Vinho Verde: A bubbly treat!

Alas, it’s been much too long!

I’m taking a moment to revive this appetizing (if I do say so myself) blog.  It’s clearly been much too long since I’ve reviewed a good wine and I have several up my sleeve.  My choice for this post is a wine I first tried two years ago near birthday in May, which is when I believe it should be had … and June, July, August… well really, I guess it’s great most of the time.  It’s an effervescent “green” wine, however, and I think it really ‘sparkles’ in summer months.  And because it’s Boston and I’m freezing, I thought I’d take a few moments to daydream of warmer months.

Vinho Verde: Casal Garcia

Let’s begin with the basics:
Where: Portugal
When: It’s a “nonvintage” wine– so drink the one you find!
What: Vinho Verde. Vinho Verde does not refer to a particular grape variety. Rather, the term means “green wine” in Portuguese and refers to a wine growing region in the northern part of this country. All you need to know is that wines from this region in Portugal – particularly the white wines – have a clean, crisp taste rare for many wines this young at this price.

Review of Casal Garcia

The Casal Garcia is blend of four grapes: Trajadura, Loureiro, Arinto and Azal. To be honest– I’m not familiar with these grapes. Though it’s worth noting that some wineries call one grape one name and they’re a completely different name somewhere else. Think– “Shiraz” versus “Syrah.”  In any event, these are the grape varietals but the percentage breakdown is not clear and based on all of this—I don’t think it makes a huge difference.

One remarkable thing about this wine—is its consistency.  Casal Garcia creates just the right blend year in and year out, so I wouldn’t bother paying too much attention to the vintages.  The taste is completely… refreshing.  Rather than the buttery, or sweet, type of white wine you may be accustomed to, this wine is crisp with a bite of citrus and of course… has a nice bubbly consistency that is ideal in the summer months.

Rather, the Casal Garcia goes down smooth and easy and light as an early morning ocean breeze. If you like Tanqueray and tonics with a twist of lime, you’ll love the Casal Garcia.

And, it may be sacriledge in the oenophilic world to say it—but I love this brilliant sparkler vino with just an ice cube or 2!

JuliaUncorked says:
Taste: Delicious, tangy, refreshing and… makes me think of warm summer days.
Price: On average, this is a $7 wine!
Alcohol content: 10% ABV.  Ideal for a glass or 2 any night!

-JuliaUncorked

The Bachelorette Bubbly!

First, Congrats to my girl DREA!  We hosted a surprise ‘Bachelorette’ for her and enjoyed some very fresh Veuve Cliquot champagne for the occasion!

What’s there really to review about this wine?  Veuve Cliquot is among the best champagnes, and possibly the best under $100 (though I’m still partial to my Running/Rose champagne…)  Personally, I save this for special occasions- works really well as a gift for birthdays, graduations, weddings!!!, and you know, Thursdays:)  In any event, I was lucky enough to get to enjoy with some of the best girls on earth, one of whom is getting married!  Hence the following celebration.  The Champagne was perfectly chilled, crisp, a little dry, not too sweet.  It balanced very well with the ripe strawberries, too.  It was PERFECT as a 6pm appertif!

Without further ado, for your viewing pleasure…

Up a Creek! Deliciously.

Hola!  So, I have a few oldie-but-goody posts I’ve been meaning to write for a while.  I guess that just means I’ve had several bottles of wine lately that I haven’t mentioned publicly 🙂   And one of those I didn’t write about because it’s kind of a gimme- everyone has had this wine and I actually think it’s a fabulous go-to wine for ANYONE looking for a Shiraz.  I promise I will be bringing you  something really cool that you don’t even know about in the near future!  (I love that movie.)  Now, onto the review…

Jacob’s Creek Reserve Shiraz 2006!

This is a classic, smooth, fruity, balanced wine.  I realllly enjoy it.  Quickly, to explain what the heck “reserve” means.   Reserve wine is a term for wines whose grapes are of particularly high quality, at least, higher quality than the usual bottle.   However, I should note there is actually a little more flexibility with the term.  Similar to the looseness of the definition of “Old Vine” for Zinfandels, “Reserve” can also be given to bottles made of grapes better suited for a long aging process, or  for NO reason except marketing!  Those schemers…

“Smokey Tobaccy”

Just tried the 2008 Cigar Box Malbec Reserve Wine… but let me explain why.  The label reads: “Drink with grilled meats, salmon or alone in your bedroom with the door locked… you’re the boss!”  Well, I am the boss and I could NOT put the bottle down with a description like that…  So I brought it home and opened it almost immediately.

Cigar Box Malbec

Region: Mendoza, Argentina
Varietal: 100% Malbec
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: 13.5% by vol.
Acidity: 5.70 g/l
Residual Sugar: 8.5 g/l
pH: 3.40

The wine is interesting to say the least.

