WineLife365

Archive for June, 2009

From: California

Price: Too much

I’m considering trying to sell my 3/4 full bottle of the 2006 Running With Scissors Cabernet Sauvignon on E-Bay to get my money back for this brutally awful red wine.  It’s definitely one of the worst tasting red wines that I’ve tried so far this year.

This California Cab had a disgusting red-cherry juice box taste that I nearly spit out.  I couldn’t even get through one glass of this dismal $10 Cabernet Sauvignon.  Do yourself a favor, remember the rule:  No Running With Scissors!

I’m forced to give the 2006 Running With Scissors Cabernet Sauvignon 1 Star because my Rating System tells me to.  But this wine is frighteningly bad!

WineLife365 Rating: 1-Star

From: California

Price: $12.99

So far in 2009 I haven’t had a lot of nice things to say about many of the less expensive California red wines that I’ve tasted.  Most have tasted like bad “lab rat” concoctions to me, overcooked with additives.  So each time now that I grab one, I’m hoping that my luck will change and a quality inexpensive California red wine will surface in this sea of mediocrity.

The 2006 Hess Collection Cabernet Sauvignon answered my prayer.  Finally, a relatively inexpensive California Cab that is pretty damn good.  This Cab had just the right amount of red fruit, chocolate, and oak to put a smile on my face.  It’s by no means a big and rich California Cab.  But at under $15 bucks a bottle, this red wine definitely hits the sweet spot in my opinion.

Trust me, this is an honest and well-made California Cabernet Sauvignon that is definitely worth paying $13.

WineLife365 Rating: 3-Star

I’m a huge fan of all sorts of different fish, especially when the weather outside starts to heat up.  One of my favorites is albacore tuna steak.  It’s a meaty kind of fish that goes great on the grill and is wonderful pan-seared as well.  Trader Joe’s is the bomb diggity when it comes to the tuna steak.  I normally pay about $5.69/lb, which is very cheap compared to the grocery store.  Please note, Trader Joe’s tuna does come frozen and are usually packaged with two small portions of tuna and the packages are usually less than a pound each.  

The other night, I made a stove-top version of tuna steaks that was downright delectable (if I do say so myself).  Here I share the secret recipe with all of you – my closest of friends.

First, I heated up a generous pour of olive oil in a pan (I love my trusty All-Clad pan!) – enough oil to really coat the pan.  Then I added a finely chopped (left over) pork shish kabob and some finely chopped grilled zucchini.  I brought this mixture to a caramelized state, then I added a tad more olive oil before dropping in my tuna steaks.  Word of advice – you’ll want to thaw the tuna steaks before dropping them off into this mixture!

Ok, after thawing my tuna steaks and introducing them to my caramelized mixture, I added some seasonings.  One of the best gifts that I received this spring was an herb garden.  I’ve been using the different herbs almost everyday in different dishes.  For this particular dish, I added a generous amount of fresh cilantro.  After the cilantro, I tossed in some salt and pepper, some crushed dried red pepper, garlic salt, a lemon-pepper dry seasoning and dry-powdered ginger.  Feel free to use whatever else in the way of seasonings that you think might be good.  I can imagine a number of variations that would be good in this dish.

Flip the tuna around a bit while cooking.  When the fish is about halfway cooked, add some frozen sliced peppers to give it a little more punch of flavor.  When it’s all done cooking, plate it up with some veggies of your choice (In this version, I used a bag of frozen mixed vegetables that included broccoli).  Finally, send your taste buds into a real tailspin and pair this dish with the ultimate sushi and/or tuna steak wine on the planet – Pacific Rim Dry Riesling.  This Riesling is part Washington State and part German and 100% delicious.  It’s a steal at just over $10 a bottle and goes really great with this dish!

Bon Appetit!

My wife and I recently celebrated our sixteen year wedding anniversary.  To mark this special occasion we thought that it would be nice to celebrate it with a bottle of Bubbly.  So, I hopped in the car and took a trip to my favorite local wine shop and pondered over whether to pick up a real French Champagne or some other type of Bubbly.  I decided to roll the dice on a California Sparkler that I was not familiar with – it was a non-vintage Roederer Estate Anderson Valley Brut Rose.  I usually grab for a reliable “Brut”, but on this occasion for some odd reason, I thought that I’d throw caution to the wind and surprise the missus with a bottle of “Brut Rose” instead.  Why, you may ask?  I have no idea.  But I prayed to the wine gods that my wife would enjoy it!

As it turned out, my gamble did (fortunately for me) pay off!  This Brut Rose was a hit with the both of us.  The Roederer Estate Anderson Valley Brut Rose tasted very French to me, but without the French Champagne price tag.  This commonly found sparkler is usually priced for less than $30 (I paid $26.99).  It’s a blend of 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay grapes.  It has a delicious raspberry and strawberry flavor that just begs for you to sit on the deck and sip with someone special.  After sharing a couple glasses, my wife and I decided that we’d put a stopper in the bottle and maybe finish it in the next day or so.

Well, the next day came and went… and the day after that also came and went.  On the 5^th day after first opening this Sparkler, I found this half-finished bottle sitting way back in our fridge behind the leftover BBQ and juice boxes.  I pulled it out and thought, “What the heck…what do we have to lose?”.  To our surprise, this Sparkler actually “popped” when I took the stopper out.  And what really surprised both of us was that it tasted even better after 5 extra days of “aging”!

Who said it’s never as good as the first time…