This little white ($12.99 from my new favorite wine shop, Liner & Elsen) was just delightful. After a weekend of wierd, off balance wines, I was so happy to just simply enjoy a fantastic wine. It was crisp, rich and just delicious. I’d recommend finding this wine if you can. I plan on buying a few more bottles of it the next time I’m on that side of town.
February 9, 2009
February 1, 2009
2000 Chateau Cote Montpezat
I’m missing a few fancy french accents in the name of the wine. So sue me. 
It’s from the Cotes de Castillon and claims to be 12.5% alcohol. I bought it from wine library in November.
This wine has been disappointing to me so far. It is very tight, both on the nose and the palate, and I can’t tell if that’s because it’s just young, or if it is over the hill, or just not very well made. If I warm it up in my hands, I get a little bit more fruit out of it, but in general it just doesn’t have much going for it. Today I put it in the decanter about around noon, and I’ve been trying a little bit every hour or so, hoping that it will eventually open up. I will update as I go.
Update: So…it’s now almost 6 o’clock. 6 hours after I opened the bottle. I think that it is just starting to open up. I’m getting a little bit more on the nose and a tiny bit more fruit on the palate, too. Interestingly, it also seems like the tannins are getting more expressive as well. Strange stuff. I will continue to sample through the evening and see how it goes.
Update #2: I’m not really sure that this wine is going to get any better. 8 hours in to it and it’s got a lot of acid, some tannins and very little fruit. I think this wine is past it’s time. I have a little left in the decanter which I will try after work tomorrow. I’m not sure what I should do with the 4 remaining bottles. I’m thinking of contacting Gary V. and leaving some feedback on this wine that he recommended.
Update #3: I left a little bit of the wine in the decanter overnight, just for the heck of it, and I’m sure glad that I did! It was delicious! It was also full of sediment and kind of gritty, but it had fruit! And flavor! I did contact Gary, and his team was great. They were willing to take the wine back, paying for shipping both for the return and replacement wine. I’m going to hang on it to the remaining 4 bottles, though and see how they turn out. Maybe 6 months from now, you’ll see another post on the 2000 Chateau Cote Montpezat.
January 30, 2009
Wine tasting, Cabernet edition
I went to the usual Friday night tasting at Mt. Tabor Fine Wines again tonight. The theme was Cabernet, which isn’t generally my favorite, but there were some surprises. Sandy included a nice 2005 Cabernet-based Bordeaux, which wasn’t stellar, but was very nice. It was very tight and we weren’t sure if it would ever really open up. Hard to say, though. There was also a Burgundy on the tasting board (I really should write these down, shouldn’t I?) which I tried. It was a cut above all the Cabs, in my opinion, but I definitely favor Pinot over Cab, so it makes sense that I would like it better.
I picked up a bottle of high-end dry Alsatian Gewurtztraminer and an Austrian Gruener Veltliner to enjoy sometime soon. You can be sure I’ll write something when I do.
October 7, 2008
Martin Códax 2006 Albariño
This lovely little wine is from the Rías Biaxas region of Spain. Interesting little note: 90% of vines planted in this region are albariño. So, I’m thinking they probably know what they’re doing with this varietal. Martin Códax uses 100% albariño.
Color: a beautiful yellow gold with definite sparks of bright gold…definitely a much richer color than a lot of whites.
Aroma: offers peach, apple and pear with a hint of lemon zest
Flavors: soft, not quite full body with wonderful peach and pear notes with citrus-y highlights of lemon and grapefruit. It also has a soft minerality with makes it great to have with a meal.
The finish on this one is absolutely marvelous! It just slowly whispers away… like a beautiful decrescendo.
I had this with my favorite pasta dish: linguine tossed with shallots, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, shrimp, lemon and arugula. This wine paired beautifully with the wonderful harmony of the minerals and arugula balanced with the highlighted citrus accents. Light and lemony… yum!
The only other notation I have on this one is that when I had this chilled, it presented a much spicier mineral attack, but also lost those citrus notes on the flavor profile. Not necessarily a bad thing… but something of note.
So, share with me…. ever have an albariño?
August 26, 2008
To get your “Wine On” or not…
OK so I meant to post this a couple weeks ago, but starting my new job interfered with my real life. However I think it is still a relevant post, I hope you enjoy!
The last weekend of July was the IPNC (International Pinot Noir Conference) annual event. The event is touted as “an intimate gathering of Pinot noir lovers enjoying a weekend of wine, food and conviviality”. This years specific theme was “Sustainability without Sacrifice”. The question I have for the community is: Is it worth attending these type of functions?
Before I get into the question, it is only fair to have a better outline of what the IPNC does: For three days there are multiple tours and seminars one can attend. In addition, there are guest speakers, guests chefs and many tastings of course. There are several dinners that include wine, all of which you can enjoy at the Linfield campus with easy access to your dorm room (yes you can really stay on campus!).
Also to be fair I have to say I attended the finale dinner (Salmon Bake) and the compressed version of their wine tastings (60 wines in t 3 hours) However, I did speak with many people who attended all the seminars and tried the wines over several days.
So to the question…
As an an educational exploration it is a great way to get a lot learned in a short period of time. Also my experience with other programs leads me to believe that immersion is a great way to really absorb a lot of information quickly. However the expense and time can be prohibitive. The 3 day event is not particularly family friendly. There are long periods of time away from your room and no good places for naptime (which can be a problem for some adults too). What I found particularly enjoyable was the Salmon bake. There were many (and I mean lots) of bottles of wine floating around. It was an enjoyable way to experience some good food, wine and good friends.
Ultimately I enjoyed the dinner the most which seems to confirm the “community” based wine exploration philosophy. at least at this time, for me… How about You?
July 7, 2008
Introducing the “other” Jon
So I wanted to introduce myself to the community as well. John W. and I have become wine amateurs together, so John invited me to contribute to this blog as well. I should have some tasting notes after this weekend since I will be following the time honored tradition of drinking red wine and watching fireworks. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
Jon F.
July 3, 2008
What is this?
This is a blog about wine by people who are not wine experts or professionals. I’ve been watching Gary Vaynerchuk at http://tv.winelibrary.com for a year now and I went to hear him speak last night. He inspired me a little bit to take what I love to do (drink wine) and turn it into a outlet for creation of content. I don’t own a video camera (yet) and I’m not a good writer, but I’m going to give it a shot.
What’s the niche? The niche is that I’m going to try to gather some folks together who love wine, but are not wine professionals and have them write about the wine they drink. I drink a lot of wine these days, and I can feel my palate changing on almost a daily basis. Documenting that palate change as I try new wines and new grape variatals seems like a topic worthy of writing about.
At the moment, this blog is just me, but I have a few people in mind who I hope to get to help out. If you would like to join the list of wine amateurs exploring their palates, please leave a comment or send me some email. I’m planning on following the @garyvee model and answering every email and comment that I get, so don’t be shy! My first actual wine-related post is coming soon (like tonight)!
John
