2016 Gnarly Head Sauvignon Blanc

Happy Monday!  I have to admit, my wine tonight is somewhat of an accident, as I bought this bottle mainly to use in cooking some mussels in white wine over the weekend (you know I'm unlikely to buy a white wine just for drinking!) so I looked at Costco for the cheapest dry white wine I could find and settled on the 2016 Gnarly Head Sauvignon Blanc.  Now it's Monday and I'm cooking a completely different kind of seafood, so why not finish the bottle?

The wine is a very light golden color in the glass, classic for a Sauvignon Blanc.  The nose is cascade of citrus and tropical notes, grapefruit, passion fruit and just a hint of pineapple.  The taste is quite crisp, with a gradual buildup of fruit that starts with some citron, moves to some notes of melon and then reaches an apex of tart apple over some hints of minerality in the background.  The finish is crisp and refreshing and quite dry, a really ideal white wine for a dry red wine lover like me!

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 7, as it's a very refreshing Sauvignon Blanc that would be quite versatile with food, and it was a terrific bargain at just $6 at my local Costco!  Tonight I am enjoying this wine with some sea scallops seared in wasabi oil along with some steamed white rice and sugar snap peas.  The tart citrus aspects of this wine are a wonderful counter to the richness of the scallops.  Cheers!

Snooth Murrieta's Well Virtual Tasting

Well, tonight is another wonderful Snooth.com virtual wine tasting featuring wines from Murrieta's Well Estate Vineyard located in the Livermore Valley of California.  The virtual tasting was curated by their winemaker, Robbie Meyer, who struck me as being very down to earth and truly connected to vineyards and someone that treat winemaking more as an art than a science.  In listening to him speak about the vineyards, vines and the wines, he reminded me of some of the wonderful wine craftsmen of the Northwest, like Chuck Reininger, who let their passion shine through their wines.  Overall a pleasure to listen and interact with such a wonderful artist!

We tasted through the wines is a somewhat quixotic order, but I've organized my tasting notes putting the white wines first, followed by the rose and then the reds.

2015 The Whip, a blend of Sauvignon Blanc (30%), Semillion (30%), Chardonnay (30%), Viognier (7%) and Muscat Canelli (3%) - Very nice aromas, notes of flowers, mild citrus and some marked mineral notes, very nice use of the Viognier and Semillion really come through on the nose.  Taste is a perfect summer food wine, I could easily sip this in the patio with some hummus or enjoy with a light summer dinner.

2016 Muscat Canelli (100%) - Pineapple, papaya, white floral, lovely crisp refreshing white, perfect for summer.

2016 Dry Rose, a blend of Grenache (55%) and Cournoise (45%) - Farmed to be a rose, canopy management, picking, to give a great fruit/floral expression.  Lovely floral notes on the nose, peach, apricot and some mineral notes.  Crisp acidity and a very nice, dry finish.  Would be great with cedar planked Coho Salmon filet.

2014 Spur, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (45%), Petite Sirah (22%), Petit Verdot (14%), Merlot (10%) and Cabernet Franc (9%) - Some may group this wine with a Bordeaux style blend, but the addition of Petite Sirah really makes a difference and places it outside the traditional Bordeaux Blends (it also makes a big difference in the taste of the wine, bringing in more fruit.  Nose just makes me want to drink this wine immediately.  Aromas of leather, smoke, oak, warm spice, lovely black fruit, blackberries, cherries.and some notes of dried fig.  Lovely fruit up front, lovely mineral and smoke notes midpalate.  Wonderfully dry, velvety finish.  This was absolutely my favorite of the wines we tasted, and would pair well with a big grilled steak any day of the week!

2014 Cabernet Franc, a blend of Cabernet Franc (88%), Cabernet Sauvignon (6%) and Petit Verdot (6%) - Great earthy nose, white pepper spice, perfect for a chilly autumn evening in front of a fire.  Great with pasta, perhaps with a creamy white sauce, would also be wonderful with a more mellow fish dish, perhaps a halibut steak.

2014 Merlot, a blend of Merlot (90%), Cabernet Sauvignon (7%) and Petit Verdot (3%) - you know I love me some Merlot and this one was a standout!  Notes of cinnamon and ripe blackberry on the nose, wonderful black fruit and spice midpalate.  Midpalate some notes of cocoa, mocha and vanilla bean come through.  The finish is smooth and very dry, well structured tannins on the backbone, pure Merlot joy!

Finally, I would like to extend my sincerest thanks to Snooth.com and Murrieta's Well for sponsoring this wonderful tasting, it was a real treat!

2015 Cupcake Sauvignon Blanc

Happy Sunday!  It's been a somewhat more relaxing weekend, with the normal errand running and chores with a bit of work tossed in, but now it's time for a nice relaxing Sunday dinner.  Tonight I am doing something a little unusual, in that I've opened a bottle of white wine!  Tonight it's a bottle of 2015 Cupcake Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough New Zealand.  To be fair, this is a bottle of wine that's been in my fridge since my Christmas party, and since no one ever drank it, I thought it would go very well with my dinner tonight.  So here goes nothing!

The wine is rather light in color, with a nose full of  tropical fruit, mango, Meyer lemon, and a bit of pineapple over some hints of green grass.  The taste is rather nice, with a good bit of fruit up front, but with a nice tart acidity throughout, leaving you quite refreshed by the time you enjoy the crisp, dry finish.

Overall, as a dry red wine lover, this wine is actually pretty nice, so I'd rate it a solid 7.5,  I'm sure I didn't pay anywhere near $10 for this wine, so it was also a good value.  The main reason I opened this bottle was to go with my dinner tonight, which is a classic Midwestern Sunday dinner of oven roasted chicken with stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy and some steamed asparagus.  The tart acidity in this wine is perfect to cut through the richness of my chicken dinner, cheers!