In this episode, Jeff opens up a value Cabernet Sauvignon from the Central Coast.
Wine Tasted:
Robert Mondavi Private Selection 2010 Central Coast Cabernet Sauvignon
Stay Rad,
Jeff
Posts Tagged ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’
Stay Rad Wine Blog TV Episode 69: Central Coast Cab
October 11, 2012Stay Rad Wine Blog TV Episode 66: A Dynamic Wine
September 22, 2012As the San Francisco Giants game began tonight, Jeff opened up a Biodynamic wine from Lake County…
Wine Tasted:
Dynamic 2010 Red Table Wine
Paired With:
A Straight Up Ridiculous Chili Dog
Stay Rad,
Jeff
Wine and Burritos
September 19, 2012Tonight, Kara and I were in a burrito type of mood…
You know the feeling.
But… I was also in a wine type of mood…
You know the feeling.
Finding the right wine to pair with a burrito is kinda tough though…
I mean…
When’s the last time you ordered wine at a Mexican restaurant?
After picking up a couple burritos at La Choza Taqueria in Morgan Hill I took a look in the wine cabinet to see if any of my GV Specials would work. After a few minutes, I came up with this one…
Estampa 2007 Assemblage
The Estampa 2007 Assemblage is a Chilean wine composed of 63% Syrah, 22% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 15% Merlot. This wine retails for $10. I picked it because Chilean wines always come off as tasting a little green and spicy… The perfect complement for a big, savory burrito.
Here’s how it went down…
Color: This wine is a dark and dull reddish purple.
Nose: For a ten dollar wine, I was surprised by the big, decadent aroma of juicy plums, blackberries, and blueberries. There was a nice chalkiness to the nose… And you know I love chalk. This wine smells expensive.
Taste: Woah! This wine has big, aggressive tannins. For a 2007, this wine strikes me as tasting very young… But it’s gonna be a beast one day. Good fruit of plum and fig. Nice notes of green bell pepper.
Score: The only thing that is holding me back about this wine are those big tannins. I mean… They are big. I’m giving it an 89 today, but I think it has potential to knock some socks off in about five years.
Now, let’s try it with the burrito…
Un Super Burrito de Carne Asada
I love the burritos at La Choza.
I love them.
Chewy tortillas.
Juicy chunks of beef.
Sour cream… So creamy and sour.
I love ’em.
I just don’t love them with the Estampa.
Look…
The greenness of the wine did compliment the burrito, but those tannins… Those tannins are just too overwhelming.
Here’s what you should do.
Get you a burrito and a beer.
Enjoy the wine later.
Stay Rad,
Jeff
Stay Rad Wine Blog TV Episode 64: Happy #CabernetDay
August 30, 2012In this episode, Jeff dives into two wines for #CabernetDay…
Wines Tasted:
Franciscan Estate 2010 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and Wild Horse 2010 Central Coast 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon
Stay Rad,
Jeff
What #Day is it this time?
February 18, 2012Seriously…
What #Day is it?
You follow enough wine folks on Twitter, and you’ll find yourself asking that exact question.
In the last year, I’ve found out about the following days through social media:
#CabernetDay
#ChardonnayDay
#AustralianWineDay
#PortDay
#NewZealandWineDay
And when there’s no particular wine to celebrate, there’s #WineWednesday (or #WW if you’re hip).
Bloggers (including yours truly) are quick to jump on these days, because it’s an easy source for ideas.
Wine drinkers (including yours truly) are quick to jump on these days, because it’s always nice to have an excuse to drink.
But now…
Now, it’s getting ridiculous.
Yesterday was #CaCabDay.
Today is #NationalDrinkWineDay.
It’s enough to drive this blogger mad.
But…
It still gave me an idea…
Yesterday, I had a wine flight at Bubble’s featuring (mostly) California Cabernet Sauvignons.
By posting it today, I’ve got all my bases covered.
Here’s the rundown…
The Cabbies at Bubbles
Miguel Torres Las Mulas Cabernet Sauvignon:
Okay… So this is not a California Cabernet. Las Mulas is an organic winery in Chile. The vintage was not listed on the menu, but I’m guessing this is a 2009.
Color: Look… Bubbles keeps the lights down low. So I can’t give you an accurate description of the color. I will say, however, that this was the lightest of the three wines.
Nose: Big and bright, ripe plums. Strawberries. Lavender. Pretty.
