2007 Sparkman Wilderness Columbia Valley Red Wine

Hello everyone!! We had this lovely wine last night with coffee rubbed rib eye steaks and asparagus salad. I was actually looking for a bigger wine for these steaks and I thought this was a cabernet sauvignon blend. So while this was a really good wine, I believe it would have been even more enjoyable with a chicken or pork dish. This wine is a blend of merlot, cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, syrah, petite syrah, and petite vedrot. It was made in the style of the French Rhone blends. The color was a deep inky garnet. The nose was of dark berries and vanilla (not a big nose, but present). On the palate there was blackberry, dark cherry, a little vanilla and a touch of blueberry. It had a nice cherry finish with a hint of chocolate and coffee. The tannins were soft and well integrated and there was enough acid to make it vibrant but not harsh. It had a beautiful silky, smooth mouth feel. I can't remember where I got this wine, but I found it listed for $26 to $30 a bottle. Part of the proceeds go to a wildlife fund for the Northwest United States.

2009 George DuBoeuf Morgon (Cru Beaujoulais)

Hello everyone!! I have been wanting to try this wine for a while now. I have seen it mentioned several times and heard that Cru beaujoulais is the wine to try if you like fresh light French wines, but are not particularly fond of beaujousais nouveau. We had this wine with a salad consisting of chicken breast, dried cranberries, and blue cheese on a bed of lettuce. It was a very nice wine with the overall impression of being bright, fresh and vibrant. I believe that the bright (but not overpowering) acidity helped to give this fresh, vibrant liveliness. The color was deep garnet, which surprised me, as I was expecting the lighter, purplish color of a nouveau. The nose carried aromas of cherry and raspberry with a bit of vanilla. There was also a definite floral component which I found difficult to identify. On the palate it was very fruit forward and a little sweet with bright acidity and very soft tannins. It was light bodied but full flavored. The finish was soft and fruity. Overall it was not big, not particularly complex, but pleasant. I got this wine at McScrooge's for about $15. I would drink this wine as an alternative to rose. To me, this would be more interesting than a rose but pair well with many of the same foods.

2009 Grooner Gruner Veltliner

Hello everyone!! This was a lovely wine from Austria which, according to its fans, goes with virtually everything. It was very nice with our salmon patties from fresh Market and the accompanying broccoli salad. The color was a pale greenish yellow. The nose was of pear and apple with a bit of minerality. On the palate there was apple, pear, and a crisp lime flavor. There was a good bit of limestone or seashell minerality. It was a very pleasant medium bodied wine which had a mild effervescence, making it that much more refreshing. I believe this wine would be perfect with scallops, crab cakes, shrimp, or chicken tacos with lime in the sauce. As we sat at the table sipping and thinking of all the things that would be tasty with this wine, I began to understand its popularity. I got this at McScrooge's for about $10 a bottle. I may take it to one of the up-coming wine and food dinners.

2007 Il Poggione Rosso Di Montalcino

Hello everyone!! We just had one of my best efforts ever! Our older son has been staying with us this week while on spring break and is leaving for Atlanta this evening. So, I planned a special "Sunday dinner" for the occasion. We had a truly Tuscan meal. I felt as if I was sitting in a villa in Tuscany enjoying the food and wine while breezes floated in from the vineyards. We had tuscan roast chicken with pancetta and olives, polenta with red pepper and cheese, and broccoli rabe with sausage. The dishes were all complementary without being too similar and the wine was spectacular with the food. I got excited as soon as I saw the color on this wine. It was a deep brick red, not too dark. On the nose there was cherry and vanilla (the oakiness on this wine is really under control and in no way overshadows the wine itself). There were also aromas of licorice and some blueberry and raspberry aromas. The flavor was true to the nose, and this wine had a wonderful silky texture. The tannins were present but soft and well integrated. It had a nice lingering cherry vanilla finish. There were traces of earthiness present. Overall this was a very elegant medium bodied Italian wine. This is an example of why I love Italian wines so much! I got this wine at Total Wines in Atlanta for about $30, and I wish I had more of it. Al suggested getting more and setting it aside for awhile, but this is "ready to drink". It required very little time to open and would probably not benefit from more time in the bottle.

