Tasting - Chateau la Roberterie Bordeaux

 

Name:	Chateau la Roberterie
Variety:	Bordeaux Red Blend
Region:	Bordeaux
Country:	France
Year:	2016
Price:	$10

Winery Review:

Fruity and floral flavors, with red fruit and currant aromas, highlighted by violet notes. The palate is supple and restrained on the tannins. Its fresh acidity underlines the fruity aromas.

Wine Folly: 

Bordeaux Blend (p. 83) Main note is currant, some graphite and chocolate. maybe herbs. Less tannin than you'd think and more acidity. This bottle is bone dry. We decanted for 60+ mins as recommended.

My Review: 

This was more acidic then I'd have expected. Pretty good. I think it would have preferred this with a steak. I like the acid and the wet tobacco secondary notes. 9/14.

Tasting - Benzinger Cabernet Sauvignon

 

Name:	Benzinger Cabernet Sauvignon
Variety:	Cabernet Sauvignon
Region:	Central Coast, California
Country:	USA
Year:	2022
Price:	$20

Winery Review:

Blended from premier central coast vineyards, our Cabernet Sauvignon is polished and approachable. Elegant, juicy flavors of berry cobbler followed by mocha and wood spice unite, layer by layer to form a rich full-bodied wine with chalky, round tannins and a long finish. We suggest pairing with a rib eye with peppercorn sauce, or other heartier dishes and red meats.

Wine Folly: 

Cabernet Sauvignon (p. 88) This one is all black current, some baking spice here maybe some graphite and gravel. Secondary notes are more on the nutty side. Toasted tobacco.

 

My Review: 

This cab is on the restrained side. Really good balance in this bottle. The tannins are right where they should be but they don't take more of the spotlight than they should. The body is super full and balanced enough to allow secondary spice and nutty flavors to shine though.

Tasting - Niel Santofimia

 

Name:	Niel Santofimia
Variety:	Garnacha
Region:	Almansa
Country:	Spain
Year:	2021
Price:	$16

Winery Review:

Charred, blackened aromas of mint, licorice and burnt tire overshadow the wine's black-fruit components. This feels thick and dense, with chewy weight. Medicinal, herbal flavors of black fruits are peppery and a bit green, while mint and cough drop notes control the finish of this Garnacha Tintorera and Monastrell blend.

Wine Folly: 

Grenache (p. 117) Stewed strawberry is accurate, same with the plum. This bottle has some of the leather the book mentions but it's secondary notes reach further, menthol cigarettes and complex spices. This bottle's tannin content is beyond the mid-level the book prescribed.  

Southern Spain - Garnacha (p. 281)  This grape in this region earns more tannin and spice than its counterparts in the rest of Spain and in other regions. That is absolutely true of this bottle.

My Review: 

The spice and black fruit play really well in this bottle. You can taste the age of the vines and arid dirt of southern Spain. I'd have loved to have this with a rich lamb dish. Overall 8/12.

Tasting - Antucura Barrandica Malbec

 

Name:	Antucura Barrandica Malbec
Variety:	Malbec
Region:	Mendoza, Uco Valley
Country:	Argentina
Year:	2022
Price:	$20

Winery Review:

We appreciate a bright and deep red color with violet hues. The noise is of a complex wine, with notes of red fruits like blackberry, plum and some floral. The palate is elegant with a soft, friendly attack, with good acidity in mouth, and a long creamy finish with cherry and spice aromas.

Wine Folly: 

Malbec (p. 125) Plum is absolutely right. And tobacco is something here too. Something smokey and musty. The book notes that despite being from France, most Malbec is grown in Argentina.

Uco Valley Malbec (p. 200) The Uco Vallry is super high elevation and the book proscribes dusty tannins in the region's Malbec's and that holds here. Black plum and raspberry are also both reflected. 

My Review: 

This bottle had a super intricate nutty smell with plum, and even grass clippings. Black current and plum dominate the taste but there are some other notes: snuff, cigar box, or maybe cedar. Good bottle with some dry complexity and smooth tannin.

