Night of the Vampire

Oct24

A couple of years ago, I tried Vampire wine ~ I don’t even remember what variety it was. I wasn’t too sure about it; the taste was metallic, the mouthfeel a bit thick and viscous. It was a little like…blood. Or at least how you might imagine blood might taste.

Did rip my bodice? Not exactly. It wasn’t the worst red I’d ever had but I wasn’t sure it was a wine to constantly search the catacombs for, either. Rather than write it off as a gimmick wine, I thought I’d again check out a couple of newer offerings ~ a lot can change in two years. I scared up my friends Shelly and Terri to sample with me. And, yes, creatures of the night ~ that was a Halloween pun, so raise your goblet and drink.

On the menu: A ’10 Cabernet Sauvignon and a ’10 Pinot Noir.

Vampire Vineyards ’10 Cabernet Sauvignon and ’10 Pinot Noir

We cracked open the Pinot first, moving from the lighter wine to full-bodied. The first pour was without any aeration because I wanted the girls to experience firsthand the difference. It was a clear and bright ruby with predominant jammy top notes. As expected, it had a light, thin mouthfeel, and, overall, was fairly pleasant. Being drawn to a more full-bodied wine, Shelly wasn’t a huge fan but Terri found it easier to drink. When we poured the second taste through the Rabbit, it became much more complex and enjoyable. Pairing it with a creamy Brie and fruit brought even more dimension to what started out as a fairly basic Pinot.

The Cabernet was deep blood-red in color and beefier; everything you’d expect from a Cab. It had a distinct, almost heavy spice vibe to it before aerating and the mouthfeel was velvety with a bit of bounce. After we Rabbit-ized the wine, it softened,gradually developing a flavor that became more sophisticated. Shelly mentioned that she really enjoyed it the more she sipped.Terri found that by aerating the cab, she was able to enjoy it without any reflux-like side effects. We paired it with a sharp Wisconsin cheddar, sweet peppers and tomato.

I was impressed that the wine I’d sampled a couple of years before was not like what we tasted tonight. Overall, we found the Cabernet to be a willing beauty that we could definitely sink our teeth into.

I wanted to take this moment to give credit where it’s due and thank my daughter, Andrea, for all of her hard work producing the first video for The Wine Student blog. I’ll be posting it right after this and, I’ll keep my fingers crossed that it’ll load!

Love you. Now go to bed!

Cheers!

Mangia! Mangia!

Sep4

The Beautiful 07 Ruffino Santedame Chianti

It’s a drab, rainy Tuesday night in the Cleve, and I wanted to pair my weekly pasta dish with something special. Looking in our wine rack, I found an 07 Ruffino Santedame Chianti. I’ve always enjoyed Ruffino in the past, and thought I’d pair it with my freshly made tomato basil sauce with (leftover) meatloaf crumble ~ yes, I’m frugal and, yes, it’s better than it might sound.

The bright, rich color, as it poured into my glass, was very inviting but the thing that was most intriguing was that I couldn’t place what was going on with the nose. It smelled of a lovely perfume, which was a new vibe for me. And it was bugging me that I couldn’t quite place it. Finally, it dawned on me: It was rose. And it wasn’t the kind of rose you associate with the cheap stuff; it was the light-scent-that-delicately-wafts-on-the-air-of-a-summer-breeze rose.

The mouthfeel was on the grippy side with a velvety finish and the predominant flavor was of a bold, sour cherry. The sour of the cherry beautifully counterbalanced the savoury of the sauce that made the pairing really terrific. For a back- to- basics dinner the night after summer’s last long weekend, a few fireworks still managed to pop.

Cheers!

Throwing Caution ~ and a little Cab Sauv ~ to the Wind

Jun6

Tudal Family Winery ’07 Cab Sauv

When you begin to collect wine, you sometimes find there is a new dilemma: to drink or not to drink. You ask yourself; “does this occasion really warrant opening this nice (and possibly expensive) bottle of blah blah blah?” Is it wine-worthy?? I found myself with just such a dilemma tonight. I’d gone to my local grocer, had the butcher make up a nice flank steak Florentine and purchased some roma tomatoes and fresh basil. We’d all been very busy lately, barely seeing each other, so tonight would be the night we’d sit down and have a long, relaxed dinner together. The wine, I thought, needed to reflect the casual importance of the occasion so I chose the ’07 Tudor Family Winery Cabernet Sauvignon. If you remember from a few posts before, we’d sampled it at the summer wine event. And it was one of the higher-priced wines of the evening. But I remember being told once that wine was meant to be enjoyed. So enjoy it, we would.

