What's in a label?

One of the most important things I look at when I select a bottle of wine is the label. I'm such a sucker for wines with a great name and a vivid label. Classy wine drinker, I am not. This past week, I was looking for a bottle that I could take tailgating before a recent concert. I was looking for a wine that was 1) a screw top (save me from having to remember a wine opener) and 2) inexpensive. I ended up bringing Bear Flag's smooth red blend. The label was designed by Eduardo Bertone (take a look at his website here) and is so freaking awesome. The bottle and label are lovely and scream California. For less than $7 the wine was as advertised smooth and easy to go down. I wouldn't pick it everyday to drink, but I know I'm going to have to pick up the other blends to view the labels.

Anyone else choose wine based on the label? Isn't this label super awesome? Anyone else tried this wine, what'd you think?

Dry Creek Fume Blanc

It's been a while now since I tried this wine. I had high hopes for it, maybe they were too high. When first opened I found it had quite a bite to it. After letting the glass sit for a few minutes that seemed to mellow out a bit. I could taste a slight fruity quality to it but it was pretty hidden behind that bite. I corked the bottle and stuck it in the fridge a bit disappointed.

A couple days later I came back to the bottle to finish her off. Like the last bottle I found that the fruitiness in the wine was a lot stronger 2-3 days after uncorking. I enjoyed it much more this time around. I did some quick research about letting white wines breath or decant and mostly came up with the result that they don't need it. Although apparently some people will decant whites. This is the first I've come across that benefited from a little air. Has any one else come across the need to decant white wines? or have any opinions on it?
In general this wine was ok. Even after a few days it's not a great wine but a good one for the price which was under $15.

Francis Ford Coppola Pinot Noir

Yesterday was our 4 year anniversary and our first date without R. We choose to go to a local restaurant called the Fish House. Fine dining without having to dress up too fancy. Looking forward to this celebration all week long we decided to say the heck with it and take fine dining seriously. Which to us means lets order a bottle of wine with dinner. They had a decent wine selection. The waitress recommended her faves which were a Chardonnay or a Merlot. I wasn't in the mood for white wine, and I wasn't in the mood for Merlot. We chose the Francis Ford Coppola Pinot Noir and we were not disappointed.

Typically if you order a red wine and heartier meal would compliment it more. While whites supposedly go with the the more delicate meals. To heck with that, I think that good wine will go with good food. The pinot noir wasn't an over whelming strong red wine like cab savs or zins. So it worked well with my pan seared scallops with pesto and Chris's filet mignon two ways.

The wine was a very lovely ruby color. It was smooth and I could taste berry flavors. It made both of us make yummy noises after each and every sip. I would definitely drink this wine again. And even better news, after talking w/ my mom, I found out she's been drinking it fairly regularly. She gets it for $15 at her grocery store. A great price, and I look forward to enjoying it again.

She came from Greece, she had a thirst for knowledge (or wine)

This past summer, I made a trip to Greece. I tend to fall in love with things easily and it was of no surprise that I fell in love with the Greek wines. The wines are rich and potent, just like I like my wines..... and my men. I tasted several different house wines and find myself lingering still when I go to visit the liquor store in the Greek wines section.

One of our stops was to Minos Winery on the island of Crete. Even at 8 a.m, I was ready for wine tasting. One of my favorite things is cheap, well made wines and Minos had several options. I picked up this Medium - Sweet Table Wine for about eight euros. I tasted it tonight and it was just as delicious as I remembered and instantly took me back to the Mediterranean. I wish I had the kind of refined palate that I could tell you the different flavors in the wine, but years of killing my taste buds with hot sauce and super sour candy have limited my ability. But I can tell you that it's strong, jammy and delicious and that's all I need to know. I'm just upset I couldn't cram more of these bottles into my luggage (Although, I have a tiny bottle of Rose saved for later).

Food and Wine recently had a whole section dedicated to Greek food and Greek wines. I ended up tearing out the entire section of recipes and wines and added them on my to drink and to cook list. Seems I'm going to recreate the Greece experience in my kitchen and my glass for the next few months.

Anyone else have any knowledge of Greek wines? Do you have a wine that reminds you of a favorite place to travel? Let me know and I'll add it on my list!

UnCorked results

What a fun event. There was a live auction as well as a silent auction. I'd never been to auctions before so this was interesting to watch. Booths of wine and beers were set up for tasting. Local restaurants also had booths set up with small meals or hors'd'oeuvres. I got to try salmon tartar which made me real excited. I see it on top chef all the time and now I've tasted. I was under the impression that the salmon would be raw and the chef said it was cooked just a little bit. It tasted pretty cooked to me, but it was very good.
I mostly sampled wine while there. Not too many stood out. I tried Bogle's Pinot Noir which I'd heard of before but had never bought a bottle. It was ok. Not too exciting. The unseasonal warm weather put me more in a white wine mood. I sampled a couple pinot grigios that were ok as well. What I really remember enjoying was Giesen Sauvignon Blanc. Something about the sav blanc's lately, I must be in a mood. This bottle has made the list to buy in the future to do a real review of. From what I remember of it now is that it smelled very fruity but had that nice sauvignon bite that toned down the fruit just right. I guess back to the liquor store to see if I can get it locally.

UnCorked

I'll be attending thison Friday with a neighbor. Should be fun! I'm going with a neighbor who is interested in trying new beers. I'm up for both really. I just hope everyone is healthy enough for me to leave for an evening.

Dry Creek Fume Blanc

A week and a half ago my inlaws came to town to visit us and spend some time with R. The plan was to go to the art fair in town and eat dinner there. Unfortunately it rained and the baby was quite grouchy. Instead the guys went shopping for grub and booze. They came home with lovely ribeye steaks, potatoes, some octoberfest beers, and my FIL bought Dry Creek Fume Blanc for my MIL. She opened it and had a glass. I opted for finishing off a bottle of red I had laying around.
Two or three days later we found the opened bottle in the fridge and Chris and I polished it off. It was good. Three day old wine and it was very yummy! Just the right amount of fruityness. I have not been in the mood for whites, mostly b/c the weather is chilly, it's prime red wine time. But I am glad this was left over in my fridge. My next outing to the booze store I'll pick up a bottle of this so that I can do a proper review on how the wine tastes fresh.