Wannabe Wino

The wine was a 2005 Siema Rosso Vino da Tavola by Lodali Winery from Piedmont. Sorry, I seem to have not taken a picture of this one. The wine clocked in at 12% alcohol by volume and cost me $8!!!! at The Winery in Old Town Alexandria. It's a blend of 50% Barbera and 50% Dolcetto. I believe I took more notes on this wine than almost any other red wine I've had in recent memory. I'm still shocked at the layers and depth in this little $8 bottle of wine. What I should have done was go buy the rest that The Winery had because this was simply an amazing value.

The nose showed smoke, leather, a little barnyard, red berries, and red currants. It kept opening up as the night progressed and the smell was amazing. In the mouth the wine was red and earthy. I found red berries, red currants, earth, leather, a smoky characteristic, and more red fruit.

This was just an absolutely fabulous deep wine with layers of flavors. Everyone loved this one at our dinner party. I served it with homemade pizza, and in addition to everything else, the wine was wonderful with pizza! The smoky flavors were perfect for the cheese and pepperoni covering the pizza.

Which to me means we have shifted almost entirely away from the heavy reds I love so much for the winter and into the Sauvignon Blancs, Roses, Gruner Veltliners, Albarinos, and, oh, who are we kidding, any crisp white wine that will beat the heat and humidity that comes from living in a swamp.

With that in mind, the wine for the evening was a 2007 Ken Forrester Sauvignon Blanc. The wine had a screw cap closure, hailed from Stellenbosch, South Africa, clocked in at 13.5% alcohol by volume, and cost me $14.99 at The Winery in Old Town Alexandria.

Dominate on the nose of this one was asparagus. There was no mistaking that one!. Other aromas were grass, gooseberries, lime, and a touch of pepper, the vegetable kind! In the mouth I found lime, gooseberries, citrus, grass, and more of the green pepper.

This was a very tasty and spicy (because of the pepper) Sauvignon Blanc. Perfect for the weather and great with all the lighter cold pasta salads and white fish we'll be eating all summer long!

The wine for the evening was a 2006 Devil's Corner Pinot Noir which I served in our schmancy new Reidel stemless glasses. The wine hails from Tasmania, clocks in at 14.5% alcohol by volume, screw-cap closure and cost me $16.99 minus a 10% case discount at The Winery in Old Town Alexandria. I've never had a wine from Tasmania before!

On the nose the wine was spicy and herbal, with leather, pepper, oak must, and perhaps a tiny bit of cherry, but that was barely there. In the mouth I found tart cherry, raspberry, leather, and earth. The wine was tannic, so perhaps it needs a little more time to mellow out.

Overall, a decent Pinot Noir for the money.

I picked up this bottle of 2006 Ruvei Marchesi di Barolo Barbera D'Alba at The Winery in Old Town, Alexandria for $18.99 minus a 10% case discount. It clocked in at 13% alcohol by volume and had one of those terrible plastic cork closures.

On the nose I found cherries and leather. The nose was sweet with spicy undertones. In the mouth I got flavors of dark cherry and spice. The wine was lighter in the mouth than other Barbera's that I've had. It didn't have as much going on as similarly priced bottles either.

It was a nice quaffing wine, but look for other bottles in the same price range that offer a better value.

Wine: 2005 Carpineto Dogajolo Dry Red Table Wine
Cost: About $12 at The Winery
Alcohol Content:13%
Closure: Real cork
Locale: Tuscany, Italy
Blend: 80% Sangiovese, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon

Many thanks to Andrew of Spittoon who is hosting this iteration of WBW, with the theme "Just Seven Words." Andrew asked us to choose an Italian red, any Italian red, and put our tasting notes into just 7 words that are grammatically correct.

My 7 words:

Riding horses through eucalyptus and berry fields.

Two quick reviews today, of two wines from different Domianes!

First up, the 2005 Robert Martin Saint Veran Domaine de la Denante from France. I picked this bottle up at The Winery in Old Town Alexandria for $15.99 back when BrooklynGuy was hosting Silver Burgundy wines from Macon for WBW. It was going to be a potential contender for my post for that WBW, but I am glad I chose the other bottle instead. This bottle clocked in at 13% alcohol by volume and cost me $15.99 minus a 10% case discount. On the nose I found lemon, vanilla, oak, and asparagus. Yes, you read that right, asparagus, it was unmistakable. In the mouth the wine was oaky and I only found lemon. This was a very dry white wine, and not very complex.



