Good Times, Great Oldies

We had a sitter come over to watch the kids and Beth and I took to the town to meet up with a few of my buddies from the days of Tucson. Woo Hoo! 

Woody and his girlfriend Katie spent the week in Anaheim working the NAMM (North American Music Merchants) show for Yamaha, and Jason Jones tagged along to be a fan of rock n' roll and check out the music scene. The three of them, plus one of Woody's co-workers met us at Bandera in Corona del Mar for dinner. It was the perfect place for a group of productioned-out travelers. 

Bandera's ambiance is awesome; perfect lighting, just loud enough music. It really allows for guests to focus on their own conversations without being distracted by anyone else in the packed restaurant. Or maybe our company was just that awesome and I had no reason to be distracted? Maybe a bit of both, but once Jason got to telling classic stories like working with me and Dustin as busboys at Tucson National and Dustin dropping the steak knife off his tray and onto/into the bald head of one of the diners, complete with the sound effects and visuals of blood squirting out of his head while Dustin says, "oh, let me get you a napkin," who cared about anyone else in the place? 

Oh, and Bandera doesn't charge a corkage fee. Unheard of, especially in a town like CdM. 

I put myself in charge of the vino for the table which called for me to make a visit to a wine store. This time I opted for The Wine Exchange in Orange, where the 55 and 91 freeways meet. Cool place that probably deserves its own write-up some other time. 

Anyway, I walked out of Wine Ex and into Bandera with a Trader Joe's bag full of this:

First, we cracked the Pinot.

Bella Glos 2009 Pinot Noir (on sale for $28.99)

This is becoming my favorite Pinot. It was better last night because the waiter had to battle the waxy top. Full bodied deliciousness.  

Grade: Still an A

Next up:

Punch 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon ($27.99)

I think the story of this wine sold me. High-end winemakers got together to make a wine that they could afford. They outsource their grapes from different places every year, which is why the bottle simply says, "California." 

Punch was a fitting name. It packed one. A big blast of fruit up front with a nice long chewy finish. 

Grade: B

Batting third:

La Storia 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon ($16.99)

I wasn't sure we would need a third bottle, but I brought one just in case. Yeah, mid dinner we tore into the La Storia. Hey-oh! This was really good. Super smooth, just the way I like my Cabs. I definitely need to revisit this because I'd had a few glasses by this point.

Grade: A (I think)

Great evening with great friends. 

The Tale of Two Labels

What evokes the most emotion; the letdown of disappointing $20 bottle you had high expectations for, or the joy of a tasty $10 bottle you weren't even excited to open?

Door #1. A cool labeled Cab. It came highly recommended to me from a lady at Hi Times who has steered me right on several occasions, including New Years Eve's Hall Cab.

"The Sum" 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon $16.95


Great label. Great color. And that was about all that was great. Beth swore she smelled and tasted bacon. Enough said? Ok, it wasn't awful. Strangely, we kept drinking it, not only because we were drinking it on a Saturday night, but because it was unique. Still though, I won't be revisiting this bottle.

Grade: C-
Beth's Grade: C-


Door #2. A bottle that looks like a souvenir from the Washington D.C. train station, except that top label with the stars is of Australia. I'm confused.

Hill of Content 2006 Shiraz ($9.99)


Maybe I should be the one to tell Total Wine that their employee pick's pics are the only reason I bought this. The label itself isn't too appealing, but throw in the sticker saying they won an Australian award and it was almost, maybe should have been, a deal breaker. I'm fine with tags from Wine Spectator or Wine Advocate, or someday Purple Tooth saying that a wine is great, but don't toot your own horn on your own label. That's lame. Yet, somehow this bottle found its way into my cart and has been sitting in the wine fridge for 6 weeks because I've put off cracking it.

I must say, The Hill of Content pleased me. I don't think it was because I had such low expectations. It was really good. It's been a short while since I've had a Shiraz and it was a nice revisit. It had a nice peppery pop, and loads of fruit flavor that coated my mouth and gave it a chewy texture on the finish.

Grade: B
Beth's Grade: B

Let's Accessorize!

Big thanks to my brother-in-law, JR and his girlfriend, Malea for an awesome Christmas present. I knew he wouldn't let me open something phallic in front of his parents, and shame on me for going there on Christmas morning, but I wasn't sure what I was looking at. 

That there's an aerator. It's designed to work as an instant decanter, speeding up the breathing process to enhance the bouquet, flavor, and finish of any wine. I was very skeptical, to say the least. 

