Wine Thought #1

I was just finishing up a bottle of Esporao Alentejo – DOC – Reguengos, Portugal Reserva 2006 and the thought came to me.  Which is a sadder moment, the first sip of a new bottle of wine when the fact the wine didn’t live up to your expectations hits you or the moment of the last sip of the bottle of wine when you realize it really was a good wine and it is all over.

Minguel Torres Celeste 2006

I just picked up 3 bottles of this 2006 Spanish red.  I ordered it on pre-sale months ago and I see this $10 bottle of wine now sells at the WineLibrary.com for $12, so take the $10 price tag with a grain of salt. I assume I got a good deal.  Enough of the money talk.  Lets see what it is all about.

Smelling and looking at the wine, it does have a little of the translucent rubiness of a Pinot Noir and also has some of the earthy woodiness of the Pinot also.  There is some fruitiness behind all those other aromas.

On the front of the tongue it does excite and it has a long finish.  There is a metallic flavor in the mid-palate, but it isn’t offensive.  It’s fruity and bright.  Not too thick and a little weak in the middle.  A real nice effort for a $10-$12 bottle of wine.

Santagostino – Baglio Soria – Sicilia – 2006

This Italian red wine from Sicilia is 50% Syrah and 50% Nero D’Avola.  I know nothing about it as is write here today.  I probably got it 2 months ago from a pre-sale I opted into 6-months ago.  Something in the write up must of caught my attention, but I don’t know what it is.  Nevertheless, I have a wine I have never had before.  With the pre-sale price of $25 I would expect something good but I don’t know what it is and it can be something strange who knows.

Pouring it, it is a relatively translucent purple, more on the violent hue than the ruby hue.  It looks clean and crisp.  It is rated at a high 14.5% alcohol level so we may have a bit of a high burn factor going.

You do sense the alcohol on the nose but there are some dark berry aromas in there, a little oak and a little dirt.  Probably a good sombo, but I assume it will take half a glass until I can really enjoy this wine.  Let’s have a taste as we drink this with some Danish Fontina cheese and a Calandra’s French Bread and oil.

Tasting it you get lots of flavors, almost bomby in the up-frontness of it all.

Port – Jonesy – Australia

This is my first port of my life I am about to embark on.  I have had a couple of glasses of the XWinery Chardonnay with dinner tonight with some stinky smoked small mammel cheese, so at least I have a buzz to taste this with.  I bought it about 4 months ago and have been fearful of it.  I remeber it getting some nice kudos from somewhere so for $8 for the bottle, I knew some day I would want to try some port and today is the day.  I have saved some cheese for the experience as desert.  Here we go.

Right off the bat, the color is a dark  ruby maroon.  It looks thick.  The nose is contained and surprisingly, not too alocoholy.  It is only 18% alcohol, I thought it would be more.  I’m glad it is not. Kathy thought it smelled alocoholy as her first reaction, so there is what happens when I finish her wine.  Let’s have a whirl.  The screw top is going to be convenient for this bottle.  Wow it is very sweet and syrupy.  I was not expecting that.  Like grape jelly.  Goes really well with the chocolate.  This is a pleasant surprise

Chardonnay – XWinery – Caneros, CA – 2007

I have had this Chardonnay in the fridge for a good month and never was prepared enough to pull it out of the fridge in enough time to let it warm up enough to taste.  Since I was finishing my bottle of red wine from the night beforewith my BBQ rib dinner, it gave me the time to let the bottle de-cool for me to taste.  I thought it would go well with the cabbage and pasta dish Kathy was preparing so it was time to unscrew the cork to this $16 bottle of white.

Kathy’s first impression was that it was buttery in the nose which is characteristic for a Chardonnay and I agree.  I guess I also smell some apple flavors.  After giving it a whirl, it isn’t too oaky or buttery at all.  It has a long finish and seems to be a wine that should you should eat something with, maybe we will eat some of the smoked goat cheese we purchased at the Morristown Farmers Market this morning.  It’s a really nice night again tonight so matbe we will enjoy the wine and cheese on the deck with my new Acer Aspire One netbook, with which I type up this and the previous blog.  For $16, I assume there are less expensive ones that are just as good but I would buy this again if I were to go for a Chardonnay.