Just What My Doctor Ordered

"Phantom" Bogle Vineyards 2008 Blend ($14.99)


Full disclosure: I was put on an antibiotic today for a sinus infection and have sucked on 20+ Halls since 7 AM, so my palate might not be up to whatever standards it usually is. I did make sure to ask my doctor if drinking wine on said antibiotic was permitted and she gave me the green light. So I got that going for me. Which is nice.

Jared sent me a text awhile back saying he and his lovely wife liked this wine, so I searched amongst the other Bogle bottles at Hi-Times, then asked for help and was led to the cellar with the fancy bottles.

See, I view Bogle as being somewhere in the Mondavi/BV category. Maybe? They seem to make a lot of wines in the $8-15 range that are readily available at every drugstore right next to the Carlo Rossi jugs and Frenzia boxes. So, sort of for the same reasons I've never ordered a $6 Burger from Carl's Jr., I don't typically pick up or have much interest in Mondavi/BV/Bogle's pricier labels. I leave the fancier things to people who make fancy things. Maybe I'm missing out. Is the $6 Burger any good?

I read the Wine Spectator cover article on Tim Mondavi and they referred to the "cash cow" labels that the Robert Mondavi Corp. (and many of the big wineries)  produce in mass to meet the demands of Wall Street and being a publicly traded company. Tim talks about how these labels eroded their image and I have to agree. The association I have with the bigger wine makers would have never led me to picking up a bottle of the Phantom.

Perhaps I need to change my stance on these labels. Beth and I really liked the Phantom. It's a blend of Zin, Petite Sirah, and Mourvedre. Pre dinner I thought the Petite Sirah stood out and was a little tart, but after letting it open up for awhile and pairing it with some tasty filets, it was really good. It was a nice change of pace. Big, full bodied, zippy, yet different. Nice suggestion, thanks.

I've reserving a grade until I can breathe through my nose.

Hi-Time Finds

In preparation for holiday spending, and promising myself not to give Max a bowl of corks for Christmas, I loaded up on cheaper, ok cheap wine, or as Johnny likes to say, "lower hanging fruit." Not that my lower hanging fruit looks or tastes anything like his. Mine's probably better served for cooking in comparison, but hopefully you get the point.

November's newsletter from Hi-Time  caught my eye, and once I was there I picked up a few bottles surrounding the bottles in their promo. I picked up a bottle of the Wine of the Month, the Beaujolias-Villages, but didn't get to it on Turkey Day and left it in Arizona. Aimee, let me know how that worked out!

3 of the 4 above were really solid. Left to right, the Garnacha De Fuego ($6.95), was great. I picked up a 3rd bottle today at Total Wine. Very flavorful, yet not as heavy as a Cab or Zin. Actually finished off a bottle tonight with salmon for dinner. I wouldn't have felt cheated had it been $12. Buy.

The Farque 2006 Syrah ($5.95) was featured in the newsletter. It was my least favorite of the four and the only one where I felt like I got what I paid for. A little too harsh, too bitey. Pass.

Dona Paula 2009 Los Cardos Malbec ($6.95) was a ridiculous value. This could have easily been a $15 bottle. Actually one of the better Malbecs I've had in awhile. Very solid bottle at a phenomenal price. Buy.

Last, but not least; Excelsior 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon ($6.95). I had the lowest expectations for this South African Cab. Surprisingly, and thankfully, I thought it rocked. It had a little spicy zip at first, then mellowed out. It was very flavorful with a nice long finish. A little research shows that Wine Enthusiast gave this 88 points. Sounds about right to me. A great pickup for under $7. Buy.

Hopefully, if you actually pursue any of these bottles, they're still available. I got my December newsletter today and the top 3 Cabs of 2011 I read about on the front page are priced at $300, $175, and $139.95! How many readers do I need for that to be my lower hanging fruit? Spread the word!

Standing. In the Shower. Thinking.

Note to self: Type blog posts after showering. It's where I do some solid thinking.

