Moose's blog

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Wine Number 19:

2004 Bodegas Sonsierra Crianza Vendimia Seleccionada Rioja

Lots of words to say this is a Tempranillo blend but that's what it is. I don't have the exact percentages, so we're only going with Tempranillo for my journey.

What really stinks is when you get a so-so wine from a huge region, like Rioja. It's like getting a Bordeaux having heard tons of things about it and having it fall far short of your expectations. Or what happened to me personally, I had an excellent dessert wine at dinner, tried to buy an inexpensive Sauternes at a local wine shop and found the result to be poor, thin and definitely undessertlike. Basically this wine was decent and okay. My wife thought it had some mediciney characteristics, I delved further and figured some Pledge but we couldn't place it. Other reviews had stuff like leather and paint thinner, suppose it could be either of those. [To be fair, this wine received various reviews on CellarTracker, including a couple 90s, I just wasn't feeling it.] Okay quaffer, nothing special, forgettable.

At any rate, sort of a disappointing Tempranillo, but I forge onward.

Got some interesting stuff coming up, including a Chilean Pinot Noir [already done PN and Chile but will review it anyway], Carmenere, and Nero d'Avola.

Wine Count: 19; Grape Count: 18.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Wine Number 18 or "10 Countries and a Turning Point"

2005 Villanyi Zweigelt

Months ago I went to a nearby wine shop with an interesting concept, selling wine from wineries that don't produce over a certain amount of wine. I bought a couple wines, including a Zweigelt and it really opened my eyes to what's out there beyond cabernets, pinots and merlots. I loved the wine, it came in a liter, in came with a beer-bottlesque poptop, I bought more.

The Villanyi Zweigelt was a bit musty I thought, but balanced and good. I'm unsure whether I would buy this wine again, but I would absolutely include it in a lineup of a few zweigelts, perhaps getting a better sense of the grape. The wine was made in Hungary, which pushes me to 10 with regards to countries. To recap, Europe is naturally leading with 6 [Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Greece and Hungary], I've also had wines from the U.S., South Africa, Australia and Chile. I've got Argentina and Lebanon lines up to go, and after that I will need to go a little deeper. Zweigelt is also a new grape [to my list].

Wine Count: 18; Country Count: 10; Varietal Count: 17

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Day of Remembrance:

It was one year ago today that 33 people, including the shooter, lost their lives at the Virginia Tech campus on April 16th, 2007. Anyone who has perused this blog has read my other post about it from last year. The fact is, I'd completely forgotten it was today until I saw a video about it on espn.com. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

You see the bumper stickers and the slogans... we will never forget... always remember... you are not forgotten. But is that really true? A quick nod and thought about the event and life goes on. And I think that's a good thing. We can't constantly dwell on these things... parents die... friends pass on... tragedies happen. But if we forever dwell in our sadness then Evil wins.

Instead I think what we really mean by "Never Forget" is something along the lines of... "Let's do something to prevent this from happening again." Now in some cases this is taken into extremes, like [whether you agree with me or not is not the issue] refusing to let an American ally like Dubai take control of some of our ports... or denying civil liberties and the simple rights of humanity in the name of counter-terrorism.

But I digress. In the case of Virginia Tech, it's simple. What could have been done? Well, how about better recognition of emotionally and mentally ill students both at the college and grammar schools levels? More care from the parents? Better notification systems of disasters such as phone lists, texts and e-mails to all students? Shall we condemn ill students with expulsion at any sign of trouble?

No. But enough... Remember. I guess why we really say that is because anything else comes to an arguement. We can't get along and agree about what was done wrong or what needs to be done to prevent it... but we can simply hold hands and Remember.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Wine Number 17 or "The First Real Adventure"

2003 Boutari "Evinos":

On March 29th I went to the Carnival of Wine Enthusiasm AKA WLTV Fan Appreciation Day at The Wine Library in Springfield, New Jersey. I don't live too far away [far enough to not take regular trips to buy wine] so I made it a point to stop in. My thanks to Gary Vaynerchuk and The Wine Library for hosting a fun party, and for opening that 1982 Bordeaux. It was funny, it was sipped first and I said to myself, "This is okay, pretty good, nice and smooth." Then I had the other two wines, both prices $30-40 and realized how good the Bordeaux was.

Anyway, this article is about Greece, not france. Greece has been making wine forever. Before the Romans planted vineyards in Gaul... the Greeks had brought their vines. Boutari's "Evinos" is a 50/50 blend of Merlot and Xinomavro, what I imagine to be an extremely tannic grape that they matched with merlot to smooth it out and give it some appeal. I really enjoyed this wine, like I said the tannins were huge and I can't imagine what a 100% Xinomavro would taste like, though I'd love to give it a shot. Well-integrated oak, if that's even what it was, nice background fruit, VERY dry. Definitely one to search out for the experience, for dry wine lovers and folks wanting to expand a bit. I think lovers of a dry chianti would really go for this wine.

I will definitely be returning to Greece wine-wise. If Evinos is any indication, their wines will be different and exciting.

Wine Count: 17; Country Count: 9; Grape Count: 16

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Wine Number 16 or "The Curse of the Southern Winery"

Clinch Mountain Winery Clinch River Red:

This is the second wine I've had from this winery... the first one can be found below and it was the first truly poor wine of my journey. This wine, although I can't classify it as poor, wasn't all that great either. At the winery I was seducted by its sweetness, by the journey through the mountains to the winery itself, and by the notion of buying and bringing home some goddamn wine!

At any rate, what is it with the Southern palate that calls for their wines to be overly sweet and sugarfied. One of my favorite Southern winery wines, the Highland Mountain Muscadine, is definitely sugarfied, but it is made well and that makes up for it. They can't keep it on the shelves and have a waiting list to even be able to obtain any. Their dryer wines? No problem getting those.

Unfortunately the nationwide result is a snobbish upturn of the nose towards Southern wines altogether. They are not taken seriously, except by true wine adventurers who are willing to take the plunge, take the trips, and accept the fact that you will find many bad wines before you get to the truly great ones.

At any rate, the Clinch River Red I got was the "dryer" version of this particular wine, and holy cow there is some added sugar in here. I mean seriously, to me a "dry" wine means NO added sugar... lets the grape speak for itself... it puckers the lips and makes you want either water or an ice pop or something. It is made entirely [?] from the Concord grape, according to the website anyway, but there is no indication of even a grape on the bottle and the name implies a blend. On the nose you get sweetness... seriously. Honey notes and maybe something syrupy [like say if you made plum syrup or something]. Taste is much more awkward, more plum syrup and it basically falls apart. Drinkable and if you roll with white zin and other sugarfied wine cooleresque stuff you may even like this wine.

Wine Count: 16; Grape Count: 15.