Merlot

I used to really not like merlot. I'm not sure why. Perhaps because it has a somewhat unique (to me) taste. I don't know what changed things, but I find merlot works for me more and more. 

Last night I made mahi mahi and went to my newly purchased holiday wine case* to see what might best accompany the fish.

*Every year, a local wine store offers a special holiday wine case, which is twelve bottles for $149. It always includes a bubbly, a dessert wine, and then a mix of red and white. This year's case offered a prosecco as the bubbly (score!), and a port (whoohoo!) - as far as bubblies and dessert wines go, those are my favorites. Then, the red/white mix was heavy on the red, which also suits my taste. The case just had the perfect mix for me, and is such a great price. Plus, it comes with a description of each wine as well as a pairing recommendation.

To my surprise, the bottle that was recommended to accompany fish was a merlot. Huh? A red? With fish?

The description said that the fats in the fish can stand up well to the strong flavors of merlot. The description was right.

I'm enjoying a lovely merlot from Washington State called Red Diamond. The description at Total Wine is at the bottom of this post. The best part about it? It retails for - get this - $6.97. That's right. I did quite the double take when I saw that, because this does not taste like a cheap wine at all. I would happily give this as a gift or serve it to guests.

Yay for merlot! (and, one of the distrinctive flavors of merlot is chocolate, so how exactly did I not like this before?)

Washington- This Merlot opens with a beautifully knit blackberry, cherry and spice scented nose with a toasty oak background. Sweet fruit on the palate is complemented by medium-bodied but firm tannins.

I am the special occasion.

Several years ago, I wrote an article for a local magazine about local wine shops. I disctinctly remember one of the wine consultants talking about how women tend to buy cheap bottles to drink now and nicer bottles to give as gifts or save for a special occasion. She liked to tell her clients that, "you ARE the special occasion."

She is so right. Ever since, I have reminded myself of that every time I open a bottle that cost a little more than I might usually spend, or that I'm not sure I can finish before it turns into vinegar 

If I wait until I have someone else available with whom to share a bottle, months could go by before I try something new. So, I open a bottle whenever I feel like having a glass of wine, I use my trusty wine stopper to get a good three to four days (sometime a week) out of it, and I make no apologies.

After a recent milestone, when I graduated from a very long graduate school program that was fraught with stress and disappointment, one of my gifts was a care package of sorts from my friend Jane. It contained a bottle of wine, a cranberry scented candle (that is crackling as I write this), a box of godiva chocolates (!!!), and this:

That's right, it's a hand painted wine glass that says things like, "I'm awesome," "Cheers to me," and "I deserve it!"

RIght on! I AM awesome. I DO deserve it. And lest you think I am being conceited, I feel I should share that when I was growing up, for a long time, I was awkward and out of sorts. I was teased horribly as a kid. I spent many years with very low self esteem. So to be able to proudly say heck yeah, I rock! is a big deal for me. 

I supposed this really isn't a post about wine, but enjoying this glass of merlot tonight and using this glass remind me of just how far I have come in life, on a personal level. I am happy with who I am, with the life I have made for myself, even with all of the mistakes and missteps. I still kick ass. 

Par-tay

I'm having a party. It's kind of a big deal. All of my favorite people are coming. They are gathering to help me celebrate a milestone. Kind souls have been asking what they can bring to contribute. I have waved them off; I would really like to treat them to a nice evening as a completely inadequate, yet totally heartfelt gesture of thanks for their friendship and support over the years.

Today I went beverage shopping. My problem is that I have no clue how to gauge quantities when purchasing beverages for 40 or so people. I looked it up online, but the estimates I found (that each guest will drink 2-4 drinks per hour?!) seem grossly exaggerated. I will generally have 2 or so drinks over the course of the evening. Maybe three if I don't have to drive. Most of my friends are the same way, and the few who might have more will be balanced out by the few who will have less.

That still leaves me without knowing with any confidence if I have purchased enough.

Here is what I have so far:

• one mixed case of wine (three pinot noir, three red blend, three sauv blanc, three chardonnay)
• eight bottles of bubbly (prosecco)
• three cases of beer (one full case of yuengling, one mixed case of sam adams, one mixed case of harpoon)
• three cases of bottled water

I will be adding various bottles of regular and diet soda. My friend Irene, who has graciously offered to open her home as the locale for the party, is also making iced tea, punch, and coffee.

That seems like a lot to me, but I constantly second guess myself. I would hate to run out, or to make my guests feel like there isn't enough to enjoy without feeling guilty. 

Here is what my haul so far (plus a few bags of paper goods) looks like:

When in doubt...

According to Glamour magazine, when in doubt on what wine to choose, look for a Sauvignon blanc from New Zealand or an Oregon Pinot noir. 

A wine store is not a wine store

I needed a bottle of wine. I have a dear friend who loves prosecco. Tomorrow we're getting together to watch a movie. He's ordering the pizza, I'm bringing the bubbly.

My favorite wine store was an hour and a half drive from work, so that was out. I asked a coworker if there were any wine stores in her neighborhood, which happens to be the neighborhood right next to my job. She recommended this one. She also admitted that she didn't know much about wine.

I got to the store and loved that as soon as I walked in, there were baskets and shopping carts. These folks know their clientele. They had several wines on a display up front, each with a short description of the wine. Great. It was crowded, so rather than bump elbows with people, I asked a cashier to point me towards the prosecco. She said that, if I wanted, she could call over an associate to walk me there and make a recommendation. Great! I was loving this store more and more.

My new best friend came over immediately. He zeroed right in on a particular bottle, saying it was the "most interesting" prosecco he had tried. Those are the magic words for me when it comes to wine, so I not only bought it, I had it gift wrapped. They will gift wrap any bottle for you for FREE. Heck, I may have every bottle gift wrapped from now on.

