The leftovers of a blind wine tasting pitting Virginia against the world (consisting mostly of France and the west coast of the U.S.). So many things wrong with this effort, but way too much fun not to have tried. If you’re curious who won, so am I! Somehow the night dissolved into a table full of aged Burgundy and spilled Riesling (not pictured).
I appreciate when a winemaker can be serious without being pretentious. And it’s even better when the bottle lives up to the promise on the label. While just an infant wine, the high acid, bursts of red fruit and evolution in the glass, made this
Sean Thackrey Pleiades XXIV Old Vines California Red Blend such a pleasure to drink last night:
The object of Pleiades Old Vines is to be delicious, delight the jaded, irritate the Wine Police, and generally go well with anything red wine goes well with. This twenty-fourth edition, bottled in April of 2015, includes Sangiovese, Viognier, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, and Mourvedre, to name but a few. Fragrant and voluptuous when first released, it will become far more subtle and complex with age, as of course we will: but such restraint may just be too much to ask…
Wine country bathroom. (at RdV Vineyard)
One more reason I need to get myself down to RdV! Very clever!
Last year, the majority of the rosé I ingested came from Red Car. The Sonoma Coast winery best known for their Pinot Noir makes an elegant and crisp quaffer that goes down incredibly easy on a hot summer day (or at an IPOB tasting). I finished every last bottle I had, so in time for a recent BBQ I scoured the Internet in search of some more. I purchased a few 2014s from a New York store and was very happy. A few days after the event, a friend found some 2013s at a local D.C. wine shop. And this past Saturday, we put them together for a side-by-side comparison.
Conclusions were pretty simple: 2013 was refreshing and light and included some yeasty notes (a flaw? part of the aging?) but had lost some of it’s fruit (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing). 2014 was also refreshing, and had some good tart notes with a bit more body.
So my amateur assessment is there’s no reason to keep these bottles around past their seasons. That’s a good thing – because at least in my house – those bottles won’t stay very long. But if one happens to get lost in the fridge and reappears the following year – enjoy the surprise!
Editing to add: a nice little response from Red Car! Thanks for taking a look and weighing in!
Infographic: Why Some Wines are So Damn Expensive – Breaking Down the Cost of a Bottle Of Wine – VinePair breaks down the costs, not just with the graphic posted above, but with a story that takes you through the entire system.
Do ancient winemaking tools help make better wine?
Georgia’s Giant Clay Pots Hold An 8,000-Year-Old Secret To Great Wine
From NPR:
Irakli Cholobargia, marketing director of the state-run National Wine Agency, says qvevri wine is still a tiny portion — less than 1 percent — of the total Georgian output. Yet the number of qvevri winemakers is growing: Today at least 30 artisanal winemakers use the ancient vessels exclusively, and larger wineries are adding qvevri series to their lineups.
“To stand out from the crowd, it’s good to have the qvevri wine. It’s a different thing,” Cholobargia says. But, he adds, increasingly, qvevri are not enough to differentiate a winery. “You have to have new grape varieties in your range, a new one even for the Georgians.”
Somehow my little tumblr was noticed and MacArthur Beverage invited me to a wine tasting of 2012 Burgundy. I’ll write up my impressions in a larger post soon, but in the meantime it was fun tasting through all the classifications. #wine #winesofinstagram #burgundy #wineporn #grandcru (at MacArthur Beverage)
I found springtime happiness on the wine list (at Range).
Over on the delectible app, I gave this a 9.4 and wrote: This 2014 was alive with so much flavor. A medium-long finish that kept popping different citrus flavors after tart strawberries. Loved this!
I haven’t gushed about a wine in a while (or maybe I have… but that 9.4 score is definitely on my high end of what I usually gvie for wines that I truly enjoy) and I rated it after we completed the bottle. So when I woke up this morning I wondered if my enthusiasm for this wine was really deserved? And I’m happy to say, it does!
This was one of those times where the exprience and surroundings while tasting the wine influenced everything about my interactions with it. Whether others agree if this could be the rosé of the season or not doesn’t matter: Drinking this wine on that night, sharing it with a friend who also drew pleasure from it, and eating some fabulous food all contributed to its deliciousness. Just the way every wine experience should be.
Cheers!
Delicious food, wine and conversation at The Red Hen tonight! Georgian red #wine, rigatoni with fennel sausage, spinach paccheri with duck leg sugo, white port to go with dessert (mocha budino). Great idea, @nycreba!
Starting the evening off right in New York. #wineporn (at Aldo Sohm Wine Bar)
It's Wine By Me! 
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