Wine: Club W Shipment - Brethren Syrah and Oliver Row Cabernet Franc

I must say that I am pretty disappointed with these two wines, which is why they are sharing a blog post instead of getting a singular one for each.

I will say the the Brethren of the Road Syrah was ridiculously disappointing and possibly the worst red I have had in a long time if not ever. It's initial palate and aftertaste was an alcohol fumed red - dry and akin to rubbing alcohol. As I said before I was not impressed. The Hubs, who loves Syrahs, spit his back into his cup and blankly told me he would not drink it.

Club W Describes this wine as "Berry Tart". I disagree. "Berry Tart" would have provided a flavor notes at the very least.

The Cabernet Franc was marginally better.  If anything it was unimpressive in the sense that it was similar to a table red - a 5$  table red, so this would be over priced at 13$ a bottle. There were no tasting notes that struck my palate - this is something I look for in every wine I drink and is part of my wine consumption experience.

There were no notes that struck my palate or made this wine remarkable in any sense. It's quite disappointing to have one wine, out of the three, be a worthy wine (see Cosmopolitan Sauvignon Blanc).

I have one more Club W Shipment coming in a few days and I am hoping that this one is more impressive (mostly because their newsletter caught my eye with an illusive Cinsault - not a varietal massively produced here in the US).

Believe me, I will let you know. But at this rate I think it's more important to support wineries directly. Go wine tasting. Find a winery you like and sign up for the wine club. Tasting wines before you buy them is a safer way to guarantee you will enjoy the wine experience.

Wine: Eberle's Better Half

My Valentine's day was very nice.

After a year of complaining about our mattress, the Husband finally caved and agreed to take me mattress shopping a week ago. Our delivery of the new, miracle, super comfy Sealy Posturepedic was set for Valentines day. How Romantic! But over joyous too, you see, the Husband is a huge cuddle, which means I turn into his Human Body Pillow. We had a knock-off sleep number bed that didn't move from rental to rental to rental to our final home, very well (the foam topper ripped in two....) and eventually the dreaded "crack" was formed in our bed. This is when most nights, I, the Human Body Pillow, would unknowingly end up in "the crack" and awaken with 190 lbs of male on top of me, a stiff back, and 30 lbs of puppies blocking my roll away escape technique.

Needless to say new bed saves me from the nightmare of a stiff back.  Really, who needs flowers on Valentines day when you can finally stop dreaming of the day you can go to bed comfortably? 

End mattress rant. 

We made a simple dinner of T-bone Steaks, hassleback red potatoes, salad, and dun dun dun DUN, Eberle's Better Half wine, a yummy blend of 51% Zinfandel, 49% Cabernet Sauvignon. 

It's a nice hardy red, with a dry finish that I will attribute to the Cabernet, some berry notes that keep it juicy, and a little bit of leather. It has a beautiful dark cranberry color, and a spicey nose that resonates and balances with the taste of the wine itself.  In other words, its good wine and it's easy to share a bottle.

Eberle's Better Half. Share it with your better half. 

Wine: Wine Twist tops, an Essay

I have had a long time bias against twist top wine, versus the traditional cork.

Usually, I associate it with cheap vintages, or a lack of vintage, and cheap, steel-vat mass produced poppy cock-ery. 

One such wine, Big Kahuna, carried at Fresh and Easy, is just not my favorite, and that's being polite.

So when I ordered wine from the last wine tasting at Crescendo, I was slightly disappointed to receive bottles that were twist tops. Which was completely silly; I had sampled the wines and liked them enough to purchase them. So why did it matter?

It was a perception based on bad previous tasting experiences.

And then, it seemed fate crossed this article right into my cross hairs which has seemed to help legitimatize the "non- corked" wines.

It's enlightening to learn that this screw tops are recyclable (but not biodegradable) and a step in the direction of creating a greener function in the industry versus corks which are a limited natural resource.

The point of this essay? Maybe give screwy, twisty tops more of a chance. Especially if you typically purchase wines in the price range of less than $30 dollars a bottle. 

Now, to the wines that have surprised me in the most pleasant of ways:

Charles Smith is a fun Washington State vinter I have talked about before. I just love his wines. I think he knows his stuff, and it helps that the vintages I have had have been super delicious. And hello, it's Washington State, right up there with Argentinian wines, yo!