Taste: This is a lighter styled Cabernet. In some ways, this could be considered the antithesis of a California Cab. This wine is driven by its acidity. Lots of tart raspberry and cranberry fruit, with a touch of plum and bike tire. Nice.
Score: The Anti-Cab gets an 87.
Educated Guess 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon:
On the menu, this wine was listed as “Roots Run Deep”. In fact, that is the name of the winery where this Napa Cab is produced. The only wine that they make is under the Educated Guess label. I’m making an educated guess of my own in calling this a 2009, since that is their most recent vintage.
Color: Darker than the Las Mulas.
Nose: Blackberry and bacon. Yup. This is a smokey nose, and that is definitely bacon. Yum.
Taste: This wine is jammy (in a good way). Concentrated blackberries and cranberries give way to plum on the mid-palate. The tannins are powdery and mouth-filling. There is a lingering grapefruit acidity on this wine.
Score: What a treat this is. Give it an 89+
Martin Ranch 2007 (I think) JD Hurley Cabernet Sauvignon:
Tucked away through miles and miles of redwoods on the western outskirts of Gilroy, is one of my favorite Santa Clara Valley / Santa Cruz Mountains wineries… Martin Ranch. I’ve known of them for a while, but it was not until last year’s Santa Clara Valley Passport Weekend when I finally got a chance to visit the ranch. The JD Hurley is their entry-level wine.
Color: Same as the Educated Guess.
Nose: Plum and red currant.
Taste: Tart red currant and cranberries give way to red plum fruit. Good acidity, and powdery tannins.
Score: A good way to end the night. 89
You know…
The more I think about these different days, the more I continue to wonder…
Who comes up with these wine holidays?
I guess the simple answer is that WE do.
All of us.
We spread the word.
We participate.
We reflect.
We write about it.
So that gives me an idea…
Let’s create our own #WineDay!
Here are some days I’ve been thinking about:
#ScrewTopWineDay – Tweet about your favorite screw top wine.
#RadWineDay – Pull out the Raddest wine in your collection. That one that you’ve been saving for a special occasion… And open that sucker. Drink it, foo.
#LocalWineDay – Do a google search of local wineries. Whichever one is the closest to your house is the winery that you must purchase a bottle from.
What do you think?
Leave a comment below with your favorite #WineDay idea.
We’ll pick one, and go for it.
What do you say?
Stay Rad,
Jeff
Stay Rad Wine Blog TV Episode 4: You be you… I’ll BV!
November 21, 2011Hey Everybody,
This episode, I’ll be tasting that BV 2009 Coastal Estates Cabernet Sauvignon…
You should be able to find this at most places between 5 and 10 bucks. I got a two-pack at CostCo for 12 bucks.
Please note that YouTube made me chop the video in half. Watch part 4.1 first, silly!
And now, part 4.2…
Stay Rad Wine Blog TV Episode 3: What Is It?
November 17, 2011In this episode, Jeff does another blind tasting.
Don’t scroll down until after you watch the episode…
Okay…
So… the Cupcake Vineyards 2010 Red Velvet is a blend of Zinfandel, Merlot (Noooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), Cabernet Sauvignon, and Petite Sirah.
On my next episode, I will be tasting the BV 2009 Coastal Estates Cabernet Sauvignon. You can pick it up for 6 to 9 bucks at most places. Grab a bottle, and taste along with me next time.
Stay Rad,
Jeff
I’ll Bordeaux when the Sauternes
November 7, 2011This past Saturday, Kara and I headed over to Cin-Cin Wine Bar for another tasting event…
This time... Bordeaux!
Bordeaux France is one of the premier wine appellations in the world. Although there are 57 regions within Bordeaux, there are really only four that you would need to become familiar with in order to sound like a wine geek:
Graves (including Pessac-Leognan, and Sauternes): Found on the “Left Bank” of the Garonne River, Graves is known for reds, dry whites, and some of the best dessert wine in the world (Sauternes).
Medoc: This is a wide-spread region found along the “Left Bank” of the Gironde River. There are seven major sub-appellations of the Medoc (Haut Medoc, St-Estephe, Paullac, St-Julien, Margaux, Moulis, and Listrac), all producing reds. In 1855, sixty-one of the chateaux were classified under the Grand Cru Classe (5 of which were of such high quality to be called Premiers Cru).
St-Emilion: Found on the “Right Bank” of the Dordogne River, the wines of St-Emilion are always red. Piggy-backing off of the Medoc, St-Emilion also has a Grand Cru Classe ranking for their chateaux.
