Skype Wine Night - November

We may have failed a little in keeping this blog updated. Don't get us wrong, we've been drinking wine, but we just haven't been writing very much. However, there is a new feature we're going to start (at least for a few months or so) where Crymson and Miranda will have a monthly skype wine night. Basically we're trying to catch up and drink some great wine 2,000 miles away.

And as all things necessary in a civilized society there are a few rules:

1) We each drink the same type of wine

2) We each prepare a recipe

3) Guests are both welcome and encouraged

This past weekend we had our first organized Skype date and we decided that we would also try to cross of one of the wines on our 'Wines To Try' list. It's surprisingly harder than you would think to be able to find the same wine to try in Illinois and California. We resorted to the Internet and UPS to be able to help us out. Now the one downside to ordering wine online (if there can even be such a thing) is that the price of shipping can be nearly as much as the bottle of wine. So we'll have to do some good searching to make sure we're both drinking the same wine.

The Details:

Wine - One Hope Winery's Pinot Noir (featured on Drinking for a Cause post)

Amy's Recipe - Brie En Croute

Miranda's Recipe - Apple Crisp with Dried Cranberries

Amy's take: It was a nice wine, a lot lighter than the pinot noirs I'm used to. But the flavors were nice and smooth and sweet. It went down fast. I'd probably give it 4 stars...any other wine would have probably only gotten three but since this was One Hope and it's a charity that ups it. Kinda fun that we ordered the wine too. At least until we noticed the shipping rates. I made baked brie or if you want to get fancy like Paula Deen, Brie En Croute. It was good and super easy to make. It was more than the three of us could handle though, very rich. I'd bake brie again for a bigger group and I think I'd use an unusual jelly to top it instead of the candied pecans.

Miranda's take: I really enjoyed the wine. It was not nearly as dark red as I thought it would be, but it still had a pretty rich taste. So two thumbs up for One Hope. One for donating 1/2 the profits to charity and one for having a yummy pinot. Overall I'd rate it a three star wine.

Now let me just say that my apple crisp is freaking delicious. I accidentally misjudged the recipe and the size of the pan it needed. I thought a pie plate would be enough so I had to make two batches. And I had nearly finished the first batch prior to wine night. Oops! But seriously I give the recipe like 4 stars.

Does anyone else have skype dates? Any suggestions on a good, but readily available wine? We'd love to hear your thoughts.

Echelon Pinot Noir

Echelon pinot noir was the other bottle I bought at World Market up in Chicago. I paid $10 and had high hopes. I hate to blog this, but this wine was a disappointment. C and I opened it while cooking dinner. It was harsh and very alcoholy. We poured large glasses and swirled and let it breath while we cooked dinner. The thought being air and food would tame it a bit. Unfortunately not, we still found the wine undrinkable and ended up dumping the bottle. Perhaps the bottle was contaminated with cork rot, but the cork looked to be in good condition. Doesn't matter though, I cannot give it another chance. I give it 1 star.

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.

Testaroassa Palazzio 2006 Pinot Noir

About a year and a half ago I discovered the wine shop in Naperville I mentioned in the last post. They had recently bought out a wine shop that had been there since I'd met my hubby. At first I was a bit hesitant since I tend to be loyal to the shops I enjoy. But then I discovered first their huge variety of wines, and second the glorious sale they have every year around my birthday. Every year they have a huge sale, a buy one bottle get another for a penny. Any bottle as long as you buy two of the same. The owner happened to be there when I discovered the sale and was wonderfully lost and overwhelmed in a sea of wine trying to figure out what to buy.
He steered me to some wines that were higher priced and I hadn't heard of before. We chatted about what we enjoyed to drink and he told me about how his wife had the daunting task of tasting all the wines and figuring out what they should sell/stock. She happened to particularly like the Testarosa 2006 Palazzio Pinot Noir. They were priced at thirty something dollars a bottle but with the sale I figured that was reasonable and I wanted to try something new and exciting.
I opened the first bottle not long after I purchased them and found it to be strong and very bitey for a pinot noir. This was probably the first pinot noir priced over $12 that I'd ever drank, and so I was not used to needing to let a pinot noir breath. Of course at the time I didn't realize this and figured it was kinda a eh wine. More of what I would expect from a cab sav, which was not what I was wanting then. The second bottle was put on the rack and forgotten about. And then I got pregnant.
It took until the babe was near 9mo old and my wine supply freakishly low before I thought about opening this second bottle. This time I let it breath. I poured it into my decanter and then poured a glass and let it all sit in the air for at least an hour. The first sip is still sorta bitey for a pinot noir but that bite goes away after the second sip. And then by the third it turns into a sigh of contentment. Not many wines let me make yummy noises w/ every sip, this one does/did. It's a beautiful crimson red wine with complex flavors. I can't pin point the fruit in it and that makes me happy. And its oh so smooth, how air does wonders for some wines. Or maybe maturity of my pallet but this wine is definitely 5 stars, lip licking good, and won't be forgotten for quite some time. You definitely can't just a wine by its label or even its first taste in this case.

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.

Red Truck, Pino Noir

One of the first wines I started to drink regularly was Red Truck's red wine. I haven't had it in a while so I don't want to officially review it. I was under the impression that Red Truck's brand was relatively small. I'd seen their White Truck white wine and their Pink Truck's blush, and I thought that was the extent of their selection. I was wrong. This past weekend I found out that they have a huge selection of just about every kind of wine you can think of.

We tried Red Truck's pino noir and their syrah. I'm only going to review the pino noir since that's what we drank first. Although I remember the syrah was ok and I'd try it again.

It wasn't the best pino noir I've had but it definitely wasn't the worst. It had some fruity flavors and was fairly smooth. I'd drink this again as it was a good wine for the 10 dollars, and it's nice to mix up the selection. And for anyone out there collecting corks I've always enjoyed red truck's.

Cycles Gladiator Pino Noir

Surprise Surprise, I first bought a bottle of Cycles Gladiator based on the label. It's an impressive label! It's now become a decent standby. When I know I want a decent wine and don't want to gamble or spend more than 10 bucks this is where I turn. I've tried their pino noir, syrah, and pino grigio. All are good.

Most recently I had their pino noir. Next to their sryah the pino noir is my favorite. This past bottle I had was ok. I think Mirassou's pino noir has surpassed this in my cheap go to really good pino noir. But that's ok because there's nothing wrong w/ having two go to bottles. =)

Mirassou Pinot Noir

This isn't the first time that I'd tried the Mirassou Pinot Noir but my tastes were confirmed over the weekend when Chris, Chris, and had a couple of bottles. Yes I was in southern IL wine country this weekend, and yes we bought a couple of bottles of this. It was dinner time, we were having meaty meals that required a smooth pinot noir. Pinot grapes don't grow well in IL...so this is what we went with.

This really a decent pinot noir for it's price. It has all the right flavors and smoothness of a nice pinot. It's not quite as complex as some that I've had...but that's where the price difference comes in too. I've had Mirassou's reisling as well and I remember that being good too. Not quite the best...but still nice. So far in my list of favorite cheap pinot noirs...this comes in second. I'll blog my number one choice the next time I buy a bottle.

French House Pinot Noir

I picked up a bottle of 2007 Pinot Noir from the French House vineyard at the grocery store a week or so ago. The last couple days have been cold and dreary so I opened this up last night to relax and enjoy. I was really in the mood for a nice smooth and not overly strong wine, so a pinot noir seemed idea.

It's not my favorite pinot noir. It was ok. There was a bit of a bite to it, it almost tasted a bit like a zinfandel. Not exactly what I was looking for but it was still tasty. I plan to have another glass tonight while watching Lost.