Last Night's Bottle - A sequel to last week's 90+ post

I forgot to mention that I picked up a second bottle of 90+ on last week's trip to the Alcohol Store.  Only this time it was the Pinot Noir instead of the Cab.  After sharing such a wonderfully inebriated view of the last bottle, I was hoping to channel a little more of that same magic.

Let's start with this.  The Cabernet was the better of the two buys.  Stop reading now if you care not to read my usual rambling about yet another bottle of red wine.  Should you choose to read on, you won't regret my use of fancy descriptive terms like earthy, fleshy & melange.  (Melange is pronounced with a heavy French accent while wearing a beret & smoking a long filtered cigarette. *Striped shirt optional).  Like a bohemian after 2 or 3 Red Bull. If you made sense of that, give yourself +2.

The Pinot was without a doubt consistently thinner than the cab but obviously a direct result of the variety of grape.  It has a certain earthinesss to it.  Coupled with scents of rose & cranberry.  All of which were nice & light.

The taste was fleshy & clean on the palate. Jammy with a subtle tartness.  Cranberry & apple mixed with plum.  It was a potpourri melange of fruit flavor.  Not overwhelming, but apparent.

With that, I share with you this.  The 90+ does a pretty good wine for the price.  It improves your use & pronunciation of French sounding words, it goes down easy on the palate assuming you find it for under $20/bottle.  The Cabernet beats the Pinot in 1 out of 2 taste tests, but in either instance I don't feel as if you will be overly disappointed.

Jusqu'à la prochaine fois. (I google translated that last part).

Cheers,
ES

Last Night's Bottle - 90+ Cellars 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon

After a long day on campus trying to figure out how the heck managerial accounting is going to change my life, the need for a good bottle of wine afterward increases tenfold.  I often spend time roaming the aisles of the wine store like a homeless person wanders the streets of Manhattan. 

This week I stumbled upon the "staff pick of the week" display (which is a fancy way of saying overstock) only to find the entire cache of 90+ Cellars on sale for a few bucks off the regular price.  So yeah, it's safe to say I took the bait and ran with it.

Let me get this out of the way and say that this bottle was a homerun.  Or at the very least, a booming triple off the wall in deep right.

It was somewhat surprising to find a scent consistent with a warm spiciness, tart raspberry & oak.  Upon reading the bottle, they hit on black raspberry, red currant, tobacco & toasty oak.  That's pretty close.

The wine is full for a medium bodied red . Rich & dark with an almost smoky, deep reaching, fruit flavor.  In sum, it has a distinctly masculine feel.  Without question this would couple well with juicy red steak or a fine cigar in a leather chair. 

So perhaps I just needed a good drink after staring at numbers all day or maybe I've been drinking too much organic stuff lately. In either scenario, this was a nice chance of pace.  I wish I had bought more.

Until next time...

Cheers,
ES

http://www.ninetypluscellars.com/

Last Night's Bottle - Frey Vineyards Organic 2009 Zinfandel

Last night was a football night, actually THE football night and football nights are dedicated to beer.  But the night before, we stumbled upon a bottle of something new and more interestingly, something organic. 

Frey Vineyards produces a line of wholly organic & sustainable wines on their ranch in Menodocino Country, CA.  As I am constantly on the hunt for organics, I was hoping this was going to be "the one".  Hoping this would be the first bottle of organic wine that really blew my doors off.

I popped the bottle and noticed that maybe it's time for a new rabbit.  It's been almost 10 years and while she's seen a good life, it may be time to put her to rest.  She just doesn't hop like she used to.  Nevertheless, the bottle opened and so we drank.

The wine itself was full of plum and spice aromas and a rich crimson color. Flavors of black cherry & currant were unmistakable, but this wine was too hot, too harsh & tart for my taste.  I allowed it to breathe a bit and followed one sip with another and another until ultimately my mind was made up. This just wasn't what I had hoped for.

It's hard for me to bash on a vineyard that goes to such great length to produce quality organic wines with a commitment to sustainability.  But sadly, this just wasn't my cup of juice.  For all that's granola in the world and for those who seek it, be my guest.  But if you're reading this perhaps you were looking for some direction before buying a bottle.  I won't ever say that I told you so.

Until next time...

Cheers,
ES

http://www.freywine.com/index.html

Last Night's Bottle - Wolffer Estate 2007 Pinot Noir

The new first semester starts tomorrow & I have been drinking more this week in anticipation of what lies ahead in addition to the fact that I won't be able to check in as often once I have "real" work to do.

So for my final hurrah before the work kicks in we decided to blast open another bottle of LI's finest, the Wolffer Estate 2007 Pinot Noir.  If I'm not mistaken, this was a pickup from last year's birthday bender.

Wolffer Estate 2007 Pinot Noir

Strong mineral, spice & tobacco aromas jump from the glass and up your nose like a punch in a bar fight.  Ok, perhaps it's a bit more subtle than that.  The bouquet is lively and I'll simply leave it at that.

Smooth flavors of vanilla, oak & dark fruits lend themselves to richer than expected tannins.  A medium bodied wine with a lean long finish.

