Red. - 2002 Red Table Wine

Thursday, March 29, 2007
Red.
North Coast Red Table Wine
2002
Cost: $14.99/bottle NOTE: 1 liter size

Would Definitely Buy Again

As I peruse my local wine shop, I am lately aware of a small little black jug of wine simply called “Red.” I pass it by each week. Tonight I wanted a wine to accompany a very simple, albeit cheap, supper of rotini with spinach, garlic and tomato sauce.

After reading labels and looking at written reviews and recommendations, I was still undecided. The shop owner asked me if I’d like help. I told him my menu and asked if he had a suggestion. He said “Now, don’t laugh at me, but I’m going to take you over here to this little jug.” There it was. The little black “Red.” jug.

I must admit my heart sank, especially when I saw the screw-on cap! No way! I’m not buying that! All these thoughts ran through my head. Then I found myself thinking about the curiosity I felt briefly each week as I passed it by. I listened to the shop owner tell me that Martin Ray Winery puts out some decent stuff and he was hesitant when he was first introduced to the little jug himself. He had it with pizza and thought it was perfect. Because I was having a marinara sauce with my pasta, he made a calculated guess and thought it might be a match.

I was told to bring "Red." home, pour a glass and bring it back for my money if I didn’t like it. What did I have to lose? I brought it home. I must admit I thought I probably shouldn’t have a glass until my dinner is ready. I figured it quite possibly wouldn’t taste well on its own. Let me tell you, I was pleasantly surprised! You can imagine The Guy’s sarcasm when I introduced him to what I brought home. I told him the wine was on the table. He took one look at the little jug and said “This is the wine? It looks like a bottle of syrup!” THEN, he saw the dreaded screw-on cap! No way! I’m not drinking this!!!!! You can imagine the thoughts he experienced as I did myself. He too was pleasantly surprised. The flavor increased with our dinner and continues following dinner. Good pick for the price.

Martin Ray Winery
Santa Rosa, CA
http://www.martinray-winery.com/

CLINE - Ancient Vines Zinfandel

Monday, March 26, 2007
CLINE
Ancient Vines Zinfandel
Contra Coast County, 2005
Cost: $14.99 / bottle

Would Buy Again

Well, I initially bought this vino to serve with my baked ziti over the weekend. However, my husband (a.k.a. “The Guy”) drank it with his “bestest” college friend, Patricia, the night before my ziti dinner with my family. As a matter of fact, they consumed ALL of my bottles of wine and never went to bed (as well as half a bottle of Limoncello Patricia brought – to partake and/or read up on, visit: http://www.anticadistilleriarusso.com/). I did not mind at all as they had almost five year’s of catching up time to do. I was very happy to have her for dinner and in our company again (please check out her awesome website chronologizing her 3 months in Italy: http://www.pinopower.com/).

On to the amateur wine review: Although I intended to drink this with pasta, I made pizza and felt it was fairly well-paired (I sent The Guy out for another bottle following his overindulgence Friday night). Once again, however, I poured a glass while the pizza baked. I would give it yet another 5 on my 10-scale. Once served with the pizza, I would again apply a 7. Our pizza was just a plain cheese with roasted garlic crushed tomato topping, Sorrento part-skim mozzarella cheese, as well as fresh Parmesean and Pecorino-Reggiano our dear friend Patricia brought with her from an Italian import shop. The wine is “peppery” in taste but its flavor was accentuated with the pizza. I am continuing to enjoy its lingering flavor on the palette as I write here.

As a side note: I drank this wine previously in the fall. I remember thinking how well I thought it might pair at Thanksgiving with the turkey but I never did partake of it at that time (thanks to Uncle Bob’s fabulous “Turley” Zinfandel we had instead).

Cline Cellars
Sonoma, CA
http://www.clinecellars.com/

Merlotsoul

Campus Oaks - LODI 2003 Old Vine Zinfandel

Way back in 1993, my future father-in-law started my introduction to the finer side of wines, especially reds. That was the year of my wedding, and the year of the finest Clos du Bois Merlot. Thus began my appreciation and preference for Merlots. Over the years, unfortunate financial events paired with a separation of sorts from my father-in-law, have led to the demise of my pursuing higher end wines. However, a superb uncle of mine continues to introduce me to the best of the best, and has taught me that one does NOT need to spend a small fortune to enjoy good wine. Although I have yet to encounter a red that effects me like the 1993 Clos du Bois Merlot, I have enjoyed many adventures with various reds, especially when paired with certain foods. I wish to keep a diary of sorts on my experiences with less expensive purchases as I continue to seek out a superb experience. And so I begin:

