WineLife365

Archive for February, 2009

Before taking a second sip of this wine, I closed my eyes to see if my taste buds could determine if it tasted like a Pinot Grigio. Unfortunately for me, if blindfolded before my first taste, I would not have said that this was a Pinot Grigio. Quite honestly, I’m not sure what I would have thought that it was, all I know is that I was not amoosed (ha, little play on words there). This Pinot Grigio from 3 Blind Moose was just a bit awkward to me. Maybe it’s because I’m used to drinking traditional Italian Pinot Grigio.

As for the taste: It was fruity. But it was also relatively sweet. To my taste buds it was and odd combination of the two when comparing it to traditional Italian Pinot Grigio.

This wine by no means is terrible. It just tasted a bit strange to me.

WineLife365 Rating: 2-Star

With so much media attention being given to both Michael Phelps and Alex Rodriguez for their poor decisions, I was curious to know if either man has a love for wine.  After doing some research on the internet, it appears that neither has a particular passion for wine.

What I did discover however is that celebrities in the wine business is an extremely hot business right now.  This runs the gamut from a celebrity lending their name or face to a wine, to celebrities that get hands-on with the winemaking process.

A recent Neilsen Report indicated that “Celebrity Wine” sales are up nearly 19% since last year. The report further indicated that “Consumers seem to be willing to pay more for the celebrity wines, an average of $8.50 versus $5.75 per bottle of regular table wine”. The report also suggested that “celebrity wines” are generally in the $12-$15 range and tend to have a larger fan base on the West Coast in places such as Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego based on above average sales numbers.

There are certainly many people that will suggest that the rise of celebrity backed or endorsed wines are bad for consumers and the wine industry. While others that will say that celebrities are people just like us that also enjoy a good glass of wine.  But hey, the old saying “don’t knock it until you’ve tried it” might apply.

Some of the “celebrity wines” are available where I live and I’ll try to track down a bottle or two to share my thoughts.

We love New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Unfortunately, it’s not the great bargain that it once was. When we first stumbled across New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc years ago, you could get a great bottle for $8-$10. Now the starting price for just a decent New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is more like $12.00. We realize that everything is getting more expensive, we just wish that our wine allowance could keep up so that we could drink more of these wines on a regular basis.

We love New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc because most of them have terrific acidity balance, they’re very fresh tasting and have an unbelievable lemon and lime zip to them. They’re awesome in warmer weather and probably the most perfect wine ever made to have with a grilled chicken caesar salad.

So in our quest to find a great New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc for less than $12, we stumbled across one called Oyster Bay. At $10.99 in our neck of the woods, this was definitely worth trying.

We all agreed that this New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc was terrific for the money. It possessed the wonderful acidity balance, freshness and zip that we love about these wines and it was relatively affordable. We would certainly buy this one again.

WineLife 365 Rating: 3-Stars      

Beaujolais Nouveau: Pronounced –(BO-joh-lay Noo-voh).

Beaujolais Nouveau is a very young wine made with the Gamay grape in the Beaujolais region of Burgundy France. This wine is released annually on the third Thursday of November.

Flavors/ how does it taste: This is a light, fruity red wine. You’ll taste flavors of strawberry and raspberry. Beaujolais Nouveau is one of the few red wines that is meant to be served chilled, around 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

Food Pairing: Many people that drink this wine pair it with a traditional Thanksgiving or Christmas meal.

Beaujolais Nouveau is a great introduction into red wines. This type of wine should be drank young and does not age well at all.