Thursday, March 22, 2012

Last Night's Bottle - Antigal 1 Malbec 2008

Before I go on, it's important for me to point out:

1.I didn't really drink this bottle last night

and

2.I'm not entirely sure if this is Antigal "One" or Antigal "Uno".  Choose at your own risk.

Anyway...this is a really pretty bottle of wine. I say "pretty" because I don't necessarily have any more descriptives worthy of mention.  If I have mentioned this before, please forgive me for saying it again, but so much of the wine I've been drinking lately has really been lacking in depth.  I suppose that maybe it has to do with the price point. On the other hand, I've had some really good wine for less than $20 some even less than $15 and even a very select few closer to $10.  Therefore, I refuse to use price point as an excuse for lousy wine.

Speaking of lousy...uh, I mean inexpensive pretty wine, Antigal comes in a dark and ominous bottle with a very fancy plastic #1 strapped to it.  It is most definitely an eye catcher if nothing else.  As for the wine inside, it would only be fair to say that it wasn't entirely bad.  It had a deep violet color which I have come to expect from most Malbec wines.  Aromas of blackberry & dark rich fruit were certainly enticing.  Yet the mouth was drier than expected, the oak was mild, yet the fruit was consistent with the dark red berry nose. 

But as I said before, there was a lack of depth.  The flavors that were there tended to drop off rather than than linger.  There was a somewhat synthetic feel to it.  Not in the sense that I was drinking chemicals, but when you taste something natural it should tend to stick around for awhile.  That was not the case here.

With that, I'd rate this wine a pass.  There is more to be had for less.  Of course I would never suggest not trying something if it interests you,  but if $15 means more to you than a mediocre wine in a pretty bottle I have said my part.

Until next time...

Cheers,
ES


Tuesday, March 13, 2012

And now for something a little different.

With a new iPad comes a new interest in the world of apps.  More specifically, the world of FREE apps.  What I've learned so far that free doesn't necessarily mean free.  Free typically means "scaled down crappy version of something better that we'll allow you to sample in hopes that you pay full price for the real thing." Did you get all that? In addition, the list of apps differs between iPads & iPhones which I found odd.

In the world of wine apps, there tends to be a lot of stuff out there that really has nothing to do with wine.  If I were to type wine into the search field, a host of apps would pop up listing everything from wine fashion (I have no idea what that even means) to wine stores.  In addition, only a handful of said apps are "free".  Leave it to me to sort through that mess an report back on a few that I came across and whether or not they were actually useful?

1. wine.com - When this app actually wants to work it's basically an eWine Store.  Although, it is helpful in allowing the user to search by region and keep a wish list of wines they may want to try later.  Wines are listed with price and points rating so if that's what floats your boat then by all means start sailing.

2. wine - Aside from the originality of the name, this app is as simple as it gets.  Assuming you're either wi-fi or 3G enabled, this application allows you to search local wineries, vineyards & wine stores based on GPS location. It also lists some general contact info which is helpful if your making decisions on the fly.  I did notice that some of the info was a bit outdated, but I guess that's part of the fun of free. 

3. average joe wine - At first glance, this seemed a most promising application.  A simple yet effective concept that allows users to write their own wine reviews and share them with other users.  Wine can be searched by region which helps narrow things down.  But guess what?  Apparently I am the only person who knows about Average Joe.  In trying to search about 10 local wines, I was able to retrieve info on 0 of them.  This was obviously as effective as the blind choices I make just about every time I walk into a liquor store.

4. winestein - Now we're getting somewhere. Winestein takes the mystery out of choosing what wine to pair with what dish.  The user is prompted to either type in a specific ingredient or meal and BAM, Winestein knows exactly what you should be serving with that meal.  Or vice versa which allows one to type in a type of wine and thus spits out a food to match.

5. wine terms - Let me see...what is the easiest way for me to describe this app?  This is a glossary of wine terms arranged in alphabetical order...duh!  Want to sound cool among other wine geeks?  Here's your chance.

So that should get you started.  One of these days I'll most likely throw my blackberry onto the LIRR tracks, go out buy myself an iPhone and perhaps see if there are some better phone specific apps to be had.  In the mean time, have fun with what I've given you.

Until next time...

Cheers,
ES


as if they needed more publicity!

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Last Night's Bottle - More Tales From Organica

It's become a bit of a treasure hunt at the wine store(s) lately.  The market for organic wine is obviously lacking in terms of selection and IMHO, quality.  So every time I stumble upon a new label I typically grab one for the road and move on.  My latest discovery in the organic category is the Releaf 2009 red blend which consists of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot & 20% Shiraz.

As far as blends go, I'm usually on the fence.  There really seems to be no middle ground for me.  I very rarely find myself either loving or hating specific blends.  I am happy to report that this time was no different.

Based on the varietals alone, this seemed like a promising endeavor.  Or perhaps it's just that I have an unnatural fetish for red wine?  Aromas of blackberry, vanilla with a hint of oak continued to peak my interest.  Flavors of plum, cranberry & black licorice provided some nice acidity & a little bit of a bite.  On a personal level, I do not like the taste of black licorice, but this wasn't enough to be a complete turnoff for me.

All that said, the wine was less complex than I'd have liked.  It was also thinner than I'd have preferred.  But at the same time, it was entirely drinkable.  Rated against some of the other organics I've recently sampled, this held up pretty well.  Although after only having two glasses, I woke up with a college sized hangover the next day.  It may simply be the fact that I've been working my tail off lately and completely exhausted, but something I felt worth mentioning.  Caveat emptor.

Until next time.

Cheers,
ES