In this episode, Jeff takes a break from wine to try some beers from the Kirkland variety pack.
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Stay Rad Wine Blog TV Episode 10: A Blog About Beer
December 26, 2011Stay Rad Wine Blog TV Episode 9: Valpolicella by Request
December 22, 2011By request from Jonny Brandy, Jeff dives into the Zenato 2008 Valpolicella Superiore.
If you’d like to see the score, click here.
Stay Rad,
Jeff
Stay Rad Wine Blog TV Episode 8: I’m Going Blind!
December 21, 2011In this episode, Jeff tries his luck at another blind tasting…
Stay Rad,
Jeff
Latke Party: One Crazy Night
December 20, 2011Shalom everybody!
Don’t let your gentile calendars fool you…
Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah!
Night number one... It gets more impressive as the week moves along.
Are you guys ready for a latke party?
First, get you some potatoes and an onion.
Peel the potatoes, and shred everything in a food processor (or with a hand grater if you’re a square). Squeeze out as much water as you can, and throw the shredded potatoes and onion (violently) into a bowl.
Mix in two beaten eggs, some salt, and a little pepper. Throw it in the fridge for ten minutes or so... What the hay.
In the meantime, make some matzo ball soup. Just follow the directions on the box. If the matzo balls ain't floating (like in this pic), you doin' somephin' wrong.
Use a spoon to scoop a little bit of your latke mix. Press your latke flat against the pan with the back of your spoon. Cook it for a few minutes on each side.
As each batch of latkes gets finished up, toss them onto a folded up paper towel. To make sure that your latkes don’t get too cold while you’re making the batches, you can throw them onto a cookie sheet, and keep ’em in the oven at 250 degrees.
While you’re working on your latkes, break open a bottle of wine.
This one should do the trick…
Relax 2010 Riesling
I found the Relax 2010 Riesling at Target while I was getting some stocking-stuffers for Kara (I celebrate Christmas too. Jeff 2 – You 1. I win). For only 8 bucks, this wine (made by Scmitt Sohne) is a Qualitatswein from the Mosel region of Germany. It is done in a slightly dry style, and has an alcohol content of 9.5%.
Color: Extremely pale yellow. Almost colorless.
Nose: Green apple and apricot.
Taste: Good green fruit up front. Pears and green apples, fa sho. Great acidity. A nice, subtle sweetness.
Score: I have no problem relaxing with this wine. I’d probably like it better on a hot summer day, but I’m into it right now. 86 points.
Now…
Back to the food…
Latkes with sour cream and apple sauce, matzo ball soup with some fresh cracked pepper, and Kara's spinach, goat cheese, and beet salad. Yum-a-dum-dum!
I picked the Riesling because had a feeling that it would go with a variety of sweet and savory foods…
As it turns out, I was right (this time)!
The acidity of the wine cut through the creaminess of the sour cream and the buttery goodness of the matzo balls. The Riesling also did a great job of livening up the saltiness of the latkes, and balanced well with the salad. The sweetness of the wine spiked up the flavor of the apple sauce as well.
Man, I love latkes!
As an homage to my sister, I tossed both apple sauce and sour cream on this bad boy... Just the way she likes it. Deeeeee Lish!
After I finished eating my salad, three bowls of matzo ball soup, and sixteen latkes… I was done.
Done!
I could not move.
I could not speak.
I was in a Latkoma for a good thirty minutes.
Good thing there wasn’t much on TV…
A Hanukkah feast and Keeping Up with The Kardashians...
So I took a nap.
Stay Rad,
Jeff
Stay Rad Wine Blog TV Episode 7: When in Rhone…
December 19, 2011In this episode, Jeff tries the Kermit Lynch 2009 Cypress Cuvee Cotes du Rhone, left behind by his buddy, Conor…
The wine was so good, Jeff even forgot to score it!
Enjoy…
Stay Rad,
Jeff
PS – If you’d like to see what he scored the wine, check out the Rad Wine Reviews page.
Visions of Snow and Pho
December 15, 2011No wine today, folks.
I’m still battling this head cold.
