Italy, Pregnancy and Wine

There once was a newly married couple who planned a lovely trip to see the rolling hills and drink the wonderful wines of Tuscany, Italy. With Brunello di Montalcino, Chianti Classico and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano on their mind, they booked their plane tickets with smiles on their faces. Then the news that a third person would be accompanying them on this trip of a wine lovers fantasy came about, and the cruel truth settled over them like a dense fog: it would be torture for two of the three people to hang out in wine country when they couldn't drink.

Okay, so baby didn't think that but I'm sure that it would've mentioned it if it could.

Just got back from those rolling hills of the region of Tuscany in Italy. Made the most of my inability to drink and used the spittoon as much as I could. I have to say I have a newfound appreciation for the Sangiovese grape and the effect of terroir on flavour of wines.

Will update on each of the regions we popped into and wines we both (me and hubby) liked in the coming days.
Briefly-
Didn't really like Vino Nobile
LOVED Brunello
Liked Rosso
And well, Chianti is so well known in North America, I could've already told you I like them.

Tell you more about them soon! Ciao!!

here's the dil.

Last I posted, I wasn't 100% sure, but now I am. Sigh. I haven't been posting because I haven't been drinking. I'm pregnant. HOWEVER. I'm going to Italy with my hubby in a few weeks, on sort of a baby-moon, and I'm going to, I don't know, figure out if it's polite in Italy to spit after tasting.

when food ruins wine.

I know I've written about garlic blowing my palate out of the water, it happened again. Garlic and I have a precarious relationship, one marred when a certain beautiful liquid enters the room. I've tried and tried to make them friends. It hasn't worked. This means that I'll henceforth shun my friend garlic for my bestie: wine.

Cyril's Cuvee. Chappellet. 2006. A nose that made me shiver, and taste that made me purr.

Enter gyro dinner. So first, let me announce, it's not really the best pairing...uh. Not at all. But I didn't think I'd kill my palate after eating some tzatziki with it. Needless to say. I was grumpy for the rest of a few minutes until I got over myself.

Advice to you all. Don't do it.

truffle salt: shi shi foo foo or the next best wine pairing?

Backtrack to California, Valentine's weekend: I was subjected to pairing wine with a slice of Dubliner cheese with a sprinkling of truffle salt. It was an interesting way to pair an overpriced salt...or so I thought. The pairing (okay, this was at the 12th or 13th winery of the day) was genius, price point aside.

You ever have an "obsessive dream" where you dream about well, a type of food, wine, clothing, haircut and you wake up and you know you have to have it? Maybe it's the woman in me talking, but 3 months later, I was dreaming of truffle salt. I had to have it. Cringing when I saw the amazon.com price, I closed my eyes, bought some tennis balls to get the shipping free and voila, I now have truffle salt at hand.

Let me tell you - truffle salt smells like dirty feet. Don't listen to ANYONE try to tell you anything different. Actually, the stink is closer to feet that were perhaps unwashed after a jaunt in a swamp combined with a trek through the amazon in construction boots. Yes. It's that bad. You have a sensitive nose, you'll agree, it's just plain devastating how disgusting it is. I don't know how I missed that point when we were tasting (recall, 12 or 13 wineries came before) but I did. If you are faint of nose, maybe pinch it when you crack open a jar but don't let the smell deter you. It is a WONDERFUL pairing with cheese and almost any red wine. I'm not drinking anything special at the moment, actually it's Black Box Shiraz (until the husband comes home and we can share something spectacular), but the little jar of stinkiness opens the palate (it's salt recall) and the truffle comes through, holding hands with even the cheapest of wine.

Cheers!

steak and shake...

1. what is red
2. shaken
3. and 91 points on the wine spectator list?!?






MOLLYDOOKER BOXER SHIRAZ 2008!!!!


Well done you.



Tonight we're doing steak and shake....the real way.

Cheers!

is it strange that i...

...am making my kitchen theme "vineyard"?

I wish I had a camera to take a picture of my newly bought decos and post it here but sadly, we have 2 cameras in the house and they're both broken. :(
The reason I bring it up is because there was an enormous lottery that just went by yesterday. With it being mother's day and all, we all (the mother, mother-in-law, sister-in-law and husband and I) went in on buying some tickets to try our luck.

No luck.
We lost.

But (of course) the question was raised (in my head) of what we would do if we won the money. My first love, and usually the first thing to pop into my head is: I'd buy a Ferrari. As I've aged, maybe my taste has gotten more refined but I've moved from the ever so masculine "let me show off my chisled cheekbones and power hungry engine" of the body of the Italia (latest=458 Italia)


To a less hormonally driven, visually demanding, 612 Scaglietti


But this round of lotto dreams led me to say, well shoot, I'd buy a vineyard/winery. And so, to remind myself of future dreams, I'm changing the appearance of my little kitchen to resemble a haven for grapes and wine lovers.

Cheers!

flown the coop?....