Duck Pond, of Fries Family Cellars, is a delightful Pinot Gris out of Oregon State. There's a pattern here, I seem to be paying homage to my West Coast Roots. In any case, it's wine well worth it, for regions  that have similar climate conditions to Napa Valley, but with less value per acre to keep the cost of the wine down in an  affordable bracket. But that's a different essay. Back to the subject of Cork VS Twisty Top.

Twisty Tops: give them a chance.

Wine: Sea Glass Pinot Noir

Normally I find Pinot Noir's mellow and easy to drink; usually meaning its so good, I easily drank the whole bottle.

This was not so much the case with Sea Glass's Pinot Noir. I find this wine super dry, and lacking any flavor notes that I particularly enjoyed. Once in corked, It survived a week on the counter, and out of the 3 nights I drank this wine, it did get better. Maybe it needed to breath? 

This wine retails at about 15 dollars. I would give it 2.5 stars and wouldn't purchase it again.  My snacks (deer sausage, lefse, smoked cheese, and chocolate) were the most exciting part of this wine and cheese night.

Wine: Chento Malbec

In the winter months there is this wine tasting class that meets at my favorite restaurant in town. I adore it. You pay $5 to sample 8 wines that you most likely have never had before. What's better than that? I mean, when I am at a liquor store, I usually go with "who has the prettiest picture" if I have never had the wine. Then I go by the description.

Then, in theory, if I actually paid attention to vintages and what a "good year" was, I would theoretically go by that year.

These classes take the hastle out of all that thinking.

Enter Chento Malbec. This is an Argentina Malbec, rich, full bodies and beautiful in color. The color is a dark deep red.  It would pair well with beef dishes, or hearty pastas, but I do think it would pair nicely with a crusty loaf of bread and artisan cheeses.  Be prepared for warm, lovely tannin's coating your mouth. This is a well rounded red wine.

Wine Wine Wine + Crescendo Fine Dining Review

I have had a few whirl-wind-weeks, all were tremendously fun.

This past week my husbands' parents visited us, my father-in-law helped us insulate our garage and install some new rain gutters, and my mother-in-law helped me in the kitchen, and puppy sat (and drank with me too!).

Somewhere amidst the fun we killed several bottles of oh so delicious wine... Maybe more than several. But all I have already reviewed in some way with you before; whether I discussed the wine or the winery.

Really, I would like to talk about my surprise over a fun sparkling wine - Montcadi's Cava. It's a sparkling Spanish wine. I purchased this wine from Fresh & Easy, in 2011 for our first Thanksgiving as a married couple. We never ended up drinking it because we had far to much champagne left over from our wedding to kill...

2 years later, and ironically the perfect aging recommendation as well, I popped open this bottle as a pre-dining aperitif paired with Manchego, Buffalo Mozzarella, and a Spicy Buffalo Wing Cheddar cheeses with my favorite Fresh & Easy crackers that I sent home to myself from California.

This wine is light, bubbly, and has a night citrus bite. I was floored at how good this wine was. Floored! I feel cheated that I never opened it. I could have enjoyed it and a lot of other bottles sooner, 2 years ago to be exact! Perhaps the aging (and 2k miles of travel) have helped this wine along. At 6-8 bucks a bottle I think it's a steal.  But from what I can figure you can only get this brand from a Fresh & Easy Distribution center. 

Following champagne and artisan cheeses, we headed over to Crescendo. This marked my 3rd visit, I had dined one other time, and attended a wine tasting class. I love this restaurant. Did you hear me? I love this restaurant. The owner is the only chef, and opens his doors 3 days a week. He stocks exceptional wine, and creates a seasonal menu that is absolutely outstanding. 

We started the night with a bottle of Chilean Concho y Toro Casillero del Diablo Privada Reserva and finished our meal with 2003 Las Rocas Garnacha.  It's absolutely flooring and comforting to have amazing wine stand up to amazing and beautifully palatable food.  These were both beautiful red wines and I feel fortunate to have enjoyed them at my father-in-laws recommendation and wine knowledge from his time in South America.