Next up, a 2005 Domaine Longval Tavel. This was a Rose, I picked it up at MV Wine and Spirit in Madison, CT for around $10, it clocked in at 14.5% alcohol and had a real cork closure. The alcohol absolutely dominated this wine and ruined it for me. 14.5% for a Rose is absurd, the light flavors and refreshing quality I expect from a Rose are crushed by such high alcohol. The nose eventually gave up strawberry and minerals and the mouth showed only strawberry and alcohol. NMS.

Alternative title: I love Roederer. I really do. We first were introduced to Roederer in August of 2006 while out in Sonoma. The inn keeper suggested we stop at Roederer on our way up to Bodega Bay, and I am very glad we did. While there we picked up several lovely sparklers, including my perennial favorite, the 1999 L'Ermitage Brut. Sadly, I have trouble finding that one any more, but I still pick up a bottle of Roederer when we are in a fancier sparkling wine mood.

With that in mind, I scooped up this bottle of Roederer 25th Anniversary Brut the second I saw it on the shelf at The Winery in Old Town Alexandria, thinking it would be perfect for New Year's Eve. It cost me $23.99 minus a 10% case discount and had a traditional sparkling wine closure. We drank it out of the stemless Champagne flutes my Dad received for Christmas!

On the nose the wine was toasty and nutty. I also found aromas of apples and lemons. In the mouth, the apples and toasty notes dominated the flavor. The wine was tangy and dry, and very crisp in the mouth. The bubbles were tiny in the glass and there were tons of them.

Absolutely a great wine to ring in the New Year with and one I would get again, easily.

One evening at my parents' house, a lot of wine was consumed in one evening. We had around 10 people at the house and the wine was flowing all evening.

I believe this was the second bottle of the evening. We started with a Sauvignon Blanc, but my Aunt didn't like it and requested a Merlot. I just happened to have a Merlot blend on hand!

The wine was a Chateau Rocher Corbin 2002 Montagne Saint Emillion. I purchased it for $18.99 minus a 10% case discount at The Winery in Old Town Alexandria, it had a real cork closure, and clocked in at 13.5% alcohol by volume. The wine was a blend of 80% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon.

On the nose I found dark fruit, blackberries, oak, and black currants. In the mouth the flavors were of black currants, plums, and other dark fruit. The wine was tannic and a bit chewy in the mouth, this was definitely a wine that would benefit from being consumed with food. We finished the bottle up over a roast turkey and all the fixings, but I think it would be better with a pork roast.

The wine for Christmas dinner was this bottle of 2004 Lake Sonoma Winery Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. I picked this bottle up at The Winery in Old Town Alexandria for around $22, it had a real cork closure, and clocked in at 14.5% alcohol by volume.

On the nose I found currants, red berries, oak, leather, earth, and licorice. In the mouth the flavors were dark berries, cream, vanilla, black currants, and spices. Everyone loved this bottle of wine.

It was served with a surf and turf dinner of beef tenderloin and baked stuffed shrimp, prepared by my cousin and my Godmother. Just turf for me, shrimp and I are not friends! The wine was an excellent match with the beef tenderloin, a perfect match for the dinner!

I've been meaning to do this review for quite a while, and have been really remiss in not getting it up sooner. Several months ago, Jill of Domaine547 contacted me and asked if I would like to receive a blogger sample pack for review. I accepted her kind offer and shortly thereafter a box with 3 bottles of wine, cute Domaine547 coasters, a newsletter, and descriptions of the wines arrived at my doorstep. I've reviewed two of those wines, the 2003 Vinas del Cenit Tempranillo and the 2005 Braida di Giacomo Montebruna Barbera. I have one more bottle left to review, which I will hopefully have up for you soon.