The cashier wrapped the bottle up in nice shiny cellophane and tied some multicolored ribbons onto it.

I then did a little more wandering, and was disappointed to discover that the rest of the store did not have the helpful descriptions that the display up front did. And I really didn't care to wander the place with my new buddy. I like browsing on my own. I realized quickly that the reason my favorite wine shop is my favorite wine shop is because of the helpful descriptions of each bottle. Those little write ups haven't steered me wrong yet. Just grabbing a bottle off the shelf is a crapshoot, and more often than not, I end up wasting money on wine I don't like.

I ended up choosing a bottle of zinfindel from that display. It had a nice description, and sounded like something I would like.

Girl, Junot It's True

There is a wine flight at Red, Red, Wine Bar called "girl, Junot it's true," and it is fantastic. There was a Cabernet franc/merlot blend, a temperanillo, and a grape that I had never heard of before, but which was lovely. The wines were all distinctive, yet there was a nice cohesion in that each was a rich, bright red, with noticeable notes of spice, cinnamon, chocolate. 

Now I need to go look up Junot.

That is my lovely trio, above. Each wine is placed on top of a description of that wine. Here is the description for the cab blend: 

Sangria

And sometimes I drink my wine with a straw. 

Lynne and I went to Red, Red Wine Bar for lunch today and decided that it may not seem very wine snobby but we wanted sangria. It came in a high ball glass, on the rocks, with a straw. The wine was Zinfandel, which I never would have thought of as a sangria wine, but it held up really well to the citrus and fruit flavors that had been added. It was the perfect accompaniment to our Mediterranean pizzas, which came with roasted red peppers, spinach, goat cheese, and entire cloves of roasted garlic. Yum. 

Monday Funday

My favorite wine store sends out an email blast every Monday about a particular wine they have on sale that week. Since I typically have Mondays off, it's not unusual for me to schedule work on my car for a Monday. The shop is right down the street from the wine store. They have free wifi so I can check my email easily while I wait for my car. You see where this is going. 

This week I did not have to take my car in, but I did get the email and I was able to stop by today. This week's offering is an Oregon Pinot noir, described as a "sleek red, with delicate layers of cherry, tobacco, and cocoa flavors." Wine spectator gave it 90 points, which is exceptionally rare for a Pinot noir at this price (usually $23.99, on sale until it's gone at $15.99). 

I enjoy a nice Pinot noir and this shop hasn't let me down with their wines of the week yet. I picked up a bottle of that and a nice Australian Riesling while I was there (Australia makes Riesling. Who knew?).

I will enjoy them both in good time.

Relax

There is a meme floating around on Facebook that I saw today that sums up my feelings on coffee and wine. It says something about how coffee helps me deal with difficult people and wine helps me accept when I can't. You get the idea. I got to thinking about how different a person I am now that I drink coffee and wine. The beverages aren't the catalyst for change, but they are symbolic of who have I become over these last few years. Up until about five years ago, I was married. During that time in my life, if I drank coffee at all, it was decaf, and I barely touched wine. I liked coffee, but was worried that the caffeine would trigger the migraines I had as a kid. I liked wine, but my then husband didn't, and I couldn't bring myself to drink a glass or two out of a bottle and then pour the rest down the drain, nor could I stand restaraunt markups. 

Then, we separated, and it went through a phase of eating and drinking whatever I wanted, health and cost be damned. One night I actually ate an entire six pack of Hershey bars. 

I started enjoying regular lattes and realized that, since I didn't drink coffee as a child, those migraines were most likely not caused by caffeine. I started going to wine tastings and developing my own preferences. I learned about wine stoppers, and how they can help me get through an entire bottle of wine over the course of a week, so I neither have to overindulge or pour money down the drain. 

Coffee is now my friend. I drink the regular stuff with nonfat milk most mornings. Wine is lovely, and, restaurant markup be damned, I order a glass or two with a meal if I want to. I'm paying, in part, for the dining experience, so I may as well enjoy it. 

I put a bottle of wine in the fridge a few days ago and then didn't feel well for a while, so I didn't open it until tonight. I was on my feet for most of the day and so I'm tired and just wanted to relax, watch tv, and eat something easy and yummy. I picked up some red lentil chipotle hummus and multi grain chips on my way home, and opened that bottle. And I sat here and thought about how diffrperent I am now. I am certain in my likes and dislikes, and finally feel like myself. 

Slovenian Weedkiller

One of my favorite wine stores has a bargain section that the staff introduced me to on my latest visit. I always got so hung up lolling around in the Pinot Noirs that I never perused the dark stacked-up shelving at the back of the store. That's where they stockpile the "3 for $25" bottles. I began my visit upset because I couldn't find "Stray Dog" Pinot Noir, a really nice pick that my husband found for me earlier this summer. I asked the staff about it and was told they had lost the distributor for it. (aka: "It's DEAD, and you'll never get to drink it again.")  Sensing my sadness, the staff suggested I could look through the bargain bottles since Stray Dog had gone for such a reasonable price. I wasn't terribly enthused as I looked around, but then recognized a really nice Sauvingon Blanc that I had drank at a party. I chose that one, and figured I would pick two reds to round out my $25 and could have blog fodder, if nothing else.