Pomerol: This is the smallest of the top red wine regions in Bordeaux. Pomerol, also on the “Right Bank” of the Dordogne, makes about 15% as much wine as St-Emilion. Though Pomerol does not have a ranking system, one can almost be assured (since they are so scarce) that most Pomerols are the bomb.
As far as grape varietals go, you will rarely see the breakdown of grapes listed on the bottle. Bordeaux does, however, follow rules in terms of which grapes are allowed in their wines. The whites of Graves (including the dessert wine of Sauternes) is primarily made of Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc. As far as reds go, Bordeaux can be made from Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec. To figure out what is the predominant grape, just look at the rivers. Wines from the “Left Bank” are Cabernet Sauvignon based, while those from the “Right Bank” are mostly Merlot.
On the real, though… I’m tired of getting my nerd on. Let’s get some drink!
There were three distributors at the event; James, Luke, and Jon. Each had their own table with hella different styles of Bordeaux to choose from. To make sure we started with whites, moved to reds, and finished with Sauternes, Kara and I had to bounce around a bit from one table to the next.
First… The Whites!
Chateau Ducasse 2010 Bordeaux Blanc ($18): We started at Luke’s table with this white wine made of 60% Semillon. It had a crisp, flowery finish. A great way to start the day. 86
Chateau Hout Rian 2010 Bordeaux Blanc ($11): Over at Jon’s table, we picked up this white made of primarily Semillon. Again, this one had flowery notes, but with a hint of honeysuckle. It was crisp and dry. 85
Once we got our palates primed, we headed moved into the reds at James’ table.
James
Chateau Petit Manou 2007 Medoc ($21): So, here I am telling you the Left Vs Right Bank rules, and the first red I show you just shatters them. This is a Left Bank wine that is made like a Right-Banker. The Petit Manou is 70% Merlot. The fruit is bright cherry and cranberry with a soft, buttery finish. Good stuff. 87
Chateau Picque Caillou 2007 Pessac-Leognan ($26): A Left-Banker with 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot, and 10% Cabernet Franc, the Picque Caillou had a dusty nose with a green palate. 87+
Chateau Mongravey 2008 Margaux ($33): A true Left Bank Bordeaux made of primarily Cabernet Sauvignon, the Chateau Mongravey falls under the Cru Bourgeois (just under Grand Cru) classification. This one brought lots of dusty cranberry and Earth notes. 89
Chateau Pipeau 2007 St-Emilion ($34): A Grand Cru from the Right Bank, the Pipeau is 90% Merlot. Now, don’t get it twisted. This is a Merlot with balls. There is a BIG barnyard funk on the nose. The palate brings BIG leather and minerality. It is both juicy and Earthy. Nice! 90
To the next table…
Jon
Lafleur Gazin 2007 Pomerol ($45): 80% Merlot. This Right Bank wine brings bright cranberry and cherry fruit. A smooth wine. 89+
Chateau Hout Beausejour 2007 St-Estephe ($25): Barnyard. Raspberry. Dry palate. Good acid. There is a growing note of mushroom the longer the wine stays in the glass. 88+
Chateau Paveil de Luze 2008 Margaux ($30): This is a Left Bank red made of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon The Paveil de Luze has some nice cranberry fruit, but it is more texture driven than anything else. There is a nice acidity on this. 89-
Chateau Gloria 2008 St-Julien($63): 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Petit Verdot from the Left Bank. This wine is silky smooth with leathery tannins and raspberry fruit. Lovely! 91+ G-L-O-R-I-A!
Croix du Trale 2009 Haut-Medoc ($16): We were just about to move on to the last table, when I realized that we missed one of the wines. Considering that the Gloria was so dope, it’s hard to go back to the Croix. Dusty raspberry with butter. Nice, but no Gloria. 88+
With that, we moved on to the last table…
Luke
Chateau Belles Graves 2007 Lalande-de-Pomerol ($28): Though not from the actual Pomerol appellation (Lalande-de-Pomerol is on the other side of the train tracks), Belles Graves is well-known for a different reason. This is the wine that Jacques-Yves Cousteau would take on all of his adventures. A Right Bank wine primarilly made from Merlot, this wine was hella tart and dry with fruit of cherries. Not my cup of tea. 86
To make up for the Belles Graves, Luke provided the only vertical of the day with two (real) Pomerols…
Chateau Gombaude Guillot 2005 Pomerol ($67): Now this is why I love these tastings! I’ve heard plenty of folks rave about the 2005 vintage of Bordeaux, but until now I’ve never had the opportunity to taste any 2005 that would be considered more than just a table wine. This Pomerol is 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc. On the palate, this right-banker was one smooth criminal. Beautiful cranberry fruit, and a good hit of oak. This wine has the body to last another 15 – 20 years, but is elegant enough to enjoy right now. 92.
