EAST COAST PALATE

This 2006 Bourgogne, Cuvée La Marguerite, cost me $13.  As it turns out, it pairs perfectly with poultry...
I owe some thanks to Karmen, who asked me to recommend a white wine to complement the bird at a Thanksgiving party.  I looked in my notes, but really felt at a loss for giving sound first hand advice.  I decided to go buy some Chardonnay and some turkey and was pleasantly surprise by how well the pairing turned out.
The wine has definite apple and green grape aromas, with slight floral honeysuckle smells playing around on the nose.  The wine tastes fresh and has the acidity to balance out that buttery viscosity coming from the barrel treatment.  On its own it's a solid B, 86-87 point wine.  But then I took a bite of some roasted turkey slices from my local deli, and washed it down with a bit of wine.  The salty, smokiness of the meat actually makes this wine seem more balanced.  The slightly bitter finish I had noticed before was now mellow and smooth; and those tart green apple/lemon peel flavors popped just a little more.  Tasting the wine with the turkey adds a couple points to the overall experience.  This experiment was a lot of fun for me, and I suggest doing something like this before bringing wine to a party, or planning what to cook and which wines to serve when you have company.  I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.  Let me know what wines you drink with the meal.

My eventful Saturday began yesterday at down at Circle Wine & Liquors (www.circlewinelist.com), where I poured three well-priced Aussi wines.  The Rosemount 2008 Chardonnay, 2007 Shiraz, and 2007 Shiraz/Grenache are all on sale there for $9.  The Chardonnay for me was a bit green smelling.  Nice notes of crisp green apple... Not so nice aromas of peas or green beans.  It was an okay, non-oaky Chardonnay that scores a low B for my taste, but would probably be a good choice for someone to try if they like lighter Pinot Grigio style Chardonnay.
The Shiraz is a fruit-bomb aromatically, with a whiff of candylike sweetness mingling with nice cherry and plum action.  Once I tasted it, though, I percieved a slightly plastic taste, as if somebody dropped a Lego block in my glass when I wasn't looking.  A bit off, but still a typical spicy, plummy Shiraz from down under.  Another low B.
The Shiraz/Grenache was the favorite of the day...for me and most of the store's clientele that stopped by for a few sips.  This wine had the fruity qualities mixed with a cocoa subtlety that pops in on the mid-palate.  For me this is the bottle I would buy; a solid B and a very versitile vino for holiday pairings.

$7.50 is an amazing price to pay for the quality wine that you get from this bottle.  This blend comes from the southeast of Spain, in a region called Almansa, where in 2005 the heat was strong and the grapes ripened extremely well.  This wine consists of about 2/3 Garnacha and 1/3 Syrah.  There are some resinous dark cherry and leather components coming from the Grenache in it, while the Syrah adds some ripe plum and a peppery kick to the final product.  You can tell the wine spent some time in oak barrels, but those tannins are very well integrated with the fruit and acid it the wine, bringing a toasty cedar note into the mix.  The acidity here will put a pucker on your face, like a big swig of cran-grapefruit juice would, if you can imagine the sensation.  Early on I detected a bit of that nail-polish-remover, chemical odor (ethyl acetate) that can really screw up a wine.  But if it was a bit flawed, it wasn't to a strong enough extent to mask the great aromas, flavors, and overall balance of this red blend.  In any case, I'll be buying more of this wine, so I'll be able to compare the bottles I open in the future with the first one.  Overall I'll give this wine a solid B rating at 88 points.  I love that it matches or surpasses many of the wines in the $20-$30 range.  It is a drink-now kind of wine that bring with it many old world characteristics, and I recommend it to everyone.
I have to say thank you to Nick Henning for pointing this wine out to me at YES Organic Market in D.C.  Otherwise it could've passed under my wine radar and I would've never known what I do now.  Currently it is the wine of the month at YES, so there will be plenty in stock throughout the holiday season.  I am pumped up to know about this wine.  Tell your friends.  Share this wine at parties.  It's only 7 bucks and worth every sip.

I popped the cork out of this bottle on a Wednesday night, and after trying it I felt that everything was in its right place.  This is a Wednesday night wine: nothing costly or crazy.  It is a medium bodied, lightly colored, fruit foward Pinot that will please most of the crowd.  But for me it's still in the low B range as far as quality is concerned.
The alcohol content in this wine is 13.5%, so while it makes you yell woo-hoo a lot faster, the nostril stinging sensation robs the spotlight from some very nice flower petal, cherry and strawberry aroma.  Personally, I prefer a Pinot with some resious, smokey bacon odors coming off of it, and that this wine was so fruity was a let down.  I did enjoy some leathery cherry components to the smell, and the wine had surprisingly firm tannins for how light it seems at first. 
I would drink this bottle again, and would recommend it to others.  But I can't see myself purchasing this Pinot Noir any time soon.  I'd rather spend $4 more and get a bottle of Yealands Pinot Noir from Marlborough, New Zealand.  In fact, I need to go get some of that wine to review.  All in do time.
Question of the day:  If you could take some wine and some friends and go anywhere in the world, where would you go?  And what wine would you bring along?
One love.  Wine love.

So I picked up this bottle at a county (Montgomery) run liquor store for under $9.  As a linguist and a fan of Côtes du Rhone wine I appreciated the pun and bought the wine.  Later, with my aunt dishing up some of her arugula, orange, onion, and walnut salad, and myself ladeling out pumpkin and mango soup, I unscrewed the cap and poured out some of my new favorite wine from South Africa.
The nose carries some barnyard-earthy stink, which integrates nicely with some dark fruit and spice aromas.  The wine is medium bodied, spicy, and has a pomegranate-like tart finish.  Any fan of Rhone reds needs to try this wine.  I'll rate it a solid B with 87 points.
And for the Rhone fans: What are your favorite wines from the Rhone valley?