Gotta say, on more than 4 sober occasions in side-by-side comparisons, hands down, the aerated wine won. It's simple to use, takes 2 seconds to clean, and hardly takes up any space in the cabinet. Great gift, and thanks again. 

While I'm on the topic of wine gadgetry, I'm not sure why my next item hasn't swept the country by storm. Anyone?

I have certain gagging issues with goopy messes. Growing up, I couldn't share a toothpaste tube (especially Aquafresh) with my sister. Not that wine is goopy, but it bugs me when wine drips down the bottle and puddles on the table or countertop. If I'm tasting in a barrel room? Sure, no big deal. But a nice bottle at a fancy restaurant? Inexcusable!

I present the greatest $4 investment EVER:

These little silver reusable drip proof discs will change your life, unless you have a gross tube of toothpaste in your bathroom, in which case you may not notice. Thank me later. 

We put both products to work last night putting down a bottle of an old stand-by.

Sobon Estate 2009 Zinfandel ($11.99)

Actually, last night we had the "Hillside," not the "Old Vines," sorry for the false advertising. Both are very good. Anyway, maybe my favorite wine under $12. Awesome bottle.

Grade: B+

Beth's Grade: "A, or maybe an A-"

Happy New Year!

What a tremendous evening of the finest meats, cheeses, and wine in all the land. Yesterday, the Jansen's came up our way to say adios to 2011. This evening had been on the books for months, so expectations were a mile high.  I'd say confidently that it did not disappoint, well, Tom may be a little disappointed that I spilled his glass of wine on him near the end of dinner. My bad.

If it weren't for the baby formula on the counter and baby bottles on the drying rack, you'd might have confused our pad for Mastro's.

We kicked off the evening, err, afternoon with some bubbly.

Yes, we were outside enjoying the 75ish degree weather.

I spontaneously picked up some sparkling stuff for the boys. They didn't like it. Tom did his usual Wine Spectator research on a tasty bottle of Champagne. We loved it.  It impressed with the cheese Beth and I brought back from New Jersey and Tom and Meg brought back from Wisconsin. I guess you can't get cheese in California? Tom also made some oyster shooters. Good stuff.

Then it was on to the Pinots.

Morey-Saint-Denis 1st Cru 2005 Pinot Noir ($59.99) &
Belle Glos 2009 Pinot Noir Los Altures ($34.99)


The bottle on the left was a highly anticipated WTSO purchase from September. It was 70% off of its original price of $200. I was wine tasting at the time and it seemed like a good idea. Eh, not so much. It was ok, I guess. Nothing super special about it. It smelled like Pinot, was very jammy out of the gate, then didn't deliver. 92 points my arse!

Grade: C+
Beth's Grade: C


The bottle on the right I wrote about a few weeks ago with the pain in the ass waxy top. It's the best Pinot I've had not bottled by William's Selyem. It is such a big, bold, beautiful wine, yet perfectly balanced with a super smooth finish. De-lish.

Grade: A
Beth's Grade: A-


We wrapped up appetizers and Pinots about an hour and a half before dinner, so I opened a bottle to pass the time, not yet wanting to tap into the big guns.

Columbia Crest 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon H3 ($9.98)


Hey, a nice little find from Hi-Times! Turns out, this scored 90 Points from Wine Spectator and just made their "100 Outstanding Values" list. It's also Hi-Times Wine of the Month. I put it in a really tough spot following up the Belle Glos, but the H3 held its own. For $10, its a great Cab that I'll definitely get again.

Grade: B


For the main course we put together a solid spread and busted out the wedding gift China.

Filets, lobster tails, roasted butternut squash & red potatoes, and a nice salad.

Hall 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon ($42.00)
Anderson's Conn Valley Eloge 2008 ($99.99)


I picked up the Hall from Hi-Times. It had a 95 point rating from Robert Parker and a scored a 91 from Wine Spectator. It was a big, chewy, full bodied, super smooth Napa Cab. It easily lived up to its high marks.

The Eloge is a blend of 55% Cab Sauvignon, 25% Cab Franc, Petite Verdot, and Merlot. Robert Parker gave it 96-98 (?) points. This was a powerful, fruit blasting, yet controlled wine. There were so many things going on and all of them good.

They're two different varietals, they should be different. It probably wasn't fair to have these side by side, but we did. And since we did, it's only natural that we picked favorites. Beth, Meg, and I preferred the smoothness of the Cab and Tom crowned the complexity of the Eloge, champ.

Hall Grade: A                   Eloge Grade: A-
Beth's Hall Grade: A       Beth's Eloge Grade: A-


Overall, it was awesome, baby!

Happy New Year! 

Cheers!