I have been searching the past few days for just the right word to describe the Slovenian Pinot Noir I tried. Then, I found it tonight while reading reviews: WEEDKILLLER. The Pinot Noir made by Avia is just dreadful. It's not at the very bottom, as I have yet to drink anything worse than the body odor wine mentioned in an earlier post. But, it's just one rung above. It tasted suspect on the first sip. I remember thinking, "Funny...Pinot Noir shouldn't taste carbonated." And, truly, it wasn't like drinking a soda, and it wasn't bubbly, but there was something day-old-Coke about it. The wine store staff tried to sell me on it by claiming Slovenia was located *just* so very near some famous wine regions, and that somehow that vine cred hopped the border and brought something lovely to this wine. The lovely wasn't there. I couldn't finish the bottle, and was glad the cheap price tag allowed me to end the experiment early and toss it down the sink.

Message in a bubble

Last night I stopped in to one of my favorite restaurants, Red Red Wine Bar, on Main Street in Annapolis. They have a fantastic wine menu, very reasonable pricing, and even offer wines on tap! (It's the weirdest thing to see.)

I was in a bubbly kind of mood, so I tried a wine flight called "Message in a Bubble." The wine on the left is a prosecco, which was my favorite. Not too sweet, it had a nice fruity, citrusy flavor. It was very bright and flavorful. According to the info that came with it, that particular prosecco was a favorite of Charles De Gaulle, former president of France. 

The one in the middle is a cava, which is a Spanish bubbly, and was the closet to champagne of the three, which explains why it was also my least favorite of the three. Champagne is almost always made of Chardonnay grapes, which are not my favorite. This selection had that dry, buttery flavor typical of champagne/Chardonnay, so while it was still pleasant, it was not my top choice.

The third was a rose, mostly Merlot but with a few other grapes blended in. That was a nice dry offering, probably very refreshing on a hot day. 

Overall, enjoying three different bubbles side by side was delightful. It was fun to try to decide if I wanted to take a sip from each and rotate through them or if I would enjoy each one individually and then move on the the next (first I did the former, then switched to the latter to finish them off). 

Cashmere

Not too long after I defended my dissertation, my dear friend Tina and her significant other Dan treated me to a fabulous Italian meal. As I perused the wine list, I was trying to select something different and interesting and that would somehow complement a variety of appetizers and flavors. One of the wines that the waitress recommended is a red blend called "Cashmere" by Cline winery. She said it was difficult to describe, that it had a distinct taste and was unique, and that everyone who tried it liked it. Sold.

She was right, the red is bright and hearty but not too tannic, and while the label does not say which grapes are blended in, it does describe the wine as a "lusciously bodied blend with easy, earthy undertones, flavors of cherries, raspberries, chocolate and hints of plums leading to a smooth, long finish."

(Now, WHY, when I try to describe a wine, is the best I can do along the lines of, "I liked it, it was good," when the winery can describe a wine like the above and then I read it and think YES, I agree with all the things!

Why didn't the cherry and chocolate notes make them known to me on my own? I can clearly taste them.

Ah, well. I tracked down the winery and ordered a bottle to keep at home and I just opened it a few minutes ago. I am enjoying a glass while I catch up on emails and smell the beef stew simmering on the stove.

Cryptic

Um. Yes, please. It's a nicely structured, medium bodied red. Great for sipping on these the not-quite-yet fall evenings.

Cabernet Sauvignon, ???, Zinfandel 

What's the one in the middle?

Dangerously Drinkable

The pinot noir that Hob Nob makes is Dangerously Drinkable. Here's why:

The liquor store that sells it is in a most convenient location on my way home from work, right off the main drag. Easy in, easy out, no stoplights, no interruptions or delays.

It costs $9.00. A wine under $10 feels practically free, so I experience zero financial guilt. You can't even buy a decent-sized pizza for $9.00.

It's very, very smooth with no alarming after-tastes or weird stinging on the tongue. It's literally one of those goes-with-everything wines. I also deem it a good party wine, as it seems likely to offend very few.

So far (and luck be with me!) I have experienced not a single negative physical side-effect from this wine. My wine punishments always occur the following day, but with this one I haven't been stumbled by a headache, or experienced that awful lingering nausea. Nothing at all! So, it's lovely drinking it, and there's a happy satisfaction the next day rather than regret. (Granted, this is with stopping at two glasses. If I drink a whole bottle of pretty much anything, there is projectile vomiting involved. Always.)

All of these beneficial factors make this a Dangerously Drinkable wine in my book because I can't think of a single reason NOT to drink it. Therefore, I'll keep drinking it a lot.

http://www.hobnobwines.com/

No good story...

I ordered a salad of arugula, fennel, goat cheese, grilled shrimp*, and lemon vinaigrette. I asked the waiter for a wine recommendation. I was trying to decide between a Riesling and a Pinot Grigio. He suggested the Riesling, saying that you always want your wine just a bit sweeter than your food, otherwise you get overpowered by the acid. An acidic wine with a citrus vinagrette would throw off the food/wine balance. I took his advice and was very happy with his suggestion, and with that salad. 

*i did order the shrimp. The salad came out with chicken. No offense to the chicken, but I really wanted those shrimp, which came out soon after. 

Likes and dislikes

When in doubt, I enjoy a nice red blend.

I found this one recently, and bought it on a whim. It consists of 40% merlot, 20% cabernet sauvignon, 20% bonarda argentina (no clue what that is), and 15% malbec. It had a really nice smooth flavor, with the heavy, strong cab and malbec flavors balancing out the more mellow merlot. When in doubt, if I choose a red blend, I am usually happy with the result.

I am the opposite when it comes to chardonnay. I can drink just about anything and like it fine, but in general, if I'm not sure what to get and want to try something new, I do not reach for chardonnay. It tends to be not quite dry, not quite fruity, not quite right. I have found one that I find acceptable and can actually drink without thinking "blech," and that's this one:  I opened it to have with that gorgeous roast chicken and it paired nicely. It was fine. I would be happy to serve that wine to guests, especially guests who like chardonnay. But at $50 a bottle, I don't see myself buying it very often when there are so many other wines out there that I like so much better.