Chateau Gombaude Guillot 1996 Pomerol ($60): Oh my! The nose this wine is just dope! Loads of juicy blackberry get smoothed out with tannins of delicious cigar tobacco leaf. Wow! Sometimes I wish you could taste these things with me. Wow! 93
We finished off the tasting with two Sauternes dessert wines…
L’Alliance 2009 Sauternes ($27 Half-Bottle): Luke served us this Sauternes made of 90% Semillon. There is a BIG nose of apricot and gapefruit. On the palate the SWEET dride apricot overpowers the typical yeasty finish. Good, but not what I think of when it comes to Sauternes. 90
Chateau Haut-Peyraguey 2005 Sauternes ($56): Jon capped off our tasting with this Permier Cru chateau from the epic 2005 vintage. In comparison to the L’Alliance, the Haut-Peyraguey is much more reserved with its fruit. This is a yeast-driven Sauternes (the way I think it should be). This dessert wine has a good sweetness, but it is not obnoxious. 91
And there you have it…
16 wines…
One good time.
Stay Rad,
Jeff
The Good Charlotte of Wine: Results for the Stay Rad Interactive Wine Tasting Vol. 1
October 8, 2011Warning: What you will find below are my results for the Stay Rad Interactive Wine Tasting Volume 1. If you would like to participate, please read my previous post and get a hold of the Folie a Deux 2009 Menage a Trois first.
If you have the wine, please decant it for 30 minutes before tasting.
Don’t worry…
I’ll wait…
Ready?
Okay!
Now, feel free to taste and make notes before you read on OR taste along with me as I attempt to guide you through this wine.
C’mon everybody… Let’s have a “Menage a Trois”!
A long time ago, Kara and I were prepping for a day trip to Napa. As I often do, the day before the trip I printed of some coupons from Wine Country this Week and Cheers 2 Wine. One of the coupons was for a free tasting at Folie a Deux, a small tasting room that sits right along Highway 29 on the South end of Oakville. We had driven by that place several times in the past (you really can’t miss it), so we decided to give it a go.
On the way into Napa, we made our regular pit stop at the Napa-Sonoma Visitor Center in American Canyon to have a morning wine tasting and to ask for some recommendations…
“Where are you guys planning on going?” the gentleman behind the counter asked us, as he poured me a taste of Riesling.
“We’ve got a coupon for free tasting at Folie a Deux…” I responded.
“Well… I guess that’s a reason to stop there,” he responded as he shook his head in disapproval.
I’ll never forget those words. I’ll never forget the look on his face. It was all I needed to know. Folie a Deux get’s NO respect in Napa.
No respect.
You can’t call it the Rodney Dangerfield of wine. Although Rodney always claimed that he got none of it… He was, in fact, a well-respected comedian.
So, let’s compare it to punk rock…
Let’s imagine that Napa was the punk rock capital of the planet. Let’s say Napa was home to the Ramones, the Stooges, X, and The Clash.
The Stooges = The Ridge Vineyards of Punk Rock
If the wine of Napa is punk rock, Folie a Deux would be Good Charlotte…
Punk?
Look…
I don’t hate Good Charlotte. They’ve recorded some catchy tunes.
Remember the time they ripped of this Steve Miller song…
and made this steaming pile of crap?
(By the way, if you are wondering where Steve Miller is on the wine spectrum… He’s Two-Buck Chuck.)
What I am saying is this…
No fan of music would ever consider Good Charlotte to be a punk band. They have a lot of fans. A lot! Way more fans than I have on Facebook. But… They are not respected as a punk band. You know… ‘Cause they’re not punk. They’re about as punk as discussing who is punk and who isn’t (which ain’t punk at all… Or is it?).
Did I ever mention to you that I used to work for a record store when I was in college? Well I did…
So, one day I was at the store on an early Sunday morning, filing CD’s in the punk section. As I was organizing the Dickies row, I looked over to my right to see the singer (or the guitar player… They’re twins right?) of Good Charlotte spending a lot of time in the G’s of punk. A lot of time!
At first I was all, “Maybe the guy from Good Charlotte really likes Good Riddance”. But then it came to me… “This fool thinks that we are filing his album in the punk section!” I approached with caution, and asked if he needed any help.
