We toast at South Coast Winery. Shelley (R) with a 2008 Grenache Rose' and mine, a 2010 Tempranillo Rose'.

Within the first five minutes of our visit, however, we realized we weren’t in Kansas anymore (or more specifically, we were tasting wine in California).  The tasting fee is about 5 times more than the wineries tasting fees in Washington, give or take.  After I swallowed hard and paid the fee, my building regret for having stayed a few more hours to taste some more Temecula wines started dissipating.

It was fairly busy at the time we were there (after all, it WAS around Noon on a Monday) and they had two people pouring behind the bar.  The person pouring for us was named Jennifer.  Jennifer was not for the timid.  She spoke her thoughts and opinions and was very much in command of what was going on.  She was a perfect blend of somebody who could give impeccable customer service yet would never be taken advantage of.  I’ve been to enough tasting rooms to have seen many classless and snooty people with countless personality disabilities try to one-up, two-up or even three-up the poor person pouring the wine.  Jennifer would dice and slice anyone like that, but do it in a way that they would have no idea what hit them.

Fortunate for her (and probably for me, as well), we are pretty easy going and will let the person behind the bar guide us through the best experience possible.  That isn’t always the case, for many reasons, and we were happy where things were heading.  Jennifer started us out with an extra dry sparkler that was marvelous.  It was very crisp, light and simple but I loved it.  We tasted so many wines including, Tempranillo, Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Petite Verdot, Sauvignon Blanc, Petite Sirah, <taking a breath> Late Harvest Riesling and Port.  Whew!

Jennifer definitely had a passion for Italian styled Red wines and she steered us in that direction which was fine with me!  One of them was a 2006 Wild Horse Peak 100% Sangiovese with a smokey nose and luscious, soft tannins.  There were two Syrahs that were outstanding as well, both 2006 vintage, one a Reserve and one from Wild Horse Peak.  Both were big and bold and packed a punch.  We also enjoyed a Tempranillo Rose’ that was absolutely exquisite, perfect for a hot summer day.

But the one that stood out over all of them, in my opinion, was their Black Jack Port, which is a blend of Tinta Cao, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Zinfandel and Alicante Bouchet.  WOW!  Deep raspberries on the nose and so many layers.  We had this with milk chocolate kisses and it paired beautifully.

So many times at tasting rooms the wine is superior but then the person pouring is snobbish.  Or the other way around, with an outstanding person pouring a less than satisfactory wine.  In the cases where you have both a snob and poor quality wine, it’s best to just back out the door slowly and make a mad dash to anywhere but there!  In our experience at South Coast Winery we were treated to both excellent juice and a very knowledgable and friendly person behind the counter, Jennifer.

The enchanted entry to Briar Rose Winery.

Our last stop of the day was at Briar Rose Winery, mostly because of the name and because we were given a coupon for “buy one tasting and get one free”.  I’m glad we had it, too, because this was even more expensive than the last place!  It was a very cute property that Beldon Fields purchased in the 1970′s and built replicas of Snow White’s cottage for his wife.  Beldon worked for Walt Disney and was one of many artisans who built Disneyland’s Fantasyland and Toon Town.

In the early 1990′s, Les and Dorian Linkogle purchased the beautiful estate from Beldon Fields with the promise to not change the architecture of the cottages.  It turned out that the estate location was perfect for growing grapes.  So, in the late 1990′s Viognier grapes were planted along with Merlot, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon and Riesling.  Their grand opening was in 2007, so they are a very young winery, indeed.

We were the only ones there and their cat kept us company at the bar while we glided through the tastings.  This was tannin city! Every single one of their red wines had sharp tannins.  I didn’t give huge scores to any of the wines we tried but there were two worth noting.  We tasted a 2007 Citronier which surprised us with a zingy lemon finish.  Light and crisp and brilliant lemon flavor.  The other was their 2008 Estate Zinfandel which had quite a lackluster nose but made up for it with an explosion of flavor.  This wine was extremely smooth and balanced.

This finishes The Wedding Weekend trifecta which marks and honors the marriage of Shelley’s son Tyler to his new bride, Jennifer.  Wherever we go we try and incorporate a winery visit.  For this momentous occasion we probably wouldn’t have because the priority was on the wedding, as it should be.  However, we were blessed to have the wedding events be in and around the wineries of Temecula and so it was a perfect combination.

