Los Vascos Cabernet

2006
Colchagua Valley
Chile

Overall, this wine is a good deal for the price. Owned by one of the more premier older French vineyard owners, this wine was medium bodied and dry with a light oak flavor and scent, mingled with green pepper taste, slight black cherry and black pepper finish. Not a long finish, not a deep wine, but perfect for every day to have on hand. The Guy and I reviewed Los Vascos 2004 Reserve last year, and I think I like this more.




My Wine Eludes Me

In the midst of hardening reality
Questioning, praying, on the edge of delusion and then forsaking
Only to initiate the cycle again

Knowledge, religion, veracity, asseveration
Ebb and flow through the veins
Afflicting the heart and the brain
Even my wine eludes me

Ransacking for solace, or just a sign
Beholding the electronic medium
It is the lyrics to a song that taunt me in possessive irony
The Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony" offers me no mental release

Nothing is as it seems



7.75 out of 10
$10 (or less) / 750 ml bottle
14% alc. by vol.

14-18h Rose

2007
Agiorgitiko
Greece
I once again visited the world of Rose (accent mark necessary but stumps me again). 14-18h was pretty good. I actually liked it. It wasn't sweet. It was dry and flavorful. Reminded me a bit of "Turkey Flat" which is another Rose I like. Though it wasn't heady, like I like my whites and reds (I didn't expect it with a Rose), I enjoyed it with leftover Tortellini Alfredo and fresh, sliced Avocado. And I enjoyed it on it's own. On a hot summer day, this is a refreshing wine to drink, well chilled.

Although, not a strong wine, I found myself affected :) My children have been away having fun at the beach with their grandparents for several days, and I knew I missed them, but I didn't know how much until my little one called me tonight to ask me to say her prayers over the phone and sing "Silent Night" to her (our favorite bedtime song all year round). I answered the phone at 10:00 PM and heard a quiet "Hi Momma" (I LOVE it when she calls me that - normally she calls me "Mom" except when she's really sleepy or just out of sorts). She asked for "prayers and 'Silent Night' ". I choked up halfway through prayers, then again doing the second verse of "Silent Night". I blamed the wine in my mind. :)

All my bags are packed,

I'm ready to go

I'm standing here outside your door

I hate to wake you up to say goodbye

But the dawn is breakin, it's early morn

The taxis waiting, he's blowin' his horn

Already I'm so lonesome I could cry.

So kiss me and smile for me

Tell me that you'll wait for me

Hold me like you'll never let me go.

Im leavin' on a jet plane

I don't know when Ill be back again

Oh, babe, I hate to go.

Peter, Paul, and Mary, Leavin' on a Jet Plane

7.75 out of 10
12.5% alc. by vol.
$13 / 750 ml. bottle

Clos Du Bois Chardonnay 2007

2007
North Coast
California

This is just a brief comment on trying the 2007, thinking it was the 2006. The Guy brought this home last week to please me following a week of no wine. While I normally prefer "new" wines to review, I was so happy that it was my old standby (or so I thought). I tasted it and, though it was good, it was different and not as "minerally" or finish-lasting as my norm. So I quizically studied the label. It was 2007 in lieu of 2006. I was pretty thrilled to realize I can tell the difference a year makes! Anyway, still a good wine, but I will pay more for the 2006 flavor.

And you read your Emily Dickinson,
And I my Robert Frost,
And we note our place with bookmarkers
That measure what weve lost.
Like a poem poorly written
We are verses out of rhythm,
Couplets out of rhyme,
In syncopated time
Lost in the dangling conversation
And the superficial sighs,
Are the borders of our lives.

Simon & Garfunkel, Dangling Conversations

7.75 out of 10
$22 / 1.5 L bottle
http://closdubois.com/

Altosur Malbec

2006
Tupungato - Mendoza
Argentina

Will drink again.

This was a very good deal for the price. It was on the dry side, but the finish was fairly long and good. Blackberry with slight smoke and mushroom, it had a dark purplish-black ink color and heavy fruit scent.

