Hey guys, mosey on over to Twirlit to read a wine review I wrote for them about the popular Bitch bottling VS. Ed Hardy/Christian Audigier’s Cabernet Sauvignon.
Bitch Vs Douche: The Wine Tasting!
June 1st, 2009 § 0
Every Bottle O Wine in 2009, Volume 3: Seghesio Home Ranch Zinfandel 2005
February 20th, 2009 § 0
One of my favorite wine tasting jaunts was a few years ago, when I visited Healdsburg in Sonoma Country. I drove up from San Francisco with only one real destination in mind, the wine tasting room of Rosenblum Cellars. Historically, I had already poured a considerable amount of Rosenblum’s Zin juice into my liver, it being one of the nicer bottles you can nab at most Trader Joes here in Southern California. That day nothing was jumping out at me in their tasting room, so my friend and I meandered around the small city from tasting room to tasting room until we needed to stop for lunch and a tiny bout of sobriety. It was there at the Healdsburg Bar and Grill that the bartender, just a little jaded to death with drunk people like us, begrudgingly told us to head over to Seghesio. I must have sounded a little wishy washy about continuing on to our 7th tasting of the day, but I remember clearly him saying more sternly, “No, get over there, you’ll regret it if you don’t go.” After a glass or two of their reds, I promptly joined the wine club that day. And I’m glad I did, even though I handed over my credit card that day in a fairly inebriated state.
With my nicer bottles of wine, like the one I’m writing about today, I fret a little about when I’m supposed to open them, even though the wine club newsletter directly tells you. I just lose those things pretty quickly. I think I timed the opening of this Zinfandel just right. It was not overly alcohol-y (I call that DRAGON’S BREATH) despite that heavy duty 15.3% alcohol content. Lots of dark fruit business going on with just little hints of spice here and there. You know how I know it’s a damn good bottle of wine? Because Tony and I will drink it in one sitting, no recorking necessary. We had this puppy with pasta and $1.99 roasted red bell pepper sauce from Whole Foods. Zinfandel and red sauce is a lap dance in your mouth, y’all.
Here’s what king of all noses had to say:
“The Zinfandel Home Ranch exhibits a deep ruby/purple color along with a rich, sweet nose of crushed rocks, briery, berry liqueur, herbs, pepper, and spice box.” Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate, 92 points
I don’t remember that crushed rock thing but I love that kind of hoity toity wine tasting phrase.
Every Bottle O Wine in 2009, Volume 2: Pepper Tree Semillon 2008
January 13th, 2009 § 1
Alright, this one came into my possession due to two jet-setting friends who were visiting and wine tasting in Australia! This got smuggled back to me in one of their bags which is testament to two things: one – the general awesomeness of my friends, and two – the general legendary status of my wine guzzling desires. Basically, you can’t tell me you went to any wine country and not bring me back a bottle!
Ryan and Aura did a great job NOT bringing me some boring old Chardonnay, or a Cab – in fact, they smartly brought me back a piece of history! According to semi-okay Wikipedia, Semillon came to Australia in the 1800s and is one of the key white wines grown in Oz to this very day. Two styles emerge from this grape. It can either go golden yellow, with soft acidity and honey notes OR, go pale and crisp and dry. This Pepper Tree puppy is definitely on the latter team – it was definitely citrusy (mostly lemon) with touches of green apple.
I can’t remember what we sat down to eat it with on night one. I think we had it with some kind of gargantuan salad. It didn’t work well. I think often your salad dressing will really conflict with whatever wine you are guzzling, especially if your salad dressing is vinegar based. Often the damn dressing will be stronger than your wine! But on night two, we had it with an asian shrimp stir-fry, and it went with it SWIMMINGLY. I literally let it all swim in my mouth together – the lemony spritz of the wine clearly went perfectly with the shrimp. And anything citrusy always seems to goose up boring broccoli and other vegetables.
Semillon is not my favorite white, although I definitely prefer it over Sauvignon Blancs and buttery Chardonnays. Lately, I’ve become a happy little Viognier girl, but I certainly appreciate how far this wine had to travel to get to my dinner table. Thanks again, Ryan and Aura!
PS – that bird statue was found by the BF just a handful of houses down from us. It was just sitting on top of the garbage. It looks like the Maltese Falcon but it’s not. He likes posing with my wines, so far.
Every Bottle O Wine in 2009, Volume 1: Les Peyrieres Rasteau Cotes Du Rhone Villages
January 13th, 2009 § 0
Alright, first things first. I bought this guy at Whole Foods. It had the little “What Steve is Drinking” tag on it. Steve is the wine dude for the Whole Foods in Glendale and I’ve had many a knowledgeable, interesting wine-oriented convo with him. He wasn’t around though, and it was just RIGHT THERE in front of me and sometimes that’s enough to get me to buy something. Yeah, its mere existence will cause me to buy it.