If you have any comments please feel free to write them below.  You can also reach me by following me on Twitter and “Liking” me on Facebook.  If you’d prefer to go (semi) old school my e-mail address is drinkwine@generalwinethoughts.com.  As always, thank you so much for reading and remember, bottoms up!

The big day had finally arrived.  All the girls spent the day doing make up and getting their hair and nails done.  The guys swung the sticks on the course.  I tried to find somewhere to lie out in the sun and soak up a few rays since this is something I love but can’t seem to find the time to do it.

As the hours ticked off and the time drew nearer and nearer to the ceremony starting, we got all dressed up and prepared ourselves for a limo ride from our hotel to Leonesse Cellars, where the wedding was to take place.  Having been to the rehearsal the day before I knew that it was going to be beautiful but not THIS beautiful!  They did a phenomenal job decorating, although, it’s not too hard with the vineyards as the backdrop for the ceremony.

The Rock Star couple after the ceremoney during pictures in the vineyards at Leonesse Cellars.

Everything went off without a hitch (and the happy couple WAS hitched!) and then we were shuttled from the ceremony location to where the reception was to be held, Leonesse’s barrel room.  Two barrel rooms in two nights!  There was a bit of a wait while they shuttled 150 people to the reception (it was a rather long walk…).  During this wait I met somebody whose career I found quite interesting.  Click HERE to read all about THAT story!

This barrel room was much larger than the one at Ponte Winery the night before.  It was fabulously decorated and had a wonderfully festive ambiance.  This might surprise you but, the moment we got settled at our table, I sashayed to the bar to find out what they were pouring.  I was VERY much looking forward to trying their wine!  (If you are a fan of Drinking Wine on Facebook you will know we have a wine neighbor that is always bringing wine over to our place.  She brought a bottle of Leonesse Port that we had with chocolate one night that was WONDERFUL!)

We started out with a  Leonesse Melange de Blanc which consisted of 44% Roussane, 41% Viognier and 15% Marsanne.  With all the celebrating activities going on it was difficult to really savor the experience of the wine but the Viognier really stood out as their were notes of peaches a hint of honey.

Dinner was uttlerly spectacular.  It was a buffet that featured (in my case, anyway, because I didn’t try the grilled chicken with brushetta) top sirloin with bacon, shallot and Gorgonzola compound butter.  I paired a  2007 Leonesse Melange de Reves with the sirloin and it was perfect!  It was a red blend of 54% Syrah, 25% Cinsaut, 16% Grenache and 5% Mourvedre and it was a bit smokey with flavors of peppory raspberries.

A bonus was a sparkling wine for the toast of the bride and groom.  This wine wasn’t produced by Leonesse but from Wilson Creek Winery and Vineyards, also in Temecula.  Wow!  It was an almond flavored sparkling wine that was absolutely delicious!  I didn’t expect the almond taste but it was certainly there.

After writing her own personal note of good luck on the Leonesse cork to her son and his new wife, Shelley places the cork into the cork catcher at the reception.

This night was, obviously, a very special occasion as Shelley’s second child was the first to be married off.  There was dancing, laughter and high spirits, great food and wonderful wine at a magnificent venue, Leonesse Cellars.  It was seamlessly orchestrated by Meghan and Katie of Intertwined Weddings and Special Events. I would typically not even mention them but the night was so flawless they deserve special mention.  People even wrote little notes of luck to the bride and groom on corks and pitched them (ok, more PUT them) in the cork catcher I had made for them as a wedding present.  We met new family and friends and sampled the best that Temecula has to offer.

The only downside was Shelley’s Nikon digital SLR turned up missing and I ended up making two trips back to the winery looking for it without success.

I would suggest a trip to Leonesse Cellars for sure to sample their extraordinary wines if you have the chance.  It is certainly a winery that takes great pride in producing high end juice!  Or better YET, if you’re planning an event and you’re near Temecula, why not consider Leonesse Cellars?  Laura Mitchell, the Weddings and Events Manager at Leonesse who handled this wedding would be more than happy to hear from you!

Thank you so much for reading and remember, bottoms up!

I know it’s considered taboo to do business at weddings but this was something I didn’t see coming.  So, since I was caught off guard I didn’t even KNOW I was networking!  While standing in the horde of people waiting to get from point A (the wedding ceremony) to point B (the wedding reception) I was introduced to one of Shelley’s friends whose wife happened to be in the wine business.  DOH!