Shenendoah Wine Country

I took my four-year-old son hiking in Shenandoah National Park this past weekend. It was vigorous, beautiful, sweaty, green and rocky and intense. It was nothing like the hiking that we normally do on the flat Eastern Shore trails at Tuckahoe State Park and Pickering Creek. It was foreign in layout and design. The trails were full of massive, sharp rocks, seeming at once threatening and yet acting as benevolent memory markers constantly proclaiming: You are not Home. You are Away. Breathe it in, carry it with you. We drove Skyline Drive to mile marker 49.4, where we stopped to park off the road. We crossed over to the junction of a horse trail and a vehicle fire trail, and checked our map to see which would bring us quickest to Rose River Falls. My son has a brave, adventurous heart, but, alas, he is only four with short little legs, so I have to temper his bravery with common sense. Were I on my own, I would have hiked the entire four-mile-plus circuit trail, but with my little guy, we opted for the two-mile-plus trail that took us down and back along the same strip. We hiked down, down, down with my knees complaining painfully but silently most of the way. I ignored it, as I always do since I love hiking more than thinking about knee pain. We heard the traveling water some time before we saw it. We stopped in the forest, we listened intensely, and heard the whisper grow fuller and louder with each step closer to the source. The falls were gentle, despite their noise. They were composed of multiple runs over small breaks, moving quickly over the sharp and slippery rocks in the stream. We followed along on the bank, then moved in closer where the vegetation broke. We stood watching, just inches from the stream. My son, always rule-bound, announced, "We can't go in the water. We can just look." When I replied with, "Says who?", he nearly fell over with shock and anticipation. We stripped off socks and shoes, and tiptoed into the cold water.

The next day, rested from our strenuous post-Falls hike back up the mountain (and our embarrassing collapse into the stream that resulted from climbing on the slippery rocks!), we were ready for something quiet and calm. I explained to my son that, as with his toys, life experiences sometimes require the taking of turns. We had done several things on our trip that he wanted to do, and now I wanted to visit a vineyard for a wine tasting. It was time to take turns. He understood this logic, if grudgingly, so we headed off to Cave Ridge Vineyards in Mount Jackson, VA. We had passed three highway signs for vineyards during the day, and chose Cave Ridge merely for proximity. I entered the property with high hopes. The view was stunning. It was, again, that perfect, welcome reminder: You are not Home. You are Away.

There was live music playing as we squeezed into the last available parking spot in the lot. Besides two bored-looking 10-year-oldish boys breaking sticks at the edge of the lot, there were no children around. I felt a guilty twinge, wondering if I were breaking some kind of Good Parenting law by dragging my preschooler to a winery. I ignored it, and we walked across the courtyard into the tasting room. I celebrated the lone chair sitting strangely in the middle of the room, and situated my son into it with his Nintendo DS. (THIS is why we bought him that gadget, I thought! To give us the occasional much-needed grownup reprieve!) He clicked it on, and I walked happily to the bar with the muted sounds of electronic lightsaber zappings chattering from his chair. 

Cave Ridge had a wonderful array of wines to sample in their Standard Tasting that included five whites and four reds. Nine wines for the sweet fee of six dollars! There was an option to throw in four more for an extra two dollars, but that niggling bit of parental shame wouldn't allow me to go quite that far, and then drive us home on the bouncing, steep mountain roads. I stuck with the nine sampler, and found that several of the whites were stunning. The reds just weren't my style. They were spicy and peppery with notes much too strong for my taste. The whites, however, were just the kind I like: sweet but dry, not too sweet, not too bland. The big winner was the Traminette. It was devine! Just slightly sweet, just slightly dry, not a true dessert wine but so perfect that it could double as dessert. Yet, it could pair up with cheeses just fine, too. It tasted like summer nights on the back deck, moonlight over the trees. I bought a bottle for $15, and gathered up my son whose determined patience was wearing thin by that point. 

I'm saving up the Traminette for the last of summer in hopes of reviving that feel, that place, that time away. 

http://caveridge.com/shop/traminette

Dessert wines and cat pee

That's right, I said cat pee.

I drank a delightful dessert wine recently. "Dessert wines" tend to be higher in alcohol content than regular wines, with a thicker, almost-but-not-quite syrupy thickness, and a sweet taste.

This one also looked pretty: See? That golden color is just lovely. The wine tasted as rich as it looked. It was sweet but not too sweet. It was a really lovely, refreshing sipping wine. I also had no idea what sauternes was (is), so I looked it up. This particular wine is (rather aptly) described as: Early apricots, honeycomb, orange butter combine across an intricate palate woven with zippy minerality and lemon curd.

Yum, right? Right.

This wine is also made primarily from sauvignon blanc grapes. I found a web page that described sauv blanc like this:

Sauvignon Blanc

Few varietals have spawned as bizarre a list of descriptors as Sauvignon Blanc. Believe it or not, “cat pee” is in fact a complimentary tasting note, associated with some of the best bottlings. (It’s a somewhat odd way of pointing out herbaceousness in the wine.) Cat pee aside, Sauvignon Blanc (sometimes called "Fumé Blanc" in California) is a bit of a chameleon in terms of style, and quite...

 I'm sorry, what was that now? Olives I can handle. Olives I can maybe even appreciate. But CAT PEE?

And you see the part of that quote that says, "cat pee aside..."? I'm sorry, but there is no "aside." There is nothing after "cat pee." NOTHING.

