Folie a Deux Pinot Noir 2012

I don't like Pinot Noir. But I did enjoy drinking this. Not sure if the company had anything to do with it. It usually does though. Friends do make wine taste better.

I realize that last statement could be taken two ways. I intended the less sinister meaning.

This is a meatier Pinot than most. There were giant chunks of beef floating in it. Really handy as I didn't have cook any dinner. I believe they sell it in that every case contains a half-cow, or something.

Folie is a winery of nice quality wines. They aren't the most life-changing in the spectrum of wineries, but they offer happiness in a bottle and that is good enough for me. The world is rife with variety and we are lucky enough to benefit from it!

Bottom line: Drink it with a friend!

Napa Cellars Merlot 2011

Napa Cellars has no limit to their tasty offerings. Their Cab Sauvs and Syrahs are their best--particularly their reserves, but their Merlots are no slouch.

Even though these aren't as complex as the others, they still provide a nice drinking experience. While year to year the fruit-to-other balance shifts a bit, that is part of what keeps these interesting. Like a view where you keep finding new and interesting angles.

We are all standing around painting a still-life, will every painting look the same? I hope not! Celebrate variation!

Bottom line: Drink it!

Napa Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

Napa Cellars cabs are just nice wines. The '09 was decanted for its full effect and it has a nice swirly ribbon of flavor yum yum. The mouth feel is quite nice and the fruit to spice balance is quite superb. I definitely recommend a Napa Cellars Cab. I have an "08 I was thinking about opening here in a bit... Why look at that! It's 5PM!

Bottom line: Drink it!

Chateau Ste Michelle Cabernet Sauvignon 2011

This is an excellent wine for the price. As far as drinking wine goes, I have made no secret that Menage a Trois by Folie a Deux is a must have for drinking, but this very comparable if not even better. It is more expensive than Menage though, maybe closer to $12 or $15, versus Menage at $7.

It is a commercially available wine that is well worth investigating. It is surprisingly big and flavorful. I enjoy opening this wine because I know that yumminess that follows! Now a glass of this isn't life-changing, but it doesn't have to be. Sometimes happy is just happy. Who cares where the cupcake came from, the frosting ingredients, the gluten quotient? It's a cupcake!

So if you are on a budget, and want something better than average that brings happiness, a CSM Cab Sauv is your ticket!

Bottom line: Drink it!

Clayhouse Vineyards Malbec 2011

Oh god, I don't even remember drinking this. Dammit.

Honestly it was so long ago. I'm going to bonus-post this. Two posts today to make up for this lame-ass excuse for a review.

Bottom line: Someone tell me if I liked this.

V. Sattui Grenache 2011

I have written about V. Sattui before. Big noisy vineyard.

The more I have drank my way through my small collection of V. Sattui, the less I like it. My tastes may be changing a bit or maybe some of the wine I have tasted recently is just plain old better than this.

The wine is not bad, believe me. It is small insignificant quibbles I have. Maybe I don't like Grenache as much as I thought I did, or maybe I just don't really like this Grenache. You can't do everything well. There is bound to be one thing you excel at more than the others. I don't know.

Anyway, it is complex, but also tannic. Frankly it feels a little snooty. Maybe it's that little crown they put on the label. Maybe if I wore a crown while drinking it I would feel on the same level as the wine, instead of looked down upon for subjecting its flavor-mastery to my subordinate palate. I think they have better offerings.

Bottom line: Drink it if you must.

Red Diamond Cabernet Sauvignon 2010

A friend gave me this. It was good. Red Diamond is one of those Washington state wines that is creeping up into California's bidness.

It isn't too expensive, and not the most complex ever, but this Cab and also a Merlot, are quite nice for the price. If you need a good cheap wine, I'd say it's the 2nd or 3rd bottle of the night.

Better look out Cali, Washy's got game.

Bottom line:  Drink it!

McManis Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon 2012

This is a cheap wine from Costco. It is a solidly good wine, on the verge of "Meh." It is fruity, and not very complex. I would say bottle number 4 of the evening.

I have tasted way worse wine, and if you feel like drinking something and don't want to feel bad about having to dump half of it, it is a cheap investment.

Goes great with video games.

Bottom line: In case of emergency only.

Paso Tasting Day 2

Day 2 was the day when we had all the exciting stuff planned, or at least the things we had discussed in advance of going to Paso.

We started the day out at Justin. We drove and drove and drove and were surprised how far it was. We had Justin wines before and they were just big and delicious. So we were excited to see what the whole experience would be like.