While we all said what we did for a living, Andrea’s explanation piqued my interest.  She told me she worked for ONEHope Wine and she went on to tell me what the winery’s mission was.  Apparently, what I did (write a wine blog!) piqued hers, as well and we exchanged contact information.  A new wine relationship was born!

ONEHope Wine, as it turns out, is a winery that supports great causes through the sales of their wines! Can you say, “Win/Win”?  Some research uprooted an interesting story of a sales rep for a large wine distributor, Jake Kloberdanz, who, while stocking shelves with wine at a store realized specialty items used to raise awareness and proceeds would garner and enjoy preferential and prominent placement on shelves and thus move faster than other products off those shelves.  Six months later he had created Hope Wine, a name that has since been changed to ONEHope Wine.

In a nutshell, ONEHope Wine produces several varietals of wine, each of which help support a particular cause with the proceeds.  For example, 50% of the profits of their  2010 Cabernet Sauvignon, which runs $18.99 and was co-created by Rob Mondavi Jr., goes to help the Fight Against Autism.  They also produce a Merlot which helps in the Fight Against AIDS, a Pinot Noir which goes to Supporting Children’s Hospitals, a Sauvignon Blanc which goes to Supporting Our Planet, a Zinfandel which goes to Supporting Our Troops and a Chardonnay which goes to the Fight Against Breast Cancer.  In all cases, 50% of the profits go to the cause in which that varietal is supporting.  In fact, Rob Mondavi Jr. has his hand in each of these wines as well!

Andrea was nice enough to send me a bottle of their 2009 Zinfandel and their 2009 Chardonnay.  Because we are in the midst of Breast Cancer Awareness month (did you know that each year it is estimated that nearly 200,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and more than 40,000 will die?), I am writing about these wines today!

Suffice it to say, many products that represent causes or issues are….how do I say…um….well, not of high quality.  I am happy to report that this is NOT the case with these wines!

They chose their Chardonnay to help with the Fight Against Breast Cancer because one out of eight women are effected by breast cancer in this country today plus they prefer Chardonnay 2 to 1 over any other varietals.  Ours had a very light and balanced hint of oak on the nose.  It opened up to butterscotch and butter.  It was simple and delicious.  We paired it with breaded Talapia and it was phenomenal!  It will go with other light fish perfectly.  This wine finished very well and I would recommend it without pause.  The bonus of drinking this delicious Chardonnay is that you know that you are directly helping to fight breast cancer!

We opened the Zinfandel and paired it with one of Shelley’s fabulous steaks.  It was not a big Zin, a bit light, but paired very well with the steak.  What I love about Zinfandel is the spicy, peppory, earth tones and this one didn’t disappoint.  It was also very berry-ish and fruit forward which I loved.  50% of the profits from this wine goes to help support our troops which is outstanding because, since 911, more than 8,000 children have lost a U.S. service member parent as a result of the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.  OHEHope Wine is right there to help with each bottle of their Zinfandel bought and enjoyed.

I love the concept behind OHEHope Wine and I hope you will pick your favorite varietal (or two…or three….or……?) and give them a try.  The juice is good but what they’re doing is even better!

I will write about Part Two and Part Three of The Wedding Weekend next but I am excited to announce we’re having another big tasting and it’s happening this weekend!  We are tasting through some quality Pinot Noirs (hopefully even my very FAVORITE Pinot I’ve ever tasted, from Patricia Green!) and sparklers.  It’s like Christmas in October!

As always, thank you so much for reading and I look forward to reading your comments especially those comments about how much you loved the OHEHope wine you tried!  Be sure to find me on Facebook and Twitter!

Bottoms up!

The UP side is that I’ve still been drinking wine and taking notes…well, except for an eight day hiatus just before I traveled down to California, but I’ll tell you all about that in my next post.  Other than that, I have a lot of content and I look forward giving you my general wine thoughts.  I also have a guest blogger lined up to tell of her trip to Opus One!

So, even though the last blog post was written eXACTLy five months ago to the date, I’m ready, willing and able to produce for you.  It’s football season, afterall, and things have started to slow down just a tad.

We spent a week in California recently, so look forward to a mini series about that trip, as we were in Temecula for a wedding, and visited five different wineries.  I also had the chance to taste a varietal I was not familiar with, Nero d’Avola which I look forward to writing about.  I have also had the opportunity to taste some wine from a winery that is doing GREAT things to help some great causes.