We had a simple meal tonight of black beans in red wine and garlic sauce over brown rice made in organic chicken broth. I added avocado and Greek plain yogurt to mine and this wine took on a spicier, more flavorful taste than when alone - although it was enjoyable alone too.

I sing alone,
while I watch the ocean,
my lover's gone,
no earthly ships will ever bring him home again,
bring him home again

DIDO

8.0 out of 10
$9 / 750 ml bottle
13.5% alc.by vol.
www.sophenia.com.ar

Recent Wine and Food Pairings

La Segreta
2005
Sicilian White Wine

I recently reviewed this wine, however, I wanted to check back to write of it's deliciousness with Parmesean risotto and grilled chicken and peppers. As it was my mother who treated me to dinner out when I first tasted this wine, I ordered a few bottles and had she and my stepdad over for dinner recently to enjoy the wine again with a slightly different menu. I made risotto and we grilled chicken and peppers (and zucchini too) and the wine accompanied it well. In addition, it went well with Cabot Sharp Cheddar and Carr's crackers (mixed variety).












Liberty School
2005
Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon


I reviewed this back on March 11th, but just wanted to add how good it tasted recently again with shrimp, bowties, fresh parmesean, and spinach. Also, it accompanied mushroom pizza very well a few nights later.












If you want it
Come and get it
Crying out loud
The love that I was
Giving you was
Never in doubt
Let go your heart
Let go your head
And feel it now

-David Gray, Babylonoubt
el it now

Trumpeter

2006
Malbec
Argentina

Might drink again.

This was dry with a slight smoke flavor similar to a Chilean red. Black cherry flavors with some licorice and pepper and a hint of vanilla, the finish was slightly long though it was a bit bitter and it weakened out a bit at the end with a little "alcohol" taste.

We had this with turkey meatballs and bowtie pasta and it's flavor was neither detracted from nor enhanced either way. I would recommend it be served alongside a hearty grilled piece of beef and bet it's flavor would soar (as well as that of the meat).

Evening falls, and again he is there
Sitting by her in the field
Watching the sunset over the trees
Resting his arm on one propped leg
Sometimes playing with a blade of grass between his fingers
I secretly watch him from a distance
Emotions emanate from his very being
His head hangs down by his shoulder
Occasionally he stares off to the hills
Cars go by on the road, interrupting
Neighborhood dogs bark, intruding
People bike by, imposing
Still he just sits by her, oblivious to life going on around him
I quietly watch now from the other side of the field as I walk my dog
My heart aches as I think of my life in it's unbliss and look at him there, handsome and young, after all these months still devotedly by her side
They were just starting out
God! Comfort him, give him a sign, let her speak to him this time
He continues to sit by her and think, head down
Finally it is time for him to go
I am home now and watch from behind a curtain at my window, as my eyes water over
He rises up, but lingers, struggling to tear himself away from her never ending silence
He kisses the tips of his fingers, leans over and gently presses them on her gravestone, then quietly walks away

(I live across the street from a cemetery. My children and I noticed a young man regularly appearing every evening before sunset and sitting by a grave, sometimes with his dog. I was struck by his youth and devotion to whomever he was missing. I sometimes feel an unbelievable desire to go sit by him and I don't know why. One evening after he left, I went to see if it could be the grave of perhaps his mother or father. It was the grave of a 31 year old woman. I looked her name up on the internet and found out it is his wife. In a weird set of events, I found a random Email link that was posted by her husband, the man I see almost every night, letting her college friends know (who were shocked by her death) that she died unexpectedly of mitral valve prolapse in February. One day she was there, going to work, and then she was gone. What really hit home for me is her web page, for a local realty office, is still up - you can call her if you're looking for a local home. And she speaks of her husband and their dog and her picture is there, smiling broadly :( She was beautiful.)




7.75 out of 10
$10.99 / 750 ml. bottle
13.5% alc. by vol.