Act Now...or Don't

Like we’ve done for the past few years, Sue and I picked up a bottle of Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais nouveau. This is the French red wine that is fermented for just a few weeks and comes out annually on the third Thursday of November—Beaujolais Day—and is best drunk lightly chilled. It’s also best not to let this wine age more than a few weeks or months at most.

Usually, we’ve enjoyed the Beaujolais. We never expect anything great from it—it’s cheap, light and pretty unexceptional, but it’s usually fun and a decent fruity wine. This year though we couldn’t even finish it. It was too light and tasted like watered-down sour grape juice.

I looked for some other reviews to see if Sue and I were alone in our opinion here. We weren’t—I found some pretty terrible reviews of the 2007 Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais nouveau. I also found some reviewers who enjoyed it for what it was. If I were in the habit of trying this wine every year (which I guess I am), I’d probably still pick up a bottle. Just don’t expect much.

Does anyone else have a good holiday wine for review? Maybe a wine you’ve given or received as a gift? Let us know and post a review.

Happy holidays, everyone.

Drinkin' Is Drinkin', Right?

Haven't been around these parts in a dog's age. Yeah, I don't know what that means either, but let's just say I haven't posted here in a looooong time. July? Holy crap, I suck. I'd say I have an excuse, but not two month's worth of them. I have an excuse now I can make public for not drinking much wine, but I really have shirked my responsibilities as a member of this fine site. Anyway....

This is not a wine post. For reasons mentioned above, we haven't been drinking any wine and I'm not one to go opening bottles and finishing them off myself. Well, not anymore. Let's leave the past in the past, shall we? Great. Moving on. I've been drinking more microbrews. That's not to say that I've been flogging my palate with Bud talls or Mich Lights and have only recently seen the light and the errors of my ways. Nooooooo. I've just been branching out and trying breweries with which I'm not all that familiar. I could extol the virtues of Sam Adams Octoberfest until the cows come home, but I thought I'd share some of the others I'm enjoying.

Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA
Oh, Lord has there ever been a better tasting IPA? I like hoppy beer. Scratch that - I have grown to love hoppy beer. There was a time when I was all about blondes and reds and "crispy" beers. No more. I'm all about the hops now. Dogfish is one of those brews I never paid any mind to - it's rare you find it on draft anywhere and when confronted by a slew of other offerings, I'm always tempted to stay with what I know: Hooker, Red Hook, Harpoon, etc. But, TwoBusy posted about a particular Dogfish a while back so I was intrigued. I grabbed this offering (a four-pack), encouraged as I was by the quote: Esquire Magazine calls our 90 Minute I.P.A., “perhaps the best I.P.A. in America.” Well, color me curious. You know what? It's good. Really good. But if you're not a fan of hops, you might want to stay away as it's up there on the International Bitterness Units clocking in at a 90 (for comparison: Guinness is in the 45-60 range and typical IPA is 40 and above). It also has an ABV of 9.0% - not quite the potency of EKU 28, but up there nonetheless. In short, well worth the purchase and added to the "buy again" list.

Magic Hat #9
I had my first Magic Hat #9 about seven or eight years ago. I remember I thought it was good, but didn't pay it much mind after that. Fast forward to this summer. I purchased the Magic Hat Variety Pack which offered Fat Angel, Circus Boy, Hocus Pocus and #9. A very good selection of beers, but I fell in love with the #9. The #9 is "not quite a pale ale" of the English Ale variety. It's malty and sweet and finishes both hoppy and fruity. See, Magic Hat adds apricot. But this is no fruit beer a la Dogfish's ApriHop - it's just a little extra flavor that if you concentrated hard enough you'd notice, but neither overpowers nor defines this great beer. Along with Fat Angel, goes on the "buy again" list.

I might start drinking some wine by myself for the next few months to maintain some posts here from the Dubyas, but I might also throw in some beer reviews from time-to-time as well, if you all don't mind.

Ol' Reliable

We’ve actually had a few bottles of wine since I’ve last posted. But none of those bottles have made it through to a review. I’m guessing that all of us get a little busier as the holidays get closer and posting wine reviews is one of the first things to go.

There are a few standby wines that we buy when we want to be sure we’re getting something good—a favorite Rioja or Chianti or any one of a few California wines. A great, moderately-priced and interesting red blend that we love is Red Truck.

Red Truck is a Sonoma blend that we’ve had many times. Recently though, Sue found a Red Truck Pinot Noir. I also learned from their website that Red Truck makes a Merlot and Cabernet. There’s also a White Truck blend, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, and a Pink Truck. (All of the “Truck” wines are a division of Cline Cellars.)

As claimed, the 2006 Red Truck Pinot Noir was smooth with a mix of fruity and spicy tastes. I actually could make out the cherries that the label said were in there too. Sue and I both enjoyed this wine and, although we’re not great at describing tastes in detail, we recommend it. All of the Truck wines we’ve tried have been good and they always seem popular at our local wine stores too—even though the Red Truck name has only been used since 2002. The website seems fun too and you can sign up to become a “Friend of Red Truck.” I sent in my email address. If I get anything good, I’ll let you all know.