So get ready as they will start coming at you, rapid fire.  Until then, as always, you can reach me at drinkwine@generalwinethoughts.com or find me on Twitter as well as Facebook.  I hope you will and thanks for reading!  Until next time, bottoms UP!

Here is evidence of what is about to come--empty, but ready, glasses and decantors. The proverbial quiet before the storm.

1996 Chateau St. Jean Cinq Cepages, Sonoma County
1999 Robert Mondavi Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2002 Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon, Carneros
*Bonus tasting-keep reading…

After tasting the first four wines while standing around the island in the kitchen we decided to adjourn to the dining room to finish the night tasting while seated.  The next wine up was the 1996 Chateau St. Jean Cinq Cepages from Sonoma County.  This wine was ranked #1 by Wine Spectator in 1999.  It sold for around $30 then but now fetches around $200 a bottle.  The first vintage of this wine was 1990 and the 1990-1995 vintages are no longer available meaning this was the oldest available vintage of this wine.  Although a blend, Cinq Cepages always has 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, and this vintage used Merlot as the predominent blending varietal.

This was the only wine that we did not decant during the evening.  We only had four decanters to work with, although, I DID find another one around the house AFTER the night was over.  I poured everyone a small glass and we did a swirl and smell.  Now THIS is what I’m looking for in a big red wine.  Although this wine was 15 years old (if you did the math by years, but probably a bit less in reality), it was VERY balanced and smooth.  I didn’t notice any color change and the taste held up wonderfully.  It is probably prudent to mention that, although I had PLANNED on spitting during the course of the evening (7 bottles of wine to taste with five people equals Phil drinking WAY TOO MUCH RED WINE IN ONE NIGHT and I had to wake up at 6:30 the next morning to play piano on our worship team at church), I didn’t spit more than 2-3 times during the course of the evening.     With that said, I was starting to feel the alcohol a bit and so my notes began to fade.  It’s just so hard to justify spitting such quality juice!

SOME of the wine made it to our vinegar pot but not much.

The next one to open was the 1999 Robert Mondavi Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon which was unfiltered.  I did decant this after I poured a beginning pour for everyone.  It was even better than the last one!  I will confess, this was my very favorite wine of the entire evening and I kept coming back to this one over and over again.  Suffice it to say, this wine and I became well acquainted with one another.  This wine had marvelous mouthfeel and was quite complex.  It had very good structure and was big and bold.  This wine originally sold for around $125.

Lastly, we tried the 2002 Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon from Carneros.  Originally this wine sold for about $60 and it’s hard to say anything bad about this wine.  Also very big and more fruity than the ’99.  It was interesting that most of the people at the table enjoyed this more than the other two later vintage wines.  We did a “somewhat” blind tasting with Laureen as I poured both the ’99 and the ’02 and had her guess which was which to see if she really DID like the 2002 better.  She nailed it!

These two wines were very comparable, however.  It’s not as if I liked the ’99 a LOT more than the ’02 but I kept tasting all three over and over, with chocolate, with dip, with chocolate, with cheese and also with some chocolate….did I mention I tried these three with chocolate?  Ok, good.  They all three were really very, very good wines, in my opinion.  It was just hard for me to NOT put the 1999 on top.

We had started this night of wine tasting by opening the first bottle, a 1979 Beaulieu Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, at 7:15 PM and the last bottle, the 2002 Robert Mondavi Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon at 9:45 PM.  It was near Midnight when people started to clear out.  We tasted through 23 years of California Cabernet Sauvignon in just under five hours.  Before anyone was allowed to leave each had to sign and date a cork from the evening and then toss it into the cork catcher.

It was a magical night, to be sure.

The aftermath of what was an epic night of wine tasting is evident by the debris on the table.

I told you about a bonus.  Well here it is.  While down in Walla Walla last year for the Wine Bloggers Conference I came back with a bottle of Sherry.  I had never been a Sherry fan but man-o-man I became a fan really quickly after tasting this particular Sherry.  I broke it out for Laureen and Katie after Diana had left, just so they could try it.  They got the last two sips of this bottle!  They absolutely loved it.  This Sherry is so nutty and smooth but the thing that amazes me time after time is that after the initial taste and swallow, you count to five and then there is a powerful flavor explosion in your mouth!  SO interesting!  Now I have to find a new bottle of that same, exact Sherry! 