Prosecco on a Boat!

Venetian House Prosecco

This was served as a little "taster." I loved the American-sized wine tastes in Italy 🙂

Well, this is a bit of an odd review.  Having recently returned from Italy, I have many bottles to review.  I’m going to start with a cumulative review of one particular type that I had…. all the time.  When traveling around Italy, more often than not, due to dining in the warm Italian sun, if I was in the mood for alcohol in Italy I ordered Prosecco.  Not a particular Prosecco because you can’t really serve ‘bad’ Prosecco in Italy.  The expectation is just too high to disappoint.  In any event, I shot a few pics of Prosecco around Italy and I’m prepared to make a huge faux pas and review them… all… because 1) they all tasted pretty similar, 2) I was drunk enough whilst drinking them not to notice the few (if ANY) subtle details… 🙂

Wine Flight!

Robin Williams and a little red wine absolutely MADE my trip to London.

It seems like an odd combination, and well, it is.  But let me start from the beginning.  My trip to Italy started at 9pm from Boston.  I flew British Airways, which is an airline I enjoy- they’re pretty service oriented and who doesn’t want to be serviced on an airplane?  (insert jokes, here).  I also have a slight crush on Brits.  I think it’s because of interactions like this:  I boarded the plane and when I gave the attendant my seat assignment she responded,“lovely!” as if I had anything to do with it.  But it just made me feel good, thinking to myself “yes, what a lovely seat assignment I’ve got, in that I will actually be seated for my trip to London.”  In any event, on my way to my lovely seat, I spotted this:

Yes, that’s right.  Double decker!  It must be the British- they like their transportation to have levels apparently.  I wonder if it’s more efficient fuel wise…  Anyway, I asked if I could take some pictures after we landed which, clearly, I did.  I’m an 8 year old at times.  An 8 year old who loves wine.  …Speaking of which….

Insane realizations about my trip to Italy

Hello my lovely blog readers or just “hello self,” as the case may be.  I am not doing a real wine review here, but rather, filling you in on how I am going to make up for my deficit of wine reviews:  I am going to ITALY on Thursday! (I travel more than I deserve to… thank you family!)

Allow me to  present:

“Insane realizations about my upcoming trip to Italy”

To begin with, my family suckered me into invited me to go to Venice in order to paddle on their team in huge boat  in a race like this: (No I am not kidding).   A little bad ass, right?

Running with Champagne? Yes.

I promise this post will be including wine!!    Yesterday was my birthday!! and I “celebrated” by running the Cape13 relay, a 24h 200 mile 12-person relay race across the cape.   My amazing team and I spent about 22 of those hours.. awake, eating or running.  So, needless to say we were psyched to finish and we wanted to CELEBRATE!  Not only because we finished the thing but we WON our division and were only 2nd overall to an ALL men’s team while we had 7 women!!  How awesome is that?!  Clearly the women were not holding us back, we finished 2h and 40m in front of the next team in our division.  Unreal.  So, this is all to say, we wanted to celebrate and LUCKILY I had a handy bottle of Champagne chilling in the fridge!  It was an amazing bottle of wine and was enjoyed by the team, which made it extra special.

Low Key Cabernet (Hess 2007)

Hess Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 (though I had the 2007)

I wasn’t looking for anything special last night.  I just wanted an easy glass of wine to go along with my ratatouille leftovers… I know, I’m so fancy.  Saw this bottle on the counter and basically said to myself, “As long as this wine is still good?  (as in, hasn’t turned to vinegar), I’ll be happy.”  The wine isn’t something I would have picked up on my own– nothing special about it- no fancy label (yes I pick wines that way… all the time), not an interesting varietal; ostensibly, the Hess Cabernet Sauvignon was just a red labeled Cabernet Sauvignon.   But it was surprisingly satisfying for my low key, movie night mood.

Odes to the Vinos

It all started so innocently.

Well, sort of "innocently"....

Friday night we decided to do a bit of a wine tasting.  I thought we’d compare a little: 2 Pinot Grigios, 2 Malbecs and 2 random reds …. for 6 of us.   Not surprisingly, we ended up with 10 bottles for the seven of us, which landed us at The Burren at midnight showing off our temporary tattoos…  What can I say?  We’re a classy crew.   I asked this crew to help me write the blog entry for these wines… lucky for you? Actually happened.  I am going to share with you their “thoughts” on the wines we tasted.  But what you need to know first, is that these “thoughts” came together collaboratively, drunkenly, towards the latter part in the evening.  It was really a beautiful thing, but the poems (yes, poems) make just slightly less sense now, assuming you’re sober as you read this.