Chateau Ste. Michelle 2009 Columbia Valley Guwurztraminer

This is an ok Washington State Guwurztraminer. It was a nice pairing with our Indian spiced pork tenderloin. The color was a clear straw. There were aromas of honeysuckle, pear and sweet spice. The flavor profile was of pear, honeysuckle, and nutmeg with a little smokiness. It was medium bodied, and this helped it hold up well to the tenderloin. Not exactly a glowing endorsement, but it's hard to find a good Gurwurztraminer at a decent price. This one was $9 at Ashes.

2007 Cateau Ste. Michelle Indian Wells Chardonnay

Hello!!

This was a rather disappointing wine. I roasted a chicken and served it with garlic mashed potatoes and sauteed snow peas. The meal was truly delicious, but the wine was disappointing. The tasting notes on this wine sounded very promising, and the wine was actually very true to the tasting notes. It just wasn't very well balanced. This wine couldn't decide what it wanted to be. The color ws a very pale straw. It was aromatically challenged with a faint nose of lemon and pineapple. The first thing that hit me on the taste was pineapple with lemon and maybe a hint of mango. It was very weak on the mid-palate. Al picked up a little minerality here, but to me it skipped right over the mid-palate. On the finish there was butterscotch with a bit of bitterness. From the tasting notes I expected a heavier, buttery chardonnay, but this wine just didn't deliver. It wasn't very good as a light fruity, tropical chardonnay either. It seemed unable to decide which style it was trying to emulate, "rich and buttery" or "tropical fruit". Frankly, it succeeded at neither. It wasn't terrible, but I certainly wouldn't get another bottle.

I do like both styles of chardonnay. I seem to be able to find the very lightly oaked fruity style fairly easily. Edna Valley is a good example. It's very refreshing and pleasant. It's easy to drink. But I also like the rich buttery chardonnays. I think they pair really well with roast chicken dishes like the one we had tonight. I suspect they are just hard to find in the less than $20 price range. I had a beautiful Pine Ridge Chardonnay about 6 months ago. I picked it up on clearance at McScrooge's, where it was originally priced at about $35 a bottle. Incidentally, McScrooge's has a big selection of chardonnays. It's almost too many to choose from. so, the search goes on for a good buttery chardonnay at an affordable price. I'll keep you posted.

Suavia 2008 soave classico

Hello all!!

I had this truly delicious wine a few days ago with Spaghetti and clams (just a light olive oil and wine sauce) . It was a very nice pairing as the brightness of the wine cut through the richness of the sauce. The Suavia was a nice clear dandelion yellow. The aroma was lemon zest , apricot and melon. The taste was similar to the nose. It started out with honeydew, apricot, and a little citrus. On the mid-palate there was a pleasant minerality (limestone), and on the back end, almond. It had a wonderful lingering finish with fresh acidity. Overall, a very nice, well balanced medium bodied wine.

I picked this up at Bob's for a little over $15 because I was planning on spaghetti with clams and didn't think I had anything at home that would quite fit the bill. I was wishing I could find another bottle of the Pio Cesare gavi that I liked so much. I saw this wine at 91 points (Wine Spectator, I believe) and decided to give it a try. Al and I used to drink a lot of soave 25 years ago, but then it kind of disappeared. And I can understand why. Frankly, it just wasn't that good. We'd try a bottle every now and then, but it would be very unremarkable. So, we quit drinking it. This wine is what soave is all about (or should be). I hope to see more soave of this quality. Anyway, I went back to Bob's and bought three more bottles. I also found this at Total Wine in Atlanta for $19 a bottle (and well worth it in my opinion).

2007 Val de Sil Godello Sobre Lias Valdeorras

Hello! We've been drinking a lot of old favorites (and some box wine), so not much to blog about. Last night we had a VERY nice white from our trip to Atlanta. It came from Murphy's in the Virginia Highlands area. It was about $18-$20. We had it with a chicken fajita salads. It was good with the salad, but we continued to sip it all evening. It was one of those wines that continued to improve as it opened. It had a nice pale yellow color. It had a very nice bouquet of lichee, pineapple, orange zest, nutmeg and mineral. The aromas carried through on the palate with a nice bright acidity (but not too much) and lime flavor. On the finishthere was limestone, nutmeg and finally almond. The finish was long and lingering. It had a pleasant silky mouth-feel. It was reminiscent of a torrontes, but more complex and full bodied. I'd love to find more of this.

2007 Castillero del Diablo Gerwurztraminer from Concha Y Toro

Hello!! Here's another wine I've never tried before, this Gerwurztraminer from Chile. I have mixed feelings about this wine. it starts out with a bright grapefruit and has this really bright acidity on the mid-palate along with the nice nutmeg spiciness one generally finds in a Gerwurztraminer. On the finish there is a pleasant lingering minerality. What I don't like about this wine is that it's so unexpected. It's extremely dry for a Gerwurtztraminer. The greapefruit flavor is also a little unusual. In fact, this wine is more than a little reminiscent of a Savignon Blanc. A nice dry, complex Savignon Blanc. So, overall, a very nice crisp dry white wine with good acidity and a spiciness and minerality which adds a level of complexity. Still it's not a typical Gerwurtztraminer, and if that's what you're looking for, reach for a different label.

2007 Alamos Viognier from Argentina

Hi!! We actually had this wine a couple of nights ago. It was pretty good. We had it with grilled chicken salads, and the pairing was good, but not outstanding. The viognier was very fresh and clean on the nose with aromas of jasmine and lemon peel. On the palate it was very acidic, bright and juicy, and tasted of grapefruit and a little lime with nice minerality. This was a pleasant summer sipping wine and at $8 or $9 at Ashes, a very good buy.

