Ravens Wood Zinfandel

2009
Vintner's Blend
Woodbridge,CA

We have had Ravens Wood Zin (probably Old Vine Zin more often) several times over the years, but drinking this vintage now made all the difference. I was amazed at the price for the flavor. The scent was wonderfully heady and the flavor rich with blackberry vanilla spice. Unfortunately, this was the last bottle on the shelf. Otherwise, this would be one to buy a case of in my opinion. Cheap, but delicious. We are calling this the Wine for a Blizzard. Tastes GREAT alone or with tomato sauce and garlic and oregano.

Due to a series of unfortunate events, I feel I have started 2013 off wrong. I am hoping it corrects itself soon. A few of my misfortunes just in the first few weeks of 2013 include losing my bank card in the Stop & Shop parking lot, getting into an accident that wasn't my fault with my beautiful hand-me-down car and having their insurance company continue to drag their feet on paying for the damage, and having my garage door break and the heavy, rusty spring and pulley clock me in the head as I tried to unlock the door to my kitchen. Now tonight I am experiencing my first blizzard as an adult (having to worry about things like wind damage to the house and outside vehicles). I pretty much slept and played through the Blizzard of '78 (you really don't realize how great it is to live with people much older than you who take care of things until you become one).

All of my winey complaining aside, I have an amazing friend who has struggled once again with breast cancer. She learned of her newfound diagnosis around Thanksgiving and lived with it through the holidays and through the most sad day of many of our lives, December 14, while being a wife, daughter, sister, friend to many and, most importantly, a mom of two small children. She underwent a double mastectomy and is truly someone to admire. Her blog is listed somewhere to the right of this page, Mom is Always Write. She is an amazingly strong and beautiful person who continues to inspire me and who never loses her wonderful sense of humor.

When you say it's gonna happen now
Well, when exactly do you mean?
See, I've already waited too long
And all my hope is gone

~The Smiths; How Soon Is Now?~

8.25 out of 10
13.5 % alc. by vol.
$9.99 / 750 ml. bottle

phantom

2009
Clarksburg, California
Old Vine Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, & Old Vine Mourvedre

What a difference a year makes. I had the 2009 last year and reviewed it. This is a year later, with the 2009 having remained bottled, and the smokiness that I so love is ALL there in the very first sip, and it lasts to the end. YES! Thanks to the Guy for a much needed surprise tonight.

This is my Halloween go-to. After the chaos of which child is going where and with who, and organizing pickups and sleepovers and trips to see grandma, this is my trick-or-treat upon my final return home.

8.5 out of 10
14.5% alc. by vol.
$19.99 / 750 ml. bottle

Camelot Charonnday

2009
Santa Rosa, CA

Wow. Ok. This wine was very good. It reminded me very much of one of my all-time favorite chardonnays: Sonoma-Cutrer. That said, it is 1/3 of the price! I consider this the best buy of the year so far.

Today was very warm. I am not used to jumping into summer from a mild winter. We had no real winter, and we are apparently headed for no spring either. We are going right into warm, hot weather. Our usual temps for March are low 30's. Today it was 80 degrees +. I was in the mood for a chilled white with my moroccan chicken recipe given to me yesterday by my friend Cheryl. I am not a chicken leg person, however, this recipe cooks the chicken so well it falls off of the bone. The flavor is insanely good with healthy spices like turmeric, ginger and cinnamon.

Camelot has an awesome slight minerality, creamy vanilla with pear flavor. Highly enjoyable. I can't get over the price for the flavor. It was good on its own and with the chicken, cauliflower, asparagus, and spinach.

I highly recommend it.

Recipe for Moroccan Braised Chicken:

Ingredients
- 4 T olive oil
- 6 whole chicken legs (drumsticks & thighs attached, skin removed)
- coarse salt & ground pepper
- 1 lrg. onion, halved & thinly sliced
- 1 t. Turmeric
- 1 t. ground Ginger
- 1/2 t. Cinnamon
- 1-1/2 c lrg. pitted prunes (dried plums)

1. In a lrg. (5 qt.) heavy pot, heat 2 T olive oil over medium-high. Generously salt & pepper chicken. Place 3 chicken legs in pot & cook, turning once, until browned, about 10 minutes total. Transfer browned chicken to a plate. Repeat with the remaining chicken and oil.

