A few months back I visited Santa Barbara and spent a day wine tasting with Deb. We had lunch in Los Olivos and then did some wine tasting. I recently opened a couple of the bottles we got at Andrew Murray Vineyards. They were even better than I remembered. In particular, I like the 2006 Viognier and the 2005 Esperance. I've decided we didn't buy enough! I will be going back soon, I hope.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Write Trader Joe's
JennySmith sent me this link today. I'd heard about this woman's death on NPR but didn't realize at the time that the farm she was working at has a connection with Trader Joe's. You may know TJ's is one of my favorite stores. And they usually are good corporate citizens. So I'm sure letters from customers will get attention. Write today and tell TJ's to make sure their suppliers have proper working enviroments.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Food and Wine Pairing
Snooth Blog has a nice article about food and wine pairings and it was helpful to me. I hadn't thought of a Sauvignon Blanc or Sancerre being "racy" but I appreciated the tip that they work well with salty foods. I agree that spicy Mexican or Italian food can use a strong, bold wine but I can also see having a crisp, cold, more mild white with them in the same way I like a nice bland cream cheese with smoked salmon - but like some snappy capers too. The article isn't snooty and the writer encourages you to make your own choices. I'll give it 2 1/2 wine glass rating.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Pahrumphh!
I've known of the existence of the Pahrump Valley Winery for some time but have never really taken it seriously. Off and on, I've thought about going out there to check it out but just never gotten around to it. Finally, my friend Scott and I decided it was time to take the trip and check the place out. Pahrump is about an hour outside of Las Vegas. The land of double wides and brothels. I pretty much expected to sip some rotgut in a shed somewhere in the desert just to make sure I didn't die of thirst.
Boy,was I surprised.
The winery is a bright diamond in the desert. The staff is extraordinarily nice and the wine was quite tasty. I have to say I really didn't enjoy the Pinot Noir or the Burgundy but I liked the Chardonnay, the Pinot Gris, the Syrah, the Cabernet and the Cream Sherry. I bought a case. And the prices are quite palatable as well.
After our wine tasting we had lunch at the restaurant, Symphony's. The lobster bisque was delicious and the apple salad was delightful. We shared a bottle of the Peak White which is nice and crisp. The restaurant is small with windows all around. The service is excellent and the prices are reasonable. i will be going back soon.
I'd recommend a trip out the the winery to anyone, local or tourist.
Type rest of the post here
Nothing Here
If you previously dropped by and there was political commentary, just pretend I'd had too much wine and couldn't tell one blog from another. This blog has a new blog about my visit to our Southern Nevada winery coming soon.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Snooth
I have no idea what a 'snooth' is but the site has a nice search utility to look for wines. You don't have to register unless you decide to buy. You can type something in the search bar and you can also filter your search with the sliders on the left side. Search by price, varietal, region or merchant. I was looking for some cheap pinots. I found several in the $10 range. I'm a little disappointed in the ratings only because there aren't a lot. I really like the huge selection though and it is fun looking around and reading about the wines.
To be honest, my favorite part is changing the sliders and seeing the results. :-)
UPDATED: To reflect the comment by Philip James (from Snooth, I think!) who says you don't even have to register to buy wine. Now, that's cool! Also, if you go to the "About Us" which I should have done before, you'll learn all about the name.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Pricey Wine
It is hard for me to justify spending more that $20 on a bottle of wine. There are so many wines I like that don't cost that much, so I cringe at the expense. BUT..there are some winery where the wine is just so good that I don't mind spending extra. Armida, Artiste, and Hanna to name a few.
This year on our annual Passport trip to El Dorado, I found a great Viognier that I almost didn't buy. The retail price was $38 and so I initially said, no way. But then our group bought so much wine that I could buy at $28 a bottle and I caved. It was worth it. This Viognier from Madrona is just delicious. It is smooth and fruity but not too sweet. I'd point you to a link to buy it but they don't have it on the wine list. It may be you have to go to the winery to get it. When we tasted it, the wine maker told us he doesn't typically like Viognier and so this one is special. And it really is. I wish now I'd bought more.
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Monday, June 2, 2008
What Color Is Your Wine?
If you asked me what color wine comes in, I'd probably say "white, red and sometimes pink." But wine has lots of different colors. To avoid plagiarizing, I'll just link you over here. The wine I'm drinking tonight, Sangiovese from Jodar, is definitely reddish-orange, which I never would have noticed if I hadn't held it up against a white background as the web page describes. The white background of my Blogger editing page makes an excellent background for checking out the color of my wine.
Oh, and, BTW, regardless of the color, this Sangiovese tastes great.
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