The colour was a deep ruby; dark but clear and there was no visible sediment. The nose had the bold essence of blackberry and it was delightfully fruit forward ~ rich black cherry with a nice smoky taste on the finish. When paired with the fresh tomato and basil combination, it came alive with much more depth than I expected.

Steak Florentine with Roma Tomatoes and Basil ~ yum!

I savored this wine ~ and the slower – paced dinner and evening I had with my family. It was a wine well spent.

Cheers!

Easy, eh?

Jun3

wine in my garden

After an extremely busy few weeks, I wanted to take a few moments to sit back, relax and enjoy. I’d travelled back to my home and native land of Canada to visit family and have been helping my daughter as she finishes out the waning weeks of school. What that really means is I’ve been chauffeuring her all over the greater Cleveland area with more urgency than usual.

Today, I stole away to my garden; no book, no iPod, no phone. It was just me and the trees…and a glass of wine. I chose a ’10 Matthew Fritz Pinot Noir which provided just the right amount of warmth on a cool-ish day. The big, bold cherry essence was foremost on my palate and after a few sips, it transitioned nicely to a finish of sweet molasses. It wasn’t an overly complex wine but nicely straightforward; what you tasted at the start was generally what you’d have at the end. Sometimes, the less complex things are, the better.

This break provided some valuable time to collect my thoughts and get myself ready for some bigger changes on the horizon. Where those changes will take me, I’m not sure. What I do know is that my garden, and a good supply of wine, will always help me regroup, recharge and renew.

Cheers!

Summer Lovin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo

May13

“Summertime is always the best of what might be.” ~ Charles Bowden

Friday’s summer wine feast highlighted a few of the best of what is to come this summer. Shelly and I had two hours to sample as many of the fine wines as we could. It proved to be fairly tricky since there were seven tables with five wines each. Five food stations with samples of cheeses, main course offerings and dessert were available to navigate along with the wine.

David fromVintage Wines said that Riesling was going to be one of the big trends this summer and we paired the Richter Estate Riesling with samples of baked, breaded Hake in pesto sauce. I’d never tried Hake, but it proved to be a tasty yet light fish. The flavorful delicacy of the fish and basil from the pesto brought out the floral and citrus vibe of the wine. As for the reds, the Tamarack Red Blend was pleasant enough at first taste but as the sample wound down, Shelly found it became more bitter with a vinegar aftertaste she wasn’t really into ~ so in the chum bucket it went.

On to our next pick of the night: an 07 Tudal Cabernet Sauvignon. Cab Sauv always brings to mind colder temps and a hearty beef dinner. Jack from Wine Trends suggested pairing it with the tricolor tortellini salad and kale with blueberry quinoa. I didn’t think it would pair well at all but found it to have a subtle strawberry on the nose; fruit forward jam essence, peppery in the middle and a finish of soft caramel. The mild spice of the tortellini and sweetness of the kale quinoa was beautifully offset by the complexity of this Cab and it was surprisingly refreshing. Only 490 cases of this vintage were produced so it was a rare and wonderful find. At a price point of 39.99, I thought I’d splurge for a wine that was toe-curl worthy.

We did our best to use our limited time wisely but didn’t get through all the stations before closing time. Yet with the rush, we still managed to get to the cassata cake. Even when you’re at your busiest, there’s always time for cake.

It was great to experience a tasting like this; like speed dating but with wine. And while we couldn’t sample everything, we did come away with a couple of good numbers to hook up with for the summer.

Cheers!

: Cassata cake!

Wherefore art thou Zinfandel?

Apr29

Tonight, I had the great opportunity to take my daughter to the Great Lakes Theater’s production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’. She’d read it last year and will probably tackle it again next year. I wanted her to have the experience of seeing it up close ~ with the hope that the text would magically become real.

