2007 Columbia Valley "H3" Horse Heaven Hills Cabernet Sauvignon

So this is yet another bottle we sampled at Beth's house while having dinner on Sunday. Beth and Brent brought this bottle out. After loving the Cellar No. 8, I was excited to try another!

The smell of this wine was like leather and chocolate! I guess that should have tipped me off. It was way too strong of a finish for me. This has the most kick of a Cabernet Sauvignon I've tried so far. After one taste, I passed my glass on to Noah. It just wasn't for me. It tasted like leather, chocolate, currants, and had a burning aftertaste.

Upon my research today, it scored decent too (90 points). It's described as, "Polished and silky in texture, with ripe blackberry, currant and mint flavors that keep sailing through the long, expressive finish. The tannins are beautifully integrated."

I also found it interesting it was noted as being best if drank between 2011 and 2017. I wonder in a few years, if I'd like the flavor better? I also saw on some private ratings that people didn't like it when they first opened the bottle, but after decanting it and letting it air out for few hours, they tried it again and liked it better. Hmmm. I might need to try this in the future with wines I find too bold. Maybe they just need to release some of the flavors!

2003 HRM Rex-Goliath Cabernet Sauvignon

We opened this a few days ago, and had it with dinner. we just recently finished the bottle when we went to dinner at Beth's house on Sunday night. I honestly don't remember what it was paired with the first night we drank it. Sorry!

It is a medium-bodied Cab, with a smokey, dark flavor and long, dry finish. It was bit bold for my taste, but still drinkable. Noah loved it. He seems to prefer the heavier flavors.

When I did my research on this wine, I found it has won lots of awards!! It scored 94 points, and was awarded Best of Region! It continuously is awarded Gold Medals in the tasting competitions, and was named the "Ultimate Hamburger Wine." Ha!

I guess Noah has the same taste as the professionals!

2007 Chateau St. Michelle Nellie's Garden Dry Rose

This one we also opened while at Beth's house for dinner. I bought it at Albertson's, mostly because it was Chateau St. Michelle, and because it was a kind of their wine I had yet to tast. It says on the bottle its good with any meal. I assumed it was similar to a white zinfindel based on its description and color. It was pink, but darker than your average white zinfindel or blush. It was very sweet, and fruity.

I am always intrigued by how flavors develop in wine, so I did my research on this bottle. Here's what I found:

• This Dry Rose is actually 98% Syrah, and 2% Grenache. This actually amazes me. I usually consider Syrah to be more dry, and less sweet. It just goes to show how versitile a grape can be.

• 2007 was a good year for the grapes in eastern washington. It was warm early, and carried average temperatures throughout the summer. In May, 2 weeks before bloom, there was a whole week of 100+ temperatures. "This heat spike lead to smaller canopy which allowed for more light penetration and contributed to overall good fl avor development in the fruit. The hot
  temperatures also contributed to smaller berries with concentrated flavors."

• The Syrah grapes for the Rose were harvested slightly earlier than the grapes were for the reds, to allow for a more pure, fruit flavor. The fruit was left on the skins for only a matter of hours to allow for just the right amount of coloring to create the coloring for the wine.

• 82% of the wine was fermented in steel barrells (like a sweet wine would), and the remaining 18% of the wine was aged in neutral oak barrels for 2 months to add the "rich mouthfeel."

Perhaps all that information is a bore to you. But it is exciting and new to me. I love to near about each vintage, each winery, each vineyard, and each bottle of wine. It is amazing to me how there are so many types of grapes, and then beyond that...how they can create such different flavors. I mean, this is the perfect example. Syrah grapes can be pressed and aged in smokey oak barrels and create a spicy, full bodied Red wine...or they can be harvested early, fermented in mostly steel barrels, and turn out light and fruity. That gets a WOW from me. :)

2008 Cellar No. 8 Cabernet Sauvignon

Last night we had our weekly dinner at Beth's house. Beth made wonderful lasagna, and cheddar biscuits. I brought along a couple of bottles of wine, as usual. However, Brent and Beth had opened a bottle of Cellar No. 8 Cabernet Sauvignon. I had not heard of the winery, and I'm all about trying new wines. And OH, I'm so glad I did! This by far is my favorite Sauvignon so far! It was medium bodied, with hints of spice and chocolate. It had hardly any finish. I think that is why I liked it. Sadly, with some research online, it only scored an 83 because of its "lack of finish." Oh well. I loved it! It went with the lasagna great, although I honestly would have drank it with anything...or nothing to eat!

