consider the store our special occasion/fancy/treat store. If I'm having a bad day, it's inevitable he'll suggest that we go to the Met and get a picture sugar cookie (they're always seasonally or event-themed by shape and coloring - fall leaves, Oscar figurines, peaches). And if we want a fancy 22 oz. beer that we can neither afford nor find anywhere else, it's to the Met for an 9% Black Boss Porter in tiny bottles or a regal looking bottle of unpasteurized Trappist monk-brewed Trippel Ale.

When you first walk into the met you're greeted on the right by pastries, and petit fours, decorated cakes and bursting eclairs. On the left, a whole host of hydrangea flowers and potted orchids with gigantic purple sprays. And directly in front of you: every single kind of bread and cheese you'd ever want. They have plates of cheese for tasting - 26 month Goudas and Asagio Parmesan wheels and giant stinking hunks of french blue cheese. The bread wraps around the cheese like a happy food shawl, rosemary breads and little loaves stuffed with garlic - all for about $4-6 a loaf and baked fresh. It's a scary place to walk around in when you're hungry.

After winning some money from a wine contest I entered on Snooth.com (yay!) and deciding to celebrate with... well, wine, we went into the Met to get some cheese to pair with it. They have this amazing little basket in the cheese section where they throw the ends or irregular cuts of their cheese loaves. And you can get a great piece of cheese to try for $1-3. We ended up picking out an English White Cheddar, that 26 month aged Gouda, a French Raclette (a soft cheese that was a bit stronger than brie), and finally an Emmental (a cheese from Switzerland). We added to that the Met's marinated mushrooms and a loaf of French bread and then a wine I'd bought there a while back and hadn't had a chance to drink.

I had been hearing great things about the 2009 Perrin & Fils Côtes du Rhône Reserve and, eager to branch my wine tastes into France a bit, had picked it up. I was worried that the wine would be a bit too spicy and rustic for my tastes, but after opening it up and drinking it next to all of these fantastic cheeses, I fell in love. This wine, for about $10.99 at the Met (it ranges from $9-$15), was everything you'd want in a pairing wine. It went well with cheese, and the salmon I later had for dinner, but I can see it as being a delicious addition to a pork meal as well. The wine smelled extremely peppery and acidic, but the bouquet softened considerably when I actually drank it. Though the pepper and spice remained a prominent feature of the wine, the tannins were smooth and the wine was hardly acidic at all. The finish was remarkably smooth for such a spicy wine. I would highly, highly recommend this wine, especially as a great initiation into the Côtes du Rhône region.

Fall is here, feel the chill

The days have gotten cold, not yet the bone-chilling, chattering-lower-jaw dampness of Washington winters and yet also not quite the 60 degree blustery weather of summertime. And fall here means pumpkins, and oddly shaped squashes that look decorative rather than delicious. It also means that apples are finally back in their fill-the-grocery-stores glory. Honeycrisps and Pink Lady's and Gala apples abound. And then there are the Asian Pears replacing the peaches and the big heads of cauliflower and thick, earthy carrots lining the Farmer's market booths. The trees are in every single color but green, smoky reds and deep oranges and soft yellows that remind me of salt water taffy. And on top of all of it - everyone is wearing scarves and watching their breath fill the air in front of their faces with whispy, smoky trails.

It's officially fall in the Northwest.

And so I have been spending an ungodly amount of time on Foodgawker looking for recipes to inspire me for Thanksgiving. Ben and I are doing our first non-family Thanksgiving this year and I'm already nervous that the turkey will indeed take four more hours than I anticipated and my house won't have enough non-stick pans for making every single dish... but that's all over a month away.

In order to start practicing, I picked up a jar of canned pumpkin puree the other day and set to work on two small loaves of pumpkin bread. So last night, covered in eggs, sugar, and pumpkin, with a glass of merlot in one hand and a horribly inefficient electric hand mixer in the other, I made my first successful pumpkin treat of the year. Besides the understated cooking time (recipe's suggestion: 50-60 minutes, real life: 90-120 minutes), the bread came out moist and dense and perfect for chilly mornings with coffee. I toased it in the toaster this morning and buttered the crisp deep brown bread and it was delicious.