Now. Lets talk about food!

The meals at Crescendo start with bread and aromatically delicious olive oil. It's elegantly simple in preparation but an extremely high end dining experience. From there an appetizer or salad whets the palate - I had sweet potato ravioli, sautéed in brown butter and topped with toasted sage and pine nuts. These are heavenly pillows of sweet starchy perfection.  My entree was a Creamy Wild Mushroom Ravioli, with a mushroom cream sauce (which had wine in it as well).  I am a huge mushroom fan and this dish did mushrooms justice. 

Alas, I have no pictures of what I ate. I have too much respect for this establishment to pull out my camera, but even more so, the food and wines provide such a oral sensory overload you really can't think of pictures at a time of such pure sensation. 

I am excited for a taste of the Winter 2013 menu. And I am excited for more amazing wine. 

Wine: Tobin James - FAT BOY

The last 2 weeks we have been busy busy busy - trying to get rooms ready to move my copious amounts of junk into. [I can admit its mine, the holiday decorations, itso storage cubes full of yarn and scrap book material, and of course, my excess of clothes. I am a woman who likes to nest, after all].

We have officially set up our wine fridge. I filled that puppy up, and plugged her in. As dinner was boiling away on the stove, I opened a bottle of red - room temperature is the best serving, right? No need to be chilled!

Tobin James Fat Boy Zin was the lucky little fellow to be picked.

Only a few cases of this wine are bottled in this particular style, reads the label. The grapes are cultivated from 50 year-or-older vines. "FATBOY is like the best friend you had as a kid, big, brash, and maybe slightly obnoxious, but always well loved!" Well said Tobin, well said.

This is definitely a robust zin. Jammy. Velvety mouth-feel. I love Zin's, especially jammy zins. But this had a nice little kick to it. Not quite a tannin tang but definitely a punch on the first taste with a dry and smooth finish its a gorgeous deep dark color, no opacity. Full on red, red , red.

Wine's are totally like romance. You have to be in the mood for the type - fun, light, and flirty; Moscato, Reisling, Rose. Mischeivious; Syrahs and Pinot Noirs. Dangerous and seductive; Zinfindels and Barberas. Full blown drama: Cabs, Merlots, Sangioveses. (I think I am having gossip girl withdrawals as we have watched no TV for the last two weeks, including Netflix  ).

But I digress.

Tobin James Fat Boy: find it if you want a rockin' Zin that bites back.

Food: The Cheese Cave

I miss tasting bars. I miss the city. I miss being able to buy wine and beer whenever I want.


My friend, Ms. C took me to a little place in Faribault, MN, called The Cheese Cave.  It was soooooooo what I needed. The atmosphere is a charming, medium lighting, and just feels cool.

They have a nice little selection of wines; reds, whites, and blush. And they have a whole lotta cheese to taste. It doesn't stop their though; they have a menu to incorporate their cheeses (and these are fancy pants Artisan cheeses).

We shared a Cheese Platter of Gouda, Widmer Pepper Cheddar  and a Manchego. It came out placed with dried cranberries, sugared pecans, water crackers,  and milk and semi sweet chocolate discs.  The Gouda and Pepper Cheddar were outstanding, [I absolutely love a good Gouda]. The Manchega was okay. It was a true Manchego, but just didn't stand out as much as the other two cheeses did.

We followed that with a Baguette and Balsamic Vinegar Dip.  They emulsify the Balsamic Vinegar and Olive Oil with salt, pepper, and parmesean cheese so that they don't separate and it forms a beautiful dipping sauce. At my friends request (she is a true Italian girl, who loves good Olive oil and good Balsamic), we sipped little shots of straight balsamic. It was smooth and sweet, still vinegar but syrupy and rounded.

We followed up are almost Tapas like dinner with Pear, Gorgonzola, and sugared pecan salad. It came with a champagne/red wine vinaigrette (I am really not sure which it was, but it was very good). Light. Sweet. Crisp. All the things a good salad should be. With REAL bacon crumbled [no bacon bits].

I followed Ms. C's recommendation for the Cannon River Winery - Minnesota Meritage Semi Sweet Wine. For me, it was an easy drinking, red, no sweetness at all. A table red that pairs well with everything. Mellow. Very subtle tannins. Just smooth sipping and subtle.