Club Proposal

It seems like we've all taken a little break from drinking/reviewing.

So, unless someone objects -- we'll leave October's assignment up for November too.

Cheers!

Sofia Sparkling Wine

The other night I was looking for a good wine to go with the baby back ribs I slow cooked in a ginger-y Asian sauce. Though I normally don't drink a lot of white wines, I was thinking I wanted something a little fun and fruity. So for just a shade over $15, I grabbed a bottle of Niebaum Coppola's Sofia Blanc de Blancs.

Billed as a wine that pairs well with chicken or pork, it had smooth citrus and melon notes that were a perfect complement for the hoisin sauce-based marinade I had slathered all over the ribs. What's more, for someone who has been slacking since joining this esteemed collection of drinkers, I am proud to report that it counted for three-in-one research: It's a California wine, it's a sparkling wine and it's a wine I'd give as a gift or serve during the holidays.

And just look at this packaging (captured poorly with my cell phone's camera):

Cute pink plastic! A delicate floral label! You know you want to grab a few bottles of this and get the girls together for a mani-pedi (and drinking a ton of this) night! You'll also find this sold in smart red cans (each of them with their own straw), a perfect solution for serving guests at holiday parties. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Zind

Hello fellow wine enthusiasts! My name is Joe and I am a stay at home dad. Along with rearing my 3 daughters I enjoy wine and have worked in the wine industry either for retailers or importers for a number of years. I have also worked in fine dining restaurants as a server through my college years where I learned the impact of wine on food choices. I am pleased to give my first of surely several (hundred?) reviews with my latest and greatest find.

I was fortunate enough to pick up a bottle of Zind-Humbrect Zind this weekend and I was very thankful that I did so. Ok, lets start from the top. First, this wine is from is from Alsace. For all of you in the "know" you will recognize that region of France as a large producer of intense and highly acidic (see freaking awesome) Rieslings, Gewurtztraminers, and Pinot Gris's. The climate of this region is cold and the most northern of all the growing regions in France. It is renown for producing wines, generally known for their hint of sweetness, in a bone dry and intense fashion. Because the growing season in Alsace is often cut short due to preemptive winters some of the wines are chaptilized. This is the process where sugar is added to the juice so that during fermentation there will be enough sugar to produce enough alcohol in return or you would have an out of balance wack job of a wine. That being said, one grape that is often overlooked or not included in the "Alsace hype" per say is Chardonnay. Taking that a step further, another grape overlooked is "Auxerrois." For all of you who don't know, Auxerrois is a close cousin of Chardonnay and recent DNA tests have proven that both grapes hale from the same lineage. Auxerrois is not to be confused with another name for the Malbec grape which is used in other regions of France. This grape is white, full-bodied and full of character.

"Auxerrois is a close cousin
of Chardonnay
and recent DNA tests have proven
that both grapes hale from the same lineage."

Ok, wow, where am I? Let's see. Who I am. Check. The region. Check. Ok, the wine. HOLY CRAP! This wine was through the roof! I enjoy new tastes sensations as much as the next wine nerd, but this one is something special. Let me take it from the top. Ok. <----So excited! First, price point. This wine retails around $25 a bottle. Not your everyday wine, but something you get for yourself instead of renting a movie and buying microwavable popcorn. Instead of having a night filled with regrettable calories or a lackluster movie and you want a treat...try this. Period! Now that I made justifying it clear, here are the details. First, like any very good wine from that region, you will notice the nose right away. As you pour the honeyed colored wine (see great sign) into your glass, you will begin to notice the aromas of petrol (slight but awesome) and some floral notes as well. The wine is 50% Auxerrois, 35% Chardonnay and 15% Pinot Blanc. For all intents and purposes the wine is a Chardonnay (Auxerrois being basically a Chardonnay and Chardonnay being Chardonnay we only have a 15% remainder of Pinot Blanc another close relative of the Chard family), however it is listed as a white table wine. The flavor of the wine.....wow! First, when you drink wine remember to allow your entire tongue to take part. The tip of your tongue is where you will pick up and enjoy the refreshingly crisp acidity of this wine. It has the bubbly effervescence of acidity that screams "spicy foods!" like a blackened shrimp alfredo perhaps as a paring. Second, it has the flavor profile of a typical Chard consisting of Pear, Grapefruit and Lychees, but you get some other atypical flavors like peaches/apricots and nutmeg along with a honied butter mouth feel in the prolonged finish. Overall, a wonderful wine to experience on its own or with a nice meal. Suggestions include, blackened chicken alfredo or a cajun seafood dish. Enjoy!

New Contributor

Please join me in welcoming our newest contributor.

Cheers!