Wake up Blog!

I thought I'd wake up the Winey Thoughts to share what I've been drinking this summer.  I've been mixing it up between expensive beer and cheap wine.  Get excited!

First up my FAVORITE beer right now is Domaine Dupage by Two Brothers Brewery.  A "local" brewery from Warrenville IL.  C and I need to make a trip to do a tour because really all their beers are good.

Domaine is a versitile beer.  I would describe it as a really good red or amber ale, loaded with lots of flavor.  It tasted great during the hottest hot stretch of summer (100 plus degrees) and now that it's starting to chill out a bit for fall I'm still craving this beer.  That's hard to do for me...I'm usually a seasonal beer drinker and a summer one does not go great for me in fall.  Honestly though, I can see myself sticking w/ Domaine until winter hits and almost skipping the Oktoberfests...almost.  It's a pricey beer.  You can easily spend $10 on a six pack, I think we've even seen it higher down here in Ptown.  But to my delight lots of bars have started carrying it on tap.  I might have had a tall Domaine Dupage at Buffalo Wild Wings for $5.75!  and it was delish.

dinner and drinks

Last night's dinner was full of all sorts of lovely things that were wine. I decided to try my second attempt at braising a roast in wine. My first attempt was good but the meat wasn't as tender as I'd heard it should be. This time I didn't follow a recipe. I had a roast and browned it on all sides in olive oil and added salt and pepper. Then I put that in my dutch oven threw in some potatoes, cut up onions, carrots and celery. I dumped a bottle cabernet savignon on stop, covered it up and put it on my stove to bring to a boil. Once I got to a boil I turned off the heat and put it in my stove set at 275 for 4 hours.

After about 2hrs the entire house smelled like cab sav. I didn't think it was possible, but it was lovely. Now came the decision of what to drink while making the rest of the meal and while eating. It sorta of seemed that since I was cooking with a cab sav I should be drinking a cab sav. But I've been more in the mood for Syrah's lately. I'm not sure what the rules are or if there are rules about what wines to drink when cooking with wine. I went with the syrah and had a bottle of Cycles Gladiator Syrah. It was yummy

I've had Cycles Gladiator pinot noir and it is a standby for me and good pinot noirs. I enjoyed the syrah just as much. I had opened it the day before and thought it was good, but with dinner and being open for a day it was delish. I had planned on just a small glass. C and I shared two large glasses. I would have finished the bottle except R hasn't been letting us sleep much lately and any more wine would have forced my eyes shut by 8 last night.

Dinner turned out wonderfully. The meat cut like butter which is how I've heard it described on top chef. That's the essence of braising, long and slow under low heat in an acid environment. I've read you can also braise in beer. The wine turned the onions a lovely purple color as well as the other veggies. It was such a nice dinner. I can't wait to eat the leftovers for lunch today!

Scott Harvey Barbera 2007

I haven't been around much mostly b/c life has been busy and taken over any extra blogging time. Also b/c early summer tends to be beer drinking time for me, so not a lot of new wines have been tried. Until recently...

A few weeks ago we drove up to Chicago to visit the fam and stopped by my favorite wine shop. It was a chilly weekend and rainy, I wanted something red to warm me up. So I asked the wine nerd who worked their to recommend a syrah to me and he recommended Opolo's syrah. I haven't tried this out yet but I'm very excited to. Then I asked him what his fave wine was in the store right then and he immediately went to Scott Harvey's Barbera.

I'd never had a barbera before, in fact I'd never heard of it. An Italian grape that produces good yields and is known for it's deep color, low tannins, and high acid. It's definitely low on tannins, didn't need much air to smooth it out. And the next day the wine's still good and tasty. It's a good wine and I'm glad that I tried it out. I paid $20 for the bottle and I'd get it again. Although it was good it's not on my favorite list I give it 4 stars.

CigarZin

Back in December I posted about a search for CigarZin. I'd tasted it at a local restaurant called 309 and very much wanted a bottle. In January I took C back to 309 and ordered a glass but was told that the Cosentino winery had been bought out and that they didn't have any of the cigarzin left and weren't sure if they were going to continue making it. I was bummed. We tried their normal zinfandel and it was good but not as spicey and wonderful as the cigarzin.

Then a couple weeks ago while at the wine tasting at UFS I ran into bottles and bottles of cigarzin. Another quick check of their website shows that they did merge with Vintage Wine Estates early this year. But their wine shop very much looks like they will continue to make and sell the CigarZin. The website lists the bottle at $22, I paid $14 or $15 at UFS a local discount store (with a huge liquor section).

