Archive for the ‘wine tasting’ Category

Right now enjoying a bottle of The Seven Deadly Zins.

An Old Vine Zinfandel from the Seven Best Growers in the Lodi appellation of California. Very drinkable!

Really opens up in the glass over an hour or so.

Almost hyperventilated sniffing the developing nuance with this one lol Good stuff! Soon to be reviewed in an Old Vine Zinfandel video shoot out. Gnarly Head vs Seven Deadly Zins vs Bogle. That will be a good day!

This one is pretty smooth, I prefer a bolder Zinfandel like Gnarly Head but…

if you are a bit shy of a bold Zinfandel try this.

Review from Playboy.com

A sip first reveals a somewhat spicy cinnamon taste, then ripe berries and plum. A long finish, and some tannins caress the tongue and throat.

And, like a phenomenal dessert, you’ll feel your taste buds wanting more as soon as the last rush of flavor has vanished.

Beware the high alcohol content (14.9 percent): This stuff is sinfully potent, too.

http://www.playboy.com/style/reviews/drinks/02-27/

The Frugal Wino

Frugal Wine Review

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Finally finished watching “Sideways” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sideways perfect flick for a nice bottle of wine (or two) and black truffle cheese – http://www.bothwellcheese.com/cheese_and_wine_pairings.php

Sterling’s Vintner’s Collection Pinot Noir Central Coast 2006 is a perfect match and won’t break the bank (review coming soon). Good film, great cheese & great wine!

You gotta love this pairing! Pinot Noir, Black Truffle Cheese and Sideways The full meal deal lol

The Frugal Wino

Frugal Wine Review

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You have been deemed the chosen one to select the wine at a fine restaurant.

Paralyzed by fear you go with the Sommelier’s (dude that knows about wine and food pairings) recommendation. The wine is brought to the table and with great fanfare it is presented to you for inspection.

The Sommelier holds the bottle in front of you presenting the label. Why? What to do?

This is so you can simply check the label to see that it is indeed what you ordered. Just nod.

He/she will uncork the wine and hand you the cork.

Stay calm, don’t waffle here. Do not lick it, bite it, or stick it in you nose!

Don’t even smell it. Simply inspect it. You are looking to see if the bottom has crumbled or if the cork is stained by the wine. Light staining of the bottom of the cork is normal, if the stain goes 1/4 or more up the cork this will tip you off that you may have a bad or corked bottle of wine due to improper storage , exposure to heat and so on. Also look to see if there is a vein running up the cork that is stained.

Hand the cork back to the wine dude if everything is cool, if not draw their attention to the flaw.

The wine dude/dudette will now pour you a few ounces in your glass.

Give it a gentle swirl and sniff the wine by putting your nose partly into the glass (don’t get carried away here). You are sniffing for any off odors like wet cardboard/newspaper, wet dog or guinea pig, sour smell, anything that just smells off. Same as when you smell fish, chicken or beef before cooking.

If the wine is off you should be able to easily detect it.

Now…

Take a sip and taste it. Here you are checking to see if you taste anything weird (you shouldn’t  if it passed the sniff taste). Most importantly you are checking the temperature of the wine to see if it’s to warm or to cold.

Note that most regular wine drinkers tend to drink their reds to warm and their white to cold. So don’t be surprised if it’s not at room temperature or doesn’t seem like it just came from your refrigerator.

If all checks out nod and say that will be fine. The wine person will pour for the table. If you got a bad (corked) bottle send it back.

All this should take 30 seconds max.

So what is a corked bottle?

It is just a bottle that has been infected by a mold called Trichloroanisole (TCA). This is from a bad cork or handling and causes the wine to be oxidized. In other words it taste like poop & the mold will rot your tongue off (kidding it’s harmless – I think).

Later we will go over how to order wine from the fancy wine menu and avoid the awkward embarrassing silence or deer in the headlights stare or worse yet having the Sommelier tell you that your selection may not pair well with your dinner, in fact it will likely ruin it and the entire evening.

Cheers,

The Frugal Wino

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