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!