As I was reminiscing on spreads of Thanksgiving Days past and thinking about failed wine pairings that I was certain would draw rave reviews, I concluded that something's gotta give or else I can expect the same lack luster results this Thursday. It's too late for me to change the wine lineup, and probably the menu, but my God, my diet and fluid consumption sure has changed. Thankfully. I think.

Thursday will probably be the only day of the year, save maybe a hung-over Denny's breakfast of chicken-fried steak, where I'll put gravy on anything, especially meat. I'll have that piled next to some cream of something based somethings. I didn't realize how odd it was that I grew up with no less than three (3!) Jello based side dishes until my Mother-in-law asked, "Beth Marie, Why do they eat Jello for Thanksgiving?" as she's preparing pasta and red sauce. Throw that next to some canned cranberry sauce that looks like Alpo and we've got ourselves a feast fit for a pilgrim but not a fine(ish) wine lover.

Next year I say we either scrap the traditional smorgasbord to accompany great wine or I go back to Hawaiian Punch.

Turkey Day Wine List

Since thousands have asked about which wines will be on the table to accompany the Eldridge/Smith Family bird, here goes...

In the white department we've got a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc favorite from Hi-Times. I think Aimee will dig it, plus it should make a nice pregame beverage:

Also in the white department, two of my favorite German Rieslings:

The Dr. Heidemanns-Bergweiller goes for 8-10 bucks. I've picked it up at the Tustin Total Wine and I was able to direct my dad to it at the Tucson location. If I recall correctly, it scored a 92 points from Spectator. A very nice, green appley Riesling, again, if I recall correctly.

The Monchhof is a 2010 Turkey Day find from Hi-Times. I've had it a few times since and loved it every time. A very smooth bottle.

As for the reds, we're going with:

The Beaujolais-Villages is the Hi-Times November Wine of the Month. It goes for $8.99 (I think) and I also saw it yesterday at the grocery store here in Arizona.

The Inman Family 2007 Pinot was a WTSO purchase that Tom thinks I won't enjoy. We shall see.

I've never really found a wine to go with the Thanksgiving Day meal. Perhaps, Matt Money Smith of the "Petros and Money Show" is right when he said there's too many flavors on a traditional Thanksgiving Day plate that if you think about it, don't really go together, so it makes pairing wine nearly impossible. He suggests a nice, rich Brown Ale.

I'd love to hear what you're cracking Thursday. I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving!

Cheers!

A Peaceful Easy Feeling

What an enjoyable Saturday. Granted, it took rain, 2 semi-sick kids, good football games and wine to enjoy it, but I (we) enjoyed it none the less. There's a chance you know that I've been wanting to try the Pinot Noir that the Jansen's gave us as a token of appreciation for watching James. I guess I was waiting for a good food pairing? Maybe I was holding out for the right non-week day opportunity? Either way, I decided to make salmon for dinner (I decided to tell my wife to make salmon for dinner), therefor tonight was the night for Pinot.

Belle Glos 2009 Pinot Noir

If you did any fact checking on my Riesling post below (scroll down till you see two adorable boys in Michigan jerseys), you know why I dropped out of the school of journalism. I said that the Wellesley Wine Press wrote about the Riesling, when they didn't. That was someone else. But they did rave about this bottle of Pinot, and I can clearly see why. 

As I said, we opted for salmon for dinner. The problem (problem?) was that around 2:30, watching the Michigan game, beer just wasn't cutting it for me and with the cloud coverage and the time change, it looked late enough to start drinking wine. So I did. 

Opening the bottle was/is my biggest complaint. It had a candle waxy thing going on instead of the usual foil coverage. I shouldn't have to know my way around The Home Depot to open a bottle of wine, should I?

Anyway, this wine was a success on its own, with our appetizer of Cheddar Chex Mix, with our fabulous main course, and even out of my nose. See, mid-meal, Max, who's been really into planets this week asked somewhat out of the blue and mid-sip, "Dad, what if I call Uranus, Uranus-anus?" Hence, me giggling like a 7th grader, and nearly choking on my wine. It was still good, barely burning my nostrils. 