A wine that for $10 will amp up your antipasto or spaghetti...but it would also be great with a burger or a pork chop.  This light wine is a blend of mostly the Corvina and Rondinella varietals, and it has the color of a cherry jolly rancher that's been toasted.  It is translucent, a vibrant red that is still somehow slightly burnt looking.  It has fresh cherry and berry aromas, with just a hint of autumn leaves or leather giving it a very pleasent scent.  Once past the lips it begins with all fruit...light bodied and clean, then an acidic rush comes on and all of the sudden you're puckering up.  Strangely, the anstringent, drying out sensation only happened on my inner cheeks, while my tongue retained the berry flavor and the acid bite.  I'll give this wine 87 points.  It is a wine worth sharing and I'll definitely be trying it again soon.

I decided last night to try two Malbecs side by side.  The prospect of this tasting had me excited, ready for a good matchup of two bottles of the hottest grape varietal around.  Then I opened these bottles and smelled each contender.  This is when things started to go downhill. 
The 2008 Elsa Bianchi, from Argentina ($12), had a faintly chemical aroma that masked the little grape and blueberry that was barely present.  The wine in my mouth started smooth and fruity, but quickly dissolved into a bitter aftertaste.  Overall it lacks any complexity and is a B- at best.
The 2005 Pigmentum Malbec from France wasn't much better...it's aroma was a nice, resiny mixture of dry fruits and dusty plums.  It had a little bit more of a tannic structure than the Elsa Bianchi, but lacked any finish and was for me equally disappointing.  For $12, this Malbec really didn't give me my money's worth, either.
I was hyped up about this flight, but it turned out to be like watching a soccer match that ends in a 0-0 tie.  I remember working at Syzygy in Walla Walla, WA, standing on the edges of binfuls of fermenting Malbec and the smells rising up to me as I punched down (just a mixing up of the grape skins and juice) the cap of grapes into the juice as it fermentened.  There is something about malbec that is lush and sensuous and sexy when it is made right, but neither of the wines tried last night really did much for me.

Before I began my journey into a bottle of Jameson last night, I did some drinking that involved a certain amount of reflection and sensory conciousness. 

As I began preparing dinner I uncorked a beautifully ornate bottle of Italian Pinot Noir made by Candoni Wines.  A 2007, this young wine exudes a berry freshness.  I normally prefer a little more meat and earth aroma from Pinot, but the crisp Goji berry, raisiny smells pulled me in all the same.  This wine has low alcohol and high acid.  It brings a tart berry flavor at the front end, then pulls a La Bruja move and, poof, it's gone.  After a pause the tart finish comes on strong and leaves a pleasant long-lasting semi-pucker that reminds me of Sour Skittles.  This get a B letter grade even though the structure and balance were a little off.  The wine won me over with its eternal finish.

Then I had to open a Chardonnay for the chicken I was making, so I got a $7 bottle of Barefoot Chardonnay.  It's a little buttery, but has a good amount of acid to keep it in balace.  For the money, it's a decent bottle; a B wine.

With dinner, my aunt and uncle blind tasted me on a Merlot that was so light and acidic that I was guessing it was Italian.  Not the case.  The 2006 (I was able to guess the vintage), Estancia Merlot from the Central Coast of CA is not the cocoa nib and prune kind of Merlot that I love.  But it is a solid 86 point, B wine for me.  Light berry aromas, some stoney minerality, and a solid overall balance... for $12 it's definitely a bottle I'd bring to a dinner party or wine tasting.

A couple curveballs in this round of tasting, which I love because it reflects the variability and versatility of vitis vinifera.  An then, the pitch came in tight and hit me(Why does Jameson have to be so smooth?!).  I'm walking it off today.  Tomorrow there will be wine to drink.

I am a fan of sparkling wine, regardless of the climate or what hors d'oeuvres are being served.  Sparkling wine doesn't need an occasion...it is  an occasion.  This bottle that I just bought at Adega Wine Cellars down in Silver Spring has got me pretty excited.  I'm a glass in, and the aromas and flavors are still evolving.
The wine:  Conde de Subirats, Cava Brut (NV) weighs in at a light 11.5%.  There are green apple and lemon zest scents mingled with a sweaty, baking bread aroma that all together transported me back to when I was 19 in Strasbourg, France during the marché de noel eating madeleines and drinking hot wine composed of white wine and orange juice mixed with mulling spices.
Anyway, minus the spices, this wine is very sugar cookie like, and that first sip starts out creamy.  Then pear and lemon flavors emerge.  Suddenly you pucker and the tartness of a Granny Smith apple takes over your tongue.  And then the smooth, sweet, yellow Skittle finish comes on and doesn't seem to go away.
I like this wine a lot; it gets an A from my palate without a doubt, especially at $15.

A good "halloween wine" would maybe  be a good way to describe this wine.  Or maybe just good Tuesday night wine with a bowl of stew or a grilled chicken salad. 
The lightness of the 2006 La Bruja malbec makes it very versitile for pairing with different dishes, but on its own this wine is lacking the body and balance to make it a great wine.  The color is a dark vibrant purple, and it delivers those delicious classic malbec aromas like prunes, plums, sweat-soaked strawberries, and Pixistix/Fun Dip sweetness.  I also picked up some sawdust and black olive.  The smell of this wine adds more to the whole than the taste and structure.  In your mouth this wine is a gushing fruit bomb that vanishes within a half-second.  The void stays there a few seconds before the tannins catch back up and dry out your gums.  Maybe the disappearing act is a part of the wine's witchcraft, hence the name.  Anyway, I love the way it smells, but don't like the way it behaves.  For me it's a B- kind of wine, but worth try at $15.

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