“Nope. Just browsing, bro.” He then quickly ducked his head in shame and walked out the door.
Now look… If the guy from Good Charlotte doesn’t know that his own band isn’t punk, then how can any of us know how do define and classify music… or wine, for that matter.
Anyways…
In spite of the wine guy’s disapproval, we headed over to Folie a Deux to do some free tasting…
The first thing you will notice is that the tasting room is home to two wineries… Folie a Deux and Napa Cellars. On top of that, Folie a Deux has a side label called Menage a Trois. So if you think about it, there are THREE wineries in one tasting room! And if you want to add to the confusion, all of these wines are owned by Trinchero Family Estates. So really, in spite of all the different labels, it is all just ONE winery.
To be honest, I don’t remember much of the wines we tasted. It was a long time ago, and I didn’t take any notes. The one thing that did stick in my mind was that they did have a red blend that they were pushing pretty hard… and it had a pretty cute name…
Menage a Trois!
The Folie a Deux 2009 Menage a Trois is a blend of three red grapes; Zinfandel, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Get it? It’s called Menage a Trois ’cause there are three grapes in it! As you read in my last post, I got this wine for $7.97 at Wal-Mart.
Now…
Let’s give her a taste!
Folie a Deux 2009 Menage a Trois in the decanter.
Don’t Forget: This wine was decanted for half of an hour. You should do this too.
Color: This is a dark red. When you hold your glass up to the light, you’ll see a red brick color around the edge of the rim. Do you see it?
Nose: As far as fruit goes, there are some tart cherries and raspberries on the nose. This wine is a little tight, so if you really want to smell what’s going down, jam your nose right in the glass. After a bit, you will pick up some blueberry fruit. There is a minerality to this nose. Think of green tea and chalk (I love chalk!). Do you smell it?
Taste: When you give this wine a whirl, swish this baby around in your mouth for a good thirty seconds. There is a medium weight to this wine that may remind you of milk in its density… You should get some strawberry and cherry fruit. There is a tart acidity on the mid-palate that reminds Kara of a cheap sort of wine. I tend to agree with her, but it is quite pleasant overall. There is a little bit of smokey ham and bell pepper on the back end.
Score: Look… This is a gimmicky wine. It’s like Weird Al and the Offspring did a guest spot on The Simpsons. But… For what it is… At eight bucks a bottle, it works. Give it an 87+. Bring it to a party. You may not get rave reviews, but you may not get dissed either.
So, there it is…
What did you think about the wine?
How would you make this better?
Leave a comment, and let me know.
You have the power…
Raw Power!
Stay Rad,
Jeff
The House of Thevegetarian: A Bordeaux Vertical w/ Enough Food to Make a Man Grow Horizontally.
July 10, 2011Remember when I asked you to pick which wine I should drink?
Fine then! Go here to refresh your memory.
One of the wines I featured was this guy…
Chateau Ballan-Larquette 2006 Bordeaux
At the end of the post, this guy (the winemaker for Chateau Ballan-Larquette) asked me to let him know what I thought about it.
Well…
The other day at BevMo, I was checking out the wines for the 5 Cent Sale (again… a total scam), and I found that they had the 2007 and 2009 vintages of the exact same wine I already had. I decided right then that I had to purchase those other vintages and do a vertical tasting.
The problem is, 3 bottles of wine is just too much for one man to drink alone (1 bottle is too much). So I needed to make an event out of it.
That’s where the Thevegetarians come in.
Dave Thevegetarian has been my best friend ever since we were in third grade. Third grade, man! If you want to figure out how long we’ve been friends, take the age that you are supposed to be when you’re in third grade (I’m too lazy to ask my Kara. She teaches third grade.) and subtract that from 33. That’s about how many years we’ve known each other, or something.
Dave and his wife, Kara Thevegetarian, both happen to be vegetarians, coincidentally. They love throwing dinner parties. I would invite the Thevegetarians over for dinner at my house more often, but I doubt they would eat my Blue Cheese Burgers. They had us over for dinner last Friday.
“You bring the wine,” Dave told me, “and I’ll make some dope food for you, home boy.” In spite of Dave Thevegetarian’s odd choice of words, I pulled my three bottles from the old wine fridge along with a little bubbly, grabbed Kara by the hand, and headed over to the House of Thevegetarian.
“It’s on!” I shouted.
“Oh brother!” Kara responded.