2008 Barefoot Cellars Pinot Noir

Today Cooper told me he wanted to watch "Meatballs." A few weeks ago we went to the dollar theatre and saw "Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs." Cooper did great until the last 25 minutes of the movie, and Noah had to take him out of the theatre. So they both missed the ending. We really hadn't talked about the movie since that day, so I was surprised he remembered. So I made an evening of it, and I bought him the movie and made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. I bought a Pinot Noir to pair with the red sauce. I was trying to be cheap, so I bought the cheapest one I could find at target, with was a Barefoot for $4.99.
I smelled like cherry and spices, and tasted about the same. For being named "medium bodied" on the bottle, it was a bit bland. I'm not complaining though, because I don't mind bland! It was just drying enough to make you want to take another bite of dinner. It went well with the meatballs, and probably would have went really well with a red meat like steak. For under $5, I thought it was pretty darn good!
Barefoot just released their Pinot Noir last May (first to those who special ordered cases, and then eventually it was released to the stores). Since, it has gotten all 5 star ratings on their website by visiting guests! I'm pretty impressed.

2008 Columbia Crest Two Vines Gewürztraminer

Tonight we had already eaten "Linner", so we decided to finish the night with crackers and cheese. And of course, after a very long and busy week at work, I really wanted a glass of wine to unwind. I opened a bottle of Gewurtzraminer, not knowing what it was (nor can I pronounce it). Noah tried to train me in German, but I suck at rolling r's and making u's with an O.





ANYWAY, I really enjoyed it, even if I still can't pronounce it. It basically tasted like champagne without the fizz, and maybe a tad bit less sugar. It was very sweet, and very acidic. It would have paired awesome with fresh fruit, like peaches or pears. It went to our head pretty quickly, and with two glasses I was buzzed and ready for bed. I have a bottle of this wine from Chateau too, and I can't wait to drink it and compare.





I did some research on this wine, and I found that the 2008 was a good year. It scored an 87, and was named the "Best Buy" for the year. Here's the description the winemaker has for it:





"Aromas of spice, lychee and rose petals are followed by flavors of grapefruit and white peach. A subtle sweetness and bright acidity marry seamlessly to create this balanced wine."





I gotta say, the grapefruit and peach makes sense, but I didn't smell roses, and I don't even know what a lychee is.

So here it is! Apparently a lychee is a soapberry. It grows on an evergreen tree in China, Thailand and the Phillipines. It has a hard outer rind, but is similar to the texture of a grape inside (but less juicy). It's apparently sweet and rich in vitamin C. It has a seed in the middle that is poisonous! They've recently started growing them in California, Hawaii, Texas and Florida, and can be bought in worldmarkets in a can. I'm intrigued enough to hunt this down and try them sometime. It might make them easier to identify in wine!

2008 Sutter Home Cabernet Sauvignon

This wine we paired with the wonderful home-cooking at Beth's house. She made chicken chow mein, beef and broccoli, rice and pot stickers. The sutter home was fruity, but not very dry. I thought it had a poor aftertaste, and personally switched to drinking the Blanc we had left over from the night before, But Beth and Kayla and Noah seemed to enjoy it.

Noah here! Like Shauna said, we paired this wine with an awesome home made meal of Chinese food! The wine itself was, in my opinion, excellent. It was very full bodied with a long finish that really, well, dried out the mouth. But it did so in a good way. The wine had mild flavors of dark fruit that were not overpowering. It had a bit of spice, but combined with the fruit, it made for an excellent wine.

When combined with the food (especially the chicken chow mein and Beth's home made "fortuneless" cookies) the wine complemented perfectly. Of course after a couple glasses of this and a couple glasses of the other 4 bottles we shared that night, it's had to recall all the details of this wine.

Overall, I was very impressed with this wine. Especially considering it was literally the cheapest red wine I could find at the Albertson's I picked it up at.