Chateau du Donjon Minervois 2005

I picked this up at Merchant de Vino (aka Whole Foods wine shop here in Colorado) when I was looking for some Crozes Hermitage or Saint Joseph.  They didn't have either of those, but said this was similar and  reasonably priced.  I'm currently drinking my second bottle (well, not consecutively), since I liked the first bottle so much.

Full label says Grade Tradition, and it was bottled by Jean Panis Vigneron a Bagnoles in Aude, France (though not clear where the heck that is on this map).

Nose: Cherry, berries, hints of rasberry

Color: Ruby, clear, not overly dark

Mouth: Ripe cherry, light-to-medium body, similar to pinot noirs, not particularly tannic, but nice balance between sweetness and acid.  Only complaint is that the flavors don't linger very long

2006 Domaine de Fontsainte Gris de Gris Corbieres

Rose's in season!

Color -- Light cranberry colored -- Mimi says watermelon
Nose -- mineral, hints of strawberry -- would expect a dry wine
Mouth -- Between a Sauvignon Blanc and a Viogner, not as dry as I would have expected, dry in the back of the mouth, and gains in dryness
Finish -- fruit fades into mineraly drynessd

Food paring -- light chicken, fish or cheeses -- would probably work with fruits like apple or pear. Veal...?

I want a real knife, thanks TSA!

More than wine

Well, I haven't posted in a long time -- and part of that has been because I realized how hard it is to write interesting things about wine!  I have a much better appreciation for wine writers.  You'd be surprised how difficult it is to comment on wine and come up with new angles to describe the smell, flavors, and color.  So, I think I'll add some more stuff to my blog than wine.

2003 Ramon Bilbao Tempranillo Rioja

Let's see, I had some spicy food (enchiladas) with this wine tonight, which made it difficult to pick out the aromas and flavors.

Aromas -- Some tannins, oak, some cherry
Mouth -- Really tannic and dry, some chocolate, and plum. Light to medium bodied. Sticks around for a good minute or so.

Tasting sheet from the label:

"Bright-ruby color with aromas of ripe wild backberries and red currants. Nuances of vanilla, pepper, and laurel give the wine a pleasing complexity. The palate shows incredible balance and a medium-long finish.

Winery's tasting sheet for the 2004

7 Deadly Zins (Lodi Appellation -- 2005)

I've had the 7 Deadly Zins before I started blogging my tastings. Taking the opportunity that some friends gifted me a bottle, I thought I'd read up a little on Zin in my handy Oxford Wine Encyclopedia -- revealing that the Zinfandel grape is from Croatia and that the grape has been grown in the U.S. since the mid-1850s in California.

On to the tasting...

Swirl, swirl: Oddly, the legs aren't producing. There they are...really, really fat and slow. I wonder if the Jet-Dry didn't wash all the way out of my glasses?! Side note: I recently read that legs really don't tell you much about a wine, as they're produced with any liquid that contains more than 12% alcohol.

Color: Bright red, not as purple as I'd expect from a 2005.

Nose: Lots of alcohol biting in my nose. Some vanilla, maybe even a corn/maize, tobacco. Not much berry or fruitiness.

Mouth: Sweet, sticky, medium body, some harshness from the alcohol at the back of the throat. Getting some strawberry and cherry flavors. Light tannins.

From Lodi Vineyards (map):

"Soft, supple pepper and licorice-clove notes merge into a sinful marriage of deep, brambly blackberries and lustful cherries. The finish is clean on the palate with hints of rich vanilla, cocoa, and mild tannins."

Cheers!

Tagged

Karyn is playing blog tag, and I'm a slacker getting to this.

Five things folks might not know about me:

1. I used to be a Republican. This pre-dates the recent trend against W-style Republicanism -- about which all I can say is good grief and good lord.
   
2. I used to be a Libertarian. Probably more than anything, reading Atlas Shrugged as part of the Libertarian/Classical Liberalism undergraduate seminar with Alan Kors moved me in this direction. For some interesting thoughts on Libertarianism, check out Peter St. Andre's blog. The sections on philosophy and politics are a good read for contemporary ideas on freedom.
   
3. I considered being a professional photojournalist. But oh, you have to be extraordinary to make money, and along the way I learned from a National Geographic photographer that they have an extremely high divorce rate.
4. I am a descendant of Charles Willson Peale. He was an early American artist who painted the likes of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and created an early natural history museum.
   
5. My grandfather and his wife used to make christmas cards each year.