Saturday, January 10, 2009

Something old, Something new

Last night we had dinner over at my brother's house and he has a nice wine cellar. We first finished a Chateau neuf de Pape that he had opened the night before. It was good with the strong cheese we had as an appetizer. When that was gone he let me select what we would open next. My choice was Chateau St Jean's Cinq Cepage 2000. This wine was drinking beautifully, with mellow red fruit and surprisingly went very well with the Turkey breast and dressing we had for dinner. I had never tried this storied wine and was very impressed with it. It is not inexpensive, but a good special occasion wine.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Taylor Peak

The last two nights we worked our way through a bottle of Taylor Peak Merlot 2002. This a high end Kendall- Jackson product and my wife and I found it very impressive wine with rich black raspberry and black cherry. There is a slight bit of smokiness. I purchase this as closeout several years ago, but retail would most likely be in the $40 neighborhood. Last night we had it with had sauteed pork cutlets in a lemon caper sauce, which married very well with this full bodied wine. It is a good choice for a spurge and though expensive a good value.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

A Good Rose'

Last night with an Indian inspired meal we opened a bottle of Rose from France, Mas Carlot vin de pays d'oc fro Robert Kacher. This is a Rose that is packed with strawberry. It is almost like biting into a ripe strawberry. It went beautifully with the exotic spices in the chicken dish. This was not a "hot" dish, but had lively seasoning and the wine went with it beautifully. The wine is a blend of Grenache 55%, Syrah 40% and Mouvedre 5% which explains the big fruit. This is just a great all around wine and is big enough to stand up to fairly heavy foods.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

The last few days

First on New Years eve, we splurged with an exceptional bottle of Schramsberg, J Schram 2000 Brut Rose. This was a creamy sparklers with hints of citrus, nice floral notes, and vanilla. Just a great bottle of wine, as one would hope for at $125 a bottle. Saturday night we had some friends over and served a great Zinfandel from the Downing Family called "Fly by Night" 2006. This was a very sophisticated Zin with a lot of bright fruit, but subtle notes of cedar and bramble, it was particularly satisfying for being as young as it was. I would guess that it will improve even more with more time in the bottle. This wine is in the $30 price range, but I think it is worth it. Finally last night we went to a BYOB open house last night and I took a bottle of Vinum Slow Lane Cabernet 2002. For those of you not familiar with Vinum, these guys have a real sense of humor. They like to challenge the wine establishment. Slow lane came about through a challenge they set upon themselves; to create a reasonably priced age able Cabernet. 2002 is the second Slow lane, the first, 2001, retailed for around $20 and the wine is still below $25. The 02 was pretty tight when we opened it, with graphite and tar, but a couple hours after opening it had begun to open up and was showing good black fruit and just a hint of spiciness. This wine is a keeper and Vinum is on to something, as this wine clearly has a number of more years of life and for the money is a great bottle of wine.