But more about that merlot... I'm fighting that wine rut I mentioned in the last post, with all the income that I've got. I picked up two bottles of recommended wines at Fred Meyer the other day that looked warm and inviting for the cold nights. The first, which I tried the other night, was a 2008 Washington Hills Merlot ($8.99). It was a nice warm merlot, perfect for the weather and perfectly Washington-oriented as it comes out of the Columbia Valley. The wine smelled well-rounded and turned out to be so. Though the bouquet started out light, it developed into a spicier and fuller wine with a hint of oak. The finish had a bit of mineral to it and the wine ended with soft tannins that left a great mouthfeel. The wine felt great to drink.

I'd thoroughly recommend checking out Washington Hills wines, if you live in Washington and want a great local wine that's inexpensive. Washington Hills repeatedly recieves Best Value awards from Wine Spectator and the Wine Advocate. And enjoy the fall! It's a great time to drink great warm red wines and eat savory foods made of those rather decorative squash.

A Wine Rut

I've been in a wine rut lately. I have all of these great plans to buy a half-case of some wines I've been dying to try, but I keep putting it off, paycheck after paycheck. I even have three bottles on my nightstand that need to be opened, and yet, I just don't feel like drinking them. I'm not sure why I've felt so stuck, but I think it might have to do with not having wine on hand that I particularly want to try. I'm hesitant about the 2009 Reserve Perrin Cotes Du Rhone I currently have, because I'm worried it'll be too spicy and rustic for my tastes, though I know that it got great reviews. The other two wines I have are beautiful salmon colored Roses that it's neither cool enough or sunny enough to open. 

And so the other day, the only thing that got me to hold a glass of wine in my hand was a surprise bottle. Ben ran out on an errand to the other day and brought a 2009 Gabbiano Chianti Classico ($8.99) because it was cheap and he really loves Anthony Hopkins films. I promptly distrusted his judgement and the idea that a drug-store had a wine buyer, and was worried that the wine wouldn't pair with anything but human skin. When I googled it, the first result said that "Gabbiano Classico Chianti is...the Heinekin of Chianti." Well, at least the wine wasn't in a straw bottle.

 

And then I tried the wine with some dal curry, on a cold night, and it was an extremely drinkable, basic table red. Though the first sip was a bit sharp and the tannins harsh, after a few minutes, the wine rounded out nicely. The best sip was full of warm plum flavors with a smooth, full-bodied finish. The bouquet had mineral notes, which added to the body of the wine very nicely. I was expecting something a little more rustic in this wine than what we tasted. Instead the wine was full bodied and warm, without being sharp. It went well with a movie and some curry and I'd definitely buy it again to pair with just about anything.

This being said, I need some suggestions. Some pairings, some great recommendations, some mind-blowing (and cheap) bottles that will make me want to dash to the store and pick up a bottle or two. If you have any, let me know! In the meantime, I'll try to find some inspiration in this really amazing chart from the NY Times with suggestions of great wines under $12. Check it out: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/10/02/magazine/02-winechart.html

Happy Hour: Wine Edition

I think that the worst part about being under 21 is that you don't know about, can't enjoy, and aren't invited to happy hour. I think it just might be the holy grail of the twenties. I've certainly spent enough time pursuing half-off appetizers and dirt cheap well drinks, that it could be some sort of religious calling for me. 

Not only have they occupied many a weeknight, happy hours have ruined the full-price dinner for me completely. I find it increasingly difficult to eat at regular restaurants (why are these fries $7 and not $3.50? why are these sliders $3 a piece instead of $1?). And bar drinks are a similar story. It's just not worth it to go out to drink when a mojito costs $9-11 dollars and contains somewhere between half a shot and one ounce of rum. It's even harder when you order a glass of wine, at $8-$12 a glass, you might as well go buy the bottle of wine for $7.99 at a Safeway down the street and drink it in the parking lot. It'd probably save time and money. Wine is the last thing I would order out at a bar and it also seems to be the one thing Happy Hour still can't knock down to a reasonable price. 