A perfectly ripe strawberry, a perfectly crisp apple, a perfectly stirred glass of Tang. These are elegant amazing wines. And that is why you can have your winery out in BFE, because if your wine is incredible, people will come from miles around.

The most popular of their lineup consists of blends, including their Isoceles, which is their most famous (and expensive) wine. They had very unique dessert wines also, less syrupy than others we had tried. And beautiful unique flavors happening throughout. And a delightful Malbec that started with violet floral notes.

We kind of knew in advance that we were going to end up joining their wine club, and we did. Also we knew the day was shot, in that, all future wines were going to have to be amazing to hold up to our Justin experience.

Our adorable wine wench at Justin recommended we try the European style French wines from Tablas Creek, just down the road.

So a short drive took us to a beautiful estate winery and tasting room. Our host through the tastes of Tablas Creek was a beautiful French woman, who explained Tablas Creek is the sister winery of Chateau de Beaucastel in France, and their winery is the result of a friendship between French, British and American growers and winemakers.

They have a wonderful tasting guide with pictures, maps to the French wine region, and descriptions of the grapes and their role in the blend, and did I mention the beautiful French woman?

She had the most generous pour of any tasting room. I felt bad pouring it out, but I didn't want to be hammered with so much more of the day to go. Their wines were in the $45 - $55 but were elegant and very European. It was a nice change from the hammer-like effect California wines can have on the senses.

Next up was lunch. We learned from our mistake and went to Artisan near the park. This was a great experience. Excellent food, and I knew we were short on time, and probably wouldn't make too many more wineries, so I ordered a wine flight, and decided to conduct my own tasting.

I received three big bold reds: Bodegas Tempranillo "viva yo!" '09, Enfold Zin/Syrah "Joseph's Blend" '11, and Shale Oak Zin '10.

All three were incredible. But the Enfold!

I saw Jesus.

These were all three superior in every way, but I stalked the crap out of Enfold. Unfortunately there was no way to get there on our current schedule, but it is now at the TIPPITY TOPPITY TOP of my list when I return, as is Shale Oak, which was just a dark earthy blanket of yum.

Now that lunch was over, we were on our way to what I was honestly most excited about: Graveyard Vineyard. I was excited about the wine, the labels, the merch and all the potential that someone with a wine label of Graveyard would have.

What a fucking let-down.

Their merch was generic. Nothing graveyardy about any of it. There were some Dia de los Muertos themed things, that were just ordered and plunked in the shop. Where were the commemorative coffin shaped wine boxes? macabre headstone labels? vague zombie references? It doesn't have to be dour, even a tongue-in-cheek approach could be fun and elegant, but I got nothing.

There was a life sized coffin in the corner with a sign that said, "For Sale. Used only once." Slow clap.

Their wines were just as disappointing. Each had been in the bottle less than a year. They were young, feral, tannic to the point of being undrinkable.

Then the girl poured a Viognier from the winemaker's private label, Bushong, which was also sold in the tasting room. This was by far the best Viognier I have ever had. Thus far, I have hated every Viognier I have encountered, so I was super skeptical, but this was very good. Smooth, not at all bitter. And it's a screwcap of all things. I bought one bottle. And despite feeling a little better about the experience, I just felt sad at such a huge missed opportunity.

Sigh. The world, and the way it would be if I were in charge.

Well that was supposed to be it for the wine tasting portion of our trip, but I didn't want to be let down by a lousy last tasting.

So we ventured into town to Bodegas, to find out more about the Viva Yo! from lunch.

They have a small tasting room in downtown, and the pourer, Max was polite, young, a little manic, and young. We were there with another couple and he seemed to have trouble managing two conversations at once. The easiest way is to combine them all together, forcing everyone to be friends. After the other couple left we made it clear we were ready to buy wine, but a father and daughter came in who worked in the industry.

We immediately became invisible despite the fact we were ordering up several bottles of wine. I don't know if he just became more at ease with industry folks with whom he immediately has stuff in common, or what. I'm willing to bet they didn't buy anything though.

Anyway, enough bitching about him, let's talk about their fucking good wine. Most of their wines are Spanish and Portuguese varietals. They had a beautiful Albarino, but it was only available by the case and even though it was on sale for $100 (for the whole case!), I just couldn't bring myself to buy that much wine. Though a small part of me regrets it now.

