Wannabe Wino

You don't have to tell me that this was a terrible match with my dinner of homemade Hawaiian pizza. I knew that before I even served it. But the weather has me craving white wines and roses and my collection of roses is embarrasingly tiny at the moment, so I chose this instead, food and wine pairing be damned.

The wine was a Mauritson 2005 Chardonnay. It is 14.1% alcohol by volume, cost us $18.20 and had a read cork closure. It did not go well with pizza, but both were good in and of themselves (if I can compliment my own pizza skills!).

On the nose I found pears, green apples, and oak (but not overally so, just enough!). In the mouth, there were lots of green apples and eventually a reserved lemon flavor. Overall I would describe the wine as creamy and full-bodied
with a medium-long finish, good structure and acidity. But NOT good with pizza :)

Apparently this is the week where I revisit wines I tasted in November. Tonight it was a 2005 Felta Creek Summer White (De la Montanya). I first tasted the Summer White over Thanksgiving, but we had company and I didn't exactly write the best notes, really just a general overview with perhaps one specific reference to the flavors. For some reason at the time I felt awkard sitting there writing detailed notes in front of company. Have since gotten over that though and now I explain what I'm doing since many of our friends don't know I write a wine blog and I've certainly gotten confused looks when I whip out a note pad and bury my nose in the wine!

And again, since I tasted this wine quite a while ago I find myself wondering if I'm getting better at picking out flavors and aromas or if it was simply the lack of notes I took last time?

Anywho, the wine had a real cork closure and cost us $15.20 in a wine club shipment. I can't find anything about the alcohol level and the bottle is long gone. I served it with ravioli topped with fresh parmesan and butter. And actually, I think my belief back in November that this would be a good Thanksgiving wine was spot on, as the buttery cheesy flavors in the ravioli were easily cut through by the crisp and acidic structure of this wine.

On the nose I found pineapple, papaya, citrus and an overall sense of tropical fruit. In the mouth I found citrs, green apple, pear and just the slightest tinge of honey. The wine was crisp and light and the tropical fruits made me want to be sitting in a hammock on a beach somwhere with crystal clear water. And sun, lots of sun. Perhaps I'm projecting my desire for better weather as it has once again turned cold and I think I heard a report of a "wintery mix" on the radio. Thankfully we are off to sunny shiny CA for a week and a bit, so I will miss some of the delightful ups and downs of Spring on the East Coast.

Both of our fearless leaders, Allan of Cellarblog and Leah of DcGastronome, were in attendance at the wine club happy hour! It was great to see Leah again and to meet Allan for the first. And I must say, Leah picked a fabulous place for the event.

Piola is in Rosslyn and specializes in thin crust pizzas of every possible variety. They also have an awesome happy hour where wines by the glass are half price and appetizers are free and plentiful.

I arrived just after 5:30 and already there were at least 6 wine club members in attendance. Over the course of the evening we had about 20 members attend, including several new people. It's always great to et the chance to meet more wine lovers! I started out with a glass of the house white, which is literally, the house's. Piola offers both a white and a red house wine, produced and blended in Italy with their name. The white Blanco Piola was light and fruity with notes of lemon and spice. On first taste I thought it had Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc in it. It had those and Garganego and Seprino. It came in at $3.50 a glass with the special, which I thought was a decent value for an easy to drink white.

I moved on from there to the Rosso Piola, also $3.50 with the discount. The wine was 12.5% alcohol by volume and more complex than the white. It is a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. This one had all spice and cherry on the nose. In the mouth there were cherries, raspberries and raisins, plus a bit of an earthy quality. I liked this one better than the white, and over the course of the evening our group consummed several bottles.

The free appetizers at happy hour were great! When I came in there were cheese trays out on the bar and the wine club had taken over the couch area for the evening. Soon, trays of hot appetizers came around and the servers were incredibly attentive to us, bringing us full trays of everything! My favorite was the gorgonzola and prosciutto bruschetta, followed by a a prosciutto sandwhich on nice salty flat bread. Then they came around with full plates of pasta salad that was done with fresh tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and olive oil. It was great. I also saw pizza and they put an entire appetizer of toasted pita triangles and eggplant dip on our table. You could really have made a meal on all the free appetizers, and I was really impressed with the service and variety.