I think not!
I've been absent because, sadly, there hasn't been much good handy wine drinking going on. I mean, of course there's been wine, but it hasn't been Wine. Instead, let me air some beef about drinking wine.

As of recently, my husband, and co-lover of wine, has taken to drinking wine like this:
Swirl (to open up smell)
Sniff
Oggle colour
Sniff
Sip-areating by sucking in some air at the same time (reverse whistle)
Swallow

None of that bothers me...not one bit.
BUT THEN. Oh then...

2nd sip, he areates again by doing the 'reverse whistle'but DOES NOT swallow
immediately (I hear all the 'that's what she said' giggles out there, don't think I didn't chuckle even though I'm on a rant), instead, he sloshes the wine all over the inside of his mouth, stripping it (and himself) of any dignity by likening it to mouth wash.


Don't yell at me, I get it. Let it coat all of your tastebuds and whodawha. We have an expert here who expounds on the way he likes to taste. It makes sense...http://www.viddler.com/explore/winelibrarytv/videos/889/
But it's the 3rd sip that puts me over the edge though...it's mouthwash motion again before swallowing. I mean. COME ON.

There's tasting and then there's drinking.
Here's to drinking!

Salut!

Batman: "Not you, Robin. They have strict licensing laws in this country. A boy of your age is not allowed in a drinking tavern."

I was in Canada this weekend, and guess what we drank...that's right. Yellowtail. I opted for the Chardonnay and to keep myself afloat, mixed in some Perrier water. On the Eastern European block we call this handy mix: gemist (geh-misht).

Not much to rave about there.

BUT. Batman and Robin came to mind when I felt my tastebuds sigh in relief and then cringe in despair tonight. I don't mind Zinfandels (hereafter known as zins), and my appreciation for them grew while we were trouncing around the California wine regions this past February. For a non-zin drinker, the abundance of zin was definitely a surprise (who knew that almost every blimey winery in the north coast (sonoma county) including russian-river, alexander valley, dry creek valley etc grows the zin grape? Not this girl).

Anyways, so I made a "hearty tuscan bean stew" for dinner tonight (v. tasty) but before I took a taste of the stew, I sipped a bit of #10 of the top 100 of 2008, Wine spectator's Seghesio Sonoma county Zinfandel (2007).

Strange nose (mind you, I've been chopping onions and mashing garlic all day-my significant other gave me a description of a chocolate berry mix with a dash of pepper, but I just didn't get that) but the flavour. Oh the flavour. It carries a flavour that soothes the palate. No other way to describe it. I hummed in pleasure and then turned back to re-read the label. It's a zin alright-but it doesn't matter that I'm prejudiced a wee bit against them. This is just one good bottle of vino.

AND THEN.
BAM!!!!!!!!!!
WHAP!!!!!!
POW!!!!!
(Think Adam West Batman theme....)

I took a bite of the bean stew, chewed on a crushed piece of garlic, and had my teeth cry out in agony. My eyes widened as I realized my mistake (stupid stupid Juli). My tastebuds had been blown to bits and I could really do nothing to soothe them...or so I thought. How to revive my tastebuds...good ol' yahoo answers has provided me with some options.

Well, I don't have time (just wait it out they all say) or ginger lying around. Oh but coffee, I have coffee. So here is my female mind at it's best most amazing problem solving moment: Laura Secord Espresso Dark Chocolate. (Laura's a chocolatier from Canada..I think). TA DA!

And so I sit writing and munching, sipping and waiting for the flavour of the wine to impress me once again.

Cheers!

Surprises are wonderful!!!

So generally, I don't like surprises. I mean, random flowers are lovely, chocolate even better but I draw the line at surprise parties.








but even that can be remedied with a surprise pinata...I mean, who DOESN'T like having an excuse to hit something AND get rewarded for it!?


The surprise this weekend came in the form of a bottle I've never heard of: 2004 Crauford Wine Company, Cabernet Sauvignon, Tattoo Maroon Vineyard.

SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh boy, I purred like a kitten when it invaded my mouth. Reading some cellar tracker reviews (http://www.cellartracker.com/intro.asp), most note that it is quite drinkable after an hour, but doesn't change much if you leave it to aerate over a few days, or decant for a bit longer.
I couldn't have cared less. Talk about a great wine that didn't need pairing to get two flaming thumbs up.

If you're having a ladies night, this is an excellent bottle to start with...have dinner with...end with. Yes. I was that impressed.

Ziv!

yellow tail, bellow schmail

I'm sitting at a coffee shop writing this and I just heard the most giggle worthy thing. That I'm actually still giggling to myself really means something's up....
I heard...A FOREIGN ACCENT!!!! (Which let me tell you, in Pittsburgh, isn't heard very often). I think he's French and he SOOO knows that I'm giggling at his 'soo, k'en youh tell mee...'.

Sigh. I obviously didn't sleep well last night.

Yellowtail Shiraz.


