La Rareza Prestigio Cabernet-Malbec 2006

Today I decided to travel to Argentina, minus the passport, wonderful food and beautiful eye candy. I'm sitting here in California, tasting a wine that truly reflects Argentina. What's on the menu tonight is La Rareza Prestigio Cabernet-Malbec 2006. On the nose, it seems a little closed, but some of the scents that came across were dark fruit mixed with cranberries. Also, I caught some woody purple paint chips that had me wondering what scents would translate to my palate. So, let's get into it, upon tasting the Cab-Malbec, I first noticed the great concentration on the sides of my tongue. Also, I'm not going to sugar coat the big tannins on the back end, which also took by surprise. Mixed in with the tannins was stone minerality and cranberries on the finish. I also enjoyed the length of the finish, which was a great reflection of the Argentina's terrior. This Cabernet-Malbec is an exceptional wine, which provides the pure fruit from the Malbec grape, but has the girth of the Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine does have one or two low points, but for those who want to understand how wine plays a good part in understanding a lands terroir, try this.

Ramsay - Cabernet Sauvignon - North Coast 2007

So, I've been a away for a while, and I sincerely apologize. I'm not going to bore you with details or excuses of why I haven't written anything in a while, I'm just going to continue where I left off, with a little twist. Wine will continue to flow throughout this website, but the posts will be a bit more concise, and with that I will start. I'm drinking Ramsay 2007 North Coast Cabernet Sauvignon tonight. The Ramsey Cab's nose consists of figs, hint of eucalyptus, strawberry and vanilla. On the palate I get black cherry, some strawberry, and a nice long finish. I also get some light minerality on the finish. All in all, this is a decent wine, not really too much pizzazz, or wow factor but a solid well made wine. If you get a chance, check it out and post your comments. Till then, find your passion and run towards it.

Halloween Dark chocolate pairs with Wine

With the spirit of Halloween I wanted to tie in chocolate. More specifically, dark mint chocolate. Maybe you're asking if I've switched from being a wino to being a foodie? Honestly I like both, but I love wine and of course, this being a wine blog, a pairing was inevitable. So after tasting numerous red wines, and pairing them with Dark mint chocolate, I only found couple that paired modestly. Then I thought, what about a Riesling? The reason being, the Riesling grape has the ability to pull off dry and off dry wines equally. This time I already know which Riesling will pair well. The Chateau Ste. Michelle is very accessible at the price of 10 dollars. When you pair it with, to be specific, the Ghirardelli Intense dark chocolate Mint bliss and this Riesling you get from the chocolate a light bitterness, and a subtle mint. With the wine you pick up green apples, a little spice and a earthiness that pair very well with the mint. This wine also has a spritz of lime and bell pepper, which enhances the good concentrated acid up the middle of the tongue. All in all, if you Halloween goers love Dark mint chocolate, here's a wine that can pair well with your indulgences. So to all you Vampires and Werewolves have fun, and be safe this Halloween while drinking wine.

The Rolling Stone - Best of Friends

Today your humble author has a wierd new twist for the blog. I received a letter, not more than five days ago, from my old friend Tiberius, living somewhere in southern Mexico and traveling freely about the country. The letter was written on a long sheet of papyrus and sealed inside an empty wine bottle, for reasons that have not been made clear.

It seems like a desperate attempt at publicity from this wretched bastard, and perhaps some last-ditch effort to increase the stock of the vineyard he has just invested in.

If for nothing other than the sake of entertainment, here is the letter, in its near entirety, courtesy of Tiberius Wellington Nero:

Dear Jay,

Trapped inside this fucking room with nothing more than a bleeding pen and this rancid shred of papyrus paper that I found in the corner. They must have abandoned me here for two hours already. Something about a drug deal gone bad. I was scouring through the room when I found an unopened bottle of La Redonda Vino Blanco Semi Seco; 2004.

Desperate with panic, I uncorked the bugger and twisted it toward my lips.

