Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Cork taint guru!

I wanted to take just a moment and share with you an amazing compliment I received from one of my distributors the other day.

Apparently, I have quite the palate for detecting corked wines. Which might seem like a funny thing to get excited about, but in reality is really rather cool. It seems, in fact, that I am able to detect cork taint even when most people might not. So... neat! Then again, sometimes it makes me look kind of crazy--saying a wine is a bit funky when not everyone might notice.



Thanks, Doug =)

Friday, August 17, 2007

Friday night!

Methven 2005 Willamette Valley Chardonnay approx. $22 retail
Paired with smoky white cheddar/swiss, camembert & hard salami.

Tasting notes: just a hint of oaky vanilla, and a touch of flowers, orange and spice on the nose. Pulling out of the cellar it is at the perfect temperature for instant consumption (around 55/56 degrees F), I don't like them cold, it masks too much of the flavor. Beautiful golden straw color.

mouth feel - bright acidity that makes you crave a little something to eat, relatively refreshing and cleansing, especially following a bit of cheese.

Bone dry with a punch of minerality and a skimming of spice mid palate.

Saturday, August 4, 2007

Le Cadeau 2004 Pinot Noir, Cote Est

We picked up the 2004 Le Cadeau Cote Est Pinot Noir for $22.74 from Fred Meyer. The normal retail on this bottle is ~$45. You've gotta love half price clearance wine when the wine steward is just trying to move some inventory. We picked up a total of three bottles of this wine, along with some other selections for super cheap.

The nose comes across as smokey, with black cherry and strawberry, and a slight hint of pepper. With about 20 minutes exposed to air, some hints of flowers comes through. Essentially, this wine smells like everything I love in a Pinot Noir. If I could make an air freshener with this scent, I would be a millionaire!

The initial taste of this wine had heavy tannins, pepper & spice, with strawberry and cherry flavors. It is a medium weight wine, not to light, not too heavy. With some time out of the bottle, the tannins smothed a bit, and notes of tobacco started to come through along with more pronounced strawberry and cherry. This is a wine that should age a few years to let the tannins smooth out some. With alcohol of 14.1%, this is a very well balanced wine. I definitely think this is a steal at $22.74. I'd probably guess this wine would be $35-40. I'm not sure about $45, but its a really great wine. I'd give it a 8/10 at the $45 price. Overall, its a really tasty wine, but it needs a few years to smooth out.

LeCadeau Vineyard