Shotfire 2008 Shiraz ($19.99)
Purple Angel 2007 Carmenere ($45ish)
Great night with great friends drinking pretty darn good wine. The Hamilton's and Jansen's came over tonight making the count 6 adults to 5 kids. We've gone from boardwalk beach cruiser rides to toll road commuting / back patio sitting. From talk of schooners and last call to breast milk and feeding schedules. The guests were gone by 8 and I'm typing this sober on a Saturday evening. Yep, times have changed!
"Turns out not where, but who you're with that really matters." So true Mr. Mathews. So true.
Going in order here, the Phebus Malbec was opened early with all-star appetizers of Bass Lake 7 Year Aged Cheddar Cheese, lamb sausage links, and Hungarian keilbasa. The wine was solid. Pretty smooth, easy to drink. I thought for the money, it was a great buy.
Grade: B- (close to a B for the price)
The Shotfire Shiraz was opened as we finished apps and was polished up over dinner. In typical Shiraz fashion, it had a musky, tobacco nose. Super earthy. It had a ton of flavor, but I thought it was dry on the finish. It went well with everything we threw at it though. Solid bottle. Not sure I'll get it again at $20, but nobody was dumping it.
Grade: B
Purple Angel Carmenere had all the makings of an epic masterpiece. Big heavy bottle (does that matter?), wonderful Earthy, yet fruity nose. It had an awesome initial fruit-forward burst. Now, to be fair, this was bottle #3 and we had it with pulled pork, which was soaked in a sweet & spicy BBQ sauce. I don't think this was the best match for the wine, yet it was still really, really solid. It seemed a bit dry on the finish, but I'm going to put partial blame on the food.
I don't think I'll be dropping $50 bucks on this bottle, but it was really good.
Grade: B+