I was reading an article in the Wall Street Journal about demystifying the exorbitant mark-ups of wine in restaurants and I feel a bit more clued in about the insane mark-up for glasses of wine. Bottles are another story. The article reasoned that, based on a host of restaurants around New York, that the average restaurant marks up their bottles of wine 300%. Read: a jug of Yellow Tail Chardonnay would be $24 in a restaurant. Yellow Tail aside, it makes great, affordable wines, completely ridiculous to purchase ($30+ for a Chateau Ste. Michelle Pinot Gris? Not tonight). And that's just the bottle price. That same Yellow Tail Chardonnay, in a glass instead of a bottle, would cost $6-$7... or, the exact price of a jug of that wine in grocery stores. 

It upsets me to say this, but this price insanity is actually driven by logic. When a customer orders that glass of Yellow Tail Chardonnay, the bottle must be opened and a small amount of the wine poured out. Once opened, the wine's shelf life drops rapidly (two to three days, at the most). If no one else walks into that restaurant and also orders a glass of that white wine, then the bottle is ruined and the restaurant will immediately face a loss. Hence the mark-up. That one glass had better at least help the restauranteer break even...

With this all being said, I was skeptical when a colleague at work suggested a place that had half-off bottles of wine on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Without a wine list and wine prices published online (this helps restaurants protect themselves from snooping customers looking to determine which wines are marked up the most, as well as snooping competitors gauging how much they can sell their wine for), and never having ordered a bottle of wine at a restaurant, I decided to try it out. When I arrived there for a late-night happy hour with friends, the place (Maxwell's) looked closed, but pushing open the door, we were greeted by an intimate restaurant with a glittering chandelier and a crackling fire. The bar was small and though it wasn't crowded, almost everyone had a bottle of wine at their table and a whole host of the appetizers that were also half-off. The wine list was large and exciting. Most of the bottles were ones I hadn't heard of and hadn't seen in store. Even better... they had bottles of wine under $30. And at the happy hour special, those wines were half-off. Such a major discount actually brought the marked-up wines down to a reasonable price, normally a dollar or two over the price in stores.

I ordered a 2010 Leyda Pinot Noir Classic from Chile ($13.99 retail, $15 with the happy hour discount at Maxwells). The wine was absolutely beautiful in color, a sparkling bright burgundy that was so clear that you could see the light reflecting in and out of the glass. It was very full of berry notes for a Pinot Noir, but it maintained the softness and lightness of some of the great Willamette Valley Pinot Noirs. The bouquet was sweet and reminded me of a Riesling or a sweeter white wine. The front notes were of berries, notably blackberries and strawberry and the sweetness developed into a smooth and minerally finish, with a hint of spice. The wine lingered, but only delicately, and it showed no heaviness or jammy-ness of some of the other less expensive Pinot Noirs I've tried. I would definitely recommend this wine and the restaurant (and I suppose the entire notion of happy hour) for both beating my expectations and god-awful wine list mark-ups.

A tribute to summer whites

From above, it would appear that I am sitting in the epicenter of a large, household earthquake, clothing strewn about me, boxes half-opened and half-filled radiating away from my person in no particular order. Once again, I’m packing and moving. I guess I’m not really moving but moving out (I don’t think that you can actually move when you don’t have a place to move to)… So goes my warm season (I’m not calling it summer anymore since my unemployment makes the summer some kind of unappreciated, hateful, and endless concept). I am moving up to Seattle, to live with family for a bit, while I continue to search for jobs in the city. As it currently stands, the only jobs I don’t want involve working with children or liquid waste. Anything else? I’ll take it.

Naturally, because I have to move things, it’s hot out. The weather waited until just now to get sweltering, so that I could wander around the garage like an ungainly savanna creature, battling massive spiders for possession of my boxed up kitchen gadgets. As I wait until it’s an appropriate time to make a refreshing afternoon beverage, I figured it was a good time to share some of the white wines I tried recently.