We arrived at 6:30 pm to a table loaded with vegetarian hors d’oeuvres and a cork screw. I opened up the three bottles of Chateau Ballan-Larquette and arranged them thusly…
Chateau Ballan-Larquette 2006, 2007, 2009, and vegetarian goodness.
While waiting for the wine to breathe a little, Kara Thevegetarian poured us each a glass of this…
Clos La Chance 2009 Central Coast Sauvignon Blanc. Why it was kept in the vegetable crisper is beyond me.
I’ve always been a fan of Clos La Chance. So much so, that KaraIsRad and I were married there.
See! I told you!
The Clos La Chance 2009 Central Coast Sauvignon Blanc is a grassy lemon/lime machine. The perfect aperitif on a hot summer day. I’m not giving you a score for this one, ’cause I didn’t take any notes on it. Let me just say that I recommend it.
On to the vertical tasting…
The Cateau Ballan-Larquette is a “value” Bordeaux. The list price for this one is $19.99. At BevMo, you will pay that much for it during the 5 Cent Sale, but when it’s not on “sale” you should be able to get it for about 15 bucks. This wine is 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot, 17% Cabernet Franc. It spends 12 to 18 months in steel and cement tanks.
Up first…
2006
Color: Ruby red with a little rust.
Nose: Chalk (I love chalk), Cola, Green Bell Pepper.
Taste: This wine is GREEN! Bell peppers for days! There is also a spicy black pepper component. Good acidity. There is a little bit of bacon fat in this one which really brings the whole thing together.
Score: A solid 88. Solid!
How about some food?
Roasted Asparagus Soup by Dave Thevegetarian.
Up next…
2007
Color: Same ruby color as the first. Maybe a little darker.
Nose: Bright Cherry. A little wood shop action too (Strange, since to my knowledge this wine is not oaked).
Taste: Very green with some SHARP tannins. Sour Cherry. Acid. A little rubbery bike tire thing.
Score: I originally gave this one an 87, but after the tasting was completed I gave it a retaste. It just doesn’t hold up to the other two wines. I now give it an 86-.
Note: I bought this wine two weeks ago at the 5 Cent Sale. All of the vintages at Bev Mo were 2009, but I found this one tucked in the bin. At Bev Mo, they display their wines upright at room temperature. There is a strong possibility that this bottle was sitting around the store for two years before I bought it. Not being stored properly, this bottle may not represent the 2007 vintage properly. Two questions: A) Have any of you tried the 2007 Ch. Ballan-Larquette and have notes to share? B) Would any of you ever buy an odd-vintaged wine that was not stored properly?
What? You want more food? Okay…
Stuffed Zucchini Crumble. It tasted WAY better than it looks.
Alright. More wine…
2009
Color: Same as the rest.
Nose: Blueberry. Cocoa. Chalk (I love chalk). I’m looking at my notes from Friday. It says “DOPE!”
Taste: Bell Pepper. There is this sweet lacquered wood taste to it. See that table in the picture above. Imagine taking a bite out of that, but in a good way. There is also a cranberry and white pepper component.
Score: The 09 was my favorite. It edged out the 06 because it was a little more complex. Give it an 89+.
For fun, I also had the other folks rank the wines before I revealed my scores. Here’s what they said…
KaraIsRad: She liked the 07 the best. It was followed closely by the 09 which barely edged out the 06.
Kara Thevegetarian: She also thought the 07 was the best, but she liked the 06 better than the 09.
Dave Thevegetarian: He was very much in my camp, scoring the 09 as the top wine (followed by the 06 and 07).
The takeaway for me was that this is a wine that can be consumed young. If you are going to hold it for a while (I had mine for 3 years), make sure that you store it properly. Put it in a cool place if you do not have a wine fridge, and keep them on their sides. Decanting for 15 minutes to a half and hour is a good idea. The 07 did start tasting off after a few hours, but again… I think it was doomed from the start. I am looking forward to tasting more wines from Ch. Ballan-Larquette.
What? MORE FOOD?!?!?
Baked ziti of smoked mozzarella. Like a circus, this dish was "in tents"!
After the business of the night was done with, we had a really fun time hanging out. We even had a dance off.
Here is what my camera saw…
Sparkling white wine paired with sparkling bon fire.
Emile's California Champagne by Guglielmo.
Croatian Fig Brandy. Yikes!
Good times, but now I’m hungry…
Dave called my bluff and brought me some fruit. What a sweetheart.
Stay Rad,
Jeff
Stay Rad 