Pinotage

I bought a bottle of pinotage not too long ago. I had never heard of this type of wine and figured I would give it a try.

South Africa is known for its pinotage wines, which are a cross between pinot noir and cinsaut (Cinsaut was known as "hermitage" in South Africa at one time, so the word pinotage is a cross between the pinot in pinot noir and hermitage).

Don't ask me what cinsaut is.

Other than a type of grape. Obviously.

According to the interwebs, pinotage "typically produces deep red varietal wines with smoky bramble and earthy flavors, sometimes with notes of bananas and tropical fruit, but has been criticized for sometimes smelling of acetone."

Yeah, I would criticize a wine, too, if it smelled like nail polish remover.

I opened this wine: 

And was nearly knocked over by the taste. At first I thought the wine might have gone bad, it was so ... weird. But then I realized that it wasn't bad, it just had this very unusual finish. I couldn't put my finger on what I was tasting.

I looked it up. Here is the description of this wine:

Good bright, dark red. Musky, soil-driven aromas and flavors of strawberry, black olive tapenade and chocolate. Supple and intense if a bit funky, with harmonious acidity framing and intensifying the mid-palate fruit. Very suave in texture but distinctly idiosyncratic in its flavors, although there's plenty of lurking red fruit here. Finishes with sweet tannins and a strong lingering olive element. You've been warned.

That's right, it said olives. OLIVES. Who expects a wine to taste like freaking olives?!?

So I took another sip. And another. And darn if that isn't exactly what I was tasting. I still think it's weird, but I'm glad I tried it.

Party Wines

One of the best things about parties with my wine-drinking friends is sampling the wine they bust out to share. I'm such a wine wussie because I hate blowing good money on bad wine. I tend to drink what I know and love at the expense of being predictable, boring and missing out on other good stuff. I don't usually trust the recommendations of wine shop staff because I can't accurately describe to them what I like and want. It's not their fault. They're perfectly qualified. It's my fault that I can't better verbalize beyond "something that won't trigger a gag reflex." I don't give them much to go on.

Occasionally, the wine fare at parties is quite poor and I find myself suspecting that my friends also sort their wines by "Not Likely to Share Because It's So Very Good" and "Put It Out Because Someone Got it For Me as a Gift and It's Bloody Awful." I had one of the bloody awfuls this summer that I swear smelled just like body odor, and tasted very nearly the same. Seriously, absolutely. I'm not a wine snob by any stretch, but I at least want to drink a wine that revs me up with a fragrant bouquet first. A good smelling wine is like the  crest of the hill on a rollercoaster---EEEEEEE, you're nearly there! But, to have the crest smell like a junior high boy who hasn't showered in a week, well, it can set the whole party off poorly. There are limits, people. Yes, I occasionally chuck the crappy wine out at a party, but there are limits. Body odor bouquet is that limit.

But, thankfully, not all summer parties have soured in such a way, as evidenced by my friend A.T's perfect wine she served a few weeks ago. Knowing little about wine except whether I like it or whether it sucks, I had never heard of a Monastrell. A.T. presented one made by Honoro Vera, and I'm certainly game for anything red, so I poured a cautious glass of it. After the first sip, I snatched up the bottle to make sure I got a hefty dose of it before the other party guests arrived! It was wonderful!! It's a varietal wine made of Spanish black-skinned grapes. When I researched this grape, I found that it also goes by the name, "Mourvedra," which I have actually heard of before, but not drank. It was smooth going down, with no snips and grimaces along the way. I'm not normally fond of peppery wines, but this was so subtle and balanced that I liked it quite well. It was lovely all on its own, and perfect with the grilled fare that A.T. was serving. It clashed with nothing! It was gone in an instant, and I was texting her the next day begging for the name of it again. Adding pleasure to pleasure: it sells for around $10!

https://thewinefeed.com/shop/honoro-vera-monastrell/#.UiU0oxzP9fM

Get a wine stopper. Go on. Go.

I used to rarely drink wine, mainly because I would only ever want a glass or two at a sitting, and since I had no one with whom to share the bottle, most of the wine would go to waste. I hate throwing away good wine.

I talked to wine shop staff, who recommended a vacuum wine stopper, like this one here. I was skeptical. I know that once oxygen gets to the wine, it starts to change the chemistry, and within a day or two, you have skunky wine that tastes suspiciously like vinegar. Ew.

But, I have found that by using the vacuum stopper AND by putting my vacuum stopped wine in the fridge overnight, I can get about a week out of a bottle. Perfect.

I'll be honest - by the end of the week the wine is definitely not as smooth and delicate, as nuanced, as it was when first opened. Also, I would recommend letting red wine come closer to room temp rather than drinking it straight out of the fridge (the optimal temperature for enjoying red wine is around 60 degrees, so you do want it a little cooler than room temp), but still, the last glass of a bottle can still be enjoyable after a few days in the fridge. Really. I swear.

I have noticed that the finer the wine, the better it keeps. The cheap $6-8 bottle doesn't hold up as well on day three as it did on day one. But, I have an easier time pouring half a $6 bottle of wine down the drain than I do a $20-30 bottle.

This past week, I opened this lovely pinot noir. It was smooth, slightly chocolatey, and had a delicate mouth feel. And it lasted the whole darn week.

Keeping it classy

I'm finishing off the Chenin blanc I opened earlier in the week, accompanied by a bowl of cheez-its and an episode of Breaking Bad, while I work on a new cross stitch project. 

Because that's how I roll, people.

Wet wool? Lead pencil shavings? Really?

