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What The Pregnant Lady Will Be Drinking

Wednesday, November 26th, 2008 | California, Chardonnay, Cocktails, Germany, Holidays, Non-Alcoholic, Riesling, Wines Under $20 | 1 Comment

The holidays can be difficult for someone like me who loves wine or a cocktail and wants to celebrate along with everyone else, but happens to be in a situation where she can’t drink. But being pregnant or having a health issue that prohibits you from drinking doesn’t mean you can’t raise a glass of cheer — you just have to pick something non-alcoholic.

A couple weeks ago, we were at The Christmas Tree Shops and I saw a bottle of non-alcoholic Chardonnay (which I have since lovingly nicknamed “Chardon-not”). I joked to Drew that I’d be drinking the St. Regis Alcohol-Removed Reserve on Thanksgiving. At a mere $3.99 a bottle he suggested I give it a try. So we left the store with two bottles — one to try that evening and one for Turkey Day, provided it wasn’t terrible.

St. Regis is produced by Inglenook. It is made in California and has an APV of less than 0.5%. To my surprise, it was actually decent! There were floral notes on the nose, as well as hints of apricot and apple. Upon tasting I detected mostly apple flavors as well as a bit of grape (which didn’t surprise me). Overall it reminded me of flat champagne. Drew thought it reminded him of some of the Australian whites he had tasted. Now, obviously you can’t compare a bottle of alcohol-free wine to a bottle of regular wine. To try it with the same expectations is ridiculous, honestly. If I weren’t pregnant I wouldn’t be drinking this, but for the price it ain’t bad and I will happily chill a bottle for myself for tomorrow. I’ve had worse “real” Chardonnay, and I find this to be an acceptable substitute.

Another problem I’ve had to solve is the pre-dinner cocktail. In our family, we always like to enjoy a drink while we nibble on cheese, crackers, and sausage. Under normal circumstances, my go-to drink is a gin and tonic. Luckily, this one is easy to solve. I simply mix together tonic water, a twist of lime, and some sweetened lime juice. I used to prefer Rose’s lime juice, but recently I discovered Master of Mixes lime juice. I find it to be less sweet. (As a bonus, if you’re plagued by leg cramps later in your pregnancy, this make a mighty fine remedy as the tonic water contains quinine, which helps alleviate the cramping.)

My other favorite cocktail is a whiskey sour. By chance, last night I discovered a drink that comes pretty darn close. I simply mixed Cuervo margarita mix with ginger ale (I think I did I one-to-one ratio). Again, it has no alcohol in it so it’s not as potent, but hey — when you only have so much to work with, you make the best of it. Garnish with an orange slice and a maraschino cherry or two and enjoy.

Tomorrow we’ll be bringing a bottle of BEX Riesling to have with Thanksgiving dinner, so I am planning on tasting and spitting and seeing if it tastes any different to me now than it did when I tasted it a few months back.

To all my American readers, I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving! Please remember to enjoy responsibly.

2005 Twisted Oak Verdelho

Monday, June 23rd, 2008 | California, Lodi, Verdelho, White Wine, Wines Under $20 | 2 Comments

Back in December I bought Drew a couple bottles of wine as last-minute Christmas gifts. I was really eager to try a couple of the offerings from Twisted Oak, as well as give WineQ a try. One of the bottles I chose was the 2005 Twisted Oak Verdelho ($15.99) and this weekend we finally got around to opening it. The APV is 13.1% and it was aged in stainless steel for two months. Twisted Oak produced 800 cases of this wine.

When my order arrived, I noticed some chunky white sediment floating around. Now, as someone who drinks plenty of wine I figured that this was nothing of importance, but I have to admit it was a little unsightly and you wouldn’t want to get a mouthful of it. (It’s happened to me before with other wines and though the flavor certainly isn’t affected, it’s just not pleasant to feel the crystals in your mouth). I decided to e-mail the fine folks at WineQ just to be sure. They forwarded my question to Jeff Stai, owner of the winery. His official response made perfect sense, and was pretty much what I figured:

It’s actually not sediment, it is sodium tartrate crystals. If the wine gets cold tartaric acid will start to fall out of solution, forming these crystals. This could have happened through shipping or storage. These are the same crystals you will sometimes find on the bottom of a cork.

Since these crystals are made of stuff you would be drinking they are totally harmless. Just let the shoulder on the bottle catch them while you are pouring.

That was good enough for us, and I have to say that I really appreciated the quick response not only from Marshall Sontag at WineQ, but from Jeff Stai as well. There’s nothing better than good customer service.