I remember back in the day of my grandparents and, perhaps, even in my parents’ generation, neighbors would knock on one anothers door if they needed cream or sugar or salt or what-not, if they ran out.  I don’t think that happens nearly as often, anymore, if at all, which is sad.  I think we have just come up with a replacement to that old tradition, as Laureen completely outdid herself in sharing some of her wonderful wine with us.  I think we will just head over to her house the next time we need “some” wine!  The Mondavi family was very lucky to have employees the likes of Laureen and Katie working for them during the trailblazing days of Napa Valley wine.  “Mister” may not be around anymore but his spirit lives in his wines from yesterday and we became well acquainted with it.

“Whatever you do, pour yourself into it.”
-Robert Mondavi

Thank you, again, for reading.  Be sure to catch me on Twitter and Facebook.  Until next time, bottoms up!

Now before I get started on recounting the evening I will say there has been a lot of time that has passed since my last post.  Green Bay DID, in fact, win the Super Bowl, which I also predicted.  The score was 31-25 and I predicted 20-16.  Not too shabby.  Valentines Day has come and gone.  I made veal for Shelley and we paired a lovely Pinot Noir with it.  Also,  Open That Bottle Night came and went.  I was playing at an event called, “MarriedLife Live” at church that night so, not only did we not have any fun wine, I personally didn’t even have a GLASS that night!    I have no excuses why I haven’t written but this post will hopefully be worth the wait.  

So, back to good friends and that kinda special evening. 

A neighbor of ours, Laureen, used to work at Robert Mondavi Winery.  She knew Mr. Mondavi quite well and always called him, “Mister”.  A friend of hers that also worked there, Katie, was visiting Laureen here in North Idaho and they got to going through some of Laureen’s wine collection.  She has quite a collection!  They picked out seven wines to open and try but, much to our happiness, wanted to share these wines with a couple of other people she thought might appreciate them.  Twist our arms!  Now THIS is true March Madness!

There is so much to write about this night that I’ve broken it down into three parts.  Part One will really only be about one wine, although, throughout the evening we were treated to vintages in 1979,1984, 1996, 1999 and 2002, all from California and mostly from Napa.  I will tell about all but one of those in a later post.  This column is about one bottle of wine and one vintage.

Here the bottle of 1979 Beaulieu Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon sits in front of the the decantor that holds its juice.

I graduated from West Seattle High School in 1979 and it was during that summer of ’79 that the grapes from the first wine we tried were being baked by the Napa sun.  They were harvested later that year with some of those grapes making the juice that went into this first bottle of wine we tried, a 1979 Beaulieu Vineyard Estate Bottled Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve.  This was 100% Cabernet Sauvignon.  It was so old the label didn’t even have the website of the winery on it!  In fact, I had visited this vineyard only three years earlier with my family.  How interesting to try this particular wine on this night.

There were five of us tasting these wines and I carefully, but eagerly, opened this bottle.  I poured a small amount in everyone’s glass and immediately noticed the brown color of the wine, not the deep purple you might get from a new vintage of Cabernet Sauvignon.  This is natural in an older vintage. 

We all toasted to what the night was about to become.  As I raised the glass to my nose, after a fair bit of swirling, I noticed notes of raisins and nuts.  It certainly smelled like it had held up all of these years and the taste was not bad either!  You tend to worry about a vintage this old that it may have seen better days but this one was still delivering with a very long fig finish.

After we all had our initial giddy response to such an old jewel I carefully decanted the rest of the bottle to try a “little” bit later.  Well, that “little” bit later was actually about 65 minutes and, by then, it had fell off the cliff.  It was a mistake, on my part, that resulted in most of us being disappointed.

All in all, the 1979 BV Cabernet Sauvignon was a great way to start the evening and it produced the first of many ooooooze and aaaaaaaahs this night was to bring.  But this bottle found a soft spot in all of our hearts because of it’s age and how it really tried to show how it had attempted to hold together all these years.  For me, it brought me back to that summer of ’79 when I finally felt like I could do whatever I wanted after having just graduated from High School. 

I feel so blessed that Laureen asked if Shelley and I would participate in this casual tasting of these wines.  I looked forward to it for days and it was even more than I expected.  I’ll tell you even MORE about the evening in Part Two of, “Here’s To Good Friends”, as we visit the year, 1984.  Until then, thank you so much for reading and remember, bottoms up!