It's hard for me to use adjectives for Pinot. It's either enjoyable or it's not, and this one was awesome. It was bigger and chewier than most I've had lately (or ever). Smoother too. Very, very enjoyable wine. I agree with Tom's assessment that this was better than the LWC from a few months back. It was that good. 

Tom, we will work for wine anytime. Thanks again. 

Grade: A / 4 (I stole some sips from Beth)

Beth's Grade: A-

The Specialist Occasion Wine

If you stare long enough at the T.V. in the background, the Bears will jump off-sides again.

Amusee Cellars 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon (60% off: $29.99)


Twice this fall I've had the pleasure of drinking Amusee, and it just so happened that both times were to celebrate huge, monumental occasions. Johnny and I went in on this wine from WTSO about three months ago. According to their sale at the time, the original price for the bottle was $75 and as John pointed out, the winemaker, Reed Renaudin, used to be at Screaming Eagle, which as avid followers of PurpleTooth, I think I'll put a bottle of Screaming Eagle on my Christmas list, in case you were wondering what to get me.

Anyway, I had it Friday for the 2nd time to celebrate 9 years of mawwiage. The first time was at Johnny's house and he cracked it to celebrate the return of the Detroit Lions on Monday Night Football.

On the first go 'round I thought it was a huge Napa Cab. As the write-up said, "Full bodied, powerful, and enormously endowed." We had a glass then tore into pizzas and the wine was phenomenal from start to finish. Super smooth with a nice long finish.

He said, "Endowed."

Friday night we opened it before putting steaks on the grill. It again was great, but didn't seem like the same bottle of wine. It had a little bit, just a touch of a not quite ripe cherry. It reminded me of the last few times I've had Chimney Rock, which I really like, but wouldn't put at the top of my all-time favorites list. I thought it got a lot better with dinner, but finishing up the bottle afterwards, again, I didn't find that same huge, smooth bottle I had the first time around.

Round 1 Grade: A
Round 2 Grade: B+
Beth's Grade: "Oh, an A"

For Everything Else, There's Mastercard

2 Tickets to Des Moines (It's a city in Iowa): Around $700.

Rental car, hotel in Ames, food, and unhealthy amounts of Natural Light: $400ish.

2 Tickets to an Iowa State game: Free? 

No, they were playing Texas, so maybe $60.

Coming home to see that Uncle Jason converted your son into a Wolverine fan: Priceless.

We thought we were working for free, but turns out the going rate for watching the oldest Jansen boy for a weekend is 2 solid bottles of wine. I've only gotten into the Riesling so far. The highly hyped Pinot (by Tom) will hopefully not stay on the rack through the weekend (that's called foreshadowing!). 

Der Bucket 2009 Riesling Spatlese

As Tom always does, he did his research. This time from The Wellesley Wine Press, which I think is a blog written by a guy who does what I do, but way more serious and has a much bigger budget. Maybe. Anyway,  he really liked this Riesling. I like Riesling. Tom likes me. So I scored a bottle. 

A few months ago (on this special day. Sorry, gotta scroll down) I picked up this whopping 95 point Riesling Spatlese because it was a special day and because it was 95 points. Had I not been so consumed  with the rating and actually listened to the lady explain EXACTLY the question I'd asked about Spatlese, I would have heard her say something about the grapes being the same, but they are left on the vine about 2 weeks longer than normal, thus losing their plumpness, shrinking up and becoming much more concentrated and sweeter. 

I guess she knew what she was talking about. This was a very sweet, Gewurtzraminer like wine. Very tropical fruitish, somewhat syrupy, yet very smooth. Not so smooth that it reminded anyone of "flat pop," but smooth in a normal good wine way. 

I really enjoyed it. But I also loved the other Spatlese I had and enjoy Gewurtzraminer. I can definitely see how this wouldn't be for everyone (including Beth), but also see how it came so highly recommended. 

Grade: Priceless

Beth's Grade: "Too sweet"