With so few days left of warm weather (Washington’s “beautiful summer” lasts from August 15^th to August 30^th), it’s a great time to drink cool and refreshing white wines. It also seems like they’re on sale right now as stores try to move their white wine summer stock out in favor of getting warm fall drinks on the shelves. The first white I tried was a 2008 Marotti Campi Luzano ($10.99), a white wine from Italy made from verdicchio grapes. I was expecting a dryer white, but upon opening the wine the bouquet was of citrus fruit, pear, and apple. It smelled very similar to a Riesling. This wine had notes of grapefruit and pear, and had a dry finish that cut the sweetness of the wine. The back end seemed rather sharp and acidic to me, but upon looking up the varietal, I found that verdicchio wines are known for their high acidity and citrusy flavors. I found this wine to be somewhat off-balance, a suggestion that verdicchio grapes are not a good wine for me. This wine’s seemingly odd mix of acidity and sweetness made it similarly difficult to think of anything it would pair well with. A friend that I was drinking it with suggested, simply, that the only thing it would go well with was “green beans.” And that, I think, might tell more about this wine than any tasting notes can.

The second white I tried was a much better success and a really great deal. If you’re looking for a cheap summer white wine, perfect for lounging about on the porch in the heat, I strongly suggest buying the 2009 Columbia Crest Two Vines Pinot Grigio. It was on sale at Fred Meyer for $6.99 and comes with the recommendation of earning many “Best Value” awards, but also with an impressive 87 points from Wine Spectator. This Pinot Grigio was much sweeter and less dry than many I’ve had in the past but was so perfectly well-rounded that the sweetness was neither grating nor tiring. It opened with citrus and floral notes and finished with a distinct flavor of honeysuckle. It was extremely smooth, especially for a seven-dollar bottle of wine. I had this wine with fresh tomatoes and basil from the garden, a warm baguette and brie… and as delicious as the food and wine were separately, I’d strongly recommend against the pairing. The food (probably the balsamic vinegar on the tomatoes) made the wine biting and acidic. I’d go for something lighter and less sharp as a pair, perhaps fish or chicken.

To finish, and I know I already posted about this, I entered a wine contest on Snooth.com and would love if you’d read my article here and like, tweet, recommend or plus it! I could win $250 if I beat the other entries.

Any question or comments or wines to try? Email gradsguidetowine@gmail.com.

Snooth

Mired in a rather disappointing and yet all-consuming job search, I’ve been looking for more ingenious ways to earn money. In an amazing merging of interests, (writing, wine, and money), I joined an online wine community called Snooth and found a wine writing contest that challenged me to write about my “epiphany wine,” or the wine that made me actually love wines. It was really fun to write and hopefully I can do well enough in the social media aspect of the contest (you have to promote your writing to garner it the most tweets, likes, pluses, and recommendations) to win the grand prize. If you’re interested in reading my essay about the 2006 Rosemount Estate Shiraz, my own epiphany wine, then please go to this link: http://www.snooth.com/articles/my-first-shiraz/. If you like it, I’d be thrilled if you voted and helped me pull ahead in the competition (you don't need to be a member of the site to like, plus, tweet the post).

If you're interested in an online wine community, I’ve found Snooth to be a great resource (it’s easy to sign up through Facebook) for finding new wines and talking to people about wine. The forums are helpful for recommendations and pairing suggestions and there are very knowledgable people on the site that aren't snobby or elitist about wines. 

If you have an suggestions or comments, please let me know at gradsguidetowine@gmail.com.

Warm afternoons and beautiful wines

Wine makes daily living easier, less hurried, with fewer tensions and more tolerance - Benjamin Franklin

Though I have three bottles of wine sitting in various locations about the house (an Italian Verdicchio in the fridge, an Argentinean Bonarda next to the microwave, and a beautiful French Rosé in a brown paper bag underneath the bed), I thought I would write today about shopping for wine. I normally buy wine in the grocery store, a mission secondary to actual grocery shopping, and the experience is often cold, both literally and figuratively. In Fred Meyer, the wine section is sandwiched between refrigerated cases of Miller Genuine Draft and a shelving unit that offers both jugs of Carlo Rossi and donut holes. A far cry from the hills worth of grapes, warm glasses drunk by candlelight, and dashing European men we envision when we think about our ideal wine experience. The grocery store, instead, makes picking out a wine rather impersonal—rows of chilly bottles stare indiscriminately at you and it’s very rare that one jumps out and says buy me.  