2009 Pinot Noir D'Autrefois

Hello everyone!! I got a new stove this weekend! And to try it out I fixed game hens stuffed with farro. They were little gems of deliciousness. The acid of this wine cut through the richness of the little birds. It was a great pairing! I got this wine at Total Wines in Atlanta for $10. It was listed as a staff favorite, and at this price I just couldn't pass it up. The color was ruby, of medium depth. It had a very nice bouquet that rose up out of the glass to greet me. It contained aromas of plum, blueberry, vanilla and flowers (violets?). The flavor profile was true to the nose. What I really liked about this wine was the bright acidity. It had a freshness to it that was very complimentary to the food. Once again the French win me over with a well balanced, food friendly, elegant wine.

2007 Terre d'Ardoise Carignan Vieilles Vignes (Old Vine Carignan)

Hello everyone!! This was a beautiful little wine from Campbell Station Wine and Spirits. I believe I paid $11 or $12 for this little gem. I'm developing a real love of these light French reds. They are so very food friendly, and they happen to pair well with the foods that we eat, especially chicken and pork. This wine was a deep ruby red with a touch of brick at the edge of the glass. On the nose were aromas of toasty oak, raspberry, vanilla, a touch of licorice and a bit of dried leaf or mulch. The flavor was similar to the nose but what I really liked about this wine was the wonderful silky texture. It was nicely balanced, very smooth and pleasant to drink. The body was light to medium. We had this wine with chicken in shallot sauce, roast broccoli, and Italian bread. It was delicious! I ran right out and bought two more bottles.

2009 El Prado Tempranillo Cabernet blend

Hello everyone!! We had this wine with a steak and blue cheese salad. It was too big for the food, and would have been better with a burger, or steak and potato, or a nice rubbed flank steak. Also, it's young, so it was much better for opening an hour or so. The color was deep inky purplish red. The nose was not very big, and carried aromas of blackberry, and toasty oak. The flavor profile was true to the nose with added notes of chocolate and a touch of licorice. It was very fruit forward with firm tannins and bright acid. It was a little rough at first, but improved significantly as it opened. I paid $6 for this wine at Total Wine in Atlanta. It would be a very good everyday wine if we ate heavier, beefier foods. Also, I think this would improve with age.

Does anyone but me wonder how anyone can make money by selling wine at this price?? Since I've been spending more time "bottom feeding" I have been amazed at some of the wines available for less than $10. Yes, you can improve the odds of getting good wine by moving up even into the $15 range. Still, I sometimes find very acceptable wines at the lower price point, and I wonder how the producers do it. Box wines run about $5 a bottle (or $20 a box, figuring 4 bottles to a box). These are bulk wines. I know enough about economics to understand that higher volume production means you can often lower your profit margin and still make good money overall. But the little pearls I've been searching out are generally not mass produced wines, though they are not exclusive "cult" wines either. I just don't get how anyone can make money selling $6 wine when you're talking retailer, distributer, importer and producer all making a living. You'd have to sell a lot of wine. Clearly, I still have a lot to learn about wine and the wine business. Until then, guess I'll just keep enjoying.

2009 Blackstone Winemaker's Select Merlot

Hello everyone!! I believe I am behind the curve on this one. I have seen this wine numerous times on restaurant wine lists, and I have passed on it. My loss! I'm actually not a big Merlot person, having been introduced to wines through my husband and the rest of his Italian family. So, the whole Merlot thing completely passed me by. However, recently I have been using a new cookbook that suggests wine pairings with the recipes and they suggest a lot of California wines, such as Merlot. I've been enjoying the velvety smooth, fruit forward, delicious and uncomplicated pleasures of Merlot. This wine very much fits that description. The color was a deep ruby red. The nose was somewhat aromatically challenged with light oak and vanilla and not much fruit. The flavor was very cherry, a little blueberry, vanilla and a little touch of licorice on the finish. What made this wine so enjoyable was the smooth creaminess. The tannins were smooth and mellow (we did open it 30 to 60 minutes before dinner, so it had a good bit of time to breath). We had this wine with pork chops in Merlot sauce, roasted cauliflower, and rice pilaf. It was a very good pairing, almost guaranteed by using some of the wine to make the sauce. It was also extremely good with little squares of dark chocolate. I know this is a simple wine, but it's so delicious and uncomplicated! It's like that guy you hang out with that makes no demands of you, just easygoing, no fuss. At $10 a bottle at Campbell Station Wines, this will probably become my go to everyday Merlot. It would also be great for parties, or for friends that aren't necessarily wine drinkers. You might turn some of them on to the pleasures of wine.