2. Add onion and 1/4 c water to pot. Cook, stirring to loosen browned bits in pot. Add turmeric, ginger & cinnamon and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion has softened, about 5 minutes. Return chicken to pot. Add 2 c. water and half of prunes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat & partially cover. Simmer until chicken is cooked through and very tender, about 45 - 50 minutes - stir throughout from time to time while sipping on a glass of wine. :)

3. Transfer chicken to a platter & cover tightly to keep warm, or place on warming burner. Add remaining prunes to pot & raise heat to high. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens, about 10 minutes more. Divide chicken among plates and top with sauce.


Well I've been here before
Sat on a floor in a grey grey mood
Where I stay up all night
And all that I write is a grey grey tune

So pray for me child, just for a while
That I might break out yeah
Pray for me child
Even a smile would do for now

'Cause I'm all alone again
Crawling back home again
Stuck by the phone again

Have I still got you to be my open door
Have I still got you to be my sandy shore
Have I still got you to cross my bridge in this storm
Have I still got you to keep me warm

If I squeeze my grape then I drink my wine
'Cause if I squeeze my grape and I drink my wine
'cause nothing is lost, it's just frozen in frost,
And it's opening time, there's no-one in line

Damien Rice, Grey Room


8.0 out of 10
13.5 alc. by vol.
$6.99!!! / 750 ml. bottle (Go For It)

Dead Canyon

2009
Horse Heaven Hills
Cabernet Sauvignon

I haven't had a really tasty wine in awhile - one that makes me take notice. Tonight we celebrated my mom's birthday and she brought a wine that someone had given her as a gift. It was Dead Canyon and it was extremely good and it made me take notice. Especially for a Washington State wine. Wine Out West. Loved it alot. I liked it best on its own. It had herb undertones, peppery heat, vanilla oak, a healthy dose of earth and a lasting 1 minute finish. As I knew my mother was bringing this wine for before dinner, I went through my recipe books and found an appetizer to accompany a hearty cabernet. It was Ricotta and Mushroom Crostini out of my Food & Wine 2011 Annual Cookbook and the two were a great pairing together. The spiciness and heat of the wine came out with the appetizer, but the more herbal and earthy tones of the wine were more evident prior to any food. Very good either way.

I feel I've lost my creative edge all the way around. I follow the same pattern of: go to work, come home make dinner, help with homework, attend school meetings, go to bed, get up and do it all over again. I have no time to take drawing classes like I was, I am too tired to take pictures, I rarely feel inspired. There just isn't enough time in the day. However, I devoted all of today to making a meal for my mother's special dinner. I made a gourmet meal for the first time in awhile. I haven't put any effort into dinners in a long time for a lot of reasons. But today I felt like making it my mission for the day. So we had the ricotta mushroom crostini for our appetizer and a spicy rosemary lemon marinated pork loin for the main meal, accompanied by Boston lettuce with cranberries, feta and roasted walnuts, roasted rosemary and thyme baby potatoes, homemade organic applesauce (and all three of my children assisted with each phase: washing, peeling, coring and cutting of apples), South Beach Diet Mashed Potatoes (cauliflower mashed with butter and half and half), and a tomato and scallion warm salad with ricotta and lime. Aside from the tomato and scallion salad being warmer than I wanted, the rest was pretty darn good and it felt nice to make a decent meal again.



Water is my eye, most faithful mirror, fearless on my breath
Teardrop on the fire of a confession
Fearless on my breath most faithful mirror
Fearless on my breath

Teardrop on the fire, fearless on my breath
Stumbling a little, stumbling a little

Teardrop
by Massive Attack





8.25 out of 10
13.9% alc. by vol
$18 / 750 ml. bottle

Vitiano Umbria

2009
Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese & Merlot Blend


This was an improvement over Big House red, which I am beginning to think I over-rated. I don't like that I have to cool it to keep it - which means I have to pour it an hour or so before I want a sip so that it comes to room temp. And then it tastes so different. It would probably come to room temp sooner if I didn't keep our house temp at only 60 (Brrrrrrr!) to save $$ on oil! However, that said, it never really "warms" up the way I like my reds.

Anyway, this isn't about Big House at all, it is about Vitiano. And Vitiano is a really good vanilla-oak-cherry dry wine with thyme essence.

I enjoyed this on its own, but it was very good with fettucine and broccoli rabe, chicken sausage, mushrooms, Gouda and some crushed red pepper with a little grape seed oil. I highly recommend this "Super Tuscan" category wine.


