WineLife365

Posts Tagged ‘Red Wine’

December 18, 2011

Dear Mr. Claus,

I know that you’re very busy right now getting ready for Christmas Eve and checking your list twice to see who’s been naughty and nice this year.   But I was wondering – if it’s not too much trouble – might you be able to fulfill one very selfish special wish for a guy who has been good and quite nice at times naughty this year?  He does all of the cooking (except for baking) and almost always cleans up afterwards (He’s got OCD issues when it comes to loading the dishwasher).

That really, REALLY swell guy happens to be me!

If you can, I wish for an entire bottle of 2008 Achaval Ferrer Finca Bella Vista Malbec ($100) from Mendoza, Argentina to share with my beautiful wife (she’s been really good this year, too!). Just to let you know, my wife and I tasted this badass totally kickass electrifying and elegant Malbec earlier this year and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it ever since!  In a nutshell, it was probably the most badass best red wine that I tasted in 2011!

I’m not sure if you’re into wine or if you’re possibly a wine collector, but if you’re either – this is really something special!  Only 980 cases were made of this old vine Malbec.  It’s pure gold with its bold dark fruit, dark chocolate, violets and fresh herb flavors.  Here’s an interesting tidbit about the 2008 Achaval Ferrer Finca Bella Vista Malbec:  it takes nearly a pound of grapes to make just 1/3 of a bottle of this wine.

I’m really sorry for rambling on, but I guess you’re used to it by now.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Santa!

Love,

Mark

P.S. I hope you like the Domaine Du Margalleau Sparkling Vouvray NV and cookies that I’m leaving out for you.

Thus far in the WineLife365 25 Days of Christmas countdown, I’ve shared with you some terrific wine choices, under $20, for holiday parties, marathon wrapping sessions, and even a cookie/wine pairing.  With Christmas now only 8 days away, it’s time to intensify the countdown.  If you’re a frantic, harried procrastinator like me, shopping for last–minute Christmas gifts, then you don’t have time to mess around with bargain shopping.  You need something amazing NOW!  So for the remaining shopping days, it’s only 100% totally badass wines…regardless of price! You can worry about that credit card bill later, when it arrives next month.

The first badass is the 2007 Bodega DiamAndes de Uco Gran Reserva (Sample: $42 US) from Argentina.  Take a close look at the label on this red wine:  it’s got a big ole sparkling diamond – the size of the rock that Kris Humphries gave to Kim Kardashian – on the front.

The 2007 Bodega DiamAndes de Uco Gran Reserva is a luxurious treat of 70% Malbec and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon.  It’s an avalanche of blackberry, black cherry, plum, black currants, black pepper, leather, roasted almonds (breathe…breathe…), and finally some vanilla.  And the finish?  Let’s put it this way – it lasted way longer than that Humphries-Kardashian union.

Expect at least 10 “atta boys” and 5 high fives from your peeps thanking you for bringing such a great bottle of wine.  There are only 3,500 cases to go around, making this gift even more special!

Stay tuned for more tomorrow!

You have no idea how happy I am that it’s Friday! 

How are you making out with your holiday to-do list?  For my wife and I, it sure has been one long and busy week trying get all of the usual weekday stuff done, in addition to hunting down “the right” Red Bull hat ($40 for a freakin’ baseball cap…seriously?!), Tony Hawk skateboard, and running from one video store to the next looking for Nintendo Wii games.  In two words:  we’re spent!

Last night, it sure felt great getting home and just parking it on the couch to enjoy some pizza, a “not-so-usual” bottle of red wine from Chile, and getting our fill of ridiculous reality TV shows.  Yep, it’s the little things in life…

What was so unusual about last night’s Chilean red wine, you ask? 

If you’re a fan of Chilean red wine, then you’ve undoubtedly heard of or have tried a Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or even a Carménère from Chile.  However, are you familiar with Carignan from Chile?

Last night we had the pleasure of trying a sensational Chilean Carignan sourced from 60-year-old vines.  The 2010 Meli Carignan (Sample: MSRP: $15) is a blend of 93% Carignan and 7% Cabernet Sauvignon.  I’ll be honest with you:  I was so damn tired last night that I thought it was a Carménère that I was pulling off the rack.  From the very first sip though, this red wine immediately grabbed my attention; so much so, that it made me take a closer look at the front and back label to see just what deliciousness we were actually tasting.  Looking at my chicken scratch for tasting notes, words like “fleshy,” “fresh,” and “rich” immediately came to mind.   The cherry, raspberry and pepper notes on the 2010 Meli Carignan exploded out of the glass!

If you love Chilean red wine, but you’re looking for something a little different to try, a Chilean Carignan might be something worth adding to your holiday shopping list.