The wine almost all of Canada thinks is an excellent everyday drinking wine...and from what I've read, most of Yellowtail profit comes from Canuks buying it up. As a former resident of Canada, I agree. Yellowtail dominates, at least in Ontario.

I don't like it.

And neither should you.

Let me give you some better options if you're spending frugally...
1. Killer juice Cabernet Sauvignon. It's a box wine. No no. No cringing. Its slogan is 'the box that beats the barrel'. In the case of that YTShiraz, they're right.

2. Little Penguin Shiraz--still in relatively same price range but much better

3. ANY OTHER YELLOWTAIL. Okay, so I'm totally not using the spitoon for other Yellowtails, but the Shiraz is particularly gross. Especially if you're drinking various bottles..you'll see. Do a taste testing at home.

Why am I talking about YTS as if I've recently drank it? Because I did. Last night. My husband and I have a rule, don't crack a good one if the other isn't around to share (sharing is caring, my friends, sharing is caring). So, I was out, and he looked at the options of blekky wine and decided for the YTS. Now, by itself, it actually wasn't too bad (I had a glass, or two when I got home). So, if you do happen to LLLOOOVVEEEEE it, don't shoot me. I'm telling you that if you work that nice palate of yours up to a good level you'll see that you'd rather grace it with a different wine's presence.

alas, the freeze hath ruin'ed the crop

Right. So the Freemark Abbey wine has plummeted down to become a cringeworthy shadow of its former self.

Elegy to the late harvest that was killed out of sheer stupidity:
Your flavour, never fully recognized
You were too young to go this way
Your colour, deep as a simply setting sun
Your potential, as robust as newly budded roses
I bow my head in shame for my carelessness
Oh thorn of life, how could you take this one from me.

Frozen=not good.

In the state I was in on Easter, I ended up taking another bottle of dessert wine up as 'next in line'. It was a Freemark Abbey 2008 Edelwein Gold Late Harvest Rielsing. Well, it was just in the cellar so in my brightened heightened state of mind, I popped it into the freezer to cool until we were oh-so-ready to drink it. Oh sigh.

So when I looked in the freezer yesterday evening my heart sunk to my stomach and left a lingering acid indigestion. Like most liquids, this one expanded when it froze and almost fully de-corked itself. It now sits in our fridge, beckoning to be consumed.

Oh well.
Cheers! Zivili! Salut!

Easter Wines

So our menu was vast and had an array of foods...none of which we really made to pair properly with the wines we drank...

1. Chappellet (Pritchard Hill estate Vineyard) Cabernet Sauvignon, 2006
2. Chateau Montellena, Cabernet Sauvignon, 2004
3. Chappellet, Merlot, 2006
4. Chateauneuf-du-pape, Chateau de Beaucastel,2004
5. Grgich hills Estate, Zinfandel, 2005
6. Amarone della valpolicella, 2005
and crowning glory is.....drum roll please....
7. O'Shaughnessy Howell Mountain, Cabernet Sauvignon, 2004

However, my favourite part of wine drinking, seriously, is the dessert wines. The one we cracked open to celebrate Jesus's resurrection was Geyser Peak, Block Collection, 2008 Late Harvest Riesling.

A bit about what I know about what I drank! [Ahem..clearing my throat]
An Ode to Chappellet...okay, not really an ode, but well, a blurb...

Chappellet is understatedly BEAUTIFUL. I had the privilege of visiting this past Valentine's day weekend (my husband had a gig out in Berkley). And I say privilege because they don't do open taste testings. The directions to the winery are more than vague, but the wine itself is worth getting lost for a few hours. As we drove up the hills, following mailbox signs saying that Chappellet is this way then that way, turn at the big boulder, etc. we got to a building looking like it stepped out of the 70's and hasn't opened its eyes yet. The building itself is 70's brown. There are no distinctive, over the top welcome to Chappellet signs telling you that yes, you did make it! Good for you! Instead, a true Chappelletian knows that the building is actually in the shape of the tri-triangular symbol on every bottle...check it out...http://www.chappellet.com/index.cfm?method=homepage.showpage

One of the first things you notice when you step out of your vehicle is the smell. It smells, well, green. Chappellet is on top of Pritchard Hill and has done as little damage to the surrounding forest as possible. You walk up a wooden stairway to huge glass doors and walk in. 2 desks welcome you with a floral arrangement in the middle of the small triangular room.

The pleasantness of our tour guide was surprising as was her casual, "I love Chappellet" demeanor. She made us feel at home with any questions we had, our constant oohing and ahhing and pausing to touch the vines in the vineyard.

I have to say, the view is Killer. You look out, and in the foreground is their vineyard and in the background stand hills and a lake reflecting the sun. Just the memory makes me smile.

Anywho, if you're going to enjoy a Chappellet wine, I'd start with the Merlot (I know I know. Most seasoned wine vets spit on Merlots...but I REALLY REALLY like this one).

Salut! Zivjeli! Cheers!