The first sip was filled with cork, which I swallowed down heartily. Never use a Swiss Army pocketknife to open a bottle, my friend. But then you already know that.

But back to the wine, eh?

Upon my first real sip, which I have just taken, I feel the zest of lemon, or some kind of sour citrus.

Fuck! The staleness at the tip of my tongue is wretched. Keep going. Tangy now. A twist of some kind of grapefruit. Maybe.

People are familiar with the wines from our Baja Region, but few know of the secret treasures of the cabernet and malbec vino here in Queretaro, Zacatecas and Aguas Calientes,

I am thinking of fish now. Suddenly. Maybe some Halibut or Mackerel. Yes. A squirt of lime with fish would be nice. Always squeeze the lime upward. Keep the seeds out of your food.

Fuck. Open the bottle Jay. Take a whiff of this sweet fruit. Grown right here in the bitter heart of Queretaro. Maybe, just maybe, this bottle will get me through the next few hours. Hopefully less. No one really knows the raw power of the beast. This sickly mead we sip on in the dark hours, when we think no one is looking. But that is for us to know and them to find out, eh? Women may have the call of the siren, but we will always have the upper hand -- as long as we control the booze.

Faster now. Half the bottle is gone, and I still have a ways yet to go on this papyrus. There is a damp, musty smell in this rotten room, and the oak-laden texture of this fucking grape soda is not doing much to help it.

But I apologize. I know better than to refer to wine as grape soda. Especially in front of an old merlot field like yourself.

....................[Edited due to obscene content].......................

Reaching the bottom of the bottle now. Too hazy to focus. I have to get out of this room. Shit, this letter may be the last I write. I am drifting off. Got to preserve it. Stick it in the bottle. I hope this letter reaches you well. Sorry there was no wine left. But

I have always been a liquor-monger.

Keep the Faith.

Yours,

T.W.N.

Dolcetto: Where have you been all my Life.

In the world of wine, some varietals, in my opinion can only be described as sexy. My friends, let me introduce you to Dolcetto (dole-chet-toe). Based out of Italy, this wine is not as big in the United States market, as say it's fellow country grapes; Chianti or Pinot Grigio, but it's just as consistent of a wine. I personally love wines from Italy, and have tasted a good number of them, but because of limited access to Dolcetto, it took me awhile to get a taste of this grape. Well, now that I've sunk my teeth into this wonderful varietal, the word I would use to describe Dolcetto is sexy. And for around 11 dollars, you too can experience a Jonz in your Bonz without even listening to D'angelo (listen to the man's first album, and you'll know what song I'm talking about). The name of the specific bottle I'm reviewing is Bruno Porro San Luigi Dolcetto di Dogiani 2007. The seduction of this wine begins with it's nose which has a beautiful array of rose petals, smeared in candied red fruits such as cherry and strawberry. This Dolcetto also carries with it hints of vanilla and licorice. Now that this Dolcetto has teased your taste buds with a little four-play, it's time to consume it. As this wine embraces your mouth, your palate at the front end, is smothered with pure earthy wild cherries that travels through to the mid into the finish, but as it moves throughout your mouth it's joined by some other distinctive flavors. Joining the previous flavors it also introduces a chalky chocolate component on the transition mid to finish. This wine brings together a number of characteristics that when combined translate into silk throughout your palate. So to all you self-professed wino's out there, go ahead and romance yourself with this smooth as silk wine, I know I will, Cheers!