Cookies.  I have a confession to make:  Ummm… well, you see, I’ve been eating lots of them ever since they came out of the oven…like 10 at a time to be exact.  But who’s counting…right?  One look at these mouthwatering beauties and you’ll see why I’ve lost complete self-control, and understand why there are no measures to curb or ration my daily intake.

We’ve got snickerdoodle cookies, gingerbread cookies, pumpkin with cranberries and walnuts cookies, and cookies called “Cranberry Gems” that have craisins and white chocolate chips in it.  We also have “Peanut Butter Blossoms” – they’re the ones with the Hershey Kiss on top, and the world’s greatest chocolate-chip cookie known to mankind.  Rounding out the bunch is the ever so dangerous, melt in your mouth, can’t stop with one, “Raspberry Jam Thumbprint.”

Last night, as I was making myself a little (okay, it was more than a few…don’t judge!) plate of cookies for a late-night snack, I thought to myself, “I wonder what wine would go best with this cookie, or this cookie, or that cookie.”  I thought, what the heck, let’s do it!  So I grabbed six different wines to see if any would be a match made in confection heaven with these cookies.

Here’s a list of the wines that I pulled out:

• Domaine Du Margalleau Sparkling Vouvray NV (>$20) – This sparkler comes from France’s Loire Valley and is made with 100% Chenin Blanc grapes.  It’s like a dry brut, just with the delicious sweetness of Chenin floating around, with a slight flintiness to round out a very well balanced and exceptional wine.  Highly recommend.
• 2008 Rabbit Ridge Viognier from Paso Robles, CA.  (>$10) – Wow!  What a steal @ less than 10 dollars a bottle.  Not overpowering in the least.  Made with estate grown fruit, this California Viognier is bright, lush and extremely well-balanced for an $8 wine.
• 2010 Annabella Special Edition Chardonnay from Michael Pozzan Winery (>$15) – Total production on 100% Napa Valley Chard is only 8,900 cases.  It’s smokin’ hot with a balance of lemon, pineapple, fig and slight vanilla undertones.  Not at all an in-your-face vanilla/oak Chardonnay so commonly found in California:  maybe because it’s only 35% barrel fermented in 100% French oak.  Whatever it is, this is a delicious California Chardonnay and an outstanding value.
• 2009 Chad ‘Red Hills Lake County’ Cabernet Sauvignon (>$20) – I’ve tasted wines from Chad before that I thought were scorching values, but my first impression of this ’09 Cab had me thinking otherwise.  I found the cherry component in this Cali Cab to be way over the top which made it overly sweet; taking away from any other ingredients that might have been swimming around inside.  But hey, that doesn’t mean that it won’t pair nicely with my plate of cookies!
• 2008 Three Old Vines Zinfandel (>$20) – This is a steal at less than $20 a bottle.  Bursting with bright red berries and spices, with just a touch of earthiness – this red Zin goes down smooth and leaves you panting for more.
• 2006 Small Gully ‘The Formula’ Robert’s Shiraz (>$20) – This is one whopping, badass Aussie Shiraz, made from 40 year vines, that reveals dark black fruit and chocolate notes while not burning the rubber off the tires with its dizzying 15.9% alcohol content.   

I asked my wife if she’d care to assist in determining if any of these wines would pair well with her delicious homemade Christmas cookies.  She said, “The last thing my ass needs right now is another damn cookie, but…I will try the wine.”

“Fair enough,” I said.

As I tasted through this bounty of homemade cookies and wine, there was one wine that hit a grand slam with the cookie plate:  that wine was the Domaine Du Margalleau Sparkling Vouvray NV (>$20).  It danced and sang with all of them except the Peanut Butter Blossoms and the world’s greatest chocolate chip cookie of all time.  I would have thought going into this tasting that the red wines would’ve done particularly well – especially with the cookies having chocolate and/or peanut butter in them, but sadly it wasn’t a match made in heaven.  Only the Shiraz played nicely with the gingerbread cookies and the Cranberry Gems.  Oddly enough, the 2010 Annabella Special Edition Chardonnay was a good match for the chocolate chip cookies and the 2008 Rabbit Ridge Viognier was quite tasty with the Peanut Butter Blossoms.  Go figure.  The ’09 Chad Cab, unfortunately, didn’t pair well with anything…maybe it was because I wasn’t diggin’ on it in the first place.

In the end, I must declare the Domaine Du Margalleau Sparkling Vouvray NV the ultimate winner in the 1^st Annual(?) WineLIfe365 Cookies and Wine Event.  It sure was a lot of fun trying all of them and now I know which wine to put out for Santa on Christmas Eve!