If you're interested in spending very little on a bottle of wine and actually plan on drinking something that doesn't taste like complete garbage than this wine is a total winner. I purchased it last night along with a few choice filet's and was basically planning to cook with it and probably slug down a few sips with my meal. To my surprise when I tasted the wine I was actually quite taken back by the quality in the wine for a mere $4.99. Now don't get me wrong, this wine although very serviceable is still not considered to be in the class of fine wine, however it is drinking really good for a "cheap wine".
On the nose I get aromas black berry, coco bean, and a touch of black licorice. There is only the slightest touch of that slight metallic note that is often extremely prevalent in wines in this category, but it comes across as a cedary wood component.
On the palate the wine shows nice dark fruit flavors that combine with hints of cedar, graphite, and black licorice. Although the texture is a bit thin, the finish has some nice dried herb notes that help mask the protruding alcohol which would almost always be noticeable on a red wine in this price category.
To be quite honest tasting this wine again today has proven to me that there are wines out there that can be purchased in the $5-7 range that can still be serviceable. 84+ points
Click here to find out more about this wine
Many people search this question around this time of year wondering which wines will be perfect for their holiday cuisines. What wines pair the best with ham, turkey, roasted pork loin, sweet potato pie and all your other holiday favorites?
Well, for the items just mentioned I think theirs really only a couple options that work well with almost all of those items.....Riesling and Pinot Noir
First, Riesling is such a great and versatile food wine because of it's high acidity and lack of natural tannin. It's also great because many non-wine drinkers will still enjoy it because of it's often high sugar content (depending on the sweetness level you choose...Kabinett, Spatlese, Auslese, ect).
Next, Pinot Noir is the ultimate food red wine because it too has a generous amount of natural acidity and is lighter in texture than most other red varietal wines. Pinot pairs excellently with pork cooked in almost every style imaginable and for entry level wine drinkers it can be more easily consumed than some of the more hearty and tannic reds like Cabernet Sauvignon or Syrah.
Below are a few suggestions for great Riesling's and Pinot Noir's:
Riesling:
Markus Molitor 2007 Bernkasteler Badstube Riesling Kabinett - White Wine
J.J. Prum 2008 Riesling Kabinett - White Wine
Maximin Grunhauser 2006 Herrenberg Riesling Auslese - White Wine
Pinot Noir:
Adelsheim 2008 Elizabeth's Reserve Pinot Noir - Red Wine
Au Bon Climat 2008 Santa Barbara Pinot Noir - Red Wine
Domaine Drouhin Oregon 2008 Pinot Noir - Red Wine
Just in case you were wondering what had happened to Wine Spectator's James Suckling....
He has launched JamesSuckling.com!
Is this his attempt to take over Robert Parker's Jr. place in the wine world as the premier wine critic? I have always wondered who would finally challenge Mr. Parker and try and take over the reigns, power, and prestige that Parker has solely dominated over the last few decades.
In my honest opinion James Suckling has always had a respectable palate, but comes across as slightly elitist and somewhat of a blow-hard. However, I won't write him off as becoming the next big thing in the wine critic world now that he's not under the Spectator umbrella. I think it was wise of him to branch off and hope that he can maintain a following, because he obviously knows his shit and has tasted far more wine than almost everyone on this earth.
I know I'll be watching his site and reading his reviews.....
Christmas time is upon us and if you're like me then you still haven't finished all your holiday shopping. These days there is such a great variety of wine gifts we can give to all of our enthusiast friends! One gift in particular that my wife gets me every year is a great wine magazine subscription like Wine Spectator or Wine Enthusiast.
Below are a few links if you'd like to check out the current prices on these great wine subscriptions:
Another great wine gift for Christmas is of course the many different wine baskets that are available. These are awesome because not only do they have great wines in them but they sometimes contain all sorts of neat wine gadgets that your wine buddies or close ones will love.
Below is a link to Wine.com's selection of holiday wine baskets:
Finally some of the best things you can get for that special person this holiday season are all the various wine gizmo's and gadgets that are available. Decanters, Aerators, Stemware, Wine Keys, and many other great wine lover accessories are readily available this season.
Below are just a few items you may check out:
"From the majestic and beautiful lush mountains of Nagano, Japan, comes smooth, fruity, dry Sake made in the traditional hand-made style. Over the past 350 years, sixteen generations of one family has devoted themselves soley to producing the finest Sake imaginable. Kan-Chiku Jun-Nai Dai-Ginjyo."Now on the nose I get a beautiful baked banana bread aroma that is accompanied by a distinct salty sea water, and faint hints of coconut oil.
On the palate this sake is extremely smooth and has a very round texture that glides over your tongue. Now, at first this Sake almost appears to be sweet on the palate but finishes clean and quite dry. I think that the alcohol gives the Sake the false appearance of sweetness which tends to be very common in wines made with grapes as well. The fact that there isn't an abundance of fruit flavor and tannin to mask this illusion of sweetness makes this all the more evident. Really Cool!!
The salty and savory thing that I mentioned I noticed on the nose definitely manifests itself on the palate as well. I get this sea salt and calcareous mineral thing that is really interesting and I think that's where a wine enthusiast will start to understand this Sake. The banana thing is something I tend to always express when drinking fine Sake. Not sure if I'm the only one who always gets that???
Anyways, as far as my experience with Sake will allow me, I'll say that I believe this is really high
quality rice wine. Very nice indeed.....Sushi please :)
Click here to search for Sake on Winezap!
PSGive.org is a new website designed to encourage on-going charitable contributions by rewarding its visitors. In the recent trend of social-change focused organizations, this new site shines above the rest due to its unique model to encourage charitable participation. By engaging supporters in exciting online events where they may compete for amazing deals, the charities with whom PSGive.org works are able to reach a broader segment of society that may have previously been uninterested or unwilling to give. Recent supporters have walked away with backstage passes to Broadway’s Rock of Ages and an Apple iPad, each for under $10.
Some of the 501c3 non profits currently using PSGive include Keep America Beautiful, Boys and Girls Club, National Breast Cancer Coalition, and Children’s Defense Fund – New York, with dozens of other organizations in discussion for adopting the program.
Here's what is included in the current Napa Valley Vacation fundraising event, found here: http://psgive.org/event/view/id/18
• 4 days/3 nights at a beautiful luxury resort
• Private chauffeured winery tour
• Two round trip tickets from any major US city
How could it possibly be won for so cheap? This isn't your typical fundraising event where you try and outbid the previous offer. You're putting your offer in for the lowest unique amount. That means pick the lowest price that nobody else has picked, and you get it for that price! Head over to the PSGive.org Facebook page and click the 'like' button - you'll get a coupon code to give you $5 in credit to play with. You could win the trip with just that! This event ends on December 16th, but it only takes a minute to win it! So jump on and go for it.
In WISHFUL DRINKING, Fisher details her complicated yet eclectic extended family tree in Hollywood Inbreeding 101, employing a blackboard and wooden pointer. Her father Eddie Fisher’s very public affair with Elizabeth Taylor ended what had been perceived and celebrated as a “storybook marriage,” and she and her brother Todd later watched both her mother’s and father’s “once white-hot bright star of celebrity slowly dim, cool and fade.” In 1973, at her mother’s urging, the 17-year-old Fisher enrolled at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London; two years later, her life changed forever when she donned a white dress as Princess Leia in George Lucas’ “Star Wars.”