So, I am a Steve Poltz fan. He played for awhile on the road with Jewel and they have co-written songs together. But my absolute favorite song of his is from the soundtrack of the movie Notting Hill. The song from the actual soundtrack is electrified and has bagpipes, whereas other versions do not. This, for me, is the sexiest song ever written. Word is that he wrote it for Jewel, though they have not been romantically linked, but whoever it was he had in mind, is the luckiest girl in the world to have someone seeing her in this manner.

I love everything about you
I love the way you comb your hair
And I love the way you sachet in the room
Your perfume lingers in the air
I love everything about you, whoa-oh, about you

I love the way you lick your lips, dear
You got fireworks in your head
And I love the way you bring me water
When I'm thirsty in your bed
I love everything about you, whoa-oh, about you

You were surely kissed by angels
Look at the freckles on your face
You got the devil in your eyes
You disappear without a trace

I love sneaking up behind you
When you're looking in the mirror
The way your eyes lock into mine, dear
Without guilt, without fear
I love everything about you, whoa-oh, about you


8.25 out of 10
$12 / 750 ml. bottle
13.5% alc. by vol.

Plungerhead Old Vine Zinfandel

2009
Lodi
California

Pepper. Alcohol. Oak. Baking spices (nutmeg? cinnamon?). In that order. Much better than whatever else I drank a few days ago that wasn't worth writing about. This had some personality. And some awesome baking spice scent up close. And a heluva kick, which I don't normally like. Not that I do tonight. I don't. But if you're looking for a wine with a kick - grab this. Loved the funky new twist on a twist-off cap. See pic below.



Before I begin, I have lost another dear person in my family that I cared for more than I knew I did. My grandmother's wonderful husband of only 4+ years passed away in a short period of time a couple of weeks ago. He was an incredibly classy, gentle, funny man. I respected him greatly and my grandmother was in love with him. They were beautiful and happy together. They made four years of bliss look like Heaven. My friends and colleagues stood in awe at my tales of their courtship and marriage and travels. Their time together was indeed short, but they packed decades of happiness into their limited time together. DD, thank you for the happiness you brought my grandmother. You will remain in our hearts forever.

For some reason today, an image popped in my head that hasn't been there for a long time. My parents divorced when I was 11. I had a really hard time with it. I dealt with it. I moved on a bit. Then I heavily reminisced for a few years that made me feel very nostalgic and sad - every song from that time period would bring me right back to it. Then I eventually stopped reminiscing and moved on with my own life and just figured all that time spent feeling nostalgic and sad was for a reason - like it was a rite of passage I had to go through in order for me to get to the next phase of my life.

Not long after my parents separated, I was in the car with my mother and we were visiting old friends that she and my dad were friends with when they were together and our families congregated. We were leaving their house and we'd reached the end of the road and were turning to head back to the road to take us home to our house, an hour away now. We passed a house that I couldn't help noticing. It was dark wooden, rustic - slightly haunted looking, yet something about it I liked. It had a bit of junk in the front, but it was big, and I loved the woodeness to it - there were various shades of natural planks making up the house and it gave me an interesting feeling to look at it - not scared, not sad, just a feeling like I had a connection to that house - it made me want to be there. In spite of its degradation, it wasn't really old - just in need of TLC. My mother at that moment as I was silently taking it in at my younger age exclaimed that she and my dad had contemplated buying that house a couple of years ago before separating. I remember thinking in my head: "I sure wish you'd bought it." As I sat at my desk today at work, that image shot into my head and I was filled with a longing for a life that never happened - a corner that wasn't turned and every path changed course from that point on. I felt sure that if they had purchased that house and fixed it up like they had once discussed, my life would have turned out much differently - maybe more happily.

As I began to write tonight, I turned on my Pandora as usual and two songs affected me, back to back, compelling me to write verse from two separate songs. So, here they are, in honor of my memories and my deepest thoughts and reflections today, and in all of their irony:

How can you say, Forever is at your command?
How can you say, The future is in the palm, in the palm of your hand?

When the house was standing,
You'd never have believed it,
When the house was standing,
You'd never have believed...
That gaping hole was once a foundation,
Where you stand now were tools in a basement, And...

How can you say, Forever is at your command?
How can you say, The future's in the palm, in the palm of your hand?

--Palm of Your Hand--
by Cake


So I wanna live in a wooden house,
where making more friends would be easy.

Oh, and I don´t have a soul to save.
Yes, and I sin every single day.

We never change, do we?
We never learn, do we?

So I wanna live in a wooden house,
Where making more friends would be easy.
I wanna live where the sun comes out ...