Lloyd celebrating his 86th birthday at The Cedars Floating restaurant in Coeur d'Alene, ID, September of 2008.

By Phil Anderson

This column started out, and has continued to be, about general wine thoughts.  After all, that is why I named this blog the way I did.  But this post will be a little more subdued.  Shelley and I have been together, off and on, for awhile now and I’ve had the privilege to get to know her family during that time, but nobody more than her father, Lloyd. 

He lived with Shelley for over four years and was instrumental, in various ways, in her leaving her nursing job at the hospital and starting an online support website for those taking care of their aging loved ones or parents.  She has rapidly become one of the foremost experts in the field of caregiving for seniors.  Her goal when her Dad came to live with her was to keep him OUT of an assisted living facility and now that goal has turned into a passion to help others that are in the position SHE was in to do the same if that is what they desire.

Last September he passed away at the age of 88.  Because he wanted his remains to be scattered over Christopher Lake, which is about a half hour North of Prince Albert in Saskatchewan, Canada, we had to wait until just recently because the lake had already froze last year.  The logistics of getting a boat out on a lake to spread ashes when the lake is actually ice was too much to manage.

For four years I played three hand Cribbage with Shelley and her father, Lloyd, nearly every night while sipping wine.  We had to dilute his wine about a third with water because he refused to quench his thirst with water so he usually finished his wine rather quickly (we learned this the hard way).  His famous saying was, “Water is to wash with not to drink!” 

Shelley and her father, Lloyd, bidding winter goodbye in April of 2009.

Lloyd had a knack for picking out the subtle nuances of a wines characteristics that amazed Shelley and I, even though he might have trouble remembering names of close family members or even what we did an hour before.  He DID enjoy his wine.

He also enjoyed Marilyn Monroe.  Certainly that is no surprise; many men of his generation had a special fondness for her.  He would have calenders, wall hangings and other things with the image of Marilyn Monroe.  He combined his love for wine and his “crush” for Marilyn Monroe by drinking, when the opportunity presented itself, a Napa Valley wine called, Marilyn Merlot.

Marilyn Merlot is produced and bottled by Nova Wines of Oakville, California.  What started out as just some fun with a group of friends in 1981 spiraled into a cult wine.  According to their website Marilyn Wines traces its origins to 1981, when a small group of friends started making wine at their home near St. Helena, in Napa Valley. One evening in 1983, over dinner and a bottle of homemade Merlot, the concept of “Marilyn Merlot” was born. The wine enjoyed a good deal of popularity around the valley and was often donated to charity auctions and given as Christmas gifts.  To learn more about the journey of Marilyn Wines just click here.

I had found, and purchased, a bottle of the 2003 Marilyn Merlot for Lloyd about five years ago.  Often I would ask Shelley if “this” night would be a good night to open that bottle with her Dad but the occasion never seemed to be right.  This is EXACTLY what Open That Bottle Night is all about, isn’t it! 

Well, his health continued to deteriorate and it seemed apparent that he would not be enjoying this bottle of Merlot with us.  After his death, the bottle sat motionless in the pantry.  When a date surfaced on when we would be making the trek up into Canada to honour (that’s the way Canadians spell honor) Lloyds life I suggested we bring the bottle of Marilyn Merlot up with us and enjoy it as we spread his ashes onto Christopher Lake.  Shelley agreed and that’s what we did yesterday morning.

Shelley and her family prepare to scatter Lloyds ashes into Christopher Lake just after toasting his life with a 2003 Marilyn Merlot.

The weather certainly wasn’t conducive for this event, nor did it cooperate!  Windy and frigid was the lake air as the pontoon boat waited for the arrival of our group.  There would be a total of 13 family members.  We had glasses for everybody.  As the Last Post played from my iPod through the boats’ stereo system we poured about 2 ounces of the 2003 Marilyn Merlot into each glass, passing them around.  Shelley’s son, Tyler, was chosen to gently pour Lloyds remains from a ceramic vase into the chilly waters of Christopher Lake, where Lloyd had spent so many summers of his life playing.

As Shelley put it, “It was the best event of the weekend.”  Although each function honored Lloyd well, the barbeque the day before at Jill and Gerald’s house and the actual memorial service following the boat ride on Sunday, this really was a special moment, for a special person, with a special wine.

