March 2009 Archives
CMS? Complete Meaning Surfaced
As we come to the end of the Ultimate Blog Party 2009 I have to say how impressed I am with the success of it. Up until March 20th I had had NO comments on this General Wine Thoughts site. Since then I’ve had over ten comments and they’re still coming in and they’re all SO positive! Thank you to everyone who stopped by and for your wonderful comments and I have myself visited some great blogs from other people.
Today I am going to write about a couple of other wines from one winery that are reasonably priced (no, not under $3.00!) and worth a try. You may have already tried them. I’m talking about the CMS wines of Hedges Family Estate.
With the popularity of wine on the steep climb upwards, the competition can become very fierce for the consumer dollar. Winery’s try to come up with clever ways of marketing their wine so that it catches the eye of the consumer: Animals on the labels, play on words—all sorts of things. They also come up with catchy names and that is what Hedges Family Estates has done with their CMS.
The white CMS is 35% Chardonnay, 3% Marsanne and 62% Sauvignon Blanc and it’s pretty good. Smooth and creamy, this white wine is about 13 bucks in the store. It’s an interesting combination of grape varietals that seem to work, though I remember this wine tasting better the first go around than it did this go around, which is the 2007 version. There is some mango on the mid tongue that is nice but an awkward finish. The down side is that there is virtually no nose on this wine, which I miss because I REALLY like a wine with a great nose. All in all, however, it’s a wine to try, to be sure.
Then I opened their red CMS and, well, this is a GREAT deal! While watching American Idol I enjoyed the 2007 CMS which is 42% Cabernet Sauvignon, 51% Merlot and 7% Syrah and it really is a great value at about ten bucks a bottle. The nose has a hint of smoky-ness to it but you get some alcohol as well. The taste is the result of a really nice combination of the grape varietals Hedges has chosen with some blueberry, bing and black cherry. I actually tasted the Cabernet Sauvignon more than the other varietals. Friends of mine, Lin and Marci Cooper, served this at their Christmas party about three years ago and I was very impressed then and it hasn’t depreciated now.
If you had to choose between the two I would go with the red CMS because it’s less money and, in my opinion, better tasting. But both are worthy.
On the last post I promised to tell you about the toast Shelley and I do on EACH and EVERY bottle of wine we open. You’ve read about the Tastings column found in the Wall Street Journal that I read on Friday’s from Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher and how they have come up with Open That Bottle Night which is designed to get people to open that one bottle of wine that never seems to get opened because the situation doesn’t seem to be big enough (See my post about Open That Bottle Night). We first learned of these two from their book, “Love By The Glass: Tasting Notes From A Marriage”. If you asked me to recommend just one book I would say READ THIS ONE! This book is absolutely awesome! Romance and wine rolled into one!
Anyway, John and Dottie toast every bottle that they open with the same toast. Read the book to find out what THAT is but OUR toast is our own. I look into Shelley’s eyes and say, “To your giggles” and she looks right at me, and says, “To your kisses. (Hey, I can’t help it that I kiss well.) THAT is the toast we make with each and every bottle of wine we open whether we’ve had it before or not. We even have it etched in the base of our glasses. Hers says TYK and mine says TYG. Dumb? Maybe, but it works for us because we are in love and we enjoy each other and our wine. And we know that what ever we go through in life we will always have each other and our wine. And everyone should know that feeling.
Until next time, bottoms up.
Ultimate Blog Party 2009 and Affordable (Decent) Wine
OK, well, I’ve been thrown for a loop…TWICE! Pull up a chair and get comfortable–this is a long one.
Loop Throwing #1:
I was just making the finishing touches on this post when it was brought to my attention a HUGE one week BASH of a party! From two twin sisters who started the site Five Minutes For Mom, comes the Ultimate Blog Party 2009 which is about building online friendships and relationships and it starts TODAY and runs until the 27th.