2007 Pio Cesare Cortese di Gavi

Hi!! I'm very excited about this new wine. I've been sipping it now for about an hour and it just keeps getting better and better. I was really excited about trying this wine because the producer has such a good reputation. We had salmon with Romesco sauce, a salad, and a little bit of chibatta. The wine has a great lemon-gold color. The nose is pleasant with light citrus, melon, and apple. The palate was much the same with a nice minerality, bright, juicy acid, good body and a silky, lingering finish. I love this wine! It's crisp but with good body. It was great with dinner and even better for after dinner sipping. I was just sorry when we got to the end of the bottle. This wine is regularly priced at $24 and is now at Ashes for $10!!! I bought 3 bottles and I should get some more! It was good with the salmon, but I think would be even better with shellfish. There are some great recipes for pasta with shellfish and calamari. This wine would be really good with it!

2009 Don Manuel Villafane Torrontes

So, the plan was Torrontes with chicken roll ups made with boursin cheese and asparagus, and rice with veggies (sauteed onion, zucchini, and spinach). Also I wanted to try making some new appetizers that would go with the torrontes. The appetizers were made from sauteed red and yellow sweet peppers, onion, garlic, and chicken breast. I added a little mojo sauce for flavor. I put some of this mix on toasted chibbata (brushed with olive oil and toasted in a 400 degree oven), and some of it I put on rounds of puff pastry. I put a little mexican grated cheese on top and toasted them in the oven. It was very good with the torrontes, but was actually a little too sweet for the wine. So... when this one goes to the Winers club , I'll add a little mushroom to make it more savory. The torrontes was very good with the chicken roll-ups.

The torrontes was a new one for us $13 at Ashes (we usually drink Legado torrontes from Argentina, very tasty and about $9 a bottle at Ashes). This was Don Manuel Villafane 2009, also from Argentina. It had a very nice nose, very fruity (citrus and melon) with a honeysuckle scent. it had nice balance with good acidity, and a full silky mouth feel. The taste was similar to the nose, with melon and lime. Very nice, easy to drink. This is a good wine to sip on the patio, and should be good with mildly spicey dishes

I also made an appetizer from figs. You cut the figs in fourths and marinade them for at least 30 min in a balsamic vinagrette. Then they are arranged in the center of a dish, and surrounded with little slices of fresh mozzarella, and a little spinach for color. Sprinkle with a little lemon zest and a little bit of mint leaves, and ta-da! a very nice appetizer. It's pretty sweet though, so it might be difficult to match to a wine (terrible with the torrontes). We had a little of the sauternes from the other night. It was delicious with the figs!!

White Bordeaux with appetizers

I haven't mentioned this yet, but Al and myself are part of a little informal group that gets together once a month to try different wines. Each couple takes a turn at hosting, and every couple brings something to eat and a wine. Sometimes there's a theme, and lately it's been pairings. Each couple takes a wine and a food that pairs well with that wine. Well, that means every month I have to come up with a new food to take and a wine to go with it. So, this weekend is a four day weekend for myself and Al. My work schedule is a little unusual in that I work quite a few Saturdays, a Sunday a month, and then sometimes I get these long weekends. Anyway, since we didn't go out of town, I thought it would be the perfect weekend to try out some appetizer recipes. After all, the next wine group get together is next weekend. Plus, I'm working next Saturday, so I need something I can either do ahead or make quickly.

So, yesterday i made little appetizers out of cibatta from Fresh Market. I cut the bread into little pieces suitable for finger food, brushed them with olive oil, and toasted them in the oven broiler. Then I topped the toasted bread with roasted vegetables and some grated parmesan. It was actually quite tasty! We had saved back a little of the white bordeaux to try with this. It was pretty good. Not a wow pairing, but tasty. Maybe this wine would be even better with something a little less sweet. The roasted peppers and onions gave the appetizer quite a bit of sweetness.

White Bordeaux, 2007 Tour de Monestier

Friday night so fish for dinner? We had rainbow trout, which has recently been available at Fresh Market. This time I just sauteed it with a little olive oil and salt and pepper. we also had some leftover barley with sweet peppers and roasted veggies. The wine was a French white bordeaux 2007 Tour de Montestier from Chateau Monestier La Tour. I'm not a big white wine person, but this was really good. The nose was fresh and hinted at a little sweetness. It smelled of cut grass, a little vegetal smell (maybe of green peas?), some pear and apricot and a little citrus. Tasting was not sweet, but dry with pleasant acidity and a strong minerality, especially on the finish. It had a very nice body, coating the mouth nicely. The taste was citric, light grapefruit, and a little green apple and the mineral, chalky flavor. Along with the chalkiness I also got a little bit of a walnut taste on the finish. Overall, a very well balanced and fairly complex wine. Very nice with the fish, but even better with the parmesan cheese which we nibbled on later. I think it would be a good choice with any creamy white sauce, especially one with sharp flavors. This wine was $12 at Bob's. It was rated 88 by Wine Spectator.

Lately I've been seeking out some dry whites with a little more character. I feel that so many of the white wines on the market now are similar in style. Many are somewhat sweet and very fruity. This makes a pleasant sipping wine, but not necessarily a good food wine. My goal is a winerack that contains something for almost any menu. Actually, this reminded me of the vino verde we had a week or so back, but his wine had much more body and could hold up to heavier sauces and foods.

I forgot to mention that white Bordeaux is typically a blend of sauvignon blanc, semillion, and muscadelle grapes. This explains the mix of flavors and smells i was picking up in this wine.