Dinner before the show was a special tradition I loved when I was growing up; it made going to the theater more of a special event. We found a little place downtown to settle in for a leisurely bite before curtain. The waiter suggested I try a Monster Zinfandel by Norman Vineyards which sounded scary but proved to be a creamy, full-bodied, fruity gem. I sipped slowly and enjoyed it with a light meal of mozzarella caprese ~ with tomato and fresh basil on a garlic baguette. Managing to save the last few drops for a dessert of carrot cake was worth the challenge, as the jammy essence of the wine brought out the sweet richness of the cake. Yummy.

In days of yore, you could pick your poison ~ Romeo and Juliet certainly did. And it’s a tragedy they couldn’t have tasted this vintage. They might have lived happily ever after.

Cheers!

Cupid’s Little Cupcake

Feb15

'10 Cupcake Vineyards Red Velvet

“Where there is no wine there is no love” ~ Euripides

A wise man that Euripides, at least from my standpoint. Liquor may be quicker but wine is… divine. It’s Valentine’s night and I wanted to celebrate with a wine that had a real chocolate vibe. I’ve had Chocovine and I liked it, but I wanted something that I could sip with my dinner and would not be so sweet, but would have the rich quality and depth that I associate with chocolate. I was turned on to a ’10 Cupcake Vineyards Red Velvet from California.

I opened it just before a dinner of garlic buttered shrimp with savoury vegetables and rice, sipping as I put the finishing touches on the meal. The Cupcake wine looked very glossy and smooth on the pour and had an earthy, almost caramel chocolate on the nose. The quick, top taste was of vinyl shower curtain (yep), not that I’ve tasted many shower curtains, but that’s what came to mind. My friend, Terri, added that the shower curtain was “clean and algae free” which gives you more of a visual than you’d probably ever want :). According to the wine aroma wheel, a vinyl/petroleum taste is legitimate and it doesn’t mean that anything is wrong with the wine. That said, what I found particularly intrigung about this wine was that the predominant chocolate vibe on the finish lingered with me well after the sip was gone. It was nice. Many wines I’ve had don’t have this kind of intensity and length. What was particularly impressive was that it started out light and continued to grow richer in the glass, sip after sip.

For dessert, when I paired it with a dark chocolate bar with sea salt and caramel, and it grew even more complex in depth and playfulness. A nice finish indeed.

I like to have fun with wine and this one was a great compliment to a lovely Valentine’s dinner.

I wish you all a very happy Valentine’s. And if you can’t wine with the one you love, then love the wine you’re with.

Cheers!

Cold Day, Warm Côte

Feb12

Katie's Côte on a cold winter's night

It’s been a while since my last post and I have a really good reason: I wanted to finish my spotlight on Icewine with some fabulous pictures of the Icewine Festival here in the Cleve. Old ManWinter has a wicked sense of humor, and blasted us with some nasty weather that made it too treacherous to venture out.

My sister was visiting from Canada and I wanted to share a special wine for her last night here. Not to let a little thing like a winter storm dampen our fun,we decided to end the blustery day enjoying a lovely glow in the fireplace and a bottle of 07 Amador Foothill Katie’s Côte, the lovely Côte du Rhone I enjoyed while I was in Napa. This is a blend of 52% Syrah, 48% Grenache and we found it to be a beautifully complex mixture of berry, spice and plum with a delectable buttery finish. And while it’s a terrific stand alone wine, we paired it with a selection of Belgian chocolates and George Clooney: we watched “The Ides of March” on the dish.

I loved spending time with my sister. I wished we could have gone to the ice wine tasting but it was great to have a girls night in. The next ice wine event in the Cleve will be in early March and if the weather cooperates, I’ll be there. Why let a little thing like a snow storm ruin a good glass of wine?

Cheers!

Vegan and the Big O: Compare and Contrast

Jan13

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I must say that I had a little trouble finding Vegan wines, ready to buy, here in the Cleve. While the wine stores I went to were happy to order it for me, I got myself into a conundrum for time; I wanted to post the comparison tasting soon after the initial post. So I took a little trip over to World Market Explorer on the West side, where I found a ’10 Pinot Noir from McManis Family Vineyards.

The Organic wine, an ’09 Bonterra Zinfandel, I found with no trouble at Heinen’s, my local supermarket.

According to the vegan beer, wine and liquor site, Barnivore, McManis is vegan friendly and uses only Diatomaceous earth and paper filtration.

