Posts tagged with 'super bowl'

A Night To Remember

  • Posted on February 5, 2010 at 10:56 pm

The definition of “A perfect night” will differ from person to person.  How many times do you try to line everything up so that you have a perfect night?  You get the kids taken care of, make sure you’re well rested, not having an argument with your significant other, and so on.  You put so much energy into an evening like this, yet, it rarely seems to work out as planned due to unforseen circumstances. 

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!

Better Late Than Never

  • Posted on February 14, 2009 at 7:37 pm

Ok, so I probably would have written right after the Super Bowl had my prediction turned out correct.  Shelley nearly predicted the exact score at one point late in the game and then Ben Roethlisberger did his thing by taking the Steelers all the way down field, throwing the winning touchdown pass that destroyed Arizona’s dream of winning it all.  But we were close!

So, now nearly two weeks later, I am writing about a 2006 Shiraz that we had last night with meatloaf.  First of all, let me tell you, Shelley knows what she’s doing in the kitchen.  This was likely the best meatloaf I’ve ever had.  And this Shiraz from Burley Fox went quite well with it. 

Our Cork Catcher and riddling rack.

I don’t know much about Burley Fox other than they’re located in South Eastern Australia.

It was a young Shiraz and it lacked complexity and character.  I was thinking we would get a much stronger wine but it worked well with the meatloaf.  When we were finished we did what we do with all our corks after we finish a bottle of wine and pitched it in our cork catcher. 

Yes, you read correctly, cork catcher.  About a year and a half ago we went to a little wine bar  in Sandpoint, Idaho, to enjoy a little wine and a little food.  It was a lovely place down a long stairway.  As we entered there was this large framed glass with a bunch of corks in it. 

Shelley loved the concept and asked if I would make one for us.  I did and you are looking at the outcome.  We had a few corks saved up but since then we just pitch the cork in the top (the top is open) after we finish a bottle of wine.  We usually don’t put anything in unless it’s actually a cork MADE of cork.  On special bottles or wine drank on special occasions or events we’ll even write on the cork including the date and what the occasion was.  It’s been a lot of fun and quite a conversation piece. 

Next to the cork catcher is our antique riddling rack.  A riddling rack is for sparkling wines.  They are to be turned, if I remember correctly, about a quarter turn every other week, which is called riddling.  I will get my facts straight in a later post but this is the rack that is used to do this.  Now most riddling is done by a machine.  Notice this rack is also used for drying out lavender.  A rack for many uses!

We unveilded our cork catcher at our Open That Bottle Night last year which is the last Saturday of the month of February.  I’ll explain all about Open That Bottlel Night on my next post.  Until then, bottoms up and keep enjoying that wine.

Four Wines in Three Nights

  • Posted on January 31, 2009 at 12:20 pm
2004 Pieropan Soave Classico

2004 Pieropan Soave Classico

Happy Saturday! Welcome to another posting of my “General Wine Thoughts”. Fun stuff, huh?
We’ve had some interesting wine the past couple of nights. Last night we had a wonderful roast for dinner and opened a 2005 Winemaker’s Blend from Maryhill Winery. Maryhill is located in the, as they state, “world renowned”, scenic Columbia River Gorge in South Central Washington State. We’ve enjoyed this particular wine quite a bit because we had the honor of being able to take home a couple of bottles after we helped with Taste Washington last June in Spokane, Washington. We’ve come to understand the benefits of helping to break down the event afterwards.

This red wine is comprised of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah and Cabernet Franc and went quite well with the roast beef. This particular blend always seems to have quite a few tannins but it has a rich, full nose and a lovely taste.

We opened the evening with a 2004 Pieropan Soave Classico from Italy (pictured). I couldn’t find out what was used in this particular vintage white table wine but the 2005 had 90% Garganega and 10% Trebbiano. I understand that this winery uses Garganega for their Soave Classico. It reminded me of Chardonnay in its look and taste. It was quite smooth and had a subtle flowery nose.

The night before that we had broiled steaks, a staple in our house. We had a 2006 Stephen’s Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon. I thought this wine was rather weak, to tell you the truth. I was really needing a big Cab to go with this steak and it really didn’t live up to that expectation. Hey, you win some and you lose some, yes? Anyway, Stephens Ridge is located in Santa Rosa, California and this is the first time we tried this winery.

Tonight we just finished a 2007 Chardonnay from Snoqualmie Vineyards, also, from the Columbia Valley in Washington. Actually we didn’t expect a lot from this wine as it was quite inexpensive but it was rather surprising. Usually the nose on a cheap white wine is of a dirty laundry hamper but this had nothing of the like. Light, fresh and surprisingly, not too much oak, which I’ve found is another consistent trait of cheap wine.

Since the next posting will likely be after the Super Bowl here is my prediction that you all have likely been on the edge of your seat waiting to hear. It will be a close game and I think the Arizona Cardinals will put a bow on their Cinderella story by upsetting the Steelers 23-17.

There you have it. Another post in the books and THIS one with an actual picture! Keep a lookout for the next one as I’m going to show you the Cork Catcher I made to catch all the corks from the wine we drink. It’s very unique and an eye catcher.

Till then, bottoms up!

1 For 2 in predicting winners, 2 For 2 in wine choices

  • Posted on January 18, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Ok, ok, so I went for a grand slam and only got a stand up triple. My prediction for both underdogs to win went South but Arizona kept my credibility from crumbling like a house of cards. As for the Super Bowl, well I have just under a couple of weeks to come up with my last football (and only second this year) prediction. But I can pretty much say that it won’t be the Steelers. Bleh!

So I got half my game predictions right but we went two for two with our wines. My lovely daughter is still on holiday break from college and she and her boyfriend stopped over before heading back to college tomorrow. We opened a 2007 Latah Creek Semillon from Washington States Spokane Valley. Shelley noted vanilla notes in the nose and we enjoyed this “off the beaten path” white wine.

When the lasagna came out of the oven the last bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau came out of the pantry. We opened the first bottle of this wine at Thanksgiving this past year, right after it was released. Drinking a 2008 vintage in 2008 is interesting. Of course, this is very young, but it’s always special and went with the lasagna perfectly.

So this wine blog thing seems to be off and running with four posts in the books. I appreciate you popping by and reading what’s going on in our little world of enjoying wine and giving my “General Wine Thoughts”.

‘Til next time…

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