Wine Weekend
Since last post I've had the chance to enjoy some really great wines. On Thursday HamGeek and I sampled a few of my Sacramento finds. Ironically one is from Australia and the other I picked up at Total Wine in McLean, VA.
The Australian is the 2004 Tir Na N'Og Old Vines Grenache. This one originates in the McLaren Vale, an area just south of Adelaide Australia. This area of Australia is rightly famous for its Shiraz. Don't let the plethora of cheap wines fool you; Australia does make some great stuff. HamGeek and I agree that this Grenache is one of those. It has wonderfully complex fruit and caramel flavors that continuously change as you taste it. It will go well with any sort of cheese or red meat or even a zesty pasta dish. I'll look for it in local stores and if I find it I'll pass that on here. It's worth picking up to try something different and very good. I paid about $30 at Beyond Napa in Sacramento.
The second good wine we tried is a 2003 Montevina Terra d'Oro Zinfandel. This Zin was far better this time around than I remember from the tasting room in Amador. I can't tell offhand if this is because of the amount of wine I'd already tasted before reaching Montevina or the fact that it's a year older. Regardless this was a suprising and pleasant experience. The flavor was deep and complex with layered spice, fruit and herbal tastes. It had a pleasing aroma that grew on us over time. HamGeek stayed to finish his glass which really does indicate this is a good one; I'm not THAT entertaining! I found this at Total Wine for $14 or so and I strongly recommend it.
On Monday we had some folks over for chicken and burgers and I managed to sneak some wine in there too. The chicken was pretty good, very garlicky and citrus. I attempted to pair it with a 2005 Whitehaven Sauvignon Blanc.
The wine was decent, strong overtones of grapefruit and sour apple weren't spoilt by bitterness or buttery flavors. Unfortunately it didn't stand up well to the assortment of foods we were eating. I brought out the 
2003 Dobra Amador Syrah I picked up at Dobra (the winery we couldn't find at first) and pretty much everyone was very impressed. The wine had enormous fruit flavors balanced with pepper and earthy undertones, great aroma and character in the glass. It sounds a bit overpowering yet despite all the flavor it was amazingly easy to drink. Myself, BrewGal and BrewGuy finished it off quickly with a little help from guests. I was instructed to go find a case of this wine; I'll do my best, maybe they take phone orders.
A good time was had by all at the BBQ and I was happy to get some more opinions about wines that I really like. The Whitehaven was an experiment that didn't work out so well and a Merlot just doesn't go well with burgers. Lessons learned!
The Australian is the 2004 Tir Na N'Og Old Vines Grenache. This one originates in the McLaren Vale, an area just south of Adelaide Australia. This area of Australia is rightly famous for its Shiraz. Don't let the plethora of cheap wines fool you; Australia does make some great stuff. HamGeek and I agree that this Grenache is one of those. It has wonderfully complex fruit and caramel flavors that continuously change as you taste it. It will go well with any sort of cheese or red meat or even a zesty pasta dish. I'll look for it in local stores and if I find it I'll pass that on here. It's worth picking up to try something different and very good. I paid about $30 at Beyond Napa in Sacramento.
The second good wine we tried is a 2003 Montevina Terra d'Oro Zinfandel. This Zin was far better this time around than I remember from the tasting room in Amador. I can't tell offhand if this is because of the amount of wine I'd already tasted before reaching Montevina or the fact that it's a year older. Regardless this was a suprising and pleasant experience. The flavor was deep and complex with layered spice, fruit and herbal tastes. It had a pleasing aroma that grew on us over time. HamGeek stayed to finish his glass which really does indicate this is a good one; I'm not THAT entertaining! I found this at Total Wine for $14 or so and I strongly recommend it.
On Monday we had some folks over for chicken and burgers and I managed to sneak some wine in there too. The chicken was pretty good, very garlicky and citrus. I attempted to pair it with a 2005 Whitehaven Sauvignon Blanc.
The wine was decent, strong overtones of grapefruit and sour apple weren't spoilt by bitterness or buttery flavors. Unfortunately it didn't stand up well to the assortment of foods we were eating. I brought out the 2003 Dobra Amador Syrah I picked up at Dobra (the winery we couldn't find at first) and pretty much everyone was very impressed. The wine had enormous fruit flavors balanced with pepper and earthy undertones, great aroma and character in the glass. It sounds a bit overpowering yet despite all the flavor it was amazingly easy to drink. Myself, BrewGal and BrewGuy finished it off quickly with a little help from guests. I was instructed to go find a case of this wine; I'll do my best, maybe they take phone orders.A good time was had by all at the BBQ and I was happy to get some more opinions about wines that I really like. The Whitehaven was an experiment that didn't work out so well and a Merlot just doesn't go well with burgers. Lessons learned!
2 Comments:
I agree- the Merlot didn't stand up. Brewguy and I were discussing this last night. We've never found a Merlot we've been wowed by. You?
The best Merlot I've had was in Sonoma. We tried a 1999 Duckhorn Merlot which was good, but the Cabernets we had were still better.
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