Ten wine club members decided to stay for dinner after happy hour and we were seated very quickly at a big table that was easily able to accomodate our party. Many different pizzas were ordered and enjoyed by the group. Matt had the Pizza Carbonara, which literally had bacon, eggs, cheese, etc. on it. It looked great. I believe Leah and Jeff also had one of these. It looked like Allan enjoyed his prosciutto pizza and I had a pizza with fresh tomatoes, mozzarella and brie which was delicious. I just finished eating some of the leftovers for lunch.

I think everyone had a great time and I am looking forward to our next event. Piola was a great choice and I would definitely return. The appetizers alone made it fantastic, but that combined with low prices on the pizza, good service and good food pushed it over the top. The wine list does need help, but everything else was up to snuff.

The Curious Grape in Shirlington will be hosting an Easter Wine Pairing on Saturday from 1-4. At least 4 wines will be poured.

On Monday at the Curious Grape the winemaker from Langmeil in Australia will be pouring 3 of his Shiraz offerings and the Curious Grape will also have 2 Australian whites available from 6-8pm.

At Out of Site Wines in Vienna tonight you will find Springtime selections on the tasting bar from 5-8pm.

On Saturday from 1-4pm Out of Site Wines will be having a double sized tasting bar with one featuring appetizer and ham wines for Easter and the second table featuring lamb and dessert wines.

Tonight at Arrowine in Arlington you will find wines from around the world being poured from the Country Vintner from 5:30-7:30pm.

On Saturday from 1-4pm at Arrowine you will find a Taste of Oregon on the tasting bar.

The wine was a 2004 Roshambo Taylor Vineyard Zinfandel. It cost $28 in a club shipment, was 15.4% alcohol by volume and had a real cork closure. I served it with cheeseburgers and corn on the cob in a celebration of grilling weather returning (though we will have to wait until we move to the house to actually grill, you can't have grills on balconies in the county we live in). Normally I would pick a Cabernet Sauvignon with my burger, but we don't have any that I feel are ready to drink right now.

On the nose of the wine I found blackberry jam, hints of vanilla, tart cherries and spices. In the mouth the tart cherries on the nose followed through and raspberries showed up in the glass over the course of the evening, along with nice spices that went well with the tart cherries. The finish was long and smooth.

I drank this one in my first blog tasting back in November and said I should cellar it longer. I think it's drinking really well right now, the flavors are great; it's easily my favorite Roshambo offering so far. It's also interesting to see just what drinking wine nearly every night for 6 months has done to my palate. Picking out flavors seems much easier and it's difficult for me to decide if that's because I have more confidence now or if perhaps I was right and this wine did need to sit for a bit longer (can 6 months make that much of a difference?). Back in my first post on this wine, I said it tasted fruited and that I thought perhaps it was cherries. I also picked up on the spice, but thought it was pepper at the time. I was cautious in my review and was questioning myself. I still have ocassions where I question if I am actually tasting something that I think I am or times where I know there is a flavor in the wine but I simply can't place it. However, I don't find those times frustrating, I see them as a chance to figure out what it is and I often post them here to see if anyone else has had the wine and can help me put a finger on what I am tasting. Let's see what the next 6 months of tasting does for me. If for nothing else, I hope my confidence in my palate continues to grow and that I get to taste many more great wines.

Wine and non-wine related, in no particular order:

1.) Spring is here and flowers are blooming.

2.) I no longer have to go to work and come home in the dark.

3.) Wine Club meets tonight at Piola in Rosslyn, 5:30, join us (Black skirt suit, blue blouse, bad roots is me).

4.) Pimp Daddy of Twisted Oak is bringing Twisted Oak to DC!

5.) Matt and I leave for vacation on Friday!

6.) I get to play winemaker next Saturday.

7.) We close on our house in 3 weeks!!!

8.) My first WineQ order shipped yesterday and I can't wait for it to get here.

9.) I can see the light at the end of the tunnel for the current phase of my Fellowship. (Sorry, no link for that).

With Matt's Uncle Bruce in town, we found ourselves out and about again this week. The museum he is involved with here was having an opening event and Bruce invited us along. At the event, which was very well done, a Renwood Sauvignon Blanc was served, a nice surprise and departure from the flabby Pinot Grigio or oaky Chardonnay you usually find.

After the event, we headed out to one of our favorite local Italian places, the Odeon Cafe in Dupont. To our surprise, we had to wait for a table, I guess it's getting more popular as we used to just waltz in and sit right down. We waited at the bar and ordered a bottle of 2004 E All Omo Il Vino Toscano Sangiovese.

