2016 L'Esprit De Chevalier Pessac-Léognan

Happy Sunday!  It's been a rainy afternoon, so I decided to dispense with the yard work and focus on some indoor projects, like replacing the backing on a new painting I bought at the thrift store, fixing my live trap to catch the second groundhog that roamed into my yard on Friday and other assorted household chores.  So, now I'm ready for a nice dinner and a glass or few of wine.  Tonight, I've opened a magnum of 2016 L'Esprit De Chevalier Pessac-Léognan that I bought a month or two ago during the Wines Till Sold Out magnum event.  This wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (45%), Merlot (45%) and Petit Verdot (10%), making this a classic Bordeaux blend.  I'm going to need some of this wine for the red wine demi that I'm making for my main course, so if there's enough extra for another glass or two that seems fine to me!  So, let's see how this wine is tasting.

The wine is an inky black at the center with just a touch of ruby along the edges.  The nose is a lovely presentation of leather, ripe black fruit and hints of anise and pepper.  Take a sip and you're greeted with a rush of cool black fruit that's a bit tart at first, before transitioning into some blackberry and cherry sweetness.  The tannins are refined and well structured, which works well with the spicy dry finish with just a hint of acidity at the end. 

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 9, as it's just a great example of the old world styling and craft of Bordeaux.  This wine would pair well with a range of dishes, from grilled steaks to braised short ribs, hearty beef stew to wild mushroom risotto.  Tonight, I am enjoying this wine with a Sunday dinner of herb crusted rack of lamb with red wine demi, potato puree and some grilled asparagus.  Cheers!

2017 Helix SoRho

Happy Sunday!  I confess I've spend much of the day relaxing which is a switch from yesterday when it seemed like I was going non-stop all day.  But at least I got the flowers planted and the yard work done before the thunderstorms came.  So tonight I've set my mind to food and wine, and I've opened a bottle of the 2017 Helix SoRho, a southern Rhone style blend of Mourvedre (49%), Grenache (28%) and Cinsault (23%) from the Stone Tree Vineyard in the Wahluke Slope AVA of Washington.  So let's see how this vintage is shaping up!

The wine is a lighter color in the glass, with great ruby clarity.  The nose is classic Rhone, with fresh herbal notes of green grass, earthy peat and dusty limestone underlying hints of rhubarb and strawberries.  The taste is a surprising rush of sweet berry fruit, boysenberry, raspberry and currant that transitions easily to notes of black tea and peppery spice midpalate.  The tannins are well integrated, providing the backbone for the long, smooth and very dry finish, with just a hint of acidity at the end.

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 8.5, as it's drinking very well and would be an ideal summer red wine.  This wine would pair well with a variety of rustic dished, from mushroom risotto, to ratatouille, lamb to port tenderloin.  Tonight I am using this meal to try new things, as I bought a stainless steel smoking tray to use in my gas grill.  Tonight I've taken some Jack Daniels barrel chips to smoke some lamb loin chops along with some oven roasted root vegetables and grilled romanesco.  Cheers!

2017 Stolen Horse Syrah

Happy Wine Wednesday!  This week has gone by fast, but at least there are often new wine club shipments to enjoy mid-week, as I am doing tonight.  I received two wines in my fall shipment from the Bledsoe Family Winery, the 2017 Flying B Cabernet Sauvignon and tonight's wine, the 2017 Stolen Horse Syrah.  This wine is made from Syrah (96%) co-fermented with Viognier (4%) from the Lefore and Kenny Hill Vineyards in the Walla Walla Valley AVA of Washington.  So let's see how this wine is shaping up.

The wine is a deep ruby color in the glass, a bit darker than you might expect from a Syrah.  The nose is chock full of sweet berry fruit, cherry, raspberry and marionberry with floral notes lingering over the top.  The taste is at first cool, with blueberry and cherry up front that gives way to some warm spice notes and earthy minerality that is characteristic of the Rocks District.  The tannins are chewy, creating some nice textural balance to the fruit and sets up perfectly for the long, dry finish.

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 8.5, as it's a bit of a departure from previous vintages, with a more pronounced expression of Rocks fruit.  This wine would pair well with a variety of dishes, which shouldn't be a surprise as I find Syrah to be a very food friendly varietal.  I could easily enjoy this wine with steaks, chops, stews, salmon or pasta among other dishes, but tonight I am enjoying this wine with some barbecued beef ribs along with some oven roasted root vegetables and steamed baby Brussels sprouts.  Cheers!

2009 Firestone Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Santa Ynez Valley

Well, the holidays are winding down, but even so there are so many wonderful blessings as part of the season, like a plethora of wonderful foods and wines!  Now, this might be a mixed blessing for you readers, since I have a lot of new wines to sample over the coming weeks and months, but I also have enough leftovers for the next two weeks!  So you'll get some nice wines to taste with me, but as for pairings, they might be a little light, at least through the middle of January!

