Happy Birthday to my favorite nephew Grant!
Love,
Uncle Turtle
Go ahead…OPEN IT!
Don’t miss out! The last Saturday in February the annual “Open That Bottle Night”, where you are encouraged to open that bottle of wine you have been holding for a special occasion. How many times have you found a bottle you were holding onto was and when you opened it, it was past it’s prime? You missed out…
Like I always say, “Wine is not just for special occasions, it makes any occasion special.” (Feel free to steal that one and use it…that’s probably how I came up with it!)
Cheers!
Dave
PS Leave me a note in the comments and let me know if you indeed opened a special bottle and what it was. Also tell us how it was!
2009 Chateau Les Barraillots from Margaux
I had a chance to taste some new wines from Bordeaux yesterday, from both 2009 and 2010. Obviously, they are just young pups in the wine world, and they were so closed up that I really couldn’t get a good feel for them at the time. So, in the name of research (see what I will do for you?) I revisited them again today.
Probably my favorite of the bunch, this wine hails from left bank of the Gironde River known as Haut-Medoc. The wine is a dark, clear ruby wine, with aromas of tobacco and cedar with a light touch of smoky vanilla. It reminds me of an Artur Fuente “Chateau Fuente” cigar, which comes in a thin cedar sleeve. The first taste is dark red fruit that becomes plum-like on the mid palette. The flavors are very pure, including the long raspberry liqueur-like finish. The wine features a nice firm tannin structure on the backside.
Rating: Love It
Price: To Be Determined
The transformation that occurred after being opened for 24 hours is a good indication of what you should be able to expect if you lay it down for several years.
Enjoy!
Beer is made by men, wine by God. —-Martin Luther
12 in ’12
Day 2 of pitchers and catchers in camp. 44 days, 7 hours and 30 minutes to opening day!
(Sorry, I may sometimes stray into some of my other passions besides wine…today it is your WORLD CHAMPION ST. LOUIS CARDINALS!!!)
2009 High Flyer Santa Maria Valley Sierra Madre Vineyard Chardonnay
Ok, let’s have a show of hands…for those of you who know me personally, how many of you are shocked that my first review would be a Chardonnay? Consider my hand raised! After cutting my ‘wine teeth’ in a steakhouse, I strongly prefer red wine to white. But every now and then, I run across a good one…and that is just what happened today. We were tasting some Pinot Noir and Chardonnay for an upcoming tasting at the shop with Michael Locke of Stellar Distributing, and he pulled this trick out of his bag.
High Flyer is small operation located in St. Helena, California in the Napa Valley. This wine, however, comes from Santa Barbara County, which is just north west of Los Angeles. There is not a lot of information on this wine available. It’s not even mentioned on their website. There was some talk that we may end up being the only place you can get it outside of the winery. But…I digress…
Tasting Notes
The wine is a beautiful golden yellow and it’s aroma hits you square in the nose in pleasant sort of way. Lots of fruits, from citrus to apples, along with just enough buttery oak to make your mouth water. On the palette, this one doesn’t disappoint. The fruit flavors continue dancing from one to the other as you swish it around your mouth. The finish is at least 2-3 minutes long and transitions from the perfectly acidic citrus fruit flavors to a pleasant mineral flavor…with butter…as it tails off into the beautiful sunset. No, really…it’s that good.
Craig Becker is the winemaker for these wines. His philosophy is to simply guide the juice from vineyard to bottle, just giving mother nature a hand where needed.
Rating: Love It!!!
Price: TBD. Initial estimates put it in the $38 to $45 range. I’ll know more and post in the comments once I get the info.
So it is not from the bargain bin, but my goal is not to review the cheapest wines, but to find you the most bang for your buck. We’re here to drink it. It may as well be good! And this one brings it to the table!
| “When it comes to wine, I tell people to throw away the vintage charts and invest in a corkscrew. The best way to learn about wine is the drinking.” |
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| — Alexis Lichine |
Here We Go! (How I taste and evaluate wine)
As we head off down this road, I should tell you my wine philosophy. I have a few basic rules and tenets that I follow that I feel help me to understand and appreciate wine better. Let’s go over a few of those first:
- Drink what you like. It is pretty simple. If you don’t like it, don’t drink it. Simple enough, right? It is a little more complicated than it seems, but this is what it all boils down too.
- Know what you don’t like. If you don’t like a wine, don’t just dismiss it as you don’t like it. Figure out what it is you don’t like about it. Is it poorly made? Does it have flavors you don’t particularly care for?
- Try something new. If you are getting ready to buy/order/taste an old standby, look and see if there is something you haven’t had before.
- Buy a corkscrew. The best way to increase your wine knowledge is to taste and drink wine. Period.
- Drink what you like. I started with this, and as it is the most important rule, I’ll end with it too.
I like to keep things pretty simple in my tastings and reviews. I have a basic three step rating system. I feel it is effective because it eliminates the “Is the wine that you scored 89 points really not as good as the one that you scored a 90?” discussion. My ratings are as follows:
- Love it
- It’ll do
- Not a fan
Pretty simple. I may modify it or add other descriptors as time goes on. Hey it’s my system, right?
Watch for some new ratings coming soon (hopefully this afternoon) and we’ll get this ball rolling.
Cheers!
Dave
Wine for Real People 