Justin Cabernet Sauvignon

2006
Paso Robles
California



The Guy and I attended a Holiday wine, beer and food pairing event with my boss and his wife at the same place I wrote about in my October post below.

We had many pairings, but the wine we loved the most was the very smooth and distinct Justin Vineyards Cabernet. Ironically, it was a wine used to show that none of the foods served went well with it. But it was awesome on its own. I served it pre-food on Thanksgiving and it was a hit (the Justin cab is shown here on the right - Ommegang Ale is on the left.)

FYI - out of the two beers we tried, Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA and Ommegang Abbey Ale, it was the Ommegang we brought home ($5.99 / pint). This Belgian-style sweet brew accompanied hard pretzels and spicy Chipotle Honey Mustard nicely. It also accompanied our sausage and buffalo mozzarella pizza well too.

We had a Gewurztraminer, a Crus Beaujolais, a Muscat, a Port, and a Rose Brut as well. Each was paired with various food items including whole grain bread and salami with rosemary infused olive oil, bruschetta, pears and bleu cheese (which the Muscat was awesome with - Bealieu Vineyards - $8.99), brie and cranberry, and dark mexican chocolate (paired well with Fonseca 10-year Tawny Port - $32.99). But the Cabernet was where it was at for me. I couldn't get it's flavor and scent off my mind. I knew as soon as I put it to my nose that I was going to enjoy it. And, after all pairings were complete, it was what I asked to have a refill of to end my night. It was very smooth, slightly sweet with vanilla and spice but nicely balanced with herbal, mushroom flavors.

Not exactly a budget wine at $25 a bottle, but nice for special occasions.








8.5 out of 10
14.5% alc. by vol.
$25 / 750 ml. bottle
JUSTINwine.com

Hayman Hill

2005
Cabernet Sauvignon
NAPA VALLEY
Reserve Selection No. 27

Would love to drink again, and again.

9/20/08 - Update: Had again with lunch - tostadas with black beans, kidney beans, garlic, tomato sauce, Greek plain yogurt and Chipotle topping. Very, very good together.

I still have (3) wines that The Bro brought Labor Day weekend to review, and (3) new reds from a picnic yesterday. But tonight, we had one of our own and this was it. I enjoyed it a LOT. It was good alone and with turkey meatballs, roasted garlic marinara and fresh basil from my kitchen garden, spinach and fresh parmesean. Especially excellent following a bite of the meatball. Scent of a meaty olive, the taste was pleasant blackberry with a little oak and vanilla with a lingering finish.

Quote of the Day - I told The Guy (who, in case you didn't know, writes for Comcast and Scout on the internet about the New England Patriots) with regard to the Patriots' Tom Brady replacement: "He makes me wish I was twenty years old again, and a New England Patriot cheerleader."

He quoted me, wryly, on his report: newengland.comcastsportsnet.com/wickedgoodsports/patriots/week-2-cassel-vs-the-hated-jets/


8.25 out of 10
13.5% alc. by vol.
$12.00 / 750 ml. bottle

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

BV Georges de LaTour Private Reserve Cabernet

2002

Beaulieu Vineyards

Napa Valley, California

Another exceptional wine review contributed by our friend PasaRoblesCab (be sure to read the bolded text at the end):

Red and black fruit on the nose with some vanilla, and cedar. Beautiful open nose, with some plum.This is definitely one of the top three wines that I have ever had. It is next to the 1998 Mouton-Rothschild.

An incredibly powerful wine that has possibly the greatest mouth feel I've ever tasted; it's like velvet, heavy but smooth. You can see the legs in the pic. Silky tannins balanced with perfect acidity. The mouth has cocoa, slight leather and some plum with a finish that lasts for longer than a minute. It was hard to let this sit and breathe, I wanted to keep drinking. Reminded me of the 2002 Stags Leap which was another gift and way out of the budget.

A little inside story:

I have been fortunate enough in my profession to meet people who have the finances to "collect" and "invest" in wine, most of them are hedge fund traders, Venture Capitalist, or have earned it the hard way, Inherited it!, Regardless, after holding their hand (and their wallet) for a year or so until our project was completed, I have gotten to know them fairly well and have become more or less part of their Non-City existence. I have been invited to parties, vacation homes and on occasion, asked to partake in more than wine and cheese! Anyway, I will save that for my book which has been an ongoing project. Once the topic of wine comes up I have been escorted to some of the finest cellars we peasants could only dream of having. Some in the bellies of mansions, some separate out-buildings on the compound. I have seen cellars that have enough wine to pay for my home and cars twice over. But, whether rich or middle class, it all comes down to taste. I have come across people who have a 10,000 bottle cellar that love to drink an ordinary run of the mill California Cab, the kitchen wine fridge is stocked with Blackstone and Mondavi. All rich people don't drink B.V. Reserve on a daily basis. Their party guests don't guzzle Crystal and Dom by the case. These people need to spend their money and they buy large quantities of good wine that is going to, guess what, increase in value! It's all about the almighty buck. Of course it is nice when entertaining to escort a few guests to the tasting room and have $5,000 worth of wine decanted and ready for the tasting, or let someone randomly pick from the depths of the mahogany racks. What I am trying to get at is, the $100 bottle of B.V. I thoroughly enjoyed and reviewed for "The Guy and The Gal" is just as good as the Donati last night and the J. Kirkwood Merlot that's ready to be opened tomorrow.