To save ourselves a little aggravation and to keep the tartrate crystals from floating around too much, we opted to decant the wine, which worked out perfectly. The wine was a very pretty shade of light yellow and the nose was unbelievable. It smelled of honeydew melon, apricot, and unscented candlewax all wrapped around flinty slate. There was something that evoked honeysuckle, too. I kept sticking my nose in the glass over and over again to breathe it in.

The wine itself had a nice acidity to it and was very balanced. Again we picked up a bit of a rocky flavor along with citrus and kiwi. Drew noted that the wine gave him the sense of chewing on a piece of kiwi skin –the skin strips out the sweetness, but you still taste the fruit. I think that people who enjoy Sauvignon Blanc would certainly enjoy this wine.

We didn’t drink this with a meal, but did have a few snacks along with it. Walnuts seemed to tone down the acidity and paired really well. The cocktail sauce we had with our shrimp, however, was too spicy for this wine and stripped down all the fruit. If we have this again, I’d probably serve it with soft, mild cheeses, fruit, and bread or crackers. It’s delicious on its own.

The 2005 Twisted Oak Verdelho has won several awards including Four Star Gold Award, White Varietals, Orange County Fair; Best of Show, White Varietals, Orange County Fair; and Best of Class, Lodi, California State Fair. The 2005 vintage is still available at WineQ and probably some other fine wine sellers, though  the 2006 is available now as well.

A Toast to a True Wine Pioneer

Friday, May 16th, 2008 | California, Wine News | No Comments

Today Robert Mondavi passed away age 94. As a wine blogger and owner of a wine shop, not to mention a huge fan of California wines, I feel it is only right to raise a glass in his honor tonight.

Rancho Zabaco Sonoma Heritage Vines Zinfandel 2005

Monday, May 12th, 2008 | California, Sonoma, Wines Under $20, Zinfandel | No Comments

Yesterday was Mother’s Day, so the wine for dinner was my pick last night. A few weeks ago, Drew had purchased a bottle of Rancho Zabaco Sonoma Heritage Vines Zinfandel 2005 at Arlington Wine & Liquor in Poughkeepsie. I was in the mood for a Zin, but didn’t really want to open up one of our pricier bottles, so I thought it would be fun to try this wine.

The wine was a dark garnet color and had cherry and plum aromas with the scents of cedar and spice wrapping itself around the fruit. It smelled exactly like you’d expect a Zinfandel should. Upon my first taste I yelled out, “Chocolate covered cherries!” Drew thought I was grasping a little bit, but that really is the first thing that came to mind. The wine has a lot of sweet cherry flavor with a bit of chocolate on the finish. However, after another taste where I lingered a bit longer, there seemed to be a chemical taste. It’s wasn’t unpleasant, but it made me think of artificial sweetener (perhaps those were sugar-free chocolate covered cherries?) or some kind of household cleanser like Windex. The tannins were well-balanced, and considering the APV of 15%, the alcohol seemed well-integrated. It was kind of your standard, jammy Zin. For $14.99, it is a pretty decent value. However, I think I would rather pay the extra $2 or $3 more for the Dry Creek Zinfandel which has a little more pepper and seems a little more refined to me. Nevertheless, we did enjoy it.

2004 Dry Creek Vineyard The Mariner

Monday, May 5th, 2008 | California, Dry Creek Valley, Meritage, Red Wine | No Comments

Well, it’s about time I got back to writing about wines, isn’t it? I have a few pages of tasting notes that I really should get around to posting, but for now I’ll start with a really wonderful California red blend that we had with dinner last night: 2004 Dry Creek Vineyard The Mariner(between $40-$50) from Sonoma County’s Dry Creek Valley. This wine is a meritage blend of 46% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, 6% Malbec, 5% Cabernet Franc, and 3% Petit Verdot. It is 13.5% alcohol, so certainly within the “reasonable” range.

I don’t often comment on labels, but let’s face it: they’re an important part of the wine too. Many people (myself included) will try a bottle of wine based on little more than the label design. Perhaps it is related to my New England upbringing, but I find the label of The Mariner to really gorgeous. Although it’s difficult to read in the picture, the quote on the label says: “In spite of rock and tempest’s roar, in spite of false lights on the shore, sail on, nor fear to breast the sea!” This is pulled from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, “The Building of the Ship,” a poem I happen to love. My opinion of the wine was off to a good start based on nothing of the wine itself, but it shows you how a label can easily influence opinion.

