2005 Da Vinci Chianti Classico

Hello all!! I have written up Da Vinci Chianti before, but I had it at a party at someone's else's house, so I didn't note the vintage and I don't believe it was a classico. I've been trying to lose weight, but we took a break from all the of veggies and had home-made tortellini with home-made brown spaghetti sauce, bread, and salad (very healthy with lots of broccoli). The wine was very, very good with this. I love opening a bottle of wine and sharing it with one other person (Al). It makes a couple of hours of sipping. During that time I get to experience it in all its glory as it slowly opens and sometimes fades. This evening was like that. The wine started out as a deep ruby red with a little brick color to it. The nose was not huge, but carried aromas of cherry, vanilla, and a touch of licorice. The flavors were cherry, plum, vanilla and horehound. As time passed current developed to mingle with the other flavors, and eventually overtook the cherry. The horehound became licorice. The color became even darker and the licorice stronger. The tannins started out as soft and velvety, but as the color darkened and the licorice became stronger, the tannins roughened up. I believe this wine is a "drink me now" wine. It was fascinating to watch it literally age with me over the course of two and half hours. I would buy this wine again, but I'd look for an '06, (supposed to be a very good year for chianti and could probably be held longer).I believe this wine was $25 at McScrooges.

2008 Rosteau Cotes du Rhone Villages

Hello all!! I really enjoyed this wine tonight!! It has been sitting around for awhile, so I'm not sure were I got it or what I paid for it, but I think it came from Bob's and I probably paid $15 to $20 for it. We had this wine with roast chicken (with garlic) and broccoli salad with pine nuts, onion, and sundried tomatoes. I wanted a nice bright, but fairly light red wine. I get a little tired of pairing roast chicken with chardonnay. This was actually a very nice pairing. The wine was light, but fresh and lively. It was very nice with the strong flavors of the garlic and broccoli. The color was a translucent ruby. The nose was of blueberry, strawberry and a little earthiness or forest aroma. The flavor was like the nose but it had a some added spiciness and a bit of rootbeer. It had soft tannins and a lingering finish. Overall, it was similar to a burgundian pinot noir but a little bit heavier. It was light bodied, elegant and complex. It must have been good because it inspired a philosophical conversation on the acceptance of ones mortality with maturity. I need to find more of this. And, while many '08's need to be aged a little more, this wine is ready to drink.

2009 Kendall-Jackson Vintners Reserve Chardonnay

Hello all!! We had this very nice California Chardonnay tonight with halibut and vegetables in parchment. The spiciness of the food somewhat overwhelmed the wine, so that it was only in after dinner sipping that the true flavors of the wine emerged. This would be a nice wine with roast chicken (not too much seasoning) or a salmon salad, or tuna steaks with veggies. Anyway, it was very nice and has received quite a bit of favorable press. We found the tasting notes on the back label to be a fairly acurate description of the wine. It had a bright dandelion yellow color. It seemed aromatically challenged at first, but it was cold and we did have it with food that was fairly heavily seasoned. The aromas that I picked up were lemon zest and pineapple. The flavors were of mango, papaya, and pineapple, with lemon zest and green apple on the finish. It had a nice, bright acidity and hit the entire palate with flavor. This is a very food friendly Chardonnay, and very reminiscent of a French White Burgundy. I really liked this wine and am especially happy about the fact that I picked this up on sale at Ashes for about $10. This wine needs to be part of our new policy of drinking better wines on a daily basis.

Mas Donis Barrica 2007 Old Vines (Spanish)

Hello all!! We enjoyed this wine a few days ago as a nice sipping wine after having chili for dinner. We snacked on cheese and crackers and sipped this wine. This is one of the wines I picked up at Wine Library. It is 85% grenache and %15 syrah. It was about $10 a bottle and described as delicious! The color was a dark inky garnet. The nose was of blackberry and cherry with vanilla and a little licorice. The flavor profile was blackberry and cherry with vanilla, licorice and a little tobacco on the finish. It had a wonderful silkiness with smooth tannins. It had a light to medium body. Overall, it was very nice, especially for the price. I wish I had more of it!

2008 Maia Lina Chianti

Hello all!! This is a lovely, honest little wine from Italy. Ashes has been selling it for $9-$10 dollars a bottle. It's a not very dark garnet color. The nose is pleasant but not too big. The flavors are lots of cherry and raspberry with a little oaky vanilla. It comes across as very fresh and fairly light, with a light to medium body. This makes a nice everyday wine and is light enough to have with salmon or chicken dishes, especially when served with a tomato based sauce.

We actually took several bottles of this wine with us to Philadelphia recently when we visited Al's parents. We also took an exciting side trip while in Philly. We found ourselves with an entire evening and most of the preceding afternoon without family commitments. So, we drove North into New Jersey and to Wine Library! I was pretty excited about it. Wine Library wasn't all that big, but there was soooo much wine. And the gourmet department was great, too. The variety of great stuff to be found in that amount of space was really impressive. I felt like I was making a little pilgrimage! I wish I could have bought more wine, but alas, I got what I could. I did get several bottles that will be blogged eventually. And I'm looking forward to other opportunities to visit the Wine Library.

2008 Chalone Vineyard Chardonnay

Hello all!! I'm still catching up some wines that we tried over the past couple of weeks. Tonight we actually had a Geyser Spring Pinot Gris. I believe we had this wine on Christmas Eve with all the seafood of the traditional Italian Christmas Eve dinner. It's a very nice wine, crisp and clean with good acidity, but also some pleasing fruitiness. It pairs well with seafood and is only about $9 a bottle at Ashes. Hence, it appears regularly at our table.

But on to the Chalone. We got this wine because it was mentioned on Gary Vaynerchuck's Wine Library TV. He was quite enthusiastic about it, so we wanted to give it a try. This wine came from Total Wines in Atlanta and was about $20 a bottle. Gary says this label is very consistent year to year. The color was light dandelion. The nose was of pear and white peach. It had bright acidity, crisp and clear, with flavors of pear, white peach, apple, and a little bit of nutmeg. Al picked up a touch of honey and almond on the finish. It was lightly oaked and nicely balanced. I described it as elegant and understated. Very nice.

2009 Crios Torrontes

Hello all!! We had this wine a few nights ago with baked chicken with roasted latin veggies. This was a very good match and actually saved the meal as the vegetables were a little bland (next time I'll add an onion). It had a pale dandelion color. The nose was of pear, citrus, and lemon zest. The flavors were similar but with a lightly honeyed mouth-feel. It had soft acid and was clean and light on the palate. This is actually one of my favorite white varietals and is generally available at very reasonable prices. Torrontes are generally consistently good, and are an excellent choice for people who are not big wine drinkers. It's a good wine to try, if you haven't had it already. This particular wine is about $15 at Ashes.