What does the month of June mean:
June is named after the Roman goddess Juno, Wife of Jupiter
June 30, 2009
June 29, 2009
Ok how bad am I? I have been so busy that I have not updated my site, not acceptable! Because I have not stopped drinking wine :) Ok....so to round out the month here is a review of a great wine.
Matchbook Tinto Rey 2005
June 15, 2009
Wow
- on days like this I wish I lived in Napa Valley or close enough to
head over for the day. Terra Valentine located on Spring Mountain up
in Napa has excellent wines. We first visited this winery on a
recommendation a few years back and joined their wine club. They are
having an event Featured at the Martini House which is a restuarant I
love, love, love! Martini House was a restuarant we stopped by on a
trip to Napa and have made it a point to try and eat there everytime we
are up in that area. The food is great and the ambiance is wonderful.
Ok what is the event you ask - it is a taste off - or actually "a who has the most wine by the glass purchased"! From June 15th to June 21st at the Martini house there is a competition for a wine by the glass. Terra Valentine is up against the 2 time champ of Wicker Vineyard featuring their 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley. Terra Valentine is ringing in with their 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Spring Mountain. If you are up in Napa during those dates - buy a wine by the glass......which one would you choose? Go Terra! Although is that fair since I have never had Wicker? Ya know to be fair I might have to do a tasting at home and pick up a bottle to see how it compares.
Enjoy!
June 10, 2009
Last
night we opened a neat little gem. We have been getting into some
different red wines and found Cabernet Franc. This wine was amazing.
When I took the first sip it seemed a bit young but it opened up nicely
with lots of fruit flavors - for me there was berries and vanilla. I
had paired this wine with steak and tossed green salad which is basic
but it was a perfect match. Hahn is based on the central coast up near
Monterey. 5 out of 5 (and I need to buy me some more bottles!)
June 3, 2009
Last night I attended a webinar done by Chris Allen at
tastinglive.com with winemaker Charlie Tsegeletos from Cline Cellars. We tasted a 2007 Ancient Vines
Zinfandel. Cline Cellars is located in northern California
in Sonoma. Wine maker Charlie inherited his appreciation
for wine with his up bringing. He
graduated from UC Davis in 1979 and begins his winemaking career in 1980 at the
age of 24 as an apprentice for Pendleton Winery. Charlie joined cline in 2002. What type of wine does Charlie like to make? He makes wines that are drinkable now and
feels he has a knack for balancing a wine.
He can take a wine with flavors he does not particularly care for but
balance them in a way that makes a great wine.
So what is balance? Balance is
the residual sugar against the acid and the amount of tannins left in the wine.
With red wine you get the tannins and color from the skins. Charlie has
developed a keen sense and has found that the fermentation temperature and frequency
of turning the skins in the wine can have a huge impact on the effects and
flavors of the wine. So, this Zinfandel is called an Ancient Vine. What makes the vines ancient? Most wineries have their own definition but
for Cline Cellars it means the weighted average age of the vine is 50
years. They have some vines that date
back to 1910 and some that are only a mere 40 years old. The vines are planted in deep sandy soil that
is neither irrigated or wire trained. I
thought the irrigation part was interesting, if I have heard of this before I
must have slept through it. Cline
Cellars uses Goats and Sheep to keep a handle on the weeds and by nature the
vineyard is fertilized as well. Purely
ingenious! Their vines keep with the traditionally “old” school approach of
head train rather then wires trained.
Head train is a form of an art Charlie tells us in that the system is
designed to be self supportive.
As for the taste this wine would be a 5 out of 5 for me, I
really cared for all the flavors and aroma it had to offer. I agree that the wine was on the big side for
a Zin but I like that. I got a lot of
dark cherry and spiciness from the oak on both the nose and palate. Charlie’s review of the wine was coffee, chocolate and
strawberries with a hint of vanilla and a lot of texture which makes for a
medium body wine. He says that the wine
is higher in alcohol at 14 ½% which causes a high sugar content, so you would
add fruit to help balance it out. This
leaves a fruity Zin. The wine is housed
in oak barrels for about 7 to 8, not to overdose the wine in oak he used 30%
new oak barrels. Another cool point to leave you with is that each bottle of
wine has a back label that can be removed.
It not only gives additional information about the winey but also includes
a recipe! Very snazzy!
As I mentioned I have to Thank tastinglive.com for this
great webinar. I would love to attend
more in the future. I not only learned a lot but I came across a great new wine
at a great price!Try it now!
June 1, 2009
Are you ready to run in wine country??
Talley
Vineyards is having their annual 5K fun run on June 7th, 2009 in Arroyo
Grande, CA. The husband and I are signed up and ready to go. We also
enrolled the kids int eh kiddie K. This will hopefully help me start my
mid year get in shape goal. oh - of course I will have to do a bit of
wine tasting while I there of course.
Here is the link if you want to view information about the race.
Here is the link if you want to sign up and run the race.
Other Wine Events:
Central Coast Wine Classic - 25th Annual Wine Classic June 9th through June 12th.
Here is the link to find out more information on the events, Auction details, and Vounteer opportunities.