Tasting - 2015 Flavium Seleccion Mencia

 

Name:	Flavium Seleccion Mencia
Variety:	Mencia
Region:	Bierzo
Country:	Spain
Year:	2015
Price:	$13

Winery Review:

Deeply colored, this wine offers raspberry, cherry cola, and cranberry aromas as well as a touch of tarragon. The palate has pomegranate, red cherry and plum fruits, with thyme, dark chocolate, and mineral notes. Medium in body with rounded but firm tannins. A tasty wine for sipping or food.

Wine Folly: 

Mencia (p. 135) Wine folly indicates that tart cherry is the main fruit note. There is some cherry here, and tartness but the cherry is on the darker side. The book says licorice, and thats close but this bottle is further into florals and spices. The book recommends 5-20 years in the bottle and this spent 10 and it developed some nice complexity in that time.

My Review: 

I really like this bottle. Its tart, the nose is all red fruit, cherry, and there is a herbal complexity, dill or thyme. Maybe something floral. Hydrangea comes to mind. The taste is much the same, and when you can place the herbal and floral notes they shine through the acidity. The fruit is a little on the sweeter side, with a that is difficult to place. Maybe persimmon. Overall its great, well balanced and very complex. 

Dinner Blog #1

Assembling the Crew

We were at Eastern Divide a few weeks ago and my long time buddy Kit Harding spotted me and shot me a text which resulted in us getting coffee the next morning. It turned out the kid is getting married and his fiance is in this wine class so we figured we'd join forces on dinner #1. I called up Val who had demonstrated interest in being involved with the dinner crew. You may remember Val from his his role in Cheese Blog #1. Jake and Walker both live at my house so I looped them in and I invited Matt Nunez and Ava to fill the group out. Max and Matt Cray would've been involved, but Matt's parent were in town and already had plans to go to 622 Main for dinner with the Blackwoods. They ended up stopping by after and were all invited to dinners 2 an 3. Max's buddy from home was visiting from tOSU so he elected to roll with that crew.

Prep

I've been meticulously fine-tuning my pizza dough recipe recently. I figured I had refined it to the point where it could shine on the big screen so volunteered my za's as the main course. Kit's aforementioned fiance, Sydney, supplied an awesome caprese salad appitzer and a Pinot Grigio. Val brought a raspberry cheesecake and a port to round the meal out. 

Since I knew I'd be making alot of pies I though my tools needed an upgrade. We had some laminated spruce boards from Jake's dad that looked like the perfect stock so I traced the curvature of one of our pizza stones on the spruce board and used the jig saw to get the rough shape of the peel. I then started to maticulously fillet the leading edge of the peel so that it could easily scoop a pizza from the oven. My first attempt cracked the whole peel in half and I had to start again at square one. Luckily when I got to that point on the second peel my landlord and neighbor Terry saw what I was doing and brought his random orbit sander over which made quick work of the job and gave the peel the smooth finish it would need to slide za's effectively. I then wood glued and and joined the handle with dowels made from hard wood that had been downed during last week's storm

Then all I had to do was make enough dough for eight people. It took twelve cups of bread flour and six 0.25 ounce packets of active dry yeast, and time to ferment and rise. 

Wine and Cheese Pairing #1

Preparations:

Max and I hit Kroger at about 6:15 PM, forty-five minutes before its neighbor, The Vintage Cellar was set to close. We grabbed blocks of asiago and cheddar and a wheel of brie. Cheese in hand, we jogged a few doors down to call on the expert opinions of the good folks at TVC. We displayed our cheeses intending to find a match for the cheddar and brie, I had a chianti at home that we'd thought the asiago warranted. Thirty or so minutes later we left, having bought an entire case in an effort to cut longterm spending. We then looped our boy Val in on the evening's agenda and picked pairs for the cheddar and the brie from our newly acquired case. (Below: Max, Val, and I prepared to get after it. Left to right: Me, Val, Max)