Commenter Natural Ed had some great suggestions and I did take a road trip out the Whole Foods to try to find them. It felt a little like the Amazing Race for wine. Unfortunately, both stores didn’t have any of them in stock. I was pressed for time to order online, so I stayed with the McManis for the tasting. I had wanted to find two of the same varietal, but it was tricky enough to find a Vegan wine much less two Zins. I know that comparing Pinot and Zinfandel is a little like comparing apples to oranges, but I tried to keep an open mind about the quality of the wine itself. That said, I happen to like both Pinot Noir and Zin. For me, I didn’t taste any tangible difference between the organic and traditional; when they’re good, they’re good. And I’d expect the opposite is equally true.

DirtySpicyBerry

We began with the Vegan Pinot Noir from McManis. The first impression was that it appeared a bit cloudy almost opaque in the glass. It had such a light bouquet that all of us had to get our noses far into our glasses to detect the light berry essence on the nose (which, for me, actually ended up on my nose). Shelly found a spicy, berry vibe that she thought was good. Cindy described a ‘dirty berry’ taste, while Terri found it to have a ‘Gurdy’ or astringent feel as it went down. I thought it tasted grippy, very earthy, young and thin. As a Pinot, I wasn’t expecting it to be as full as a Zin or Cab, and maybe I’ve been spoiled by Pinots from Oregon and Washington, but it did seem too simple and light for one hailing from California. I sipped more to see if it would evolve and gain some depth and it did, slightly, when I paired it with a little green pepper and tomato.

Smooth Operator

Yes, I know it’s a Sade song, but I think I accurately describes the Organic Zin from Bonterra. It was much richer in color (which is true of most Zins when compared to Pinot), with a full bouquet of rich berry that we could smell when I poured. It was a smooth and well-balanced with a flavor of deep blackberry, and a pepper kiss on the finish. Cindy described its quality as ‘full and creamy’ which it was. We agreed that it was very smooth with no bite; more complex by comparison. It was enjoyable on its own or paired with vegetables or crackers and hummus.

I know that our experiment had its flaws; comparing two different vintages and varietals being the most glaring. While we thought the McManis Vegan Pinot tasted young, the Zin had an extra year which could account for the complexity and richness.

The earthy overtones in the Vegan Pinot might be due to the fining process itself: could the earthy clay used to filter the wine, increase that quality in the taste?

My take away from this was that I was not put off Vegan wines at all; I’d like to try more. I’d also like to test my hypothesis of clay fining’s influence on the final taste of vegan wine.

I enjoy trying new things and this study hall didn’t disappoint. It was a great night to experiment and to catch up with some great friends.

My next posts will be about the wonderful world of Icewine. With old man winter blowing into the Cleve tonight, it seems quite timely.

Cheers!

Thank you to Natural Ed for his great suggestions:

[From Whole Foods:

Pizzolato Prosecco made with Organically grown grapes & Vegan http://bit.ly/a0oSWW

Pizzolato Organic Italian Cabernet No Sulfites Added & Vegan http://bit.ly/a64esp

Biokult Austrian Grüner Veltliner – made with Organically grown grapes & farmed biodynamically http://bit.ly/a1e00e
Spartico Organic Spanish Tempranillo No Sulfites Added & Vegan http://bit.ly/cHbDz8

From Trader Joe’s:

ALBERO, Spanish Wines made with Organically grown grapes & Vegan http://bit.ly/eOQIFu

Wild About Macchia! Fall Release Party

Nov23

After a safe landing back in the Cleve, I am now in recovery mode from the past weekend at Macchia Wines’ Fall Release Party. From the incredible weather, to the fantastic turnout, I think Dionysus was smiling. I had the great opportunity to work the Futures Barrel Tasting, which gave party goers a first taste of the ’11 Voluptuous and Oblivious Zins. It was both fun and a challenge; I knew some basics about wine, but clearly there was more I needed to learn. So I did what any good student would do: I asked most of the knowledgable staff for the information. As resources they were helpful, patient and so much more fun than doing a Google search.

I wanted to thank Tim and Lani Holdener, their daughter Tanya, staff and friends of Macchia who were so welcoming and friendly throughout the event and my time there.

My next posts will be about some thoughts (and pictures) of our adventures in Lodi and Amador County.

In the meantime, I wanted to share some of my pictures of Macchia’s Fall Release Party.

Cheers!