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: Hess Select Treo 2010

We made trip to the Hy Vee Liquor Store on Saturday. There are Alcohol Restrictions in this state that I am just not used to. Alcohol (more importantly, Wine) isn't sold in Grocery stores. You have to buy it from a liquor store, which is adjacent to the grocery store.

I was pleased to see the familiar names of La Crema, Two Vines, Columbia Crest, Seven Deadly Zins, and Gnarly Head. Even more pleased to see a good selection of Hess; we shared a bottle of Viognier with some friends a while back.

So, looking at me dead on was a Treo, a Merlot, Syrah, and Petite Syrah blend. And I made the choice, at 16.69 a bottle (very reasonable in this region even after shipping costs, don't you think?). And it was a good choice. I mean, I am feeling homesick for California, and how much more California can you get than a wine from Napa County?

This blend was magnificent. It has a very peppery nose. But surprisingly, its finish isn't so dry: cherries and blackberries coat your tongue and throat and give a nice mellow, rich fruit finish. No, it's not sweet or jammy (although I akin jammy wines to the Shiraz Varietal specifically). But it does pair amazingly well with dark chocolate chips (cacao!, more specifically Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Baking Chips. Don't judge me! I eat chocolate chips out of the bag. a lot.), and dulche de leche ice cream. And a good movie [The Perks of Being a Wallflower ].

The equation for a good evening in?

A little bit of Napa + Chocolate + a Good movie

Wine: a Month of it.

Moving is Chaotic. Drinking wine is not.

Okay, it can be when you are trying to clear your wine fridge.

So I am presenting to you the wine I have been drinking for the past month to empty said wine fridge. It is a sad time for me; I like to be fully stocked with special wines from wineries we have visited. The bright side? I get to refill the fridge once we are all settled in.... [insert mischievous smile here].*

Alapay Late Harvest Viognior - Pineapple and Apricot notes similar to a moscato, Avila Beach, CA

Fancy Schmancy Chimays

Cypher's Phoenix - Syrah, Paso Robles CA

Tobin James Sangiovese & Zinfandel, Paso Robles CA **

We already drank the Sangiovese, Saving the Zinfandel for our first night in our new home.

**Gifts from my Husbands Coworkers, year subscription included!

Girl talk nights over wine were much needed.  This night included sharing a bottle and a half and talking til 2:00 am. 

Col Di Sasso Cab Sav & Sangiovese Blend (Excellent!)

Big Kahuna (Fresh & Easy , 2.99 comparable to 2 buck Chuck) Shiraz

Alban Vineyards Reva 2008 Syrah was actually a rare find at a local Liquor Store [Old Doc's].

Alban Syrah's usually sell out as soon as they are stocked. It really helped that I was skimming the enire store by chance and found it. It is  the most expensive  wine I have purchased [At 89 dollars] but it was a Christmas gift to my husband; his favorite wine maker. We opened this bottle to celebrate our new beginnings. It was a true Syrah and aging had done it well. I can see what all the fuss is about ***

Ah, the 2008 lace. DeLorimier makes outstanding reds (award winning). This was one of the first wineries we stopped at on our trip up the California and Oregon Coast the summer of 2009. In 2010, my would-be in laws joined us in revisiting this winery and became members. 5 years later we drank this bottle, rich and syrupy, but not too sweet.

For me, wine holds memories of the tastings, of good times with loved ones, and a sensory experience (aromas and tastes). My wine fridge is really a sentimental vessel that takes me back to these shared times, these memories.  

The best part of emptying my fridge? Sharing the wine with Friends and family, and knowing new memories are to come.

*Dear recycled wine bottles; I know I drank more of you, and if you are not on this list, I am terribly sorry. I still enjoyed you, but simply forgot to photograph you.
**Gifts from my Husbands Coworkers, year subscription included!
*** 50 Shades of Grey Author EL James names Alban Vineyard  wines in her book series (in Fifty Shades Darker, chapter Six). It's kinda cool to be able to say you enjoyed drank fancy pants wine; We adore the Roussanne though I can't recall if we have had the 2006 Estate Roussanne that was named in the book (Alban Estate Grenache 2006 was also named). Now to get my hands on a La Grande Annee Rose 1999 Bollinger Champagne, though the price has inflated due to the books release and popularity.

Wine: Quady Winery & Quady North

Quady Winery is a Madera, CA winery that specializes in desert wines and has been producing since 1975. I recently went with a friend to their tasting room to sample their wines. Quady was also represented at the 2012 Fig Festival at CSU Fresno in early August.

We were pleasantly surprised to experience what I liken to be the "Nose to tail" drinking experience of vino.

We sampled all three of Quady's Vya aperitifs: extra dry, whisper dry, and sweet vermouth. The whisper dry was excellent, medium dryness and invoked the reminiscent flavored of a martini with herbaceous notes. I think it would pair nicely with salty crackers and olives. The sweet vermouth was delicious and rich, sweet, and had notes of orange, orange zest, cinnamon and clove. It's definitely a nice desert wine to finish a meal but is very robust.