They have a couple of blends of Mourvedre and Tempranillo that were quite good, and their Viva Yo!  (90% Tempranillo, 10% Cab Sauv) and Viva Tu! (100% Tempranillo) were amazing. They had a couple of wines made from Trousseau which is a peppery grape, nicknamed Bastardo. Super peppery! They also had a very interesting wine called Iberia which includes 31% Touriga, a grape used to make port. So it had a sweet port nose but wasn't sweet in flavor. It was very unusual and unique.

So even though Max didn't treat us as well as we'd hoped, he was still overall nice, and we still had a nice last tasting. And now even more so than the day before, my tasters were shot and I was definitely done. I mean it this time.

I even skipped having wine at dinner.

The next day we went to Hearst Castle and walked around. I tried to imagine having a mansion like that, and I just couldn't get further than a fantasy of reading a book in one of the corners. I am unable to even fathom the idea of being that rich (or really any level of rich).

We had dinner in Cambria and it was suggested I pair my halibut with a white wine called Butter. And it was! A nice lightly oaked Chardonnay from Sonoma. Apparently they also have a red called Jam, and a sparkling wine called Toast! I want to travel there based on this information alone. Plus our waitress was adorable. I bundled her up in a ribbon and stuffed her in the trunk so she can pair all my wine.

I can see it now: "Tonight's macaroni and cheese should pair with a nicely with a box of Chardy."

So that is the end of our trip, and now we get to play wine at home (it's one of my favorite games). And as I mentioned at the beginning, the one thing I have learned about this excursion to central-south-quasi-coastal-California, is that Paso is awesome, and you should go there. We went to 11 wineries and only have about 339 left to go. And aside from the wine, we had a lot of fun just being together, enjoying each other's company and just being in love. It was a great weekend and exactly what I needed.

Bottom line: Go create an adventure for yourself!

Paso Tasting Day 1

Preface: This is a two day post about a 2014 summer trip to Paso Robles. And I am going to spoil it by telling you up front and right now the biggest and most important thing I learned: Paso Robles is fucking awesome. Go there. There are 350 wineries spread across the area, there are nauseating winding roads, and endless rolling hills, and a quaint little town filled with yummy restaurants. This is a slice of heaven!

In an attempt to jus re-orient my mind, my husband and I went up to Paso Robles to drink wine. Having been absent for most of the year and then very busy working, we finally decided to go away for the weekend and drink some wine.

Now the locals pronounce Paso Robles as in Robe-uls, but the correct spanish pronunciation is Robe-lace. I don't want to say I know better than the natives, because I get a little pissy when people pronounce it Ne-vahh-da instead of Nevada (the middle 'a' as in "dad"). So whatever to that. I'll just be the annoying foreigner.

The first day we tasted a shit load of wine, so we'll start there. As we were coming into Paso, the first place we saw on the little offshoot street was Tobin James. I liked the sound of it. Whomever is in charge of their marketing has their shit together. Every piece of merch has their logo on it. Everything. Great branding. They have a beautiful little outdoor area, but inside the tasting room it was boisterous and just a big party of happiness, warmth, and excitement. It was a great first place to visit.

I'm writing this three days out and I can't remember what their wine was like, but they had a Chardonnay (2012) that was quite delicious. I only know this because I bought two bottles and I never would have done that if their Chardies were piss. They are known for their Zins, though and they have a few expensive and fancy reserve Zins, and these are quite spectacular. Big and jammy, lots of flavor, good balance, and just enjoyable to drink.

If you are a Zin fan, they have six different selections available, including a Primitivo that was also worth noting.

Next was on to Rockin' R, where a lass with a silver mullet, poured wine down my gullet. This was a fun small winery, and the woman in charge of the tasting room knew her stuff! She had a very interesting smell technique whereby she smelled the wine one nostril at a time, first "left brain," then smell something neutral, like the back of your hand, then your "right brain," then something neutral, then both nostrils together. It is interesting how one side picks up more of certain flavors than the other side.

Overall their wines were interesting, but nothing rave-worthy. Definitely above average and really good, just not great.

We went to Steinbeck next. They also have a dessert wine company housed in the same tasting room called Paso Port, and they have a wide selection of yummy tasty magic. Steinbeck was one of the pricier wineries we visited, averaging $40 per bottle, but their wines were really good. Overall, really good wines.

We had a quick lunch at the golf course. I'd find another place to lunch in the future. While the views were nice, downtown Paso has a lot of excellent restaurants that are more worth your time and money. Yelp is your friend, not for just the food, but the wineries as well.