Submitted by PasaRoblesCab

WE rating: 92

$99.00 / 750 ml. bottle

http://www.bvwines.com/

McManis Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

McManis Family Vineyards

California

2005

Will drink again. (This is another good buy for the price.)

The color a deep garnet red, this wine was on the sweeter side the first night I drank it. The next night it was more oak-like and slightly smokey. It is recommended to drink it with steak or red meat. I drank it all on its own and really enjoyed it the first night. The next night it proved to be a good accompaniment to bacon horseradish cheddar cheese and cracked wheat crackers. It lost some of the sweetness and became more smokey. The wheat flavor in the crackers was very pronounced following a sip of the wine.

"Couldn't understand a single word he said,

but he sure had some mighty fine wine . . .

and I helped him drink his wine."

-Three Dog Night (Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog)

8.25 out of 10

$9.99 / 750 ml bottle

13.5% alc. by vol.

http://www.mcmanisfamilyvineyards.com/

337 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon

2005
Lodi
Cabernet Sauvignon

Would drink again.

Nice post from Pasa Robles, thank you so much for your "breathing" input.

This wine eluded me. My first reaction was too dry, not enough flavor and I don't want any more. The Guy then handed me the last of last night's the Little Penguin and told me to compare. I thought for sure the Little Penguin would taste wicked sweet in comparison, but it didn't. They almost tasted the same to me but I knew they were vastly different. I'm not sure why they tasted so similar (except for possibly the "breathing" effect on the Little Penguin), but it piqued my interest in having another sip.

I then ate some pizza I'd made of whole grain crust, awesme fire-roasted crushed tomatoes, Buffalo mozarella, parmesean, sauteed orange peppers and sauteed baby bella mushrooms (though the back of the bottle suggested it be served with "food acceptable at a Viking feast"). I had another sip of the 337 and it totally grew on me. It went from my wanting to "take it or leave it" to tasting like another glass was in order. I think The Guy liked 337 more than I did (he said he was going to report on it himself - we'll see), but it really improved from my original sip. Though drier than my usual likes, it was good and it accompanied the meal well. It smelled like chocolate and rasberry. It tasted a lot like it smelled with a dry earthiness worked in. Not a lasting finish, but drinkable just the same.

Do not yet see, that, if the single man plant himself indomitably on his instincts, and there abide, the huge world will come round to him.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

7.75 out of 10
$12.99 / 750 ml.
14.5% alc. by vol.
California

the turk

2004
Barossa Valley
South Australia

Will drink again - the Barossa Valley entices me every time.

This is an awesome blend of 54% shiraz, 26% mourvedre, 12% grenache, 8% cabernet. This wine is on the drier, spicier side for my usual likes, but the berry in it comes through equally as well - very nice balance. A deep purple-claret in color, its bouquet was of smoked turkey or grilled chicken salad but I could smell the "heat" as well. It was a well-balanced taste of dry, spicy, sweet berry and heat right from the first mouthfeel. A very nice finish completes it - the flavor lasts and does not change into anything else. Interestingly, it's very stable from start to finish. If you like it from the beginning, you'll like it at the end. I drank it alone (no food).

This may be a really "Duh" revelation, but it dawned on me tonight that I get as much pleasure in wine as I do in cooking (and eating) because both indulge all five senses: sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. I love to see the color that presents in the glass, the sound of the cork being pulled and the even better sound of the wine being poured, each wine's unique bouquet, the feel of it flooding the tongue and traveling to the back of the mouth and throat, and finally, its taste. Thinking about the senses involved reminded me of a website I've mentioned before in my other blog and I thought I'd share some of it here with you.

The following is taken from Wendy Dubit's website http://www.thesensesbureau.com/ :

"Sense of Smell

Smell is perhaps our most primitive and powerful sense -- readily committed to and triggered by memory, cross-linked with other senses and feelings, evocative, contextual and able to transport one in time and space.

Like primary colors, aromas can be broken down into basic categories which, when combined, yield up the rich symphony that is wine. U.C. Davis’ Wine Aroma Wheel (note: look under "Wine and Grapes" when entering this link) categorizes fruit aromas as citrus (grapefruit, lemon), berry (blackberry, raspberry, strawberry and black currant), tree (cherry, apricot, peach, apple), tropical (pineapple, melon, banana), dried (jam, raisin, prune, fig) and other. Likewise, vegetative aromas can be fresh (stemmy, grassy, green, eucalyptus, mint), canned (asparagus, olive, artichoke), and dried (hay/straw, tea, tobacco). Other categories include nutty, caramelized, woody, earthy, chemical, pungent, floral, spicy.