I took the first two bottles of wine as an indication of Jill's taste in wine and was thrilled with both bottles. Matt and I loved both of them, and wouldn't hesitate to buy either again (actually, I tried to buy more of the Cenit, but Jill has sadly sold out of that one recently, well, I guess sadly for me and happily for her!). In fact, I enjoyed it so much, that when it came time to send one of my best friends a ChristmaHanukairthday gift I didn't hesitate to return to Domaine547 and ask Jill to ship out a bottle of it (plus a couple others) out to my friend. My friend was thrilled with the wine and Jill was very prompt in packaging it up and shipping it out. I was also very happy with her recommendations. I gave her a price range and asked her to suggest some fun bottles in that span and she came back very quickly with many suggestions, all of which would have been excellent choices.

I've been incredibly pleased with the customer service from Domaine547, I recently had Jill ship me a case of Grande Cassagne Rose at a most excellent price (cheaper even with the shipping than I could find it around me!) and am currently working with her to buy some more interesting and different wines for my cellar (or stomach, we all know how long wine lasts around my house....)!

I look forward to a continued relationship with Jill and Domaine547, as I am always thrilled to find someone who is able to quickly and easily recommend wines that are to my liking. With her fun website, easy-going personality, and quick response time, I highly recommend Jill and Domaine547 as an online wine merchant.

2007 was a great year wine-wise for me. I've now got three places that are my go-tos for wine that I love and is well priced. One is local, The Winery in Alexandria, and the others are online, WineQ, and Domaine547.

The wine for the evening was a 2005 Rosso Salento Promessa. It was a blend, 70% Negroamara and 30% Primitivo. I picked the bottle up at the Winery in Old Town Alexandria for $12.99 minus a 10% case discount. It clocked in at 13% alcohol by volume and had a real cork closure.

The nose of the wine smelled bitter, of coffee, licorice, cherry, leather, and earth. In the mouth I found bitter cherry, alongside fresh cherries, and an almost cranberry flavor. The wine was smooth, but had a nice tart element. It was a very dark wine.

I'm really enjoying the value I'm finding in native Italian varietals. For around $10, I feel like I got a lot of bang for my buck with this wine, and quite a complex bottle too. Very good value.

No particular reason, but I'm not feeling the cold weather reds right now. Could be the warm weather, but really, that just started this week. I just haven't been a heavy red wine mood. I need to shake that as the reds are piling up alarmingly fast in my basement!

The bottle of the night was a Valminor 2006 Rias Bhixas Albarino. I picked it up at the Winery in Old Town Alexandria as part of a mixed case. It cost me $12.99 minus a 10% case discount, clocked in at 12.5% alcohol by volume, and had a screw cap.

The nose of the wine was perfumy, very aromatic. It showed tropical fruit, citrus, grapefruit, orange blossoms, and was quite floral. In the mouth I found grapefruit, citrus, and a nice sweet orange note. The wine was crisp in the mouth, but not too tart. Overall I found the wine to be intriguing and a great value for the price.

We picked up this bottle of Girone Dei Folli 2003 Montepulciano d'Abruzzo from Villa Bizzarri at the Winery in Old Town Alexandria as part of a mixed case. It clocked in at 13% alcohol by volume, had a real cork, and cost us $12.99 minus a 10% case discount.

On the nose I found what can only be described as a mist of Vick's cherry cough syrup, bitter espresso (though I suppose "bitter espresso" is kind of an oxymoron), leather, and Eucalyptus. Overall, I found the nose to have a slightly medicinal quality. In the mouth flavors of tart cherries dominated, with hints of the same cherry Vick's cough syrup, and a little bit of spice. The wine was very dark, and reminiscent of Negroamara, but with different qualities. It was more herbal and medicinal than the Negroamara, but that's the closest thing I can compare it to.

As the hostess of this month's Wine Blogging Wednesday, I decided it was high time I pulled out all the stops for a WBW. With that in mind, Matt and I decided to host a blind tasting of Petite Sirah in honor of WBW. We invited several of our friends over for the evening promising a wine tasting and heavy appetizers, though I am pretty sure no one quite expected that tasting I had set up!

I dug about in our cabinets for wine glasses to do the tasting. With 8 people coming and 5 wines to taste, I needed 45 wine glasses, a tall order. After routing out every wine glass we owned, I was short 4 glasses, alas, and Matt was forced to drink out of our brandy snifters. (To be honest, I was quite surprised I owned 41 wine glasses, that seems like a ton of glasses!!)