I have been sucking down this beverage a lot, lately…
TheraFlu Foo
As bad as I’ve been feeling lately, I would normally call in sick… but it’s finals week. I cannot let my students take a test this big, without being there to clarify any questions they may have along the way.
You’d think that just giving a test is easy, as far as work goes… But it ain’t.
There is nothing more boring than watching a class full of students taking a final. Four hours of it (for three days straight) is torturous.
The nice part is that you do get a little bit of a chance to daydream…
With Christmas break right around the corner, you’d think I’d be dreaming about all things winter.
Holidays.
Presents.
Family.
Snow.
But not me…
Starting about 9:30 this morning, my stuffed up head was focussed on just one thing.
One thing to cure me.
One thing to nourish.
One thing to give me comfort.
Of course, I’m talking about Pho.
Pronounced “Fuh”, it’s a traditional beef noodle soup originating from Vietnam.
It’s a spicy and soothing, brothy treat, sure to clear up your sinuses and warm you up from the inside out.
After my last final of the day, I hopped into my car and headed straight over to the newest (and closest) pho shop in Morgan Hill…
I ordered this bad boy to go…
Beef broth with thinly sliced raw steak, rice noodles, sprouts, basil, jalepenos, hoisin sauce, sriracha, and a twist of lime.
The only problem when ordering pho to go… finding a bowl large enough to hold everything.
I mixed this goodness up in a Pyrex glass bowl.
By the time I finished my gallon of goodness, my nose was hella clear.
No, pho... Thank you!
Now that I’m feeling a little better, it’s time to listen to some Bob Dylan, and take a nap…
Stay Rad,
Jeff
Breakfast at Betsy’s… A Must-Do
December 14, 2011Oprah.
I used to watch her show every day after work.
I miss her show.
Think what you want about her…
That show was really well-done.
I remember one episode when she was talking about tips for living well.
She said that you must put yourself on your own to-do list.
I like that idea.
It’s simple… and it just makes sense.
With everything you have to do in life, never forget that you have to take care of yourself.
It’s Finals Week at my school right now.
One tradition that I have is to take myself out to breakfast on the first day of Finals.
This morning, I decided to treat myself to breakfast at Betsy’s Restaurant in Morgan Hill.
Coffee.
I was greeted and helped within seconds of entering the diner.
In the time it took for my coffee to be delivered, I decided on the Betsy’s Omelette.
Loaded with bacon, sausage, avocado, and cheese... Betsy's Omelette. Rye toast. Tabasco. Coffee.
Fluffy eggs.
Gooey cheese.
Salty bacon.
Creamy avocado.
This breakfast hit the spot.
If you feel like treating yourself to something good, Betsy’s is a must-do.
Stay Rad,
Jeff
Pinky Strength: The #RidgeVineyards Blogger Tasting
December 11, 2011Full Disclosure:
1. I love Ridge Vineyards. The first wine of theirs I ever tasted was the 2003 Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet Sauvignon blend at Vintage Wine Bar in Reno, Nevada. I bought that bottle about four years ago, and it will be sitting in my wine fridge for another 5 years or so.
2. This past Spring, I joined their Monte Bello Collector Wine Club within fifteen minutes of setting foot in their Monte Bello tasting room. Their wine is THAT good. And the tasting room is THAT rad.
3. Ridge Vineyards is the reason why I started this blog.
Let me explain…
Ever since I joined their wine club, I obsessively began to read up on all the different wines that they produced (and there are hella). Through combing the interweb, I quickly came across 4488: A Ridge Blog. It’s a beautifully written blog, hosted by Christopher Watkins (the Tasting Room Manager at Ridge Monte Bello, who also happens to be a fantastic poet… and is also as cool a cat as they come).
So… on June 9th of this year, I read this post on Christopher’s blog. In his post, he was looking for wine bloggers to attend a private tasting at Ridge Monte Bello. In reading the post, I thought to myself, “How f-ing cool would that be?” The only problem was that I didn’t have a blog.
But…
If your only problem in life is that you don’t have a blog, there is a very simple solution…
On June 11th of this year (two days later), I created Stay Rad: A blog about wine and all things awesome.