I found the wine to be somewhat lacking in texture, but the bottle still possessed admirable character.  Generally speaking, pinot tends to be a stubborn grape to harvest & perfect in winemanking.  Obviously, there are storied vineyards that have the edge over the LI offerings simply based on climate and experience alone.  But Wolffer does a fine job of producing a classy yet distinctive pinot noir on the South Fork, that's right...South Fork of the island.  For what LI wines have to offer in this category, I would rate this as a buy.  Easily this wine is better served over dinner than to hand off to those greedy guests who only stop by because they know you don't skimp out when it comes to the juice.

So until next time...wish me luck.  I'm off to learn more about how to get rich and die trying.

Cheers,
ES

http://www.wolffer.com/

Last Night's Bottle - Palmer 2007 Merlot

A few weeks ago I misplaced some notes I made about the Palmer 2007 Merlot.  And last night I discovered that we had another bottle on the rack and that it was time to do it all over again.  Then a funny thing happened on my way to the computer, I found my original notes.  The good news is that not much had changed since the last time which proves to me that I'm pretty consistent with my reviews.  As for my overall mental capacity, that remains horribly inconsistent.

Palmer 2007 Merlot

For those outside of LI, Palmer is one of the large scale premier wineries of the NoFo.  I also heard recently (within the last year) that they were currently up for sale.  Had I known, I wouldn't have spent my millions in the bars of upstate NY as an undergrad.

As for the wine.

I have found many LI wines to be especially earthy.  Obviously there is a distinct characteristic to the soil here.  But in many cases the reds seem to be under ripe.  The flavors aren't as rich as I would hope.  It's not necessarily a bad thing, it's mainly a matter of preference.

The Palmer possesses an earthy aroma with notes of plum & oak.  The wine is soft with tannins, fleshy with flinty undertones and a modest amount of acidity.

Upon final thought, I found it to be flat & somewhat simple.  The flavors were not as layered as I would have preferred.  And as previously mentioned, somewhat underdeveloped.  Having tried most if not all of the Palmer offerings I would suggest passing on the Merlot. On the other hand, I strongly recommend their Sauvignon Blanc.  It is by far one of my favorites of the East End.  And if you have the time get out to their tasting room, it too should not be missed.

Until next time...

Cheers,
ES

http://www.palmervineyards.com/

Last Night's Bottle - 2009 Cupcake Red Velvet

Sometimes I tend to be biased when it comes to wine.  It's safe to say we probably all are to some extent.  I tend towards red as opposed to white, I don't usally like wines Pindar that don't indicate what varietal they are & I almost always shy away from fancy girly names & labels.  And then there is Cupcake.  This bottle broke 2 of my 3 general rules.  But as they say, some rules are made to be broken.

While I do prefer the standards, I am not ignorant to the fact that some of the best new winemaking is heavy on blends.  Some might feel that blends might disguise the fact that the grapes used in them are not grade A.  Although a valid discussion, the casual drinker will not often find there to be a difference.  For me, it allows winemakers to get more creative and bring something to the market that you haven't already had before.

The 2009 Red Velvet may not be the holy grail of an inexpensive blend, but I assure you that you will most likely not be disappointed. This wine is a blend of 47% Zinfandel, 29% Merlot, 19% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5% Petite Sirah.

The nose provided a mix of creamy yet jammy aromas.  Notes of cranberry, cocoa & blackberry stood out almost immediately.

The palate was strikingly similar.  Medium bodied, yet lively at the same time.  Velvety Silky texture mixed with dark fruits & mocha with an extended finish.  A well rounded wine but perhaps a touch too sweet.

I often find myself trying to place wines in their proper environment.  In this instance my vote would be for a good starting wine.  What I mean by this is that it fits in nicely at either the very beginning or end of the evening.  Not something I would encourage you to place on your dinner table, but perfectly good to hand off to your guests when they trade you their coats at door.  And no, I wouldn't dare to suggest serving it with Red Velvet cupcakes.  I'll leave that for the marketing geniuses to figure out how much raw creativity oozes from making such a statement.

And with that, I leave you. 

Until next time...

Cheers,
ES

http://www.cupcakevineyard.com/

I may have had something to drink over the holiday.

Casalini 2010 Pinot Grigio

Considering most of the holiday break was spent doing things around the house I had been neglecting the rest of the year, it wasn't quite the restful 10 days I had been hoping for.  Nevertheless, I found time to drink a bottle here & there.

The bottle was a gift and most likely a lift from our guest's own liquor cabinet.  Oh stop, we've all done this.  Re-gifting wine is as common as changing one's underpants...it happens everyday.  Moving on...

Contrary to the time of year, I was somewhat excited to enjoy a bottle of what I would typically classify a summer wine.  I drink so much of the red stuff that this was a welcome change of pace.

The Casalini was as expected.  Light & fruity (apple & lemon) with a crisp finish.  While I did find it to be a  bit flat at first, it is more obviously a fault of mine than of the wine itself.  I need a few sips to really find a wine's groove. Upon second & even thirds, there was a mildly grassy feel and even provided some of the bite I initially thought had been absent. 

Overall, I wouldn't classify this as one of the most complex wines I've ever had but it was bland fine.  Definitely not terrible.  Although, I would quickly suggest something else at this price point ($9.99).  Yet at the same time, I wouldn't expect that you would be kicked off the picnic blanket if you brought a bottle of this along to share.  Perhaps one of it's strongest qualities is that it's a screw off which makes it a little easier to pop on a whim.

I hope you all had a Happy New Year and look forward to what lies ahead.

Until next time.

Cheers,
E.S.