Posts tagged with 'Sauvignon Blanc'

2009 Inauguration Day tasting notes

  • Posted on January 20, 2009 at 3:58 pm
What a day! President Obama was sworn into office and the whole nation, including ourselves, were fixated on the events as they unfolded. As I looked at their luncheon menu I noticed they chose all California wines to pair with their meal. A 2007 Duckhorn Sauvignon Blanc with the first coarse, a 2005 Goldeneye Pinot Noir to go with the second coarse and a Korbel Natural “Special Inaugural Cuvee” sparkling wine (they errantly called it a California Champagne) for the third, and last, course. Go to White House Menu to see what food they paired these wines with or try Duckhorn Gift Set to buy the first two wines in a wooden gift box and enjoy what all the dignitaries at the luncheon enjoyed.

A side note, Shelley’s all-time favorite Merlot is made by Duckhorn. We have a couple bottles that we laid down some years back, one of them a 25th anniversary bottle. Perhaps we should think about bringing one of those up soon to enjoy, yes?

Tonight we celebrated this historic day by finishing off that wonderful lasagna from Sunday night and we opted to try a blend with it—an unusual blend from Oxford Landing from South Australia called GSM, which stands for Grenache, Shiraz, Mourvedre. I told you it was unusual. Oxford Landing has been around since 1958 and this 2006 GSM was a blend of 47% Grenache, 43% Shiraz and 10% Mourvedre.

Shelley thought she noticed pomegranate in the nose but changed that to, get this, concord grapes. How often do you get anything grape from a wine? Everything BUT grapes, right? I tasted cherries and Shelley added that they were sour cherries, at that. I couldn’t argue. A very smooth, well rounded red wine with virtually no tannins and didn’t taste as young as it should have.

We opened our evening by opening a bottle of Robert Mondavi Chardonnay from 2007. OK, nothing mind blowing here. We both thought the same thing after looking, smelling and tasting: Oak. There was so much oak in this Chardonnay that you couldn’t really taste that it was Chardonnay. That might explain why we each only had a glass and the rest sits in the bottle in the fridge. Perhaps we’ll try and finish it another night. It used to be that you could count on anything from Mondavi to be, at least, good, but not anymore. How sad.

And that’s what I have for you tonight. Until next time, drink up and enjoy!

Wine and conference championships

  • Posted on January 15, 2009 at 9:04 pm
As we near the second to the last weekend of real football (the Pro Bowl doesn’t EVEN count) I was sipping a glass of Viognier from Bridlewood Estate Winery (bridlewoodwinery.com; 1-800-467-4100) , from the Central Coast of California, Santa Ynez, and wondering, “should I predict the outcomes of these games?” The answer poured over me like the bountiful aroma of spring flowers that this Reserve Viognier sent my way: “YES, I should!”

But first, I will admit that last night we drank a Fume Blanc from Bernard Griffin, not all THAT uncommon, and it was quite good. I have to say that the Sauvignon Blanc grape that makes up a Fume Blanc just never dissapoints me, and this one was no different. The fact that this wine is under ten bucks makes it even better.

The Viognier from this evening tasted a bit more elegant, however. All I think about is springtime fragrance when I recall the nose on this wine and a very smooth taste albeit an awkward finish. Poor Shelley had a cold so she couldn’t really enjoy it and Viognier is one of her very favourites (she’s from Canada, eh, so I have to spell it that way).

Now for my predictions: Arizona will stun the world by beating the Eagles this weekend, 26-20. For the AFC, Baltimore will defeat the Steelers, 19-10. I can back up both predictions with sound football logic. The Cardinals are from the NFC West, where my Seahawks play, and so you always go with the division that YOUR team plays in even if it’s a rival of YOUR team. Loyalty. As for the other side, there is no way that I will ever root for Pittsburgh again after they beat the Seahawks in the Super Bowl a couple of years ago. Rothlis(cheese)burger is not a very good quarterback, in my opinion.

So there you go, my third post, and I even subtly mixed in sports to go with my general wine thoughts! Amazing.

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