You may notice a few things about my blog. One, is that the theme (the layout of the blog) is identical to that of Ridge Vineyards. This is in tribute to the winery and the blog that got me started. The other thing is that although I review Ridge wines every once in a while on this blog, I never give them scores. This is because I am a member, and I don’t want that to effect the scores I give them.
So…
Let’s move on.
Today is the six month anniversary of the day that my blog went live.
Also, guess where I went today (and for what purpose)?
The December Blogger Tasting at Ridge Vineyards!
Full Disclosure:
4. I’ve been fighting a cold for the last week.
5. Kara and I hosted a holiday party last night.
6. We did not go to bed until 3am.
7. I woke up at 8am feeling a little “under the weather”.
8. I would not miss this for anything.
9. This made me feel a whole lot better.
As I walked into the private tasting room at Monte Bello, I decided to start tweeting…
@JeffIsRad: Busted my cold in time to make it to the #RidgeVineyards #WineBlogger tasting.
As I looked around the room, I discovered a large screen tv that would be posting our tweets live…
@JeffIsRad should get a new profile pick.
While waiting for the last of the bloggers to show up, Christopher poured us some of the 2008 Monte Bello Chardonnay.
Full Disclosure:
10. For the purposes of this post, I will be scoring all (most) of the wines.
11. If you don’t like it, you can sit on a tack.
Ridge 2008 Monte Bello Chardonnay
Ridge 2008 Monte Bello Chardonnay:
Color: Golden Yellow.
Nose: Pear and vanilla.
Taste: Great acid and minerality. Creamy. Fantastic.
Score: 91 points
As everybody got settled, Christopher began the tasting by introducing the theme.
Christopher Watkins breaking it down.
For this tasting, we would be taking a journey through history. After the Monte Bello Chardonnay, we would taste three of the Historic Vineyards single varietal wines, a vertical of three of the Santa Cruz Mountain Estate Cabernet Sauvignon blends, and a mystery bottle donated by fellow blogger Allan Bree. To take us back in time, we were each required to provide tasting notes for one of the wines using a manual typewriter.
The Lineup
The Historic Vineyards wines.
We were each provided with a fact sheet on the historic vineyards of Monte Bello. You can read about them here.
My tasting notes and fact sheet on the historic vineyards of Monte Bello.
Oh yeah, and there was food…
Say cheese!
So…
Once we got set up, we dove into the wines.
Ridge 2009 Klein Cabernet Sauvignon in the glass...
Ridge 2009 Klein Cabernet Sauvignon in the bottle... and a typewriter.
Ridge 2009 Klein Cabernet Sauvignon:
Color: Light ruby red.
Nose: Tires. Mint. Cocoa. Butter.
Taste: Bright raspberry and cranberry fruit. Mint and white pepper. This was described by Christopher as being “Elegant”. I agree.
@JeffIsRad: #RidgeVineyards 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon… It’s tasty.
Score: 91 points.
Ridge 2009 Torre Ranch Merlot
Ridge 2009 Torre Ranch Merlot:
Color: Deep purple.
Taste: Juicy leather. Buttery. Dusty. Raspberry, blueberry, plum, and olive.
@JeffIsRad: #RidgeVineyards 2009 Torre Ranch Merlot… Blueberry. Plum. And, yes, Olives.
Score: 90+
Ridge 2009 Perrone Cabernet Franc
For the Ridge 2009 Perrone Cabernet Franc, I decided to take my shot at the manual typewriter…
Wish me luck...
It took me a while to get used to the typewriter… You gotta hit those keys hard.
Here’s what I wrote…
From here on out, I will be building up my pinky strength...
Color: Bright ruby red.
Nose: Chalky mocha and mint. Bike tires for days.
Taste: Powdery chalk. Plum, blackberries, and green peppers. The wine is great, but I’m having issues with the typewriter.
@JeffIsRad: #RidgeVineyards The 2009 Perrone Cabernet Franc was DOPE. The typewriter made me feel like one.
Score: 92 points.
After struggling with the typewriter, I had to step outside for a break…
The view from the ridge.
When I came back inside, Christopher set us up with a vertical of the Santa Cruz Mountains Estate Cabernet Sauvignon blend from 2003, 2004, and 2005.