And so, a few days ago, I had the rare and lovely experience of stumbling upon a beautiful wine store. Tucked into an odd part of town I rarely visit, next to a bookstore and a burrito place, was Sundance Wine Cellars. Walking in, I was struck by the bright room, filled with afternoon light… and then I noticed the aisles worth of wine. An employee that greeted me warned me not to get overwhelmed, as if it was a common ailment that happened to all wine lovers that came inside. And it turned out to be a very good warning as I found myself instantly lost and rather stricken in the rows and rows of beautiful bottles. In bright, unfinished wood boxes, the wines beckoned quietly. I found myself wandering through wine displays as if I was traveling through appellations and I couldn’t stop myself from touching the bottles. There were wines I knew and loved well, but there were so many that I’d never even heard of, and so the experience became one totally centered on traveling through this library of wine, instead of shivering in the center of an unhappy aisle.

In a happy wine bliss (and with two new wines to try), I had the good fortune to stumble upon an even more awe-inspiring wine shopping experience. Tucked in a tiny little room in downtown Eugene is a store called Authentica Wines. The high step into the store made me feel as if I was climbing into a new world. Against the wall were beautiful wine posters, one in black and white of a woman, a wine glass casting a shadow along her back, and along the floor were little crates full of wine. Inside the bright wood boxes were bottles of wine nestled in straw. Little pedestals and wrought-iron tables held tiny collections of bottles that glistened in the afternoon light filtering in high windows. White strands of Christmas lights hung lazily on the walls and around displays, giving the room an air of understated festivity—as if shopping for wine was a holiday in itself. And on each bottle, the proprietor had written the prices in a silver pen, barely noticeable, but so remarkably thoughtful that I couldn’t help but notice. As the proprietor recommended me a Rosé (the most beautiful Rosé I have ever seen), I noticed that every single wine in the store was beautiful in itself. There were no gaudy pictures, no harsh colors, no vivid or jagged lettering on the labels, only absolutely stunning bottles of wine.

I left the store with my heart tight. There is quite possibly nothing I love more than beautiful things, except maybe wine—and this store brought the two together. I suppose that I am trying to suggest that wine shopping should, unless in the case of a dire emergency, be a beautiful perusal instead of a harried, chilly grocery shopping experience. Most cities, wine-enlightened or not, have wine or liquor boutiques where buyers take great time to know the wine merchants, growers, and drinkers. And those buyers take time to find wines that you’ll love. It makes an amazing difference. So find a wine boutique or wine store close to you and support someone who loves wine just as much as you do. 

A Brave New World

I’m back in Oregon, after a very quick month at the Denver Publishing Institute, and it’s nice to be in a place that has clouds and living grass. Though my days, for the past three weeks, have been filled with fruitless job searching/applying/begging, I did arrive home to my birthday gifts: two Riedel wine glasses and two coupons for the wine(s) of my choice. My excessively heavy suitcases still in the car, my boyfriend and I stopped by Fred Meyer to find a New World wine (either a cabernet sauvignon or merlot) that would best compliment my new glasses. We settled on a bottle of Joel Gott 815 Cabernet Sauvingon from California. Because it was a special occasion and Ben had been so generous (naïve?) as to put a $20 per bottle ceiling on the wine coupon, I splurged… well, I guess he splurged. I had this wine last Thanksgiving with my family, at the recommendation of a local wine shop, Grapes, in Hawaii, and I’d remembered it as being extremely good. I suppose that writing that $16.99 for a bottle of wine is a splurge affirms my current income-less state, but this wine even tastes spendy. 

In order to prove that my recent wine accoutrement accumulation was worth it, I taste-tested this wine with a various cast of glasses and with and without my aerator. I first tasted the wine in a small wine glass not designed to enhance a red wine; second, I then aerated it in that same glass and tasted it; and third, I aerated the wine and drank from the new glasses. The difference was extremely noticeable. The first glass left something to be desired. I felt as if the wine needed to be swirled in the glass or left open on the counter so that the bouquet could open. The wine tasted too simple for a cabernet. After aerating the wine, in the second step, the nose was distinct with scents of cherry, and the tannins were stronger upon the swallow. When I used my new glasses, specifically designed for cabernets, the wine tasted exactly as a cabernet should. It opened with a light taste of cherry and was followed by notes of cedar (the cedar notes were made evident only in the final test). The long finish was extremely smooth with structured tannins and a hint of acidity.