It had been a long weekend, full of sadness yet fond memories.  Family members that hadn’t seen each other for many, many years were reunited because of Lloyd.  Two full days of emotions.  As we made our way into the hotel room last night, after it was all over, I looked over to Shelley, showing her what was left of the bottle of the 2003 Marilyn Merlot, and said, “Care to finish the rest of this with me?”  The answer was, of course, “Of course.”

I pried the cork (with a replica of Marilyn’s lips on two sides of the cork) out of the bottle and poured a decent glass for each of us.  We swirled and smelled and sipped.  Shelley noticed the beginnings of brown showing up on the edge of the wine as it started showing its age. 

The wine had some alcohol in the nose but it smelled and tasted delicious with hints of prunes, raisins and soft dark cherries.  It had structure and a lingering finish.  But, honestly, it could have tasted horrific and we both would have loved it anyway.  Thankfully, it was the perfect way to peacefully close the book on Lloyd, her father.

As I was doing research on this wine I found out what it sells for now.  I paid about $35 US dollars for the bottle in 2005 and now you can purchase it for a mere 100 bucks at Marilyn Wines.  To me, Shelley and her family, it was worth MUCH more than that.

Thank you for the years Lloyd, although too few, and may you Rest In Peace.

Remember, you can join the many people who like drinking wine by joining the drinking wine fan page on Facebook!  We’d love to have you…

As always, thank you for reading, and remember, bottoms up and enjoy each swallow to the fullest.  You never know when it will be your last glass.

And then, when you LEAST expect it, one just happens to fall into your lap.  And that is exactly what happened to us. 

We have started up AGAIN our Netflix account so that we have a movie waiting for us should we find ourselves in the mood to watch a movie.  This time it was the movie Bottle Shock.  I know, you have probably seen the movie; most people who enjoy wine have.  We had not, however.  The movie is about a big blind competition between the French wines and California wines back in 1976.  It has been well documented and understood that the French rarely give much credit or respect to wines outside their country.  Back in 1976 it was far worse than it is today. 

The movie follows the story of how the competition came to be and how the results knocked the wine industry, um, well, sideways.  In blind tastings it was a wine from California, Chateau Montelena, that won.

Now, if you EVER watch a movie that has people drinking wine and you enjoy wine it pretty much makes you really want to have a glass of your favorite, yes?  Now make it a movie ABOUT wine and, well, the desire can be overwhelming.  Fortunately for us, we had that taken care of.

Shelley made a wonderful pot roast.  She has a new recipe she’s been using that makes the roast, in her words, fork tender.  Delicious!  We opened a bottle of 2002 Ravenswood Zinfandel, from Sonoma, Californnia, and it paired wonderfully with the roast.  It also paired perfectly with the movie!

Rich notes on the nose of raspberry and cherries made it difficult to concentrate on the movie.  It also took me a long time before I finally touched the glass to my lips to give it a taste.  When I did, it tasted as good as it smelled, full body, not too many tannins, though they were certainly there.  With every bite of the roast I added a small sip of this Zinfandel as a chaser.  Wonderful!

Some wines are easier to drink than others and this was one of those wines.  This particular wine was bottled in May of 2004 and 2,400 cases were produced.  I don’t know how many bottles of this vintage are left out there but if you have a chance to get one I’d recommend it.

I know it would have been better had we opened a wine from Napa instead of Sonoma (and a Chardonnay at that), seeing as how the movie was all about the wine of Napa Valley, but with the roast it seemed apropos to pop the Zin and let ‘er rip, and neither of us regretted that decision.

And so now, here is my prediction for this years Super Bowl.  I know you all have been waiting for it!! 

First of all, I really don’t care who wins.  I would prefer a really good game, one that went down to the wire.  I don’t think many people are giving New Orleans much of a chance because of who is playing quarterback on the other side of the ball.  Yes, Peyton Manning is a very good quarterback.  I didn’t realize he had the arm strength until I saw him throw the ball on a ROPE to one of his recievers in the AFC Championship game.  He is also very smart, like another coach on the field. 

However…..

…..I think I am going to pick the upset (again).  I think New Orleans will surprise people by bucking the Colts in a close one, 34-31.  I think Drew Brees will rally his Saints at the end and score with not much time left on the clock.  The city of New Orleans could, would and should really benefit the Saints winning the Super Bowl.  The Colts and Manning had their time a couple of years ago.  Let’s see the Saints go marching in!

Until next time, bottoms up and thank you SO much for reading!