Taking the world one wine at a time.
When was the last time you cooked with blood orange? Never? Yeah, I think I was in the same boat as you until last night, at least, I couldn’t remember the last time… Smokescreen is a new brand of wine that I’ve recently happened upon. I reviewed the Smokescreen Red Blend recently, and was so sizably impressed that I thought the Chardonnay was worth a shot. I have to admit, I’m a little uninspired…
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Grape 100% Cabernet Franc Facts A well-made Cabernet Franc is without a doubt one of my favorite wines; although very few wineries produce a pure varietal wine from this little-know Bordeaux grape, and it’s usually overshadowed in blends by Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Pure expressions of Cab Franc are fairly difficult to find, but I can’t encourage you enough to try and seek out a bottle for yourself and let me know your thoughts!…
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Wine: Smokescreen (Red) Grapes: 72% Cabernet, 22% Syrah, 6% Petit Verdot Place: Napa Valley, California Price: $24.99 available from Fiftyrow.com/SmokeScreen
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Grape 100% Syrah Facts There was such a huge amount of press over previous years on how Syrah was supposed to be “the next big thing”, and then more recently how that just never really panned out.Personally, I don’t see any need for people to wait around for a grape / wine to be named “so hot right now” before you give it your attention (i.e. hard earned $’s).Look at what happened to Malbec!…
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“Chardonnay paired with Chicken? Teach you that one at Sommelier school, did they?” Ok, so I won’t say that this is the most adventurous pairing the world has ever seen, but it’s one of only two (I believe) white meat and Chardonnay pairings that I’ve ever posted. As crazy as it sounds, we very rarely eat chicken in my house…chicken wings (of course) being the one BIG exception. It’s not that I don’t like chicken,…
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Grape Zinfandel, but there’s probably very small amounts of a few other grapes thrown in there, also… Facts Four Vines was established by a guy named Christian Tietje, who originally started out as a chef in Boston. In the 90’s he moved to San Francisco, with big dreams of becoming a winemaker (as you do). From there, he cut his teeth as cellar-master at Carneros Creek in Napa, and furthered his wine education under “Wine…
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With December being such a crazy month (my wife works in retail, and I work in a restaurant), eating at home has kind of taken a backseat over the last few weeks. Therefore, I do have to say that these food and wine pairing articles have also been a little sparse. Who wants to get home after working a 12+ hour shift, and cook? Not me! I’m sure we’re not in a minority on this,…
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Wine: Vina Robles Grape: Sauvignon Blanc Place: Jardine Vineyard, Paso Robles, California Price: $16 (retail)
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Grape 100% Cabernet Facts Peggy Rowan is the visionary behind HeartSmart. This Cabernet was inspired by her love for animals, and specifically the Great Dane breed. “They’re big, bold and beautiful—which happen to be the same qualities I love about Cabernet Sauvignon.” in Peggy’s own words. The 2008 Great Dane won the Gold Medal at this year’s San Francisco International Wine Competition. Ann Ruth, is the remarkable artist behind the HeartSmart wine…
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Grape 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Petit Verdot. Facts It’s quite unusual that such a high % of Petit Verdot (by itself) is added to a Cab, even though it is one of the “Bordeaux grapes”. Petite Verdot is thought to even pre-date Cabernet in Bordeaux. The grape bears juice which is rich in color, high in tannins, spicy, and when young is said to give an aroma of bananas. The 2008 vintage of the…
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Grapes Carignane, Zinfandel, Syrah, Petite Sirah, Grenache and Viognier (probably in that order, %’s unknown). The term “Synchronicity” refers to a “meaningful mix of seemingly unrelated events resulting in a significant sum”, which was the inspiration for this red wine blend of grapes which aren’t commonly seen together. Facts Quite unbelievably, Sting is actually hand-harvesting all the grapes himself from this “Synchronicity-blend”. He also serves as winemaker; and can regularly be seen in the…
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Cabernet vines dominate the Napa Valley landscape, but everyone (I assume) knows that! What often gets overlooked is that (given half the chance) Napa can still do a decent job with Pinot Noir; even though Sonoma, Willamette (Oregon), and Carneros hog most of the limelight. Now don’t get me wrong, the Pinot’s coming out of “the Valley” are stylistically very different than those hailing from the cooler aforementioned regions; producing wines which are much more…
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