We then tried a blend of the extra dry and sweet Vya. It was an amazing combination of spice, sweet, and dry. It literally tasted like autumn, like being wrapped in a blanket, sitting in candlelight during a thunderstorm. Okay, so maybe that's the ideal way I would drink this wine, because it invokes that sort of mood. But it had nice notes of spice and caramel and was deliciously dry and smooth.

From there we tasted the wines of which included the 2010 Viognier, 2011 Rosè Grenache, and a 2009 Syrah.

The Viognier was very smooth and fruity, with subtle melon and apricot notes. It was more sweet than dry.

The Rosè was dryer than the Viognier and had pronounced rose flavored and aromas. Definitely a nice dry summer wine.

The Syrah was nice red with spicey pepper notes, blackberries and cherry with a smooth finish.


At this point we moved on to sweet wines that we hadn't tried at Quady.

Purple, a concord grape wine, lives up to its description: a sweet burst of grape jolly rancher flavor. I likened it to grape juice for adults.

Deviation, a sweet wine made from orange muscat with geranium and damiana. This wine was truly special. It had amazing notes of orange blossom honey and small notes of pineapple. Its smooth, and in a desert wine league of its own.

We finished off the tasting with Electra Slushies. Omg. Wine slushies, so delish! Why wasn't this invented sooner?!

When we left I felt I had been given a "three course meal" of wine, with an appetizer (the aperitifs), a main course (Quady North), and then of course, desert (Quady's desert wines of course!).

I don't normally give ratings but maybe I should start. 5/5 hands down. I think the thing that makes me truly give that rating is the friend I taste with never purchases wine when we taste, when I on the other hand throw my wallet at people. They actually purchased 6 bottles this time around. Actions do speak louder than words!

Wine: 2012 Fig Festival

Fresno State hosts the annual Fig Festival. This was my second year in attendance, and the 9th year running. For 10$ you can sample fig inspired eats from local restaurants and eateries, and for 15$ you can sample those eats and delicious local wines with a bonus fig fest wine glass!

This year we sampled delicious bites from Fleming's (a fig, artichoke, onion, and mushroom flatbread), P*DE*Q (amazing mini pão de queijo BLT's with crumbled bacon and butter leaf lettuce and a cream cheese fig jam that was out of this world with the bacon), Whole Foods (vegan fig and date brownie with a cashew cream and raspberry garnish), Dusty Buns + Enzo Olive Oil ( crostini with figs, olive oil, and duck), Love and Garlic ( ah-MAZ-ing fig spread) and lastly, some sweets with Rosetti Fine Foods + Biscotti House ( mission fig with white chocolate and biscotti crumbs).

Oh yeah, Trelio made some BOMB fig glazed pork tacos with pickled jalapeños.

It's local festivals like this that showcase local eats and major creativity from these restaurants and eateries.

Paired with wine, and it's an experience out if this world.

We stopped at the Birdstone Winery booth where they were tasting the Syrah, Tempranillo, and Pinot Noir. While the folks at Birdstone know what they are doing with their wines, and you really can't do wrong with any, the Syrah was my favorite. Slightly sweet, with berries and a little bit of spice and leather, the Syrah paired extremely well with Fleming's flatbread.

Cru is another Madera winery that does it right. I sampled a nice dry Rosé of Pinot Noir, a Albrino that was crisp and smooth, and a delicious Chardonnay.

Quady is hands down my favorite moscato-maker. It may be the sparkle, but red or the signature orange blows me away every time; sweet, bubbly, with that Thompson grape sweetness and light citrus notes. I was floored to try Quady's Essensia, a syrupy, orange & apricot bomb. But the Elysium, a black muscat wine, sweet and berryish, may have blown the others out of the wine barrels so to speak: it was delicious and decadent.

Lastly we sampled San Joaquin Wine Co. They make a mean Green Eyes Moscato, and a pink version as well. Moody Press Cellars is their other label , so we sampled their Cabernet Sauvignon. OMG. I wish they were selling, I would have bought a bottle. I think it was the pomegranate Sangria that won my heart though. It was the best pomegranate wine I have ever sampled.

It is unfortunate they don't sell wine at this event. But I guess it is safer for my wallet...

Living in the Central Valley, we are fortunate to have Vinters of two wine trails (Fresno & Madera) so close together, growing & producing so many different and delicious wines.

Wine: Jaja de Jau Syrah Rosé 2010 & Pinot Wine Bar

Pinot Wine Bar is a local wine bar and lounge that serves a delicious menu of wines and tapas style dishes.

Recently I sampled the Jaja de Jau Syrah Rosé 2010. It was a beautiful dark rose color, with sweet front notes of berries, mellow rose in the middle, light citrus notes at the end with a clean finish lingering sweetness. Not too acidic, just a mellow mouthfeel and smooth aftertaste.

I paired it with Pinot Wine Bar's Grilled Cheese Royal of 3 cheeses ; aged white cheddar, fontina, fresh mozzarella, accented with this caramelized onion jam that is outta this world. It was paired with a side salad salad in a simple vinaigrette.

A delicious way to spend a summer night.