Dinner with friends: NV Il Conte D'Alba Moscato d"Asti, 2008 A to Z Oregon Pinot Noir, 2004 Brunello di Montecino

Hello everyone!! We had dinner with some friends on Saturday night. I made this really intense mushroom lasagna with homemade pasta. We also had salad and bread, and brownies for dessert. We had a great time! Forgive me if the notes are a little brief, but we went through several bottles and I made notes after our guests left.

We started the evening with the Moscato d'Asti. This was given to me by a friend from our little food and wine group. I thought it was delicious! It was sweet, but refreshing with a nice bit of fizz. Interestingly, it had a regular cork, not a screw top and not a champagne cork. It was pleasantly floral on the nose. The flavor profile was of apple and pear with a bit of minerality. This made a nice apertif, and would also be great as a dessert wine.

We opened the A to Z pinot noir as we started on dinner. It was very nice. It a little heavy for a Burgundian pinot and a little too light for a typical New World pinot. This hits a sweet spot for many people, which is probably why it's so popular. It had the aromas and flavor of strawberry and blueberry with a bit of spice. It started out a little "rough", but mellowed out nicely after 15 or 20 minutes in the glass. I got this at McScrooge's for about $20. It was very nice, especially after opening.

Then we opened the 2004 Brunello from Casisano-Colomboio. This was an excellent, delicious, silky smooth wine. It had a similarity to the A to Z pinot noir, but with an elegance and sophistication lacking in the Oregon pinot. It had aromas of vanilla (oak, but well under control) There was raspberry and cherry with horehound and a little spice on the finish, which was beautiful and lengthy. It was balanced and smooth, but very real and a little rustic. The elegance of this wine made me think of the Testa Rossa with its amazing silkiness. That was such a beautiful wine! But I come back again and again to the Italian wines. I think it's because they ARE more rustic. They have a richness of character, a complexity that is unique to these wines. Oh well, I guess my personal bias is showing, but I LOVED this wine! It sells for about $40 at Total Wines in Atlanta.

Finally we opened a Fonseca 10 year tawny port to have with the brownies. It was yummy with the dried cherry and raisin flavors. I still have half the bottle in the fridge, and I'll make more complete notes later. My first impression is that we liked the Graham's better, but it may be that because we had it after the delicious Brunello, it affected my opinion of this wine.

2006 Testarossa Subasio Central Coast Syrah

Hello everyone! This was a gorgeous wine!! Possibly the best wine I've ever had! We had this with little filet mignon steaks stuffed with blue cheese. The color on this wine was a deep inky ruby -purple color. The aromas were blackberry, forest, spice, and licorice. The blackberry aroma gradually became more cherry as it opened. The flavors were true to the nose. It had a long, lingering finish with just a touch of tobacco. The flavor was big, but the body was medium. What made this wine really stand out was the texture It was soooo smooth and silky! It was balanced and elegant. Different aspects of the flavor profile emerged as we drank it with different foods. With the salad there was more spice, horehound and tobacco. With the steak there was more fruit and the silky texture was more apparent. The wine was such a nice surprise! I wish I had more of it. I purchased this wine at McScrooge's over a year ago. It was on the clearance rack and I believe I paid $20 to $30 for it. It sat in my wine rack all that time, because I wasn't sure what it would be like. I tried to find Testarossa syrah on-line and found that the current vintage is sold out at the winery. The price listed for this wine was $54. I couldn't find it on-line, but I will keep my eyes open.

I'd like to take a minute to explain the lack of scores in these blogs. I feel that rating, grading, scoring wines is something of a necessary evil. How do you score poetry or art? Do I give one Shakespearean sonnet a 93 and another a 97? Do I score Michelangelo higher than Rembrandt? Isn't it better to just stand back and take it in, to let art, poetry or music move you? I feel that wine also fits into this category. This was one of those wines that had such grace and beauty about it. I've had a few other such bottles. They are best experienced, not analyzed. I know it helps consumers to look at the scores from various reviewers as a quick reference. It can be very helpful, and I use the scores myself to help select new wines. It's the ultimate shorthand for wine. I'm absolutely not qualified to score wines. I would need to drink a lot more of those inspiring bottles. Wow, that's something to look forward to!