Santa Cruz Mountains in the bottle...
Santa Cruz Mountains in the glass...
Ridge 2003 Santa Cruz Mountains:
This is the same wine that I have in my wine fridge. The wine that I bought in Reno. The wine that got me into Ridge.
Color: Ruby red.
Nose: Cocoa powder and blackberries.
Taste: Blackberry and eucalyptus. Dusty tannins. Cranberries. It makes me smile.
Score: 92 points
Ridge 2004 Santa Cruz Mountains:
Color: Ruby red.
Nose: Dusty rosemary and raspberries.
Taste: Cranberries and fine tannins. Bright red fruit. This is a thoughtful wine. This is the type of wine that would go buy you a burrito at La Choza if you were hung over.
Score: 92+
Ridge 2005 Santa Cruz Mountains Estate:
Color: Dark ruby red.
Nose: Blackberry and blueberry fruit.
Taste: Big and juicy. Powdery tannins.
Score: 91 points
@JeffIsRad: #RidgeVineyards Santa Cruz Mountains 03, 04, 05 Cabernet Vertical = Hella x 3
After the vertical, we were each poured a glass of Allan Bree’s mystery wine…
Color: Bricking red to orange on the rim. There are these tiny, dancing, black speckles floating around in it.
Nose: Dusty blueberries. Smells sweet.
Taste: Very juicy. Becomes very dry on the tail end. It reminds me a little bit of those chocolate oranges.
After some of the bloggers took their guesses as to what the wine was, Allen revealed the answer…
Ridge 1994 Monte Rosso Zinfandel
I knew it!
Too bad I didn’t speak up.
And with that, the final Ridge Vineyards Wine Blogger Tasting of 2011 came to an end.
@JeffIsRad: @RidgeVineyards #ThankYou for the #BloggerTasting
#StayRad
– Jeff
Stay Rad Wine Blog TV Episode 6: Stay ShiRAZ!
December 8, 2011Inspired by the first chapter of Natalie MacLean’s new book, Unquenchable, Jeff pairs an Australian Shiraz with a Whopper…
Livermore (or less)
December 7, 2011This past weekend, I met up with some friends in the wine country of Livermore, California.
There are tons of wineries in the Livermore Valley, and we hit up a bunch of them. Most places we stopped were really good, but one place took the cake…
Here’s how it all went down at their Estate Tasting Room:
Wente 2010 Small Lot Pinot Blanc and a tasting menu...
Wente 2010 Small Lot Pinot Blanc ($25):
This Pinot Blanc has a rich and creamy mouthfeel, with tons of kiwi fruit and honeysuckle. Not a bad way to start the day. 87 points.
Wente 2009 Small Lot Mourvedre ($35):
This wine has a keen nose of beef jerky and mint. On the palate, it is light in body. There is a BIG DEEP FLAVOR of red fruit and smokey meat. This is really good. 89+ points.
Wente 2009 The Nth Degree Syrah
Wente 2009 The Nth Degree Syrah ($45):
This wine has a super concentrated nose, layered with blueberries, jerky smoke, and candy. On the palate, there are some awesome chalky tannins that remind me of crushed sweet tarts. There’s lots of red and black cherry, backed up with leather and tobacco leaf. Crazy good! 90 points.
Wente 2009 Small Lot Cabernet Franc ($35):
Tons of dark fruit and spice. Green pepper. Baseball glove. Nice. 88-89 points.
Wente 2009 Sonata
Wente 2009 Sonata ($45):
This is a blend of Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s a nice combination of green pepper and plum flavors. Tobacco leaf and jerky. Good stuff. 90 points.
Wente 2008 The Nth Degree Cabernet Sauvignon ($60):
Blueberries and blackberries for days. A smooth ass wine. This is what Cabernet Sauvignon should taste like. Always. 91 bad ass points.
Look…
The Livermore Valley is a great place to go tasting. We had a blast everywhere we stopped.
But…
Wente is just a cut above the rest.
You should go there too.
You’ll be glad you Went(e)!
Stay Rad,
Jeff
Stay Rad 