It’s very simple to join the fun (if I could do it ANYbody can!) and there are lots of ways you can get involved–from simply reading their post, to publishing your own party post on your blog (which is what I’m doing right NOW and you’re a part of it!) and signing one of the Mr. Linky link lists near the end of their post. There are even prizes! I LOVE prizes! There are so many cool prizes to be won at this years Ultimate Blog Party 2009 but my top three are:
#70 One case of Cinnamon Churros (yum) provided by Rudolph Foods; #89 $100 Gift Card to HomeGoods provided by HG Openhouse; #119 2 Life Journals (one for me and one for a friend) to guide Bible reading and study provided by Mom’s Toolbox.
And if these top three picks are already chosen, I’d love any of the following: 19, 21, 22, 26 and 91 or anything related to young women as my daughters are 16 and 19.
There will be so many new relationships built after this week of blogging frenzy. I’ve put a cute little Ultimate Blog Party 2009 button on the left just above my blog roll.
Now I know this site and this party is basically for Mom’s but they make it very clear that Dad’s, and anybody else, for that matter, can join. So, for my party post, I’m sticking with what this site is dedicated to doing and that is teaching people about wine from the ground up. As I’ve stated before, I, Phil Anderson, am certainly no wine expert but I do love wine and am enjoying learning as much as possible about it. As the subject of wine can seem very intimidating to people, my goal is to teach about wine in very simple terms.
I know Mom’s (as well as Dad’s) around the globe work very hard in raising children so that they’ll become an integral part of society. I myself am a father and I’m very proud of my daughters. I know at the end of the day a little peace and solitude (sometimes VERY little) is sought and when that time comes it can really help to have it include a nice glass of wine.
So today’s post is about a wine that I feel can be a great everyday wine. As we read and hear about seemingly every hour of every day, household budgets have taken a hit so people have had to find ways of trimming their costs. So how do you trim your wine cost without effecting quality?
That brings me to my–
Loop Throwing #2:
You know when you buy a very inexpensive bottle of wine just so that you can enjoy something at some point of the evening? You don’t need to break the bank and you can’t just coninue to drop 10-20 bucks for a bottle of wine every night. It’s not financially prudent. So you go for something under ten bucks…ok, sometimes even under FIVE bucks.
Everyone (well, most people who drink wine, anyway) has heard of Two Buck Chuck, Charles Shaw Winery’s low end, “everyday” wine. We tried that and weren’ t very impressed. The Chardonnay was flat and the Merlot sweet.
So, while shopping at Walmart (I know, I know, but don’t get politically correct on me, now), Shelley saw an Oak Leaf Vineyards Chardonnay and Merlot for, get this, $2.97 each. Suffice it to say, we weren’t expecting ANYTHING, let alone, nothing much.
We opened the bottle of Chardonnay, poured, toasted (stay tuned for what our tratitional daily toast is and how it came to be in the next General Wine Thoughts post) and tasted. What came next was, well surprising, to say the least. It tasted pretty good!
The Chardonnay had very little, if any, oak and it was crisp and clean. Most inexpensive Chardonnay’s have an off smell followed by an off taste which leads to an off opinion. This had a hint of on off smell, just at the finish, but was rather pleasant.
The Merlot was not quite as good, but still, not bad at all. Not much of anything on the nose. You expect some rich berries when you smell a Merlot. The taste was also pleasant.
The label didn’t give much information about Oak Leaf Vineyards except that they’re located in Ripon and Livermore (two cities?), California. I did find out that they brought home the Gold at the 2008 Florida State Fair. Both of these wines were non-vintage so they can use grapes from many vintages. That also means the wine will likely be very consistent.
To end this post, I would like to encourage you to pick up a botttle of one of these Oak Leaf Vineyards wines at your local Walmart and give it a go. I think you’ll be surprised. And if nothing else, it will give you a little “me” time after giving so much of “your” time, although deserving, to your kids.
Have You Heard of Madeleine Angevine?
Last year, on Fathers Day, we volunteered to help with Taste Washington. There are two events, one in Seattle, which is very large, and one in Spokane, which is about half the size. Over 100 Washington wineries were present and many, many restaurants (I don’t remember exactly because, well, I’m getting old and can’t remember!). We worked the previous year, 2007, which was the first time for us, and helped bring cases of wine upstairs to the appropriate places. That was fun, but….