Strike one, not Steve’s fault. The bag boy at Whole Foods just dumped it into the same bag with other groceries. No outer protective bag. Nope. Just swimming in there with little packages of yogurt and pasta and OTHER JARS. It was ridiculous.
Strike two, I can’t remember anything about it except it was wine. It was French. I’ve always been wary of the whole French wine world because it is completely set up around you feeling clueless and powerless and poor.
Strike three, I mentioned how callously my wine was treated on my Facebook page…only to be chastised by not ONE, but TWO wine-store-owning friends. “This is what you get for buying wine at the grocery store!” Argh! They caught me! And it’s true. Or only mostly true. Maybe had I spoken to Steve pre-purchase we coudl have discussed the wine’s characteristics and I would have known that a medium-bodied Cotes Du Rhone is not my bag, baby.
I usually stick to California wines in a lame/noble? attempt to support local industry. Am I being an awesome American or a retarded prude? It’s just that you can find SO MUCH tasty, affordable stuff made right here in California…
New Years Resolution: Drink More Booze, Blog About It
January 13th, 2009 § 0
No seriously. Can I prove it to you?
Culinary Mishegoss, Vol. 2
June 9th, 2008 § 0
This Sunday, the BF made a request for a healthy dinner. He knows if he left it up to me, we’d be eating something fried in butter, drenched in cream, followed by a cheese course and a dessert course. I would also act like I forgot about the existence of vegetables. This is another recipe learned from my last class at Hipcooks…
In class we did it with oyster mushrooms that looked fresh. I had to make due with dried shitake mushrooms from Mitsuwa market down on Alameda in Little Toyko, soaked in hot water to bring them back to life. I sauteed them up with some olive oil, freshly squeezed lemon juice, and 3 cloves of chopped up garlic, added in a handful or 3 of roasted pine nuts (a Tony favorite), then indelicately shoved the messy mix into a big pocket cut into the salmon filets. You can’t see the stuffing here because I purposely hid it from you! Haw! Wrapped the puppy in rice paper and then sauteed it until the wrapper was crispy and brown. Guzzled it with this:
We had a slight misfire with the wine sitch for dinner. I had a bottle of Rose from 05 waiting in the fridge and it looks like it had gone bad – it was too dark for Rose, and kind of had a vinegar nose. So I tried my second best option, a bottle of Pinot I had hiding away in the cellar. At least now I have confirmation that I can start opening all the 2004 Santa Barbara pinots. After popping the cork, the smell of fresh, fruity BERRY notes flooded our noses – strawberries and cherries – smooth tannins – rich and elegant, not flabby and flat. Snooty wine jerks are always talking about pinot with salmon, and now I get it. Something about the oil in the fish and the bright lively fruit in the pinot just goes damn well together.
Drinking OTHER THINGS, Vol. 1 Monastrell / Mourvèdre
June 4th, 2008 § 0
I stalk this grape. I stalk Mourvèdre and Petite Verdot because everyone else is out chasing cult cabs and princess-y pinot noirs like they are the blonde square-jawed jocks and privileged prom queens of the wine world. To me, Mourvèdre is the new foreign exchange student. He is swarthy, bold. He looks like he plays the guitar. Probably speaks French and Spanish. Okay I’m getting a little carried away. This is what happens when you drink too much, kids!
This bottle was recommended to me by Steve, the knowledgeable wine dude at the Glendale Whole Foods. He always seems to show up just in time to give me the inside track. He sees he holding a cheap bottle of Malbec and I ask about it. “Ehhh, try this, this is bolder. Do you cook? Do you LIKE to cook?” He explains that this Spanish blend of Monastrell (what they call Mourvèdre in Spain), Cabernet Sauvignon, and a little Tintorera goes perfectly with certain flavors in Spanish cuisine. I know this sounds…very W.C. Fields-ish but I love wine with breakfast on leisurely Sunday mornings. I don’t get TANKED, people. But a nice mouthful or two of nicely paired wine with a breakfast followed by plenty of water is not a cardinal sin. And I should know, after 12 grueling years of Catholic school.
Full Name: Bodegas Castano Solanera 2004 (Yecla)
Technical Details: 65% Monastrell, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Tintorera at 14.5% alcohol.