Next, I printed out glass placement sheets and tasting note sheets for blind tastings from Wine Country Getaways to assist everyone in ranking the wines. Guests were to score each wine on scale from 1-5 on appearance, aroma, body, taste, and finish. I gave a quick mini-lesson before we started as we had a wide range of wine experience in our group, and off we went. Before everyone arrived, Matt and I had opened the wines, and I brown-bagged them, then left the room while Matt came back and rotated the bottles, so it would be blind for us as well.



The contenders for the evening were 5 bottles of wine: A Mount's Family Winery 2005 Petite Sirah from Dry Creek Valley, a Twisted Oak 2004 Petite Sirah from Lodi, a Mauritson Rockpile Winery 2005 Petite Sirah, a Connor Park 2003 Durif from Central Victoria Australia, and a David Bruce 2005 Petite Sirah from the Central Coast.

Sadly, we were moving through our tasting when one of our guests reached Wine C and said it smelled funny, like tuna fish. I quickly moved to that one, and the sulfur and yes, tuna fish smell was unmistakable, leading me to believe the bottle was corked, my first ever corked bottle and of course it happened when we had guests! I told people not to bother with that one as I took one for the team and tasted it, it was just awful. We were down to 4 bottles to score then.

Our friends seemed to have a lot of fun with the tasting, no one had been to a blind tasting before, so it was a new experience for all, and there were lots of questions about Petite Sirah, wine in general, and things they were tasting in the wine. I had a great time playing wine geek and sharing what I knew with everyone!

And, drumroll please.......after all the addition, we discovered that 4 people chose Wine D as their favorite, 3 people chose Wine E, and 2 chose Wine B. One of our friends and I both tied D and E as our favorites.

Without further ado:
Wine D (the winner): 2003 Connor Park Durif from Australia
Wine E (2nd place, by a hair): 2004 Twisted Oak Petite Sirah
Wine B (3rd place): 2005 Mounts Family Petite Sirah
Wine A (4th place): 2005 Mauritson Rockpile Petite Sirah

And the corked wine turned out to be the 2005 David Bruce Petite Sirah.

Noe my notes on the wines:

Wine A: 2005 Mauritson Rockpile Winery Petite Sirah: Came in a club shipment, cost $28, had a real cork closure, and clocked in at 14.9% alcohol by volume. On the nose, I smelled alcohol and heat. In the mouth, more alcohol and heat, very tannic. I got to give a lesson on what tannins are and what it tastes like when a wine is tannic. This bottle was not ready to drink at all. A few hours later I went back and there were spices and blueberries on the nose, more berries in the mouth. Hold onto it if you've got it, even hours out didn't really help this one.

Wine B: 2005 Mounts Family Winery 2005 Petite Sirah: We picked this bottle up at the winery last April when visiting Sonoma. It had a real cork closure, weighed in at 15.2% alcohol by volume and cost us $28. The nose was much fruitier than the Mauritson, spice, vanilla, blueberries. Very smooth in the mouth, berries, spicy, some blueberry. Same year as the Mauritson, but infinitely more ready to drink.

Wine C: 2005 David Bruce Petite Sirah. Corked. I purchased this just on Friday at my local wine shop for $21.99 -a 10% case discount. I'm returning the bottle with most of the wine still in it.

Wine D: 2003 Connor Park Durif: From Victoria, Australia. I picked this up for $19.99 at UnWined in Alexandria, VA, about 2 months ago. It had a real cork closure and clocked in at 15.5% alcohol by volume. On the nose, cinnamon, currants, spicy, baking spices. In the mouth, plummy red fruit, chocolate, berries, spices, pie. Very smoothed out, very much ready to drink.

Wine E: 2004 Twisted Oak Petite Sirah. I purchased this bottle from WineQ in my last club shipment for $23.99. It had a real cork closure and weighed in at 13.5% alcohol by volume. Spice, blueberry pie, vanilla, cedar and leather on the nose. In the mouth, blueberries, blackberries and spice. I thought this bottle had the freshest tasting fruit of the evening, and I tied it for first with the Connor Park.