Saturday, March 24, 2007
Campus Oaks
Old Vine Zinfandel
LODI 2003
Cost: $13.99/bottle

Would Buy Again

The first glass I poured while preparing dinner. It had a nice flavor, and I especially liked the finish. I figured on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being fabulous) it was about a 5. I then poured another glass with dinner and it became a 7. The flavor was enhanced with the menu of baked ziti, rosemary tuscan loaf, and baby green salad with pignolia nuts.

Gnekow Family Winery
Collegeville, CA
http://www.gnekowwinery.com/

Merlotsoul

Why start this blog?

So I wanted to start a blog that detailed my exploits in finding something decent to drink with... whatever. Hell, I almost never know what we're going to eat on a given night, so how am I supposed to buy the right thing to drink with it?

OK, so I can't figure out what to buy to drink tonight, but why blog about it?

Well because I really got tired of trying to remember what the heck was good and what was, well, just average. I don't know about you, but I'm sick of plunking down 10, 20 even 30 dollars on what is supposed to be the "right" wine for a given dinner occasion, only to have it turn out to be a waste. The liquor store gets enough of my business, I don't have to pay them and then regret drinking what they sold me. They got their money, all I got was either a headache, or a crappy experience. I want something I can rely on.

One of the more quotable lines from the liquor store / wine shop owner is "I liked this one, but it depends on what you're having with it." Really? No Duh. Thanks for the wisdom.

So, I'm sitting here with a bottle of white wine the guy tried, sold to "The Gal", and I'm not enjoying it. OK, maybe because it was less than $20, and we ate it with Chinese food, but it was supposed to be good with Asian food... according to the wine shop guy.

See what I mean?

That was money we could have spent on something we actually really liked. Truth be told, the wine wasn't bad, but it didn't go well with my boneless spare ribs, Lo Mien and chicken nuggets. Maybe it was the hot sauce I poured all over the pile.

Well It makes sense to tell you my/our preferences, and you can take the reviews with that in mind.

Prefer

• Cabernet


• Deep Red Zinfandel


• Merlot


• Chilled Chardonnay


• Smooth Whites like Sauvingnon Blanc

Prefer Less

• Anything overpriced ($100 wine? why when a $40 one tastes close?)


• Port


• Riesling


• Snooty wine reviewers (Screw them, this is about drinking good stuff at a fair price)

Who are we? Just an average guy and his better than average gal. We're normal people who don't make a lot of cash, but when we have a little extra, we like to splurge on a bottle of wine or ingredients to make Marguerita's on the deck, or even a case of ice cold beer.

And your next question as you read this could be anything from:

a) Why link to snooty wine review magazines?

b) Why take the wine shop guy's advice?

c) Why not just join a wine forum or even MySpace and spout off?

To be honest, it's probably because:

a) Those are the only consistent measuring tools available to the average person
b) We do sometimes take such advice and sometimes it works out... sometimes being the key
c) Nothing worse then getting lost in an online message board or a world filled with 13 year olds pretending to be 17/18.

My (and The Gal's) time spent writing is worth the read, at least our friends think so. They know we like to have something nice to drink with dinner, and they always ask "What should I Drink tonight" Hence the title of the blog.

So that's pretty much the gist. No Hemingway write ups on what was the most succulent strip of filet Mignon my pallet was immersed in when the deep, bold sensation of deep crimson vintage that had been culled from the Bordeaux region in past 20 years washed it down in a smooth warm sensation that traveled the length of my breast and burst in my gut with the fury of a thousand foreign legions.

Not here.

It's good wine, good buy... or that stuff tasted like crap and you should save your money.

And in case you're wondering, we did the whole college thing trying to scrape up enough money for pizza by looking for change under the couch cushions. So we know what it's like when you're working on a budget, which is probably going to have a greater influence on future posts than I expect, but you never know until you read them.

One more thing: this isn't the first attempt to get something like this rolling. We ran a blog/site chronicling our South Beach Diet success, but the server tanked and we had to set it up all over again... and instead of going through hell with database conversion, I said screw it. I'll just blog here until we get the other one setup. If we can, we'll run both, but for now, this is the one that's the main thrust of what we're drinking.