Valckenberg Gewurztraminer

2006
Germany

Would drink again.

The Bro was here for Labor Day weekend and birthday celebrations. He came with (4) reds and (4) whites. He is not a white wine lover, but he went out on a limb and gave them his best attention. He did not leave a white wine lover, but we did have fun.

I really enjoyed this Gewurztraminer though he did not, nor did The Guy. The Bro's biggest complaint was that he likes a wine he can enjoy on its own without requiring food to enhance the flavor. This wine was on the sweeter side, which was no surprise to me, but it didn't go over well with The Bro or The Guy. We had it with grilled marinated chicken breast, roasted garlic and pecan grains, and broccoli and carrot slaw. I thought it accompanied the tangy flavors of the meal well. And I felt the meal brought out the best in the wine.

Nutmeg, peach and an undisclosed floral scent and flavor. This was my first floral wine experience and I liked it. This wine is flavorful and right on with the budget. Low in alcohol content, it's enjoyable well-chilled on a warm summer day, especially following a LONG hike and you won't get hammered after a couple of glasses.


8.0 out of 10
$10 / 750 ml bottle
10.5% alc. by vol.


Rain it on down.
What else can you throw at me I haven't heard before?
And tear me on down.
I am unforgivable.

So why don't you just tell me
What you really think of me?
And scream me on down
I am so forgettable
Yes, I know.

And shoot me on down
Don't you think this isn't killing me?
But it's no more than I deserve.

I don't care what you call me.
Because it won't hurt any more.

David Ford / I Don't Care What You Call Me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybt26QmzZ6U

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

The 3rd Bottle White Table Wine

White Table Wine
Napa Valley, California

Will drink again.

This has been a great weekend for wine and posting. I'm up late and I don't care. I am working on a project for my grandmother's 90th birthday and it has forced me to learn how to get all the pix I've been taking for YEARS off the camera and into websites! I can now post pix of labels here and am so HAPPY! Last night's wine (posted here now) was great. I can't wait to post tonight's wine tomorrow - a 9.0 has been found THIS YEAR!!!!! Check back on 10/01 for the label.

This is a very drinkable, good wine - stand alone. Make it with the right meal and it's fabulous. If you'd like a SURE THING food pairing, please visit http://www.cheznathalie.com/ and prepare the Chicken Francaise, Lemon Noodles and Italian Spinach recipes I've posted there and serve this wine with it. You can't go wrong. This was an awesome, PERFECT pairing. Please note, the recipe calls for white wine in the chicken and I used The 3rd Bottle; I am of the mind set that you should absolutely use a wine that you would drink when called for in recipes - not the "cheap" stuff or worse, the "cooking" wine.

Very citrusy bouquet. The flavor was initially grapefruit, followed by a bit of butter, dryness and vanilla lemon. The flavor of the wine, and the meal, were complimented by each other. Excellent pairing.

Autumnal equinox,

in the Northern Hemisphere.

A time for farmers to bring in the crops,

and Autumn is finally here.

Cultural gatherings, festivals and rituals have begun,

sunset to moonrise is no longer so dark.

A narrow angle to the horizon is the plane of earth's orbit around the sun,

and winter has yet to leave its mark.

But the leaves will drop and cold will blow in soon,

so be merry and dance now under the Harvest Moon.

8.0 out of 10
$13.99 / 750 ml
13.5% alc. by vol.
http://www.gustavothrace.com/

Yalumba Viognier

2006
The Y Series
South Australia

Will drink again.

I think it is safe to say that I have become a fan of Yalumba Winery's Y Series wines in general.
I love their Barossa Valley Shiraz, and I now am also a big fan of their Viognier (which they are responsible for my interest in as a result of tasting their Barossa Valley Shiraz-Viognier. The Shiraz-Viognier blend I had only contained 5% Viognier, but after drinking their complete Viognier tonight, I can appreciate that 5%.) I am very eager to try the 2003 Yalumba Octavius Shiraz someday - I feel good things happening just thinking about it. However, I believe it is somewhere in the price range of $75 - $100 a bottle. So, not exactly a "budget wine".

I enjoyed this Viognier with grilled salmon, roasted green beans and baby potatoes with rosemary. The fruit of the wine became more herb-like following the rosemary in the potatoes. I first smelled pear which I love in a white wine. Next was sort of an herby-apricot and then a vanilla-citrus. It tasted good on its own but its unique flavors were accentuated with the meal, especially following the rosemary potatoes.