Robert Hall is a big fancy winery, right on Highway 46 and one of the first big ones you see coming into town. I hate to disparage wine, but a lot of the wine experience is completely subjective. I am hardly an expert, and you may think my opinions are full of crap and that is fine. You should question me, and go out and form your own opinions. Everyone's tastes vary and everyone's biology is different.

I didn't really care for this wine that much. So I only bought a few bottles. I have to qualify that just a little. A lot changes when you are tasting wine. You get all these flavors back to back. I think when you are at home, you open a bottle and suddenly you are committed to that bottle. Whether you can polish it off with friends in an hour, or if you have to bravely go it alone over a couple of days, it is kind of a thing where you either try harder to like it, or chalk it up to experience and just power through your jug of swill. Take away the obligation to invest and suddenly you become pickier. Maybe that was just me, or maybe I had tasted better wines already so my frame of reference was altered. Hard to say.

I have had Robert Hall before, purchased from the local grocery store. It was a Syrah, that I recall as being quite good, but perhaps the vintage was better than what I tasted. Either way, I wasn't necessarily bowled over by anything I tasted. The prices were lower than most other wineries though, about $20 per bottle average, versus $30. So if you are on a wine budget, it might be a good place to explore. Don't get me wrong the wine is good. But just good.

Eberle has a beautiful winery and tasting room and a nice deck overlooking rows of vines. It is nice and relaxing. Their wines are quite tasty and their mascot is a boar. Overall really good wines.

Hey it was the end of the day after drinking a gallon of wine. What kind of review did you expect? I was lucky to walk out of there. But my tasters were shot! I could drink or taste no more!

So we went to one last winery: 

Grizzly Republic. The tasting room is in downtown Paso, and they have a list of interesting and unique wines. The woman pouring for us was adorable, and she explained that a lot what we were tasting from one year to the next was weather. The standout wine was a Grenache that had an overtly smoky flavor to it because that year, there was a fire nearby and the smoke hung over the vineyard, and the grapes absorbed the smoke. They had a Petite Syrah that was big and jammy, just the way I likey, but Gregory wasn't really into it.

They also had a very nice port, that screamed yumminess at me.

Their tasting room was simple but elegant. They had the best palate cleansers, crackers, cheese and little brownie bites. They also had live music, a guitarist singer who was quite good. It was a very enjoyable way to end the first day of wine tasting.

Personal favorite winery of the day: It was a toss up between Tobin and Grizz

Personal favorite wine tasted: Tobin Fatboy (Zin)

Whaler Vineyard Flagship Zinfandel 2008

So my brother brought this over one night. Our intent was to get drunk on wine. We ended up savoring this bottle quite a bit and spent way more time tasting it than drinking it.

I'm not sure how much it was in the store, though I found it online for $26. It was quite a good wine, and didn't need much opening time to be enjoyed. I mean, admittedly we opened it and poured it, and just started horking it down, but after the first hork, I backed off and enjoyed the summer night and stars.

Bottom line: Drink it!

Curtis Mourvèdre 2010

Curtis winery in Santa Inez is a small family winery that has a variety of tasty wines. This Mourvèdre has a lightness to its color and isn't thick like a Cab. It is lighter like a Pinot, but has a lot of complexity going on.

It was a little tannic, which means that it could be cellared for a couple of years, but it can also be appreciated now. A bit if decanting and allowing it to open up will certainly bring it around.

I haven't had a lot of Mourvèdre, so I don't have a lot of reference for it. We got this wine as part of the wine club so it was chosen for us.

I tend to think of these more exotic varietals as European varietals, but really they are all European, so that is silly. But uncommon flavors will only give your common favorites more gravity. So try something new.

Bottom line: Expand your horizon and drink it!

Returning after a hiatus

Contrary to my lack of posting, I haven't abandoned this blog. But frankly I haven't felt much like writing or blogging or doing anything.

My mom died in May and I haven't really been dealing with it well or effectively (two different things). I spent from February until May with her and my dad, while she slowly succumbed to the cancer infiltrating her body. We did everything we could, including an experimental treatment, but we knew from the beginning we would lose the war, because the cancer was so advanced when it was diagnosed, and therefore it was only a matter of time.

I have also had a couple of big music jobs that have taken a great deal of time, and required more of me than I had available to give. They show promise though that they were a worthy endeavor and I hope they pay off as such.

As far as wine goes, I have been drinking a lot more than I have been tasting. Partially for a lack of direction.

But I have a lot of wine that I intend to drink and I don't want to do so without some kind of direction. I am going to start posting again, but please bear with me. It may take a few posts to get my snarky mojo back.