We decanted the wine and let it breathe while I prepared dinner (grilled strip steak with a tea peppercorn rub, steamed broccoli, and a garden salad — we went for ease on a Sunday night). The wine is a deep shade of purple. It was gorgeous in our decanter, but there was not a chance of it staying in there! On the nose, we smelled cedar, dried cranberries, and a bit of glycerin. It was ripe and plummy and as Drew stated, “subtle, but promising.” We tasted the wine and discovered ripe, plummy flavors. Drew noted that the wine had the sweetness of a honeydew melon. That is, it didn’t really tastelike honeydew, but it had a similar acidic sweetness. After tasting again and thinking about it a bit, we resolved this flavor to ripe blueberry. Plenty of vanilla oakiness was noticeable as well. I caught onto a “grilled” flavor that reminded me of some of the South African wines I’ve tasted. I thought that perhaps I picked up on it because I had been minding the grill and perhaps that scent was “stuck” in my nose, but Drew caught onto it as well. There was bit of dark chocolate as well. The tannins were quite heavy (which was not a surprise), but the long, graceful finish resolved them a bit.

The wine was perfect with the peppery, grilled steak. The flavors complemented each other nicely. It did not, however, pair well with the chocolate cake with caramel mousse that we had for dessert. Perhaps with a piece of dark chocolate or a richer dessert, but not the sticky sweetness of caramel. The Mariner is an elegant wine that is going to mature nicely. We have a couple more bottles in our wine cellar and I am really looking forward to returning to this wine in a few years to see how it develops.

WBW #43: Comfort Wines

Wednesday, March 5th, 2008 | California, Lodi, Red Wine, Wine Blogging Wednesday, Wines Under $20, Zinfandel | 5 Comments

Joel Vincent, of Wine Life Today, is responsible for choosing this month’s topic for Wine Blogging Wednesday: Comfort Wines:

Choose a wine, any wine, that you love to unwind to and tell us about not only the wine but what makes the experience special and relaxing for you!

At first this seemed easy enough, but when it came down to actually picking one wine to write about, the task became rather daunting. There were several bottles in the running. I had to really think about what “comfort wine” means to me. I considered some of my favorite comfort foods (steak-frites; tuna salad in a pita, dunked into some chicken noodle soup; penne topped with my husband’s marinara sauce) and realized that they’re all pretty accessible foods. They’re all easy to prepare, the ingredients are readily available, and they’re not terribly expensive. Since there are just so many wines that I could pick to write about for this topic, I thought I’d apply the same criteria to wine.

The bottle I would write about had to be readily available (because there’s nothing worse than really wanting a glass of a specific wine and not being able to find it) and not terribly expensive (I decided to cap it at $15). I also wanted to pick a wine that was “quaffable” — that is, a wine that stands on its own and doesn’t really require food to be enjoyable. With that in mind I picked Ravenswood Lodi Zinfandel. It retails for around $12.99 and you can find it pretty much anywhere. I’m a big fan of Ravenswood wines, so really I’d be pleased as punch with anything from the winery, but I happen to be especially fond of the Lodi Zinfandel.

The wine is a blend of 84% Zinfandel, 14% Petite Sirah, and 2% “mixed blacks.” It is a full-bodied wine that is jammy and spicy with flavors of raspberry, plum, and vanilla. It is soft and lush as it rolls around in your mouth. The oaky finish is nice and warm and consistently puts a smile on my face. At 14.5% alcohol, it’s a big wine but I find the alcohol to be well-integrated.

No, it’s not a terribly complex wine, but when I’m thinking about “comfort” I want something that’s easy. I want to kick around in my bunny slippers and to curl up in my favorite chair. I don’t want to teeter on heels and be aware of my posture all night. I don’t want a wine that makes me work. I don’t want to decant or swirl the heck out of the glass, trying to open it up and coax out all the little nuances that make it a fantastic wine. Sometimes I just want to crack open a bottle that I know I can trust, pour it in a glass, and enjoy. I think that Ravenswood has consistently proven it can make quality “no brainer” wines. When I pick up a bottle of Ravenswood anything, I’m confident that I’m purchasing a decent product.

It’s been interesting to see what other wine bloggers consider comfort wines. I’ve noted that Sonadora of Wannabe Wino and Erika of StrumErika.com also picked Zinfandels. Once Joel has had a chance to compose his wrap-up, I’ll be sure to let you know so you can check out what everyone else chooses to help them relax.

2000 Rudd Napa Valley Jericho Canyon Vineyard

Tuesday, February 26th, 2008 | California, Meritage | 1 Comment

I hope you didn’t miss the 9th annual Open That Bottle Night, which was last Saturday (February 23, 2008). There were a few bottles in the running, but ultimately we choose to open up a bottle of 2000 Rudd Napa Valley Jericho Canyon Vineyard ($99.99). Rudd is located in Oakville, and the Jericho Canyon Vineyard is is located on the eastern slope of the Vaca Mountains at the northern end of Napa Valley. The wine is a blend of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot, 17% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot. It was aged for 18 months in French oak (50% new oak), is 14.5% alcohol, and 2,500 cases were produced.