It was a fun evening. What vino doesn't love wine, cheese, and great company?

Winery: Grovedale Winery

Going through my wine paraphernalia  I realized I never did a review of Grovedale Winery back in September (when i did the Nimble Hill Review).

Let's take a trip down memory lane (well, memory lane for me anyways).

Grovedale, Grovedale, how I did adore thee, Grovedale! There's is nothing like enjoying an afternoon wine tasting with your hubby and in-laws (if you have cool in-laws), Mostly, I am just gleeful if I am drinking wine between M-F 8-5 whilst on vacation!

After tasting at Nimble Hill, we mozied on over to Grovedale Winery to further explore Pennsylvania wineries [The Husband was our DD while my mother in law and I were very toasty in the back seat].

Grovedale does not necessarily arrange the tasting from Whites to Reds, but rather Drys to Sweets. We started with a Chardonnay which was dry, with subtle fruit notes. It wasn't too dry,and had a crisp clean finish.

From there we all ventured to try the Seyval/Chardonnay (in the semi-dry) category. This wine had a very pleasant mouth feel and slight apple taste. We ended up buying a bottle and sharing it after the tasting, a lush and velvety wine experience.

I took the lone road and tried the Fontenac Gris. And oh-em-gee I die. I die of happiness. I die of candy in a bottle. This wine, to my utter surprise and befuddlement on the tasting notes, was the wine embodiment of COTTON CANDY! Intoxicating?  Yes. It was very soft, and sweet, but still a semi-dry wine and no where near the sweet wine category.

The dry Merlot was a true Merlot; dry and rich in tannins with blackberries, berries, blueberries, with a hint of chocolate at the throat.

I quickly embraced the semi sweet and sweet reds; Grovedale Red and the Susquehanna Sunset. The Grovedale was remarkably balanced with it's sweetness, very raspberry/cherry jammy in taste almost like a jammy Shiraz (but not quite like my beloved favorite Jam Jar!). This was a smooth wine and it must be a crowd-pleaser because they turned it into a wine slushie!  The Susquehanna was a true sweet wine, very easy to drink. It was much like the "Hot tub wine" - Harvest Moon, from Nimble Hill.

We finished the tasting with the Grovedale Red slushie and some neon green margarita thing that I did not embrace (it just tasted like margarita mix. Boo!) and shared a bottle out on the lovely patio.

I wanted to taste their Cab Franc (big time Cab Franc fan here), and their Sweet wine blend "Optimism" (tasting notes read: A sweet, red blend with lots of strawberry and cherry notes), however both were sold out and unavailable for tasting. I think that is a sign that speaks volumes.

Grocery Store Vino Fresh & Easy

So a friend of mine stayed with me for thanksgiving weeked. She told be she views my blog but is sad I don't update. I told her the ideas of topics I wanted to cover, describe, share, but I just never do them.


She encouraged me [first and foremost, to drink more wine!], to actually carry out these ideas.

So we went to Fresh and Easy and picked out some wines in the following price points:

3.99 Unwined Pinot Noir
4.99 First Fleet Shiraz
6.99 Matuco Cab Sauv
8.99 Confectioner's Sweet Symphony - sweet red

The idea here is to find cheap grocery store wines and compare them to other grocery store deals [and steals!], to see what makes the cut, and what just..., doesn't.

Keep reading for the reviews ;-)

Wine: Nonini Zinfandel

Nonini is a local winery, my favorite to be exact. Of all the Fresno wineries, Nonini has rocked my socks off on several wine trail occasions. The Husbabd and I adore Nonini so much, we had their Barbera and Burgundy served at our wedding.

It's hard to pick a favorite but the Burgundy would have to be it, hands down.

There are so many robust reds, the Barbera, Burgundy, Zin, Chianti, Alicante Bouschet, and a Sweet Zin so anyone can find a favorite.

These vines are local grown and 60-80 years old, and fermented in the same oak and redwood barrels that were used 3 generations ago.

This Zin is warm, with berry notes and a subtle spice, with a velvety mouth feel and a smooth finish.

Nonini is a staple in our home, a go to wine for any night, any occasion.