The wine had a real cork closure, was 12.5% alcohol by volume and cost $54 for the bottle. I also wrote down that it had a pretty label and drew a picture of it. Which, given my very limited artistic skills, is quite amusing, but from what I can interpret it is two fairies (or angels) holding up a shield. Right. Another beef with restaurants and wine. The glasses were warm. I mean, I'm happy you clean your glasses, but I do not want them directly from the dishwasher. And the wine itself was warm, so I took Joel's (of Wine Life Today and Vivi's Wine Journal fame) advice from my post about warm wine in restaurants and requested an ice bucket to stick the bottle in. Our server brought one with no problem and our wine was saved! (Though he did try to take my wine out of the bucket after only about 2 minutes, but I put it right back in again.)

As for the wine, on the nose I found oak, black cherries, dark fruit, spice, earthiness and leather. In the mouth I would describe the wine as dense and dark, with spice and dark fruits, blackberries, cherries and currants. The tannins were big and I think the wine could definitely age for quite a while.

Everyone had something different for dinner, but I do sometimes like to pair an Italian wine with Italian food. Matt had lobster ravioli with a tomato cream sauce, Bruce had gnocchi with cream sauce and bacon and I had the 4 cheese fettucini. The wine was actually a nice complement to the cream sauce and I thought the pair was pretty good. We'll be back to the Odeon Cafe again as the food is always reliably good and the prices are decent. The wine list needs some help though. It's not very long or diverse and the prices are mostly in the upper $40s and above!

On Wednesday, April 4th, starting at 5:30, the Virginia Meetup Wine Club is meeting at Piola in Rosslyn for Happy Hour.

Piola is located at 1550 Wilson Boulevard, a mere 3 blocks from the Rosslyn Metro, so very easy to get to for those without cars or who prefer the Metro. Barring snow (please no, it's supposed to be 80 out today, I don't think I can take any more changes back to winter weather!), Matt and I will actually be there this time and I am much looking forward to attending as I enjoyed the first event we attended several months ago.

Happy Hour runs from 4pm-7pm (I always wondered why it was called Happy Hour if it ran for several hours....) and includes some great specials. Wine is half-price during Happy Hour and free snacks are provided, yum. The menu looks great, I am all about wood-fired pizza and inexpensive. I think the most expensive entree is $16.95, with most much less than that. The wine list is a little short, at least what is listed online, only about 10 wines total, so we shall see.

Please join me and our lovely leader Leah of DcGastronome at Happy Hour! Hope to see you there! I don't know which suit yet, but I'll be the blonde with bad roots (yes, still, havea n appointment next week) in a suit.

First off, this wine is not ready to drink without some serious time sitting out or in a decanter. It was hot and full of alcohol on the nose and I couldn't get past that through our whole dinner.

After the alcohol dissipated, I could find the scent of raisins and spice. In the mouth there were plums, black pepper and black currants.

The bottle cost around $20, had a real cork closure and came in a club shipment. Matt tossed the bottle before I could write down what the alcohol content was.

This wine is made from grapes that are deemed not good enough to be made into Hanna's Bismark Red. So I guess it's reject grapes? Kind of interesting that they actually tell you on the website that the grapes didn't make the cut for the better wine. I'm not so sure how I feel about that!

Overall, my assessment of this bottle is that it's a simple, drinkable bottle of red table wine. There's nothing remarkable about it, nor anything bad. But definitely let this one air out before trying to drink it!

With our bbq pulled pork, purple mashed potatoes and broccoli, I decided that a big Syrah would be an excellent match to the spicy bbq sauce. I usually prefer a Zinfandel with my bbq, but I don't have any left in my collection that I haven't reviewed yet so Syrah it was.

The bottle was a 2003 Alderbrook Syrah that came in a club shipment. Again, I have no idea how much it cost. It was 14.5% alcohol by volume and had a real cork closure. The bottle was really heavy and had the largest punt that I've ever seen.

On the nose I found blackberries, bramble fruit and a hint of leather. In the mouth there were dark fruits, it was earthy and the blackberries really stood out. The color in the glass was a deep, dark red that barely let any light through.

I would definitely suggest decanting this bottle if you are going to drink it now. The flavors were wound quite tight to begin with and I think my evaluation of it with dinner suffered. About an hour after dinner though, this was a smooth wine with a long finish. If I had let it sit before dinner I think the flavors would have complimented the bbq well, but as it was, the flavors were just not showing well when we drank it with dinner. I would also suggest hanging onto this one for another 2+ years, I think it will be great in a couple years.