Wine Can Enhance Your Date

Do you remember back to when you were in your early to mid 20's and you would meet someone which after one of those "I want to get to know you" conversation over the phone, you were now planning a first date. At the age of 23 to 24 I found myself in the situation of wanting to step up my game, and look for a classy dame who's conversation could keep my attention over the phone. I realized that if I wanted to go from the minor to the major leagues in regards to women, I needed to do some work on myself. So I decided to take it upon myself to learn more about things further out of my reach financially, more specifically, wines. For some reason I felt as if a woman of a more sophisticated mind frame, all found wine pleasurable. I say all that to say this, rarely did my knowledge of wine help in smoothing out those awkward silent spaces that come about in most first dates. That was until I stopped worrying about the awkwardness and listened to how certain wines allowed for a woman's body language to speak out loud. So as I started to recognize that certain wines had the ability to stimulated a woman's senses I began to narrow the varietals down. Now these wine varietals aren't full proof, every palate's different, but these have been my "break in case of emergency" bottles. Hopefully this will help out some of my friends who call me panicking about what wine to get for a prospective date, and also all who are reading this. First, you want to find out how much the lady actually knows about wines, you know, whether they like white or red varietals. If your prospective date is anything like the women I used to date, most of them have a sweet tooth. Also, woman tend to lean towards the lighter wines, some grapes that fit into this category are Riesling, most Chenin Blancs from Vouvray, Gewurztraminer, Muscat, or muscato d'asti. All these grapes, mostly Rieslings or the Gewurztraminer are 80 percent deal makers for women. If after fact finding you realize your date is into reds, try to lean toward fruit forward, and young drinking wines. What I mean is look to more new world varietals like Shiraz from Australia (its the same thing as France's Syrah, but it's more heavy on the fruit and is better drunk in a younger vintage, at least in most cases.), A fruity Malbec from Argentina will also do the trick, or a pink blush wine known as rose from either Spain or the Rhone valley of France. I challenge you, both women and men, to go to your local wine shop (whether Trader Joe, Bevmo, or your neighborhood wine merchant), and find these wine varietals. For the guys, please tell me if my advice helped, and for the women, please comment about any varietals I may have missed, that always hit you in that right spot. Again, I'm just here to help, till then, live life one step at a time.

Wine and Cigars - What a Pair

So, along with the large amounts of wine consumption, I do love a good cigar. Because my vices include both wines and cigars, how do I pair the two. Now don't get me wrong, I've tried not to allow the two to cross paths, but because I enjoy them both immensely, it was inevitable. So I lit up a La Gloria and began to think, what wines would pair best with this cigar? My first question was, am I leaning towards a red or white wine? Maybe it's me, but the thought of trying to pair a cigar with let's say, a Pinot Grigio did not seem too appealing. Although I do believe a buttery Chardonnay from napa may have done a decent job. However, I believe the job of matching a cigar with wine, fall to the dark side of the wine world, the reds. So let's run down the list, Pinot Noir - mostly too fruity and light, Cabernet Sauvignon - mostly too big, and Merlot - too inconsistent. On to the wines that captured the rare essence of this cigars complexities. In this case Syrah and Zinfandel were the best pairing for this cigar. To be more specific, a person looking to syrah should focus on the Rhone region of France and Santa Barbara in California. You may ask, why these regions for Syrah, well let me explain. In the Case of the Rhone Valley (The birth place of Syrah) and Santa Barbara, the soil allows its wines to have pure round fruit cloaked in peppery minerality which seems to cater to some of the vanilla/cocoa nuances that most cigars tend to exhibit.

As for the Zinfandel Grape, it displays bright rasberry, jammy red currant, and a tobacco component, YES I said tobacco. Some places, I believe produces the kind of Zinfandels with the ability to match up well with Cigars, are Sonoma Valley and Lodi. Sonoma tends to produce Zinfandels with an ideology standing firm on the foundation of structure, meaning that the flavors are concentrated, but the fruit doesn't overwhelm your palate. Sonoma County's Zins tend to pair well with medium bodied Cigars. Lodi is a whole different story in regard to most of the Zinfandels they make in that area of northern California. Lodi leans towards the fruit first aspect of wine making. When tasting a Zinfandel from Lodi, red fruit bombs (high in alcohol) seem to drop heavily on your palate, accompanied by hints of tobacco that linger long after the wine has gone down, look to pair with big robust cigars. Although, I mostly lean toward a premium Scotch or Brandy when consuming a Cigar, if you have followed me on previous posts, I do like to try new things. See if these pairing work for you, and if you have any ideas of wines out there that I need to try, please leave a comment.