I'm not sure which is more odd - that descriptions of wines can include such flavors as wet wool or lead pencil shavings, or that those flavors actually work? I really would like to try a wine with notes of lead pencil shavings, just for the curiosity factor, except that description was for a very expensive wine ($100+) that I won't be trying any time soon. 

The wet wool is in a description of a wine that I have been enjoying over the last few days. It's one of the wines that I picked up on a whim not too long ago, based on the fact that a) it's South African, and I have yet to try a South African wine I didn't like, and b) the description included a note that there is an undercurrent of lychees, which I find intriguing,

The wine is lovely. I used to shy away from white wines but have lately been expanding my palate. I definitely taste a light citrus note as well as the promised lychees, though the wine is not overly sweet. It's crisp and refreshing. I do not, however, notice the taste of wet wool that is noticed in a review I found of this wine: http://www.klwines.com/detail.asp?sku=1125940

What's really interesting is that the same source that notes the wet wool taste also mentions a taste of lanolin, which 

is a substance naturally produced by sheep, who of course also produce the aforementioned

 wool. I wonder if the reviewer realizes this and also how he could possibly know what lanolin tastes like!

Birthday wine

This past week, a dear friend invited me to join in her birthday celebration. She chose a fabulous restaraunt: vin 909 in annapolis, md. I was the first in our party to arrive. The place is a former residence that has been converted to a restaraunt. Because it is on a street lined with homes and trees, and because the floor plan is still reminiscent if the site's previous incarnation, the setting is intimate. They have benches set up in a garden out front, and the weather was glorious, so I ordered a glass of rose and adjourned to the out of doors. One by one, the rest of our party arrived, and soon we were all holding, and sipping, generous pours of various wines. I don't recall the name of the wine I chose, but I remember vividly its deep pink color and the notes of strawberry in the finish. As the sun began set, we moved indoors, where we ate amazingly delicious things, such as a brick oven pizza with foie gras, shaved black truffles, peaches, and two kinds of cheese, accompanied by a skirt steak in Moroccan seasonings. 

Yeah, I know. It tasted as good as it looked. 

As the evening went on, another friend ordered a bottle of a montilpuciano that I had wanted to try, and he generously poured me a glass. 

By the end of the evening, everyone was smiling, I enjoyed a delicious butterscotch pudding, and we said goodnight, but not until after the birthday girl blew out the candle on her pot de creme.

Gnarley

I live in Maryland. Growing up, whenever my parents wanted to buy beer or wine, they had to go to a liquor store. Alcohol could not be sold in grocery stores in my state. 

It still baffled me when I travel to a state that does sell alcohol in grocery stores. I don't quite know what to make of the awesome ability to purchase beer or wine along with your dinner groceries, without having to go to a different store.

Recently, I learned that not only can alcohol be sold in grocery stores in certain counties of Maryland, but it is available in a drugstore here in my county. I'm still baffled by this and need to investigate the actual Maryland beer and wine laws. In the meantime, a good friend gave me a bottle of one of her favorite wines from the local Rite Aid. That sounds cheesy, except a) I'm so taken with the fact that wine is available in a local drug store, and b) it's a really good wine! 

Gnarly Head merlot is quite good. It has a rich, almost chocolatey flavor without being sweet, and it's a full bodied wine that holds up well to foods with strong flavors. I enjoyed a glass alongside pizza with onions, mushrooms, and jalapeño peppers and this wine did just fine. 

Not to be shared

My family recently hosted a graduation party for me, and one of my gifts was a bottle of Sauvignon blanc from my sister's mother-in-law. When i opened the gift, she said that it is the wine that she doesn't open to share, but rather keeps all to herself. She also gave me a set of wine accessories, including a vacuum pump, vacuum seals, and these neat wine pourers. 

See the little attachment that is in the top of the wine bottle? Using that I can pour a glass of wine (or, ahem, three) without spilling or having some dripping down the side of the bottle. It's genius. 

I really enjoyed the wine. The predominant flavor to me was citrus. I just do not have the wine vocabulary yet to come up with anything other than "citrus." I looked the wine up online and found descriptions using words like "lavender," "fruity," "thyme," "dry-yet-fruity," and a "terse, stone fruit and mineral finish." Yes, to all of that. I will be very happy when I can come up with such descriptions on my own, without looking anything up. 

Cupcake Malbec

The first thing I notice about Cupcake Vineyards' Malbec is the amazing color. It is THE Wine Red. When I go hunting around CVS for a deep red nailpolish to make my toenails look colorful but professional, THIS is the color I'm searching for. And, looking at a full glass of this stuff, I understand why Revlon calls my favorite nail color, "Forbidden." It looks taboo, a bit evil, a bit like a chalice of blood. It's the darkest wine I've seen in awhile. It could also be that it looks so especially dark sitting on the lacquered white play-table chair that belongs to my son. (Seriously, can we get a coffee table now?)

When I take in a long sniff from the top of the glass, I swear I smell chocolate. The dark color certainly makes me think of a rich 80% dark chocolate, so maybe there's some weird brain interference, but I really smell something chocolately. The taste is full, with a nice zing as I swallow. It's more powerful than that Robert Mondavi Pinot Noir from earlier in the week, but I don't feel like I need food to temper it. It's perfectly nice all on its own. Which, honestly, is my favorite way to drink wine. I certainly won't turn down wine with dinner, but it's become my grownup dessert these days, even preferable to actual dessert-dessert. The zing at the swallow is not overpowering. It's not like some reds I have tried that literally make me involuntarily cringe. It's just a zippy tail, after a smooth entrance. I can see how this would mix well with other grapes to make a nice blend.