Smell (often called “aromas” for wine components and “bouquet” for the whole blend) is so much the predominant sense in winetasting that some chemists have called wine “a tasteless liquid that is deeply fragrant.”

Indeed, much of what we consider flavor (up to 80% or more) is aroma/bouquet as sensed and articulated by our olfactory. Based on bouquet alone, many tasters can identify a wine’s grape variety, origin/terroir, vintage and aging (including the type of oak and degree of char/toast.)

Powerful though it is, we become quickly inured to smell. Which is why, so often, tasters will revisit the wines in a flight twice or more -- swirling to release aromas, inhaling deeply, and continuing to breathe in the bouquet even during the tasting process.

Sense of Taste

Taste, our most life-sustaining sense, comes in four or five basic flavors -- sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and the more recently identified umami (savory). But, as with primary colors and basic aromas, a seemingly unlimited range opens to us from there.

Most tastes are a combination of sweet (as found in some white and most dessert wines), sour (a lively acidity present in many whites and some reds), salty (seldom found in wine), bitter (often a result of tannin) and umami (ripe, peak, pungent). Often, flavors can cancel each other out (as in the case of salt inhibiting bitter) or enhance each other (as in the case of salt accentuating sweetness).

Though tongue maps usually place our perceptors of sweet at the tip of the tongue, bitter at the back and sour at the sides, in truth, our taste buds are less specialized and more broadly distributed. In tasting, it is important to let wine roll over and linger on the tongue, be aerated by breath and give forth its first, middle and lasting impressions (although much of what factors into these impressions will be aroma and mouthfeel). "


Children safely asleep in bed,
I set to work on clearing my head.
Another day has flown past,
yet another week has been cast.
I light a candle and watch it's flame,
thankful for so much I can't explain.
I no longer think of what might lurk,
I live for now and partake in 'the turk'.

8.25 out of 10
$16.99 / 750 ml
15% alc. by vol. (yikes! no wonder why I'm feeling so warm and fuzzy)
Turkey Flat Vineyards
http://www.turkeyflat.com/

********* the Guy Weighs in *********

The Turk

Smells like dirty socks. I don’t know what it is about this wine. I was excited about it from my first impression. The name "the Turk" a common football reference – albeit not a good one if you’re a player. Apparently the wine takes some of its characteristics from the football reference. While I’m on it . . . Was it dirty socks or locker room smell? That’s the question flipped back and forth in my mind as I smelled this wine.

OK, so the nose of this wine stinks. It’s not just different, it’s untoward. Thankfully, I’m willing to go past a bad smelling wine to see what’s inside. It’s my adventurous side – at least that’s what I’ve always told the ladies. *shrugs shoulders*

As I sat there typing up my notes on my other job – the football one – I sipped on "the Turk". Berries... that’s what I smell. (side note: Heroes is a good show. I watched season one on the Internet and recommend it to all. If you can’t make it’s normal timeslot, watch it online with headphones on a decent monitor. Well worth it. Of course, I have an affinity for cheerleaders who save the world, Samurai swords and the super natural... at least in my TV shows but not my wines.)

Back to the wine.

You drink the Turk and you feel the warmth as it rolls down your throat and it inches toward your belly. Left behind though is a slightly chalky taste. It’s earthy smell fills your mouth. The wine is smooth, but leaves behind a residue like dust on the hood of your car in the desert. You know it’s there, but you can’t be bothered to wash it off because your mind is on other things.
Once you get past the initial smell, this wine is actually a decent wine. It’s not overpowering with it’s berry flavor, or it’s tannins (as many wine snobs describe it). It’s full-bodied, with a solid finish. It doesn’t disappear after the first glass, and isn’t too strong to cause you to stop drinking it after the second. I liked the wine because many times you purchase something in this price range and it’s forgettable. This wine was anything BUT that.

As the Gal described, this wine has 15% alchohol so it hits you if you’re not used to that kind of concentration. Sometimes that level can burn when you drink it, this wine doesn’t. It’s powerful, but controlled.

If you can find a smoother wine with less nose, then get it, but you won’t go wrong with this one.

DOGAJOLO Sangiovese

Would not normally try again, but . . .

DOGAJOLO
Dry Red Table Wine of Tuscany
80% Sangiovese, 20% Cabarnet Sauvignon
2005

This was my first Sangiovese (pronounced "san-jo-VAY-zay"). It probably was not the best one to start with. It was way too dry for my tastes. It got me in the gizzards from the first mouthful. But its initial bouquet made my mouth water for beef burgundy (and I do not typically eat red meat). I normally wouldn't try this particular label again, but a Sangiovese is recommended on the "Wine Lover's" diet (we are semi-following) with the "Tuscan Beef Stew" recipe. I will buy Dogajolo again when I make the stew so I can see what a difference the "right" food pairing might make with this label - see if I can raise it from 5.5 out of 10 to anything at all higher. If it's still not good, I will buy a bottle of 2001 Antinoro Sangiovese Santa Cristina to give Sangiovese in general another try.

Carpineto S.N.C.
Greve in Chianti
Italy
$10.99 / bottle
www.carpineto.com