…LAST year we were allowed to work right next to the seafood bar pouring 20 different white wines that were specifically paired for the seafood. The beautiful thing about this is that we “have” to “work” for two hours and then get the rest of the time to sample the wines and food of the event. So hard, ya know?
So while we were studying the different whites we were to pour one completely jumped out at us: Madeleine Angevine. Let me write this again, Madeleine Angevine. This is a variety we’ve never heard of (have you??) and when we were done with our shift of pouring (it’s against Washington law to taste when you are a designated pourer) it was our first taste.
What a TREAT! Floral, effervescent, fruity but not sweet at all. Just very refreshing and crisp. How have we not have heard of this wine? The winery that made this luscious treat was San Juan Vineyards, 2007 vintage. San Juan Vineyards is located in Friday Harbor, Washington and this Madeleine Angevine was Estate Grown.
One interesting thing we noticed was the bottle didn’t hold 750 ML of wine but more like 710 ML. The label never stated there was 750 ML of wine in the bottle but the bottle itself had 750 ML imbedded right in the glass. We didn’t necessarily think it was a big deal, just somewhat odd, and I wanted to make a note of that here.
We paid $18.00 for this bottle which is also is not too bad a price. We would recommend you give this a go as soon as possible. The only bad news is that was the only bottle we have and now, sadly, we have no more Madeleine Angevine. We’ll need to fix this problem quickly, I know. And now as we are already 3 months into the new year our third year of volunteering at Taste Washington is only a few months away.
What new gem will we find THIS year?
A Different Sauvignon Blanc
Comparing wines is one of the fun things about drinking wine. We just drank a Sancerre, which is the Sauvignon Blanc grape, and last night we enjoyed a completely different Sauvignon Blanc, one from Chile. This 2007 Reserva from Veramonte Winery from the Casablanca Valley in Chile was VERY light and tart. The nose was grassy, much like what we’re used to with this grape.
Shelley tasted apples and said it was acidic and dry. It was very different from the Sancerre. We enjoyed it very much.
My next post will be a comparison between two Gewurztraminers (I waited as long as I could so I didn’t have to write that name!) from Firestone Vineyard, a 2005 and a 2007. Stay tuned.
Open That 2007 Sancerre Night
When we woke up yesterday morning it was five degrees. Now as I write this it’s a balmy fifty something degrees and it’s 11:07 PM in Orange, California. But last night we found ourselves in Ogden, Utah. Thank goodness we had brought wine, on ice no less, so we didn’t have to concern ourselves with having to figure out how to buy wine in Utah. Such a beautiful place–mountains in our backyard, but serious, what would we have done if we weren’t prepared??
We had driven over ten hours. We were tired. And it was Open That Bottle Night 10. Unbeknownst to Shelley I brought a special bottle of wine to welcome us into our hotel room. I knew we wouldn’t be able to handle an entire bottle of red so I went with a white. I also know that Sauvignon Blanc is probably our favorite white wine right now. So refreshing.
I chose a 2007 Sancerre from France. Not much of a surprise, I know, since I basically told you in the title of this blog. This Pascal Jolivet Sancerre scored 90 points from the Wine Spectator and it didn’t disappoint. Although I will admit almost anything would have hit the spot, this went up and over.
What I found interesting was that the nose on this wine reminded me of Chardonnay and Shelley of a Chablis. It was very smooth. However, about two thirds through the bottle it started to hint at what we’re used to in a Sauvignon Blanc, the grassy, floral nose. I tasted a tart, sour taste. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was. At first I thought it was apricot but then realized it was not.
Because we were on the road we weren’t able to have our annual Open That Bottle Night party but this was the next best thing. It’s not often we spend thirty bucks on a bottle of wine but this certainly was worth it and we were happy to be able to share another OTBN night together. To be sure, this cork will go in our cork catcher when we get home. I don’t know who gets to toss it in but it will make it’s way in, without a doubt.
I hope you were able to find a special bottle of wine to open for this once a year occasion. My next post may not be until next week as we are visiting California relatives before bringing Shelley’s father back home with us. Until then, bottoms up!
