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!
Showing posts with label California. Show all posts
Showing posts with label California. Show all posts
Monday, March 1, 2010
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!
Saturday, February 20, 2010
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.
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.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
2008 Vintage Mark West Pinot Noir
Last night we celebrated my 26th birthday at Chopstix with some friends and family. Ken ordered a bottle of 2008 Vintage Mark West Pinot Noir, and we all got a chance to enjoy it. I must say, it had great flavor. It was a very heavy wine, with dark fruit flavors (cherry, strawberry, plum maybe?) but also had a kick of spice to it. It was oaky, but fit the flavor right.
I don't have the bottle obviously, so I can't quote the labels description, but I did skim over the Mark West website today. The 2008 Pinot actually won a lot of awards! It was #1 in its catergory in the Wine Trials. (Basically it is a big blind tasting, where they use paper bags to cover the bottles, and the best wines are chosen based on flavor. It also was named the "Steal of the Year" By Sunset magazine. But anyway, I found it neat that this wine is 100% pinot noir grapes...no mix. They are grown, vinted and aged in California.
I've enjoyed leasrning a little bit about each winery, wine and vineyard with each bottle I open. OH, and for my birthday, Teri bought me red wine glasses. Now we can successfully swirl our wine without sloshing. :-)
I don't have the bottle obviously, so I can't quote the labels description, but I did skim over the Mark West website today. The 2008 Pinot actually won a lot of awards! It was #1 in its catergory in the Wine Trials. (Basically it is a big blind tasting, where they use paper bags to cover the bottles, and the best wines are chosen based on flavor. It also was named the "Steal of the Year" By Sunset magazine. But anyway, I found it neat that this wine is 100% pinot noir grapes...no mix. They are grown, vinted and aged in California.
I've enjoyed leasrning a little bit about each winery, wine and vineyard with each bottle I open. OH, and for my birthday, Teri bought me red wine glasses. Now we can successfully swirl our wine without sloshing. :-)
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
1998 Reserve Salmon Harbor Chardonnay
Last night we had wine and dinner night at Beth's. Teri made wondeful potato soup. We couldn't decide what kind of wine to bring, but I went with the Chardonnay because I figured the buttery flavor would go with the white "sauce" of potato soup.
We've had this bottle for a few years, so it was finally time to drink it! It's supposed to be a decent bottle....it scored an 86, and as the label says, it's a reserve. This is supposed to mean it came from a specially selected barrell of wine chosen by the wine-maker because it had something unique and special about it compared to the rest of the barrells. However, we've come to learn that some brands like to mark 'reserve' on all their bottles, simply so they can charge more per bottle.
This wine had a very deep color. Crude to say, but it was sort of the color of urine. Or maybe sparkling apple cider. It was very thick. Buttery is the only word I can really come up with to describe it. While its rated as being fruity, we didn't find it had much identifiable fruit flavors...the fruit was very subtle, and overwhelmed by the buttery, rich flavor. It went okay with the soup, but I must note it was TERRIBLE with m&m cookies. Ha.
Noah didn't really like this wine at all. I'm interested to try another Chardonnay to see if it is just Chardonnays in general that he doesn't enjoy. I found it to be okay...better than many chardonnays I've had (of course, we tend to usually buy cheap wine so I guess that is not saying much). So for now I will just say it definitely was better than the stuff out of a box. :-)
We've had this bottle for a few years, so it was finally time to drink it! It's supposed to be a decent bottle....it scored an 86, and as the label says, it's a reserve. This is supposed to mean it came from a specially selected barrell of wine chosen by the wine-maker because it had something unique and special about it compared to the rest of the barrells. However, we've come to learn that some brands like to mark 'reserve' on all their bottles, simply so they can charge more per bottle.
This wine had a very deep color. Crude to say, but it was sort of the color of urine. Or maybe sparkling apple cider. It was very thick. Buttery is the only word I can really come up with to describe it. While its rated as being fruity, we didn't find it had much identifiable fruit flavors...the fruit was very subtle, and overwhelmed by the buttery, rich flavor. It went okay with the soup, but I must note it was TERRIBLE with m&m cookies. Ha.
Noah didn't really like this wine at all. I'm interested to try another Chardonnay to see if it is just Chardonnays in general that he doesn't enjoy. I found it to be okay...better than many chardonnays I've had (of course, we tend to usually buy cheap wine so I guess that is not saying much). So for now I will just say it definitely was better than the stuff out of a box. :-)
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Oak Leaf Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc
Tonight I picked up a bottle of Oak Leaf Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc at Walmart for $2.97. Ha. Pretty cheapo wine, so I wasn't expecting much. It doesn't even have an explanation on the back of the bottle! So all I really know about it is that it is vinted and bottled in California.
We were having pizza for dinner, and I honestly didn't know (and still don't know!) what kind of wine you match with pizza. I wasn't in the mood for a red wine, so I grabbed this one because it was on sale. It has a very acidic, grassy smell...which set me off a bit. But I was pleasantly surprised by the taste. It was crisp, sweet and citrisy, with a very short and mild finish. Maybe I just am attuned to liking cheap wine. lol. But I enjoyed it. I figure if I can buy something I enjoy for $2.97 a bottle, why not!
We were having pizza for dinner, and I honestly didn't know (and still don't know!) what kind of wine you match with pizza. I wasn't in the mood for a red wine, so I grabbed this one because it was on sale. It has a very acidic, grassy smell...which set me off a bit. But I was pleasantly surprised by the taste. It was crisp, sweet and citrisy, with a very short and mild finish. Maybe I just am attuned to liking cheap wine. lol. But I enjoyed it. I figure if I can buy something I enjoy for $2.97 a bottle, why not!
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