It is a screw cap. That, apparently, is a problem for some of the more pretentious wine drinkers out there. My brother-in-law was horrified that I had purchased a screw-cap white wine for his visit (the Dashwood Sauvignon Blanc reviewed the other night was, alas, a screw-cap). I found myself getting pretty angry at his afrontage. I told him that screw-caps are the way of the future and in no way represent a "cheap" wine. (He had made some comment about how I must have "pulled all the stops" buying the wine seeing that it was a screw-cap! Oh I am so mad even now thinking about it. Deep breath in, deep breath out. Life is good. Everything will work out. OK I'm recovered.)

I offer the following adaptation from Yalumba.com's site:

Screw-cap eliminates the possibility of wine taint from cork and, as there is not a lot of the sealing polymer in contact with the wine, flavour absorption from the closure is not an issue. Screw-cap is a wonderful seal for ensuring great bottle ageing of appropriate white wines . . . Screw-cap removes all the problems associated with using closures that are “stuffed” into a bottle neck. The internal bore of a bottle is not a controlled surface during the bottle making process, whereas the outside surface of a bottle is. As the seal does not allow any air into the bottle at all, the wine undergoes a slow, but perfect bottle ageing process.

Yalumba has watched the markets adoption of the screw-cap closure with interest. "Acceptance of the screw-cap has grown significantly, and continues to grow, amongst the wine industry and its consumers, particularly at the top end of the market", says Robert Hill Smith.

Yalumba has extended its portfolio of wines sealed with a screw-cap closure even further, in particular, to Viognier. “Viognier, which seems particularly prone to flavour modification by cork, no doubt benefits from a screw-cap seal,” says Winemaker Louisa Rose.

It was on a visit to Condrieu, the home of Viognier in France's Rhône Valley, that Yalumba's Peter Wall first encountered Viognier. Once grown extensively south of Lyon, Viognier is now virtually confined to the tiny Condrieu and Côte Rôtie regions, with the best wines form Château-Grillet, a tiny appellation of Condrieu.

"Viognier is incredibly challenging and demands handling with kid gloves," says Yalumba winemaker, Louisa Rose. "It's unpredictable, difficult to grow and the yields are low. The variety always has the ability to surprise you - one day the grapes on the vine are dull and flavourless yet the very next day there'll be the explosion of musky apricot characters that make it so appealing."

Therefore trust to thy heart, and to what the world calls illusions.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

8 out of 10
$12.99 / 750 ml
13.5% alc. by vol.
http://www.yalumba.com/

Yellowtail Chardonnay and (yet another) Turkey Flat Food Pairing

2006
Australia

"I think it is a great error to consider a heavy tax on wines as a tax on luxury. On the contrary, it is a tax on the health of our citizens."

Thomas Jefferson

I thought for sure I had previously reviewed the 2006 Yellowtail Chardonnay. However, I can't find it in my history. I have had this wine previously during the summer and evidently failed to blog it (perhaps a sign in and of itself). Actually, it's not too bad. It is decent for the cost. It exudes one of my favorite flavors: vanilla. Not very oakey. Slightly tropical. It wouldn't be my first choice, but not my last either.

Tonight I made a great salad - it's not that often I can say that. Salads always taste great to me in restaurants, but not necessarily when I make them. I grilled some (organic) chicken and portabella mushrooms. I added them to (organic) baby greens and (organic) Romaine lettuce leaves. I added Kalamata olives, roasted red peppers, (organic) celery, roasted some Pignolia nuts and threw them in, freshly grated Parmesean and topped it all off with Newman's Own Olive Oil and Vinegar dressing (http://www.newmansown.com/).

The Guy hates most olives (definitely black), and garlic too I might add, and being 50% Italian (his sadly orphaned grandfather came to the US from Northern Italy on a ship at the age of like 12 on his own), it is completely devastating for me. I am exactly 50% English (father) and 50% Scottish (mother) and yet I love Italian and Mediterranean recipes and tend to want to make those types of dishes. Anyway, tonight I bought some fabulous Greek olives and, as I laid out all the salad ingredients, The Guy asked me about the olives. I got (slightly) excited and told him that he'd probably actually like those olives. He popped one in his mouth and ran to the bathroom. My middle child and I looked at each other, shook our heads and laughed. I thought he was going to throw up. But he just spit it out in the garbage. Anyway, the ingredients all together were great (minus olives from The Guy's salad).

