Disclaimer

Unless otherwise noted, I have personally purchased all of the wine and alcoholic beverages being reviewed in this blog. This is standard policy, and will apply to future reviews as well, again, unless otherwise noted.

Chateau Ste. Michelle Syrah

Just the other day, I picked up a bottle of the 2005 Chateau Ste. Michelle Syrah. They're Washington State's oldest winery, and they produce some outstanding wines at tremendous value prices. I've recently enjoyed their Cabernet, and their Riesling as well. Chateau Ste. Michelle is also a big supporter of the Susan Komen Race for the Cure, donating $1 for every bottle sold during an October promotion at Joe Canal's in Lawrenceville.

The Syrah had a nose of lush, ripe fruit, with touches of sweet plum and cherry. There was an enjoyable burst of jamminess, and the fruit stayed on for the finish. With a retail price of around $11, the wine was a very nice choice. It would be a great choice for a party wine, because it should please both Cab drinkers and someone who is relatively new to wine.

In addition to their great wines, the Chateau Ste. Michelle web site has a great feature they call My Cellar. It's a password-protected space where you can store information about any wine you've tasted. It's a great way to keep track (especially via mobile device) of wines you've enjoyed while out somewhere, without worrying about whether there's enough light to take a cell phone picture. Check My Cellar out at http://mycellar.ste-michelle.com/my_cellar_login.php

Cork or Screw Top?

I recently saw an industry statistic that indicated that up to 7% of all bottled wines are lost annually due to problems associated with the use of cork. That's a whole lotta wine. During his visit to the Joe Canal's in Lawrenceville, winemaker Sean Larkin told us about potential problems with screw-tops, which are often the result of mis-matched parts. But there are lots of outstanding wines that are bottled with screw-tops, so what's a wine lover to do?

Number 61 on the Wine Spectator Top 100 wines of 2009 is a 90-point Italian red blend, Monte Antico, and it's in a screw-top. People are very interested in the wine, especially when Joe Canal's has it on sale for less than $9.00, but some are resistant when they see the screw-top.

One of my favorite wines (The Lucky Country Shiraz) is bottled with a screw-top. And Australia is a leader in the use of screw-tops, which are good economically and environmentally. Yesterday, a customer came in for a particular bottle of Two Hands wine, which was priced around $80, and it was a screw-top. So I struck up a conversation with him about the whole issue, and about the bottle of Monte Antico. He knew he was buying a great bottle of Two Hands wine, and he was totally unfazed by the screw-top. He added three bottles of that Monte Antico to his one bottle of Two Hands, based on the Wine Spectator ratings.

The Lucky Country Shiraz

The Lucky Country Shiraz is a refined and sophisticated wine, in vivid contrast to last week’s Boxhead (Boxhead Shiraz was perfectly enjoyable, but in a different way). Although equally young (both are 2008 vintage), The Lucky Country Shiraz has the feel of a mature, fully evolved wine. Equally easy to drink and a pleasure to savor, the Shiraz finishes very smoothly. This is a second label effort from Two Hands Wines, and the anticipated quality was delivered.

This Shiraz carries an opaque black purple color. You’ll get aromas of blackberry, licorice, plum and prune. The tannins are fine-grained and very smooth, leaving an aftertaste of plum, spice and pepper. The Lucky Country Shiraz is ready to drink today –and you’ll be glad you did- or it can be cellared for 2-3 years.

Boxhead Shiraz 2008

It turned out that clients of mine from the social event video world are the owners of Vine Street Imports, a wine importer. Naturally, I had to try one, so I picked up a bottle of their 2008 Boxhead Shiraz.

This is from the Barossa region of Australia, and is a very fruit-forward wine. The fruit practically leaps to the nose, and the wine is a classic tooth-stainer. There is a bit of spice in this young, full-bodied wine, and the finish was very smooth and tasty.

I think this would be an outstanding wine for tailgating, and it would go really well with burgers or ribs. It would also be a nice fire-side wine.

A 2700-Year Old Beer?

Earlier this year, I read about some of the interesting projects under development at Dogfish Head Brewery. One that caught my attention was an ale being created from a 2700-year old “recipe” that was decoded from pottery discovered in a tomb in central Turkey.

The story goes that University of Pennsylvania archeologists discovered what could have been the tomb of the real King Midas. Taking the Iron Age drinking set back to Penn Museum, a molecular archeologist analyzed the reside, providing the formula that became Dogfish head’s Midas Touch ale. I thought that whole process was fascinating.

So the ale includes barley, honey, white Muscat grapes, and saffron. To drink it quickly is to taste a honey beer. To savor it is to find the subtle flavors and the particular soft taste from the saffron. The scent is also very soft, pretty far removed from the hoppy beer that I often prefer.

Dogfish Head also has an ale developed from a 9000-year old recipe. I’ll get to that one of these days.

On the NJ Governor's Race

A worker for one of the NJ gubernatorial campaigns stopped at our door this morning. He had some literature, and wanted to share the good news about his preferred candidate with me. But he asked for “Yadu”, who was the previous resident. When I explained that basic fact, his comment was that I didn’t look like a Yadu.

I’m conflicted. Was that simply an insensitive comment, or was it racist?

And he was with the Corzine campaign.