--We Never Change--
by Coldplay

$13/ 750 ml. bottle
15% alcohol by vol.
8.0 out of 10

Kendall Jackson Chardonnay 2009

Vintner's Reserve
Santa Rosa, California
2009

My friend and I FINALLY walked our almost-5- mile power walk last night. It's been a really long time. It felt good and I was surprised that I handled it so well. I wasn't too breathless! Afterward we had a glass of vino. Hey! It was Saturday night after all and we haven't been together in awhile, and she's had some stuff happen to her recently, and my eldest was on a pseudo date up the road picking apples. We deserved a glass of wine that we'd worked off ahead of time! :)

She is a fan of "Big House". I don't believe I've ever reviewed it, and I won't tonight. She told me it was more sweet, with a Riesling-like flavor. She gave me a choice of the Big House White or her other standby: Crane Lake Merlot. She is a HUGE fan of the Sonoma-Cutrer that I love and, especially, Conundrum - we like this best. However, for an every day wine, she likes the Big House and Crane Lake. So, I chose the white due to being hot and desiring a cold glass verses a warm one. It was enjoyable but I kept thinking about what I was going to buy on the way home.

I decided to pick up one of my own old standbys to accompany dinner: Kendall Jackson Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay. However, it is the 2009 vintage. I decided to form dinner around it and made fettuccine alfredo with grilled chicken, fresh parsley and organic peas. It was a nice, pleasing match. After the Big House, the KJ was awesome. I personally enjoy oak flavor and it was oak-heavy with vanilla and wonderful minerality. I don't believe I have reviewed the 2009 before. I love the 2008. This was just as good, though there was a bit of an "after taste" upon drinking alone. However, the after taste went away with the fettuccine and it went away again tonight with tofu and curry and brown rice and sweet potatoes. It was in a different league than the Big House white, though I did enjoy the Big House following our walk. The Big House is only $8.99 and the KJ is $14.99. but they are very different.

I long to just write. And this isn't the forum I prefer. But I will continue to write here for now until I find my true dream writing niche. So I share my thoughts from the weekend:

My grandmother's husband's health is failing. He is in his 90's and it is to be expected. But they've only had about 4 full married years together. However, they have been great years, and they were very fortunate that they had those few perfect years together. They spent time in their "main" home in CT, their "winter" home in Barbados, and their "summer" home in Maine (Squirrel Island). Up until very recently, they were driving themselves to JFK and around NYC and to Maine. He is a wonderful man. He has made my grandmother very happy, and I have an affection for him that I can't explain - as though he was always meant to be there, but wasn't until recently.

I visited with them yesterday and things are not well for him - the doctors believe he has 6 to 7 weeks left here on earth. He is in my prayers every night. My grandmother is having a hard time. She is very devoted to him and will not leave his side even if it is at her own well being's expense. By that I mean that she is not so steady anymore on her feet and she is getting him up and showered and dressed every morning. I am humbled by their love. And I am sad that their life together may be coming to an end. They have been such an inspiration to my friends and colleagues as they met and fell in love and married in their late 80's. I am praying my grandmother can make it through the next few weeks and survive the loss of her second husband as she did her first. She is my last living grandparent and I am filled with emotions as I witness yet again another loss halfway through my life, and the second loss of love for her. They have been so happy together.

As they struggle with this impending change to their love and life together, my own eldest daughter is beginning her future. She likes someone. This made my grandmother so happy for a moment as she dreamed about being "Sweet 16" and liking someone for the first time. Life changes so fast. It goes through its cycles and we ebb and flow with each wave. I love my family and my memories and I miss the past and sometimes fear the future and then again I will embrace change when I feel brave and I think everything is going to be okay, but then I worry that maybe it won't and I am resigned to just take each day as it comes.

For now, I am happy for my daughter as I reflect on my own life's journey, while remembering that of my grandmother. One is coming to an end, one is just beginning, and the other remains in the middle. And, as I look at my beautiful girl, I still see that beautiful baby from just 16 years ago and can't believe how quickly time has flown.


I am a Duffy fan as much as I am Adele. They both take me back to the past in their current music styles. This is a song I love:


I'm scared to face another day
'Cause the fear in me just won't go away
In an instant you were gone and now I'm scared

DUFFY, I'm Scared


8.25 out of 10
13.5% alc. by vol.
$14.99 / 750 ml. bottle

Cupcake Chardonnay

2009
Central Coast
California

Okay. This is my favorite "new" Chardonnay. It reminds me very much of Kendall-Jackson's Grand Reserve Chardonnay. Creamy vanilla spice and wonderful minerality - my favorite. This was excellent. It is recommended with crab cakes and/or french bread and cheese. I can't wait to try it with crab cakes and salmon. I think it will be an awesome pairing.