This would go well in good company, in the twilight evening. Why doesn't anyone bring Malbec to parties? This is a nice after-party wine, after food wine, kicking back after the kids are asleep wine. I paid $16 for it, but wonder if I could get it cheaper elsewhere. After comparing prices on several of the Safeway wines, I'm starting to think they jacked prices up in preparation for the 10-cent sale. I wonder if this one is normally $8 elsewhere? (Though, honestly, it seems worth the $16.)

Meatball Sauce

I caved. I grabbed my flipflops, ran out to Safeway and snatched up two bottles of the Robert Mondavi Pinot Noir, for 3-bucks-off each bottle! My earlier blog post just induced such visceral memories of its splendour. Turns out the whole wine section was littered with sale tags of all different deals, including several wines that were still on that Buy One Get One for 10-cents special. I contemplated these two listed below, but didn't buy either. (The sale runs through August 20th, so I figured I'd do some Googling when I got home to aid in my discount selection.)

Cupcake Vineyards Malbec (I have no idea what a Malbec is.)
Barefoot Wines Pinot Noir

I looked up the Barefoot first. I have never tried their wines, but they seem to show up at parties often. The cheap price and cheesy label keep me from ever trying them. If I had any doubt, though, this page settled it. If the wine can be used to make a Meatball Sauce, it's probably not the wine I'm looking for.

Off to read up about the Malbec. I'm not throwing away my ten cents on just anything.

Feeding Someone Else's Baby

The wine I need this evening, but don't have, is Robert Mondavi's Private Selection Pinot Noir.
Click here to see the pretty bottle.

I know nothing about the "alluvial soil" you'll read about in the maker's review, or whether it being from California means anything at all. Here is what I know about it:

I got one bottle for 10 cents during the most amazing grocery store alcohol sale ever. I paid $18.99 for the full-price bottle I was obligated to buy in order to get the 10-cent bottle.

It's light in color, which makes it look a little wimpy. That deceptive color, combined with the very smooth drinkable quality, might trick you into thinking it's a lightweight and you can handle the whole bottle on your own. But, halfway through, you'll start to feel the late tipsy kick-in. Just when you thought you were still fully functional, things start weaving slowly, your motions echoing a moment after their conclusion. That winds down slowly to a heavy settling later, perfect for crashing into bed and waking for very little.

It causes little in the way of the annoying stuffy nose problem I frequently experience with red wine, which has something to do with histamines. Red wine causes me all sorts of unpleasant allergic side effects such as stuffy nose, a flushed-red face, nausea and ripping headaches, but I still really enjoy it. I find that cutting myself off at two reasonable-sized glasses can help limit these problems, but I'm not immune to finishing off a whole bottle with a group of friends. (My level of maturity in the presence of joviality can be quite low.)

Despite my love of good company, I should note that I also classify this bottle as "Not Likely To Share."If you come over, there's almost a guaranteed chance I'll be stashing it behind my son's lunchbox on top of our fridge, and serving up something else to you.

During solitary drinking, and possibly doing some kind of chore, I find that that this wine goes quite well with Black Keys, Brothers.

I'm wishing I had a bottle of this with me tonight, and peeved that I actually have no wine at all, because I just found a home for my breast pump, and could use a little alcoholic comfort. I used my pump years ago during the 18 months that I nursed my son. I didn't actually need it since I brought my son to the office with me for 14 of those months. I used the pump anyway because I was always so worried that my body couldn't possibly be sufficient for my baby's needs. Of course, it surely was, but pumping that extra milk that I froze and then donated to mothers who couldn't breastfeed allayed my fears, and nourished other babies besides. I have kept the pump, though my son is now nearly five years old, because breastfeeding was the closest thing to real magic in my life: the body that I thought I knew, and spent plenty of years loathing, changed literally overnight into the perfect thing my baby needed. I was enough, sufficient, capable, magical. That pump is one of my few solid links to that time, but I know it's selfish to keep it collecting dust when another family could make good functional use of it. I found a woman online in Indiana today who is expecting her fourth child and will rely on the pump to help her nourish her baby after she returns to work. I'm packing it up for her tonight, sending it away, and trying to remember that, instead of a machine, that bounding, healthy little boy of mine is really my best souvenir.

Chardonnay

Okay, I admit it: I don't like Chardonnay. I am just not a fan. I do not like my wine buttery or oaky. 

I hate to be one of those people who swears off an entire variety of grape, and I freely admit that sometimes, very occasionally, I find a Chardonnay that I don't think tastes like a combination of sawdust and melted butter. But for the most part, that's the grape that I avoid. 

I do try to keep an open mind, though. And I do enjoy other white wines, so when I had the opportunity to try a bottle that is a blend of Chardonnay, semillon (never heard of that one), Riesling, and Gewürztraminer I figured what the hey. This could be a good way to actually enjoy some Chardonnay: disguise it by blending it with other grapes! 

The result: eh. I still taste Chardonnay and I do not love it. It's fine, I'll finish the bottle, but I do wish I had a Riesling on hand instead. 

The description on the label: "Chardonnay and Semillon provide the body and silky mouthfeel, while Riesling and Gewürztraminer lend delicate fruit, floral, and spice notes. Mingle's slightly off dry finish makes it an excellent partner for a wide variety of hors d'oeuvres, spicy cuisine, and most Asian dishes."

Relaxing

After a massive heat wave in which I worked outside in 110 degree heat every day, today is an absolute gift. The high of the day was 80, the humidity is low, the sky is clear, there is a light breeze. 

I got home from work and thought I would go outside and DO something: go for a run, perhaps, or a bike ride. The I walked in the front door and realized how incredibly tired I am. I am doing what my old swim coach used to say and am listening to my body. I'm pooped. So I stead of running around like a crazy person and depleting my energy even more, I have parked my butt in my recliner in my living room, my windows are open, I can feel that wonderful breeze and smell the fresh air. I have my iPad in my lap, a magazine and my kindle nearby, and I poured the last of the monastrell that I opened earlier this week. 