Though I went through this tasting process, this wine never tasted too sharp or undeveloped. I'm pretty sure that it'd taste great even in a coffee mug as long as you let it breathe for a bit. This wine was exceptionally smooth and embodied the best elements of a cabernet—full-bodied, hints of berry and with noticeable tannins on the long finish. The bouquet and mouth-feel were much more complex than a merlot, but the smoothness and light notes of fruit made it much more drinkable than a zinfandel or even a malbec. So if you have any hesitations about this varietal, give the Joel Gott a try and you'll be an instant convert. I'd recommend this wine to everyone and anyone. 

Have any suggestions for a wine to taste, try and love? Leave me a comment and I’ll see what I can do!

Aerating away

I recently posted about the genius invention that is the Riedel wine glass… I think I also might have mentioned that it was my one-day-dream to own one (or two?). Luckily for me, my entire family not only reads my wine blog but also observes my birthday. And so, broke and 22, I now own two Vinum Extreme Cabernet glasses. I’m pretty sure that this is the perfect example of when taste outstrips means. Regardless, Riedel’s Vinum Extreme line was designed specifically for New World wines. I chose this particular set because I am a big drinker of West Coast reds, primarily Cabernet and Merlot. Because I’m in Denver right now and suitcase is not the best storage facility for leaded crystal, the wine glasses are waiting for me back in Eugene, yet to be tried. I am counting down the days until I get back.

Along with my future Riedels, I got another wine accessory I’ve been dying to own: the Vinturi red wine aerator. Pouring your wine through an aerator fills it with air (evidenced by the tiny bubbles that cover the surface of your wine post-pour) and, as a result, it tastes fuller and smoother. Infatuated by my new, gorgeous aerator, I decided to open a bottle of wine and revel in the wine-y goodness of my birthday. The bottle I opened was a 2007 La Yunta Tinto blend from Mendoza, Argentina. Composed of 49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Malbec and 16% Bonarda, this wine was $9.99 and came with a “great Argentina blend” recommendation. I didn’t quite agree with the “great” part of the recommendation, but the wine was passable. Pre-Vinturi-pour it smelled and tasted rather bland, but post-aeration (and you can tell the aerator is working as it gurgles happily), the smells and tastes of this blend opened up. I could taste cherry notes most strongly, but the wine had a lackluster finish. There was no aha! I love this wine moment. And my tastebuds were left wanting more of the smooth Cabernet finish and Malbec spiciness.

Though the La Yunta was somewhat disappointing, I completely recommend the Vinturi, or any other aerator you can find. In Making Sense of Wine, Matt Kramer explains that “the conventional wisdom about wines needing to breathe involved younger red wines of an earlier era. The fact is that many red wines made before, say, the 1960s, or even later, were crudely produced. They often offered off aromas deriving from old barrels or casks, or badly kept barrels or casks…sometimes they will ‘blow off’ when the wine is left exposed to oxygen for a period of time” (182). This "blowing off" was achieved by decanting wines, allowing them to sit out for a few hours for oxygenation. However, Kramer suggests that “the real oxygenation of the wine occurred in the process of pouring the wine from the bottle to the decanter” (183) – hence the modern aerators. For a range of aerators: Vinturi ($40), The Rabbit ($30), Wine Enthusiast Aerating Funnel Screen ($30), Glass Wine Flavor Enhancer ($20).

Stay tuned for more wine-snobbery as I hunt for a fuller, more pleasing wine!

Getting Started

Standing in the Fred Meyer wine section this evening witnessing my desire for a bottle of wine overcome my evident unemployment, I was struck by the intense need to start a wine blog. The search for good wine on a budget can be tedious, frustrating, and, on occasion, a great waste of money (like the time I discovered I didn't care for Shiraz by buying two bottles at the recommendation of the in-store wine guy). Having recently graduated from college with little but a box of red wine glasses to my name, I feel well equipped to address the ever-pertinent question: Is this a good bottle of wine? Due to limited resources I'll be focusing primarily on wines under $20, more often under $15 and usually around $10. I'm primarily a red-drinker (Merlots, Malbecs and Cabernet Sauvignon top the favorites list), but I'll also look for some great whites since it is summer after all.