I do perfer that good wineries stay small and family owned. Not that I know a lot about this but I love the romatic idea of it. Large wine companies that take over all the smaller ones ruin that dreamy perception. But I know that can get sorta political and I'll stick to more of what I know...good tasting wine.

CigarZin is yummy and yes that is now an official term to describe good wine. It has a nice rich berry flavor thats followed up by this spicey bite that makes me say hmmmmm. I could drink this wine by itself but it would be supurb with a nice meal. I will be buying more of this wine in the future. I give it 4 stars!

Oscar Night follow up

Yep it took a while to type up the Oscar night follow up, I've been sick again. This has been one heck of a year for colds, flus, and infections. At the moment everyone in my house is one the mend, and I'm playing blog catch up. With Miranda in town and tonight's wine slumber party lots of wine will be had.

So....

Oscar night was fun. We skyped across the country and drank together. There was a slight lag so California knew who the winner was about 5 seconds before we did but it was still fun. Unfortunately we had a big storm pass through and the we lost the channel showing the Oscars for a good part of the show. This kinda sucked but we did make do by watching Daniel Craig as James Bond, which sorta makes up for anything.

The first bottle opened for the red carpet and beginning of the show was Four Vines 2008 Old Vine Cuvee Zinfandel. I bought it at World Market a few weeks back when I was up in Chicago visiting the fam. I think I paid $10. This was a decent wine for the price. Smooth and fruity tasting. It's great for an every day cheap wine. It's good for I'd buy it again." On a side note while visiting their website I found they are doing a 4V Drink Naked Tour. I kinda wish their blog was updated.

The second bottle opened was Gnarly Head Pinot Noir. I've had their Old Vine Zin before and remember it being good. The pinot noir was $10 and I figured worth a try. It was ok. Not a lot of depth of flavor and it didn't get better w/ air over the next few days. It wasn't offensive or bad, but didn't stand out to me. I give it two stars.

Spanish Wines - "Mederano" and "Navarrsotillo"

Apposite to my previous entry with the partly Spanish quote, I would like to bring Spanish wines to your attention. My long-term favourite has been the Spanish Mederano Tinto (Freixenet). At a price of about 4 Euros, it is a reasonably priced wine and nice for this price (I would rate it 4 stars). Recently, I have made the experience that red wines below 4 Euros are usually kind of awful.

On Friday, we ran errands at the local organic grocery store. At a special price, I bought "Navarrsotillo Joven 2009 Rioja Noemus".
http://www.navarrsotillo.com/en/index2.html
(For a picture, click products - see products - Vino Doc Rioja Joven - Tinto)
Special price was about €5.50, regular price should be about €7.00 - 8.00.
And boy, was it tasty. It was fruity and slightly sparkling from the beginning and it was just as good the next evening. Well, I am not so good at wine tasting/testing. The website says:
"A young Rioja wine, balanced and with body, obtained from a skilful mixture of varieties. It has an attractive cherry red colour with violet glints, very clean, with a medium to high robe. It has a sound, whole nose wrapped in spicy clove and vanilla tones. It has the typical acidity of the grapes used, giving it freshness and good persistent finish, and a meaty, tannic mouth feel.
Noemus: The Israeli patriarch Noah, said to be the first man to get drunk on wine."
I would love to drink this one again. For the time being, I would rate it 5 stars but then I am rather unexperienced. So do not take this too seriously. ;)

I cannot wait to try other Spanish wines as well as Greek ones.

Sale Wine is the Greatest Wine of All

If I were to list my favorite types of wine, I think my list would go something like this:

10. Moscato

9. Anything with Petit in the name

8. Syrah

7. Cheap Wine

6. Pinot Noirs

5. Cabarets

4. Expensive Wine

3. Zinfadels

2. Old Vine Zinfadels

1. WINE ON SALE

So, imagine my excitement when strolling through the aisles of Safeway a couple of weeks ago and found Firefly Ridge 2008 Central Coast Cabernet Sauvignon on sale for $6.99 regularly $16.99. I consider anything that is more than half off a winner already. Plus I love the name Firefly - consider it a side effect of my obsession with all things Whedon. It already had two things going for it. It was wonderful $7 wine and I would totally stock up on it for that price. I doubt that I would pick it up full price, but that's the danger with sales right? Cause I'll be honest when shopping, I look for the little yellow tags telling me how much I'll save on it this week and I can't remember the last time I bought a full priced bottle. I may be a wine sale slut.

What's your thoughts on sale wine? Does it ever prevent you from buying at regular price? Or does it make it so full price bottles that much more special?

Overall rating: At $7 it is 4 stars meaning "pretty good I'd drink it again" and at $17 it is 3 stars meaning "eh".