Speaking of new wines, tonight's is one such wine, a lovely gift that was a set of three great Cabernet Sauvignons that my Aunt Janet in Las Vegas sent me for Christmas, and so tonight I am tasting the 2009 Firestone Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon from the Santa Ynez Valley, a lovely little wine producing area of Santa Barbara county.  A couple interesting trivia facts about the valley, it is home to the town of Solvang, which is a Danish community with lots of interesting shops (and wonderful bakeries and cheese shops!) that I enjoyed on my first visit to California in 1991.  A second, and less glamorous trivia fact is that the valley was the setting for that horrific movie "Sideways" that to this day is convincing wine drinkers to avoid Merlot!  But enough trivia, let's get to the good stuff!

The wine is a lovely deep, inky purple in the glass, and I've given it a good 15 minutes to open up a bit, as the first impression on pouring was that it was quite tight.  Having let it breathe a bit, the nose really presents a lovely combination of leather, sweet berries, vanilla and baking spice that suggests you're in for a treat.  The taste is somewhat fruity, with ripe plums and berries on the front, leading to some cherry cola notes midpalate.  The finish is fairly dry, but uneventful (so I guess that would be very smooth, but short).

Overall, I would rate this wine a 7.5, it's certainly a pleasure to drink, but based on the aromas I was expecting a little more from it.  As for pairings, here's your opportunity for disappointment, as I am enjoying this wine with some leftover Chinese food!  享受!

2008 Villa Mattielli Amarone della Valpolicella

It's Friday I'm in love...for those of you who are children of the 1980s and 1990s, you'll instantly recognize those words as a title of a song by The Cure.  Well today is Friday, and I'm in love with Amarone!  It's been a long week with a lot of travel for work, so I figured tonight I should treat myself with a little something special from Italy, a nice Amarone della Valpolicella, a wine that is somewhat eclectic in its style, but certainly worthwhile in every way!

The wine is a nice ruby color in the glass, but somewhat lighter than many Amarones, this is likely due to its somewhat youthful presence.  The nose is quite pleasant, with aromas of sweet berries, ripe plums and licorice.  The taste is big and fruit forward with flavors of plum, raisin and ripe berries, transitioning to strawberries and grass midpalate, leading to a nicely structured and dry finish.  Although it's 15% alcohol by volume, I didn't notice a strong alcohol presence in the wine, though I note that the wine could use a few more years of cellaring before coming into its prime.

Overall I would rate this wine a 7.5 with room to improve over time, plus it was a good value from Wines Till Sold Out for less than $25.  Tonight I am pairing it with the classic Italian American favorite, pizza pie!  In this instance a lovely Home Run Inn frozen pizza, which is classic Chicago style thin crust pizza, with sausage and pepperoni (for those unfamiliar, you should really try one before you dismiss it out of had, it's my all time favorite frozen pizza)!  The sweet fruit of the wine plays nicely with the spice of the meat, and throw in a few pepperoncinis and you have a lovely meal for spending an evening relaxing from a hard week of work!  Salut!

2011 L'Ecole No. 41 Grenache Rose

So tonight is another one of those hot summer evenings that we've been having lately, where you really just want to hide in the air conditioning, hoping for cooler days!  Well, at least it's still Sunday, and that means Sunday dinner and a wonderful wine to accompany it!

So tonight I've decided to go retro with my Sunday dinner and make Seafood Newburg, a wonderful dish with a heavy cream sauce with lots of sherry (we never seem to cook with sherry anymore, what a shame), shallots and paprika along with scallops and shrimp, tossed in linguine (I went non traditional tonight as I couldn't bring myself to light the oven and make the puff pastries!).  So, what better wine to enjoy with my evening meal than a lovely rose, and tonight's comes from my all time favorite winery, L'Ecole No. 41 of Walla Walla.

The wine itself it s a lovely pink hue in the glass with lovely aromas of citrus, green apple and rose petals.  The taste is marvelous, with some sweet berry fruit at the outset, giving way to some spice and orange midpalate.  The tannins are very subdued, leading to a long, somewhat gravelly finish that is simply superb.

Now for any of you who have read my blog, you know that I am mainly a red wine sort of guy, but I've been enjoying some roses in the heat of this awful summer.  This is by far my favorite rose of all that I've sampled, as it is fresh, crisp, dry and speaks to what a traditional Grenache should be.  Overall, I would rate this one a solid 8.5, and by rights it should be a 9 but I can't bring myself to give a rating that high for a non-red wine!  In any case, it's a wonderful wine, that I'd be happy to sip all evening as the sun sets and the temperature finally gets back below 90!  Unfortunately it's now sold out at the winery, which I guess you could expect with only 190 cases produced, but I still have a few bottles of the 2011, as well as the 2009 and 2010 to enjoy, so if you can find this one, jump on it!