Now, you’d think that with a wine like this (with a hefty price tag, no less), I would have gone all out to prepare a meal that would really be special. But you know what? I didn’t. It was a pretty regular Saturday at our house, and in my opinion, one of the things that Open That Bottle Night sets out to do is to give people permission to just enjoy wine and not stress over pairing it with the perfect food, or make it out to be a big deal. It’s about having fun and integrating great wine into your everyday life. With that said, I’ll let you know that we ended up drinking the Rudd with Quarter Pounders with cheese and French fries (while watching the last two episodes of Veronica Mars, Season 2). But before we sunk our teeth into our juicy burgers, we gave the wine the proper attention it deserved. After all, I’d been staring at this bottle for quite some time and was so excited to finally be drinking it.

The color was a bright, bloody red that was just gorgeous in the glass. From the first sniff you can tell that this wine was produced in what I would consider a fairly traditional Bordeaux-style. We did not decant the bottle, but I would suggest it. We took some time to swirl the wine, bringing out aromas of dark fruit in addition to the woodiness that dominated the nose. The wine had some vegetal flavors, some earthiness, and a bit of cherry. The tannins were well-integrated, but still obvious. The finish wasn’t terribly long; I’d call it medium. I think this wine can sit for a few more years. (Lucky for us, we have a few more bottles!) I think with a little more time, the wine will become even more well-rounded. But that’s not to say it isn’t drinking lovely now — it absolutely is and we enjoyed every last drop.

Upon my first taste I immediately thought that the wine would go well with some kind of fatty meat like lamb or duck. The tannins would balance it out nicely. So in reality, our choice of greasy fast-food burgers wasn’t so far off! Next time we open this bottle I will undoubtedly prepare a proper dinner that will show off this wine the way it deserves.

2004 Mettler Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon

Saturday, February 2nd, 2008 | Cabernet Sauvignon, California, Lodi, Red Wine | 1 Comment

Yesterday was a long, tiring day. School was cancelled on account of bad weather, sleet and freezing rain made our deck and driveway a dangerous mess, and on top of it all, the night before I had dropped my camera and though it works, it’s acting quite fussy. Plus, I still hadn’t packed for our vacation. After we put the boys to bed, Drew asked me if I wanted to try a really great wine. “Seriously,” he said, “this is just… it’s just so good.” Of course, I wanted to try it! But with that kind of build-up, would it deliver? Would my expectations be too high? There was only one way to find out. He handed me the bottle and a corkscrew and I got down to business.

The 2004 Mettler Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon (Lodi, California) retails for around $25. In the glass, the wine is a gorgeous, deep garnet color. Drew commented that it was a true “blood red” and while that might sound a little macabre, it is accurate. Before I even stuck my nose in the glass, I could tell that this wine has a lot going on. As soon as I had opened the bottle, aromas of spice began to waft out. Upon close inspection we detected notes of cedar in addition to the spice. There was an earthiness, too, that made me think of walking through a forest. A few swirls coaxed out even some clove and vanilla soft-serv. I realize the latter scent might sound like a stretch, but it wasn’t a real oaky vanilla — it was a lot softer and that really seems to be the best way to describe it.

I could have smelled the wine all night, but I was eager to taste it, as well. If I had to sum up this wine in one word: mocha. It tastes primarily of coffee and chocolate, with just a hint of clove and the tiniest bit of raspberry. That raspberry flavor might come forward a bit in coming years; I’ll be interested to come back to this bottle some time in the future. The wine had a smooth, lingering finish. It made me think of coffee ice cream (again, there was this creaminess), and it made Drew think of iced coffee. For a wine that clocks in at 14.6% alcohol, the gentleness was impressive. You can detect the alcohol on the nose, but it is really well integrated.

The wine is a fantastic quaffing wine, and I think it would really stand out when served with dessert. (Perfect for Valentine’s Day!) I indulged in a coffee truffle alongside this wine and it was delicious. I think it would pair really well with any kind of berry dessert as well as dark chocolate. I had a hard time coming up with a food pairing, but Drew suggested roast pork and I can see that. If you’ve had this wine, I’d be interested to know what you ate with it.

Overall, we both were very impressed with this wine. I think that the Mettler ‘04 Cabernet  might be the best $25 bottle we have ever purchased. The wine isn’t a “fruit bomb” by any means — it’s subtle and understated. I would consider it a bottle for wine lovers. Because of the interesting (and very different) mocha characteristics, I wouldn’t necessarily serve this to someone who is looking for a typical Cab because it won’t be what they expect. But if you seek out new and different wines, or you’re in the mood for something luxurious, I think this wine will suit you quite well.