NFL wine for your Super Bowl party - Beer may be the first beverage you think of, but a number of former NFL greats are making wine in their second life. I have not sampled these yet, but they are so appropriate for the occasion – who cares!
Dick Vermeil, former coach and broadcaster is now a partner of Vermeil Wines in Napa Valley. Supposedly he has more than lent his name to the venture and has been seen working in the vineyard. Probably comes by this naturally since he was born in Calistoga. Mike Ditka is in partnership with Mendocino Wine Co producing the usual varietals under his name. However, there is a blend that really gets me called Kick Ass Red. Gotta love it. Less obvious is a collaboration between Joe Montana and Sbragia Family Vineyards. The have blended their names for a Cabernet Sauvignon called Montagia.
Warm winter threatens ice wines – It has been an unusually warm winter. I am loving it with lower heating and snow removal bills to say nothing of the white knuckle commute. I know it has really hurt the skiing industry, but since I do not ski I can only care so much. But now it is hitting closer to home. A legal as well as a taste requirement is that the grapes are frozen on the vine to make ice wine. Duh, kinda obvious. This in turn concentrates and sweetens the juice. So far there have been no sustained freezes in upper New York state which is a primary producing area. At a minimum there will be 20% less ice wine coming to market this year which means higher prices and maybe poorer quality.
Take a 4.5 billion year old taste of wine – Well not exactly, but close. A guy name Ian Hutchinson is an astromer living in Chile who also dabbles in wine. He has managed to combine his two passions in a bottle with the debut of a Cabernet Sauvignon called Meteorito. During the aging process he submerged a 2.5 billion old meteorite that fell to earth about 6,000 years ago in the wine. According to Mr Hutchinson the meteorite imparts a lively quality to the Cab.
The Wine Witch really went back and forth between a 3.5 and 4 rating. Based on a pure value proposition $8 is hard to beat and nudges things closer to 4. However, all wine experience is personal and I like a party in a glass. The 2010 Round Hill Merlot is a nice wine, but a little quiet for my taste. Again, Merlot is not one of my favorite red varietals. To set the stage properly, this wine was a free sample from the nice people at Rutherford Wineries. As always, kudos for their sustainable growing practices.
Today is the third Thursday in November and the Beaujolais Nouveau (BOE-zjoh-lay new-VOE) has arrived!! So what you ask? Well, let the Wine Witch give you a little background here.
Beaujolais Nouveau (BN from now on to save my typing fingers) is made from the Gamay grape and comes from the Beaujolais region of France. For the newer winos in the audience, the French name their wines from where they come from and not the grapes that go into them. Nouveau is the French word for new, so what we have is new Gamay wine from the Beaujolais region of France. How new? This wine was grapes less than 4-6 weeks ago.
Posted in Wine Musings | 
Tags: California, France, New Year's Eve, Thanksgiving | 
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It’s that time of year and the Wine Witch feels obligated to suggest a bubbly for your New Year celebrations. Finding something really good at our $15 price ceiling can be a challenge. I think we have met it in style this year.
Malbec is a red wine native to Argentina. The 2006 Alamos is a great resprentative of the varietal and at $10 a great choice for your house red.
Like most Malbecs the wine is a deep purple verging on violet in the glass. It has the usual black fruit aromas with a hint of mocha. There is not an edge on this wine with very round tannins – lovely mouth feel. You get the expected black cherries, some sweet spice, and just a hint of leather. The leather sounds weird, but trust me it is a good thing.
Posted in Wine Reviews |
Tags: $10, Alamos, Argentina, Malbec, Thanksgiving |
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Wine Advocate Reviewer Embroiled in Payola Scandal – This little blog has no pretensions. I always know what I am reviewing; have definite taste preferences; and, will accept free samples (although samples are ALWAYS identified as such). Then there is the Wine Advocate headed by Robert Parker. The Advocate is always held up as a paragon purity with completely honest, blind, and unbiased reviews. They really think they are too cool for school.
This is the second in some sample wines I received from Rutherford Wineries. Using the Wine Witch “bang for the buck” rating methodology, the 2009 Lander-Jenkins Spirit Hawk Cab earns a solid 4.5 stars. Fair warning to all you tree chomping Cab lovers, this is not a classic California entry.
Submitted by Sabina
I don’t know that there needed to be specific wine to drink when eating pizza, but apparently someone else did and is probably now getting rich off the idea. Pizza Red, an Australian wine that’s advertised as “the affair between wine and pizza” strikes me as being more like a hasty summer camp sex session between rosé and a wine cooler. A bit awkward, perhaps, but entertaining enough to be considered a somewhat pleasant experience.
Pizza Red is a touch sweet—not overly so—and has hints of strawberry. It spritzes when opened. This quirky product has no legs to speak of, but if we’re all being honest here who cares how it looks when you swoosh it around in your glass? Remember how mama used to say, “stop playing with your food?” Okay, then what are you playing with your wine and swooshing it around all day for? Just drink what’s put in front of you or pass it to someone who will.
Oh and serve chilled, perhaps with a nice, light fish dinner.
Submitted by Sabina
Perhaps I’m a sucker for advertising, but I simply cannot dislike any product with a cute koala on the label—especially when it costs $6 for a double-sized (1.5 liter) bottle! This wine, advertised as a real “beaut!,” is a nice bright gold in color and quite clear for a chard. Like with most chardonnays, there’s no shortage of oak in this South Eastern Australian wine, but there’s also a surprising amount of crispness to it. This is actually pretty bold in flavor and a bit buttery.
First, some truth in advertising. The nice people at Rutherford Wineries occasionally send me samples to review. As an aside – kudos to them for their sustainable growing practices. They accept the fact I will identify the wine as a free sample and that the review will be honest. No sweat here – this is a very nice wine.
Well there is an intriguing title for a wine blogger. Makes you a little curious. I have always said that I am not a wine expert but rather an enthusiastic amateur. I have a palate and I certainly have an opinion (on everything else outside wine too – just ask my husband). For several years I have waxed poetic on black fruits, zingy citrus, toasty oak, blah, blah blah. Do I really know what I am talking about? Well it turns out maybe not.
We have always enjoyed the Smoking Loon Viognier, but recently bought a couple of bottles of the Sauvignon Blanc. The Smoking Loon label has its roots in the Sebastiani dynasty of vitners, so we were pretty confident it would be a quality offering. At a $10 price point, we loved it.
Posted in Wine Reviews |
Tags: $10, California, Food, Sauvignon Blanc, Smoking Loon |
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Smoking Loon is a label that is part of the Three Loose Screws collection under Don Sebastiani and Sons. Sebastiani along with Mondavi and, to a lesser extent Gallo, are some of the iconic names in California winemaking.
Posted in Wine Reviews |
Tags: $10, California, Don Sebastiani and Sons, Smoking Loon, Viognier |
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