This is a beautiful evening. 

Tarima Hill

I took my car in for an oil change on Monday. My mechanic is up the road from Annapolis Wine Cellars and while I was sitting in the waiting room, I received an email blast from them advertising a wine they just got in. It's the Tarima Hill monastrell. 

Monastrell is a Spanish grape and I don't know much about it other than I liked the one other Monastrell I have tried. But the wine was described as being an incredible bargain, costing only $15 a bottle at Wine Cellars, despite reviewers saying it tastes more like a $30-50 bottle. I immediately called and reserved two bottles. 

I opened one last night, and it is lovely. My immediate thought was that it has a nice smoky flavor, with subtle chocolate notes. It's very nice on its own, if you like a medium bodied red wine, which I do, but does not pair well at all with lemon gelato. I would say its more of a steak and potatoes wine than a dessert wine. 

I just enjoyed a glass while cooking a new recipe (chili rellanos), and it is fantastic.

Sadly, I can't say that about the rellanos.

Introductory

My first sip of wine, or alcohol-anything, came on my 21st birthday (because I'm just that kind of girl.) I was out for a birthday dinner with my boyfriend and favorite girlfriend, celebrating my transition to adulthood at a diner near my university. I had no idea what to order to toast the big day. The drinks list was short, but even then, it made little sense. I knew that beer smelled pretty bad, so I wanted nothing to do with it, but wine---well, at least it was pretty. I asked the disinterested waitress which wine should would recommend. She looked at me like I couldn't possibly be more awkward, more naive, more unprepared for adulthood. I could see her thinking, "Here? You want to party up your 21st birthday HERE? With a club sandwich?" (I tried out a real-true-actual Bar a few months later, and found it terrifying.) She looked over the drinks list with dismay, and after a very long pause she said, "Well...you could try the blush. It's mild, and pink, and sweet." Well, that certainly didn't sound like the Devil's Invitation to A Life of Depravity, so I agreed to it. It was all she promised, and bubbly, too.

It was awful.

Bargains in the barrel room

Years ago, I did some freelance writing for a local magazine. One month, my assignment was for a feature about local wine shops. I distinctly remember two things that I learned from a local wine expert:

1. Women tend to choose wines based on the label; and 

2. Don't hold into a special wine for a special occasion.  You ARE the special occasion. 

I am definitely guilty of number 1, mainly because most local shops are liquor stores, not wine shops, meaning they offer shelves full of bottles, usually arranged by region, and staff who know absolutely nothing about them. The only way to make a selection is to pick and choose at random, usually based on whatever I've had in the past that has been okay. This method has resulted in me wasting a lot of money on bad wine, or rather, on perfectly good wine that I just don't like. I couldn't even choose wines based on magazine or online reviews because inevitably, the local stores wouldn't have whatever it is I was looking for and I'd either have to drive around chasing it down at some inconvenient store three towns over, or give up and buy something else at random. I don't really care for either of those options. 

 Annapolis Wine Cellars has taken the guesswork out of choosing a wine. They have what they call their "barrel room," where there are always a dozen or so wines open for tasting. For free. With no obligation to buy. It's the coolest thing ever if you're like me and like to try new wines but don't feel like using the eeny-meeny-miney-mo method. They also have lots of wines available at bargain prices, and each one is accompanied by a really good description of the wine. They haven't steered me wrong yet. 

The barrel room. This is just a small portion of what they have to offer. 

My selections today, based on their recommendations. More on each individual wine as I taste them. I will say that all four of these wines only cost about $60 total, which is much better than what other boutique wine shops charge. 

My favorite wine

I can't believe that this is my favorite wine (right now): 

The reason I can't believe it is because its two things I don't often go for: sparkling and sweet. Yet holy cow is it good. I thought about stocking up and buying a case of it, except I like trying new wines more than I like drinking this particular wine, and I know if I buy a lot if this, I won't like it as much. It's just how I am. I'll get bored, want to try something new, but will feel obligated to drink my supply of this ONE thing. So instead, I buy it occasionally, and enjoy trying new things. 

But this wine is seriously good. 

Birthday wine

While wine typically is discussed in terms of pairing different varietals with different foods, I often pair a particular wine with a memory or a situation. 

Sometime last year (I think), a friend mentioned that for her 50th birthday she would like a great bottle of chianti. Just as her birthday was approaching, I received an email from a wine shop I frequent, advertising a chianti which had just arrived. I went right to the shop and asked for two bottles (one for my friend and one for me). The wine guy was excited that I was choosing that wine, saying how much he liked it. The email had gone out that morning, and by the time I got there several hours later, they had sold close to half of their supply. 

I opened my bottle that night and it really was good. I haven't had too many Italian wines so far, and the ones I have tried I haven't loved, so I was skeptical about this one. But it was a very nice, unassuming, not overly obnoxious wine. It was just the right balance of dry and fruity and was lovely all on its own.

I felt good about giving this wine as a gift. Today, that friend came to my house (about an hour and a half drive for her, each way), and made ME lunch ("pasta rustico" which was whole wheat linguini tossed with sautéed spinach, basil, garlic, and butter, and topped with parmesan cheese). We enjoyed the chianti, some crusty bread, and later on, two flavors of Haagen-daas gelato (lemon and salted caramel). The food was outstanding, but more than that, I now have a new memory pairing a lovely wine with a terrific afternoon and a great friend. 

This wine is a bargain at $12.99 a bottle!

The finishing touches for our lunch.