Interesting Label Stuff: “produced from the oldest vines of the indigenous Monsatrella variety” – “aged in oak for 10 months”
The Occasion: Breakfast. Namely, this frittata:
And? Steve the wine dude from Glendale Whole Foods (STWDFGWF?) advised me to enjoy this tannic and dry red wine with a food item that’s been goosed up with some kind of Spanish flavoring. The onions in the frittata were fried with Spanish smoked paprika which danced well with the tart, dark fruit flavors in the wine. I grated some Iberica Spanish cheese on top (because everything always needs cheese) and that too was a perfect match for the wine, which proves once again the conventional wine wisdom you should sip wines with the native foods made nearby (mmm, I just thought of Santa Maria BBQ tri tip sandwich with a Santa Barbara syrah…) Strangely enough, upon opening, it went perfectly with the fried paprika-spiked frittata and could do battle with the onions, the potatoes and the cheese without being drowned out. Enticing, rich and warm on the nose, a hefty-ish alcohol level, lovely and dark in the glass. And one day later the wine was perfect on its own – it had mellowed out just a bit, and was much less unruly and bold. And fine, if you’re one of those people that insist on knowing, Robert Parker gave this bottling a solid 92 points. At $11 a bottle, I can totally go back to get another one and just have it with tapas – thick ribbons of Serrano ham, hunks of Manchego, some spicy chorizo? Yeah, the good stuff.
Culinary Mishegoss, Vol. 1
June 3rd, 2008 § 0
A few months ago I started taking classes at Hipcooks in the Brewery art colony. It was part of a general order from the head shrinker that I both put myself in the position of student or newbie to someone else’s experience *and* do something outside of my comfort level. Before that first cooking class, I was more of a Food Network passive junkie who bought cookware and chef’s gadgets and just let them pile up in my space-cramped kitchen. Perhaps it was that joke on SNL in the There Will Be Blood skit when the narrator says “Food Network – porn for fat people” that also helped me get off my butt and start using all my kitchen junk. If Crate and Barrel insists on being irresistible to me on paycheck Fridays, I better put it all to good use. And if I’m gonna do all this damn cooking and wine guzzling, I better blog about it too, eh? So here’s part one in a series about ‘not being a lazy fat-ass who just watches bobble-headed people making food whilst eating Doritos’.
Here’s my latest effort. The recipe is from the last Hipcooks class I took, “Healthy, Fresh and Zingy 3″ – a goat cheese tart.
I was slightly intimidated to give this a shot because of the crust making. Who the hell wants to take the time to make a crust? Crust making sounds like something John McCain does naturally, in his sleep! And to top off my general paranoia, in class when this was demo-ed to us, our instructor whipped out a pre-made crust, par-baked and light golden so we never actually saw the labor involved in person. But like most things in life, if you just follow the damn instructions you’re going to be okay! So for once, instead of being impatient, I really let the dough sit for an hour in the fridge as instructed! I rolled it out between plastic wrap as instructed! Wow, so this is how baking works! My only major screw up was not having enough flour and using whole wheat flour as a substitute. Despite this tweak, I think it came out pretty damn good. My major proof in support of its damn goodness is the fact that I baked this on Saturday and come Monday morning, exactly one quarter of it was left. Yes, we ate it all. It’s like a fancy pants cheesecake – half goat cheese, half cream cheese, spiked with lemon zest both in the crust and in the filling, and topped with slivered almonds. We did not pare it with any specific beverage, although damn. I bet it would be good with cool, crisp proseccoto cut that creaminess, but not too acidic to kill its light citrusy, vanilla subtleties. Mmmm, **Homer voice** citrusy, vanilla subtleties…
A Must Have for Winos! Oxo Stemware Washing Gadgety Thing
May 29th, 2008 § 0
I was actually looking for something to clean the BF’s many iced tea pitchers which get stained at the bottom. I also have a decanter from Crate and Barrel that looks like a flower vase and is ALSO bitchingly hard to get perfectly clean. Then I spotted this doo-dad at Target! It was a good $6 investment – a year or two ago good friend Madmojo was cleaning an Ikea wine glass and the fucker shattered around his hand. He had a Frankensteinian, bloody gash across his hand that was…not as amusing as it would have been in if featured in an Evil Dead movie.
Notice how it fits the lip area of the wine glass so perfectly. GET ONE!
Great Dinners – Canele
May 12th, 2008 § 0
The BF took me to Canele in Atwater Villlage for the 31st birthday. The first awesome decision made was bringing this wine with us. Both of us had the beef tenderloin entry and this syrah from Santa Barbara made the entree a total home run. This great food wine is not too tannic, not too peppery, and also went really well with our appetizer – serrano ham, olives, and idiazabal:
The only thing is – olives do NOT go with wine, yet here I am, chomping away on salty, oily, delicious olives. That’s what your water glass is for, I guess.
Here’s our other app, perfectly steamed asparagus sitting on a super buttery piece of crispy bread, topped with a soft boiled egg. Everything drizzled in brown butter. I could eat this for breakfast EVERY DAY:
A few other random notes:
You sit close, VERY close to your neighbors, so either get over it or prepare your conversations ahead of time to be as inoffensive as possible. Corkage is a reasonable $10. None of the desserts sang to me but I had a tough time choosing between the beef tenderloin and the beef bourginon.
Verdict:
I would definitely go back for another dinner but what I am even more curious about is their weekend brunches! Who wants to come with me?