BIG taste, LOW price.


You didn't ask for this
Nobody ever would
Caught in the middle of this dysfunction
It's your sad reality
It's your messed up family tree
And all your left with all these questions

Are you gonna be like your father was and his father was?
Do you have to carry what they've handed down?
No, this is not your legacy
This is not your destiny
Yesterday does not define you
No, this is not your legacy
This is not your meant to be

I can break the chains that bind you
I have a dream for you
It's better than where you've been
It's bigger than your imagination
You're gonna find real love
And you're gonna hold your kids
You'll change the course of generations

Matthew West, FAMILY TREE

8.25 out of 10
13.5% alc. by vol.
$11/750 ml. bottle

Duck Walk Vineyards Rose

2009
The Hamptons, Long Island (must be said with a Thurston Howell, III-type voice Lovey)

This was part of the Thanksgiving Day lineup. I have made it a mission to find something that this accompanies well, though I did use it mostly in cooking. On Thanksgiving, our appetizers were shrimp cocktail, aged upstate NY Cheddar with rosemary crackers, curried cashews, and prosciutto and fontina pinwheels. The Riesling we had accompanied all very well. The Rose was weakened by the other powerhouse flavors. However, I added it to my turkey soup and it tasted good accompanying the soup as well as with risotto and ginger and garlic sauteed chicken breasts that I made for dinner tonight (I did add 1 cup to the risotto). I would have thought the ginger and garlic were too strong of flavors and would have drowned out the wine, but they tasted surprisingly good together.

I was pleasantly shocked by this wine's dryness. I expected it would be weak and sweet, but it had more flavor and punch than I thought it would. Made from Merlot grapes, it was better than I anticipated. It was somewhere between a sauvignon blanc and a light summer chardonnay. It had a light strawberry like flavor with a crisp, almost floral finish. As it states on the bottle, it is better served with "light fare".

Let the angels sing around us
Christmas time is here
Let our children's love surround us
Laughing and filled with cheer

Harry Connick, Jr.
When My Heart Finds Christmas


7.5 out of 10
12% alc. by vol.
$14 / 750 ml. bottle

Cakebread Chardonnay

2009

Cakebread Cellars

Chardonnay

NAPA Valley, CA

This one is short and sweet. It was a good wine. It was recommended highly by a friend. It was given to me by another friend. (I have nice friends.) It was big citrus fruit and slight apple, and enjoyable, but just not the heavy body or minerality I look for in a chardonnay.

Given the choice between this $32 bottle and my previously reviewd $19 bottle of Kendall Jackson Grand Reserve chardonnay - I am going with the KJ Grand Reserve ALL THE WAY. The distinct flavor and minerality, as well as the extra body make the KJ a way better deal in my opinion.

I've been doubting yours, baby

I've been doubting mine

I've been out of circulation

Where the sun don't shine

. . .Have to draw the line

David Gray, Draw the Line

8.0 out of 10

$32 / 750 ml. bottle

14.1% alc. by vol.

GPD09

No wine blog tonight, in honor of GPD09:

On Twitter, I just came across Gary Vaynerchuk's Good People Day just in time to post before April 3rd ends. I love his idea of posting GOOD things about GOOD people in lieu of all the bad news out there in media land. I don't know if my blog follows the rules exactly, as this kid seems to be doing all right with positive media attention, but I wanted to write about him anyway. I first heard about McKay Hatch on National Public Radio. He is a young boy who believes in no swearing. I was SO happy and proud of him for not only choosing the high road in his own life, but encouraging others to do the same. He is a real inspiration for positive change. Please see the link below about the club he started and has successfully launched and grown.

I have 3 children and am trying to raise them to act respectfully and classey in a really disrespectful, unclassey world of late. I can't take them to the movies or even the grocery store without profanity being overheard or blatantly used. I am so sick of the "F" bomb being dropped like it's the word "and". It's disheartening and offensive. So, on a positive note, I want to do my part to bring even more attention to McKay. And, what an awesome idea Gary started. May next year be the biggest Good People Day ever.

http://www.nocussing.com/aboutncc.html


For a link to Gary's idea:

garyvaynerchuk.com/post/92643534/good-people-day-2009