Now, I find pairing a wine with salad next to impossible and really don't ever intentionally set out to do so. However, tonight I took out the Yellowtail Chardonnay and what was left of my Turkey Flat Rose (see previous blog entry) and compared and contrasted. I was fascinated to find that the Turkey Flat had its distinct flavor right off the bat, but then finished with a blast of total Pignolia nut flavor! The Yellowtail, followed by a well mixed bite of salad, tasted extremely vanilla. Either one was a pretty good accompaniment depending on your personal preference.

I don't recommend either, however, as an accompaniment to an organic frosted Cherry Pomegran pop tart.

7.25 out of 10
$13.99 / 1.5 L bottle
13.5% alc. by vol.
http://www.yellowtailwine.com/

Bin 65 Chardonnay

Lindeman's
2006
Chardonnay

Will drink again.

"Happy summer" - backyard lit up with fireflies, running after them with a jar.
Playing train with Dave in the hall with the kitchen chairs while mom washes the floor,
and swinging on the swings for hours.
The distance and emotional journey between now and then SO far.
Innocence so precious, and lost long ago.
The life I've weaved, regrets, so strange from what I'd dreamed as a little girl.
How I wish I knew then what I now know,
never in the past would I have wasted a day,
having traveled from chocolate milk to Lindeman's Bin 65 Chardonnay.


I'm afraid I drank 3/4 of the bottle and I haven't yet had me dinner. I am talking like a pirate, me hearties, and am very agreeable this evening lads. I must admit, though, for $6.99 this wine is worth it. Very nice flavor and quite the punch. I only wish Johnny Depp was me dinner partner. I'd be hoisting the flags and stripping me clothes dontcha know. I might even be willing to walk the plank.

7.75 out of 10
13.5% alc. by vol.
http://www.lindemans.com/
$6.99 (totally worth the price)

Kendall-Jackson 2005 Chardonnay Vintner's Reserve

Kendall-Jackson
Chardonnay
California 2005

I sit reflecting as the radio plays,
and the "Rascal Flats" hauntingly enter my thoughts through my daze:

"I've dealt with my ghosts and I faced all my demons,
Finally content with the past I regret.
I've found you find strength in your moments of weakness.
I've been burdened with blame, trapped in the past for too long . . .
I'm moving on.

I've lived in this place and I know all the faces,
each one is different but they're always the same.
They mean me no harm but it's time that I face it,
they'll never allow me to change.
But I never dreamed home would end up where I don't belong.
I'm moving on.

I'm moving on, last I could see,
Life has been patiently waiting for me.
And I know there's no guarantees, but I'm not alone.
There comes a time in everyone's life when all you can see are the years passing by.
And I have made up my mind that those days are gone.
I'm moving on . . .

. . . Maybe forgiveness will find me somewhere down this road,
I'm moving on."

The tears well up, and silently for strength I pray,
Then giving in, I gently sip my Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay.

I don't know what's happened to my taste buds. Chardonnay has always been my favorite summertime end-of-the-day delight. But these last couple of years, it hasn't tasted the same. They say your taste buds go through changes every seven years and things that you used to like might change. Chardonnay has become more acidic (almost carbonated) to me. It's not as smooth as it used to be. It used to effect me like a winter velvet red. About three or four years ago, my favorite Chardonnays were Clos du Bois, Chateau St. Michelle, Columbia Crest, and Kendall-Jackson. They all taste different to me now and it's beyond disappointing. Interestingly enough, three or four years ago I was paying approximately $17.99 per bottle for each. Now they are all $3 to $4 cheaper.

This weekend, however, I found a little of the old fondness in Kendall-Jackson's 2005 Vintner's Reserve and I remain happy this evening as I partake in it again. Saturday night I grilled some chicken marinated in my favorite sauce "Veri Veri Teriyaki" by Soy Vay www.soyvay.com, along with Shitake mushrooms, red, yellow and orange peppers, sweet onions and parmesean risotto. I poured myself a glass of KJ Chardonnay while waiting for dinner and enjoyed a little of the past. The flavor was all there, but there was just a hint of “carbonation” (for lack of a better term) bothering me. Later, the vanilla, oak, and pear I love so much was drowned out slightly by the strong dinner flavors. However, with tonight’s dinner it was superb. (And before dinner too with a piece of oat, flax pita bread dipped in kalamata olive-artichoke hummus). I made organic brown rice penne with sauteed shrimp in olive oil and garlic, organic grape tomatoes and MY OWN off-the-kitchen garden arugula, topped with freshly grated parmesean. I truly believe a couple of days in the fridge softened it a bit and it wasn’t as acidic for me. It was a great compliment to the meal.

7.5 out of 10
http://www.kj.com/
$13.99 / bottle
13.5% alc by vol