Wine: 60 Degrees North Merlot 2012

I am normally not to into Merlot. Really, if there was a wine I was not so into, its Merlot. I would rather have Barbera or Sangiovese. I would rather have a Syrah or a Zin. I would rather have a Cab or a Pinot Noir.

60 Degrees North is a California Winery located in  Oakville, which geographically is a bit north of Napa. 

When poured, the wine has a gorgeous deep berry color. The label is fitting - juicy raspberries tumbling into view. I would call this wine juicy but dry.  After noting the color, the nose is the next thing that is lush: those berries make an appearance followed by spicy peppery notes, and more sublte dry woody oak ones. 

Once it hits your pallate it immeadiatly coats your tongue in a light velour of texture. This wine is not heavily tannic. The berries bring a burst of juice to the taste party as far as full bodied taste goes, but there is no sweetness.   The spice and woody notes quickly come into play and though you would think it would make this a dry dry wine it isn't heavily dry.

With all that said, I enjoyed this wine. I found it very easy to drink. I think it would hold up nicely at a BBQ ribs, a steak dinner, or as a simple red table wine. The Hubs was not so fond of it. Maybe it doesn't pair well with ranch dressing (he sipped it after our dinner salad) but it did pair nicely with meat loaf. 

And it defintiely went well with chocolate.

At 11 dollars a bottle I think this was a hit and worth sharing.

Salute!

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

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.