All in all, an excellent evening, and I can't wait to host another blind tasting. A great way to celebrate being the host of WBW this month and to educate our friends a bit on wine in general on on Petite Sirah.

I can't wait to see what you all found for your PS, looking forward to your entries!

Neil of Brooklyn Guy's Wine and Food Blog is our host for this monthly installment of Wine Blogging Wednesday, the brainchild of Lenn of Lenndevours. The theme Neil has set for us this month is Silver Burgundy, by which he was referring to wines from Cote Chalonnaise or the Maconnais. Other than Chablis or Beaujolais, we had free reign to choose a wine. Neil gave the slight suggestion that great wines could be found for between $12-$25, so off I went to The Winery in Old Town Alexandria (my new favorite wine shop!) in search of a fitting bottle.

I found a bottle of 2005 Jean Manciat Macon Charnay White Burgundy Wine. Otherwise, the bottle proclaims Appellation Macon Charnay Controlee Franclieu. I'm not very good at reading these bottles, I rely on Marcus for that! The wine clocked in at 13.5% alcohol by volume, had a real cork closure, and cost me $15.99 at The Winery. I understand from the owner of The Winery (excellent lady with great wine suggestions every time we visit) that the wine is made from Chardonnay grapes. Which, after a quick search, I find that Neil actually drank this wine in May!

On the nose of the wine I found lemon, lemon rind, spice, minerals, and a slight tropical aroma, The wine smells very crisp and acidic and I looked forward to tasting it. In the mouth the wine was dry, acidic, and tart. I found lemons, minerals, wet stone, and a little bit of pineapple. Overall I though the wine was really well done.

This is my kind of chardonnay, it definitely didn't see any oak, so it fits back with WBW of past "Get Naked" theme from Lenn for WBW's 3rd birthday. I would definitely buy this bottle again, an excellent value for the price and a style of wine that is right up my alley!

Thanks very much to Neil for hosting and once again sending me outside of my norm of wine drinking window and getting me to try something new. I look forward to reading the round-up and hope Neil doesn't set the bar too high for when I host next month!

Though I suppose my post about Rose was about the last Rose of summer, I never said I wasn't going to drink them in the fall.....not to mention it might as well still be summer here with the weather!

The bottle was a 2005 Domaine d'Eole from Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence. (Did I read that bottle right Marcus since you are our resident label expert?) I picked this up at The Winery in Old Town Alexandria for $11, it clocked in at 12.5% alcohol by volume and had a fakie cork. The wine is a blend of grenache, counoise, syrah, and mourvedre grapes.

On the nose I found cream soda, strawberry, and peach with a question mark since it kept appearing and disappearing. In the mouth there were strawberries, spice, dry roses, and lime. It was light with a slightly sour note and a dry Rose overall. Not a bad wine, but I preferred the Touraine Rose I picked up at The Winery for $9 a few weeks ago.

I returned to The Winery in Old Town Alexandria to scoop up a few more bottles of the excellent Negromara that we drank for WBW: Go Native. Sadly, none were left. We actually got to meet the owner of the store this time, and were lamenting that she was out of it and only had 3 bottles of the Touraine Rose we loved as well, as we had planned to buy a case! She suggested a different rose (more on that later) and this bottle of 2005 Faunus Cesanese del Piglio.

The bottle cost $12.99, was 13.5% alcohol by volume, and had a real cork closure. It's a red blend of 80% Cesanese, 10% Barbera, and 10% Montepulciano.

On the nose the wine was spicy with black pepper, cedar, and black currants showing through. In the mouth again, the wine was spicy, with black cherry, black currants, and a very smoky note. The cherry flavor was incredibly fresh.

Overall, I felt as if I should be wearing a smoking jacket and lighting up a cigar while drinking this wine, but that would detract from the wine. It had a lot of depth of flavor for the price point. Another successful recommendation from The Winery. I think this place will become my go to wine shop, so far I've been very impressed with all the selections I've purchased.

I served the wine with an eye of the round roast, purple mashed potatoes, and green beans. A good match for the dinner, I like how the meat went with the smokiness of the wine.