Category: reviews

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events reviews

Blind as a Bat

Night WingGo to a Winebat blind tasting. No one’s running events like this in Austin, and you should jump at the chance to experience a blind tasting, if you haven’t yet. And if you’ve already attended some kind of blind tasting, you should go to a Winebat tasting because they are so well-run.

What I like about blind tastings is that all preconceived notions, all expectations of what a wine will taste like based on the region, the winery, the label, the price point… all of those prejudices are stripped away, and all you focus on is the wine. There’s something really pure about it; like running is described in Sharon Olds’ poem Sex Without Love: “the single body alone in the universe/ against its own best time.” Also, I guessed right about region a couple of times that night, so I’m very pleased with myself.

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reviews

Tasting Chaucer’s Mead

I bought this on a whim to drink on Halloween night, waiting for trick-or-treaters… who never arrived. Seriously, not one. What the hell?

It cost me about $12. I mulled it and I must say, I rather enjoyed it. It was pretty darn sweet, and I probably steeped it too long, but I enjoyed the combination of the floral and honey notes mixed with the spicy cinnamon and clove. It was nothing special; I’m sure that there are better meads out there. Unmulled and slightly chilled, the floral honeyed aromas are very pleasent; the palate has a powerful apple note with lingering honey on the palate. What a great wine for Rosh Hashanah! Granted, that’s not until next September, but put it on your Google calendar and I’m sure you’ll remember to pick some up.

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reviews wineries

Tasting Bogle Phantom 2004

Bogle PhantomI kept this one Halloween wine back from my series at Eternal Vigilance (sorry Gaby!) and saved it for my own Halloween posting. I just love those Bogle wines so darned much! No matter what Bogle bottle I’ve turned someone onto, I’ve never had a bad reaction – not even lukewarm. It’s value, it’s well-made, it’s family owned, it’s tasty goodness fashure, youbetcha.

Red-black in color. Aromas of vanilla and toasty oak, with plum and blackberry jam. Palate hurls bing cherry, dark chocolate, pepper, tar and some slight graphite at your tongue, in a good way. Medium-to-long finish of dark savory flavors. This wine is one of the pricier offerings from Bogle, running around $18.

The Bogles have been a farming family since the 1800s. In 1968, Chris Bogle and his father Warren planted wine grapes in Clarksburg, California. Ten years later they started making wine from it. After Chris passed away, his widow Patty Bogle, who had been working the vineyard since the 70s, took over operations at the winery in 1989. Their son Warren manages the vineyards and his sister Judy manages customer affairs at the winery. Glad I don’t have to work that closely with my family, and really glad it works so well for them!

The flagship wine from Bogle has always been their Petite Sirah, though they also make a very popular Old Vine Zinfandel. Also their Chenin Blanc is to die for. And the Phantom. And they make a hell of a porch wine Chardonnay. Don’t stop till you get enough…

Patty is really a pioneer and official stump speaker for Petite Sirah in California, and has been pushing PS since back when people thought the “petite” meant it was a light little wine. Ha! She was given a Phenomenal Service Award by the organization PS I Love You for her work as Chair for the Petite Sirah Heritage Clone Vineyard (HCV) at UC Davis, and because she kicks ass in general, I figure.

Have a Happy Hallowe’en!

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industry reviews

Tasting Mitolo “GAM” McLaren Vale Shiraz 2005

GAM Shiraz, from Mitolo’s websiteI’m sure there’s a car that epitomizes power and finesse. I don’t know what it is, because I’m not a car-brand-knowing-type-person. But whatever car that is, this wine is the bottled version of it. Tasted as part of a “Robert Parker’s High Raters” at Lake Travis Wine Trader’s Saturday Premium Tasting. Parker gave this wine a 95, if you’re interested.

Opaque purpley red in color. Enormous, multi-faceted nose of menthol, fir sap, aged cheese, peppered salami and blackberry jam. The palate, well. When I sipped this wine, it felt like someone had let loose the Fists of Fury on my teeth. Full-bodied, with great balanced acidity and a firm tannic grip. Well-integrated, firecracker explosions of red currant, black pepper and blueberry skin. Finish goes for miles. Sells for about $48.

Mitolo is a joint venture between two very powerful men: Frank Mitolo and winemaker Ben Glaetzer. Well, strictly speaking, Mitolo started the winery in 1999 and Glaetzer became a partner in 2001. The name of the wine, GAM, refers to Frank’s children Gemma, Alexander and Marco. Frank Mitolo is the general manager of his family’s agricultural business, Comit Farm. His family’s business is one of the largest potato and onion packing companies in Australia. Mitolo’s winery was founded in 1999, with grapes sourced from the Lopresti family. Here’s an interview of Frank from Jancis Robinson’s site, and a concise review of Mitolo’s recent releases at Vinosense.

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reviews

Sinful

Yet another review of a wine I have deemed Halloween-appropriate is awaiting your pleasure at Eternal Vigilance. Did you know that (according to an infallible source) the seven holy virtues are chastity, abstinence, temperance, diligence, patience, kindness, and humility? Which is your strong suit?

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reviews

Devilish

Another of my Halloween wine reviews can be found at Eternal Vigilance. Learn all about how Don Melchor kept his wine safe and what the FBI’s witness protection program can learn from a grape.

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grapes regions reviews Wine Blogging Wednesday

Wine Blogging Wednesday #38: Portuguese Table Wine

This was an exercise in trust for me; I’ve never been a fan of Portuguese table wines, at least nothing other than Vinho Verde, which I like very much. I resolved to take this opportunity to learn a little more about a region I had pretty much written off as producing fruitless bottles of scrape-your-teeth tannic monsters. Many thanks to Catavino‘s Ryan and Gabriella; their Portuguese Table Wine Cheat Sheet was great help to me!

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reviews

Spooky

My friend, the author Gabrielle Faust, invited me to do a series of Halloween wine reviews for her goth/horror blog Eternal Vigilance. I’ll be reviewing about 6 wines for her throughout October. Check out what all the cool ghouls are drinking this season.

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events regions reviews wineries

Event: Tuesday Class at Lake Travis Wine Trader

What an interesting, impressive tasting, led by Micheal Lunceford of Ambiente, a smaller distributer here in Austin with a lovely portfolio. They represent Kermit Lynch here in the region, and if Micheal is any indication, they do so flawlessly.

Lake Travis Wine Trader supplied tasty nibbles to go with this wine class, which included tastes of 6 wines for $30, the median bottle price being $43. This is an excellent value for a tasting, in my opinion; usually a tasting will run $20-25 and you’ll taste 4 or 6 wines that are all in the mere $20 range, which is also interesting, but what I enjoy about the LTWT is that these people have super-expensive tastes! Them and me, we totally get that. There’s a regular group of Tuesday tasters, but they were surprisingly friendly and inclusive, considering how well they all seemed to know each other. Don’t be afraid that if you attend one of these classes alone, you’ll have no one to talk to.

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grapes reviews wineries

Tasting Domaine Chandon Pinot Meunier 2005

Why does a sparkling wine house make a still Pinot Meunier? As a curiousity, or to help wine people teach about varietals? The latter is always my secret theory. It could also be that someone in the winery is freaked-out-in-love with the varietal, seeking to champion it like Paul Draper did with Zinfandel. From what Domaine Chandon says on their website, the grape grows so well for them in Carneros (one of the few places it’s grown other than France), that they just had to make a stand-alone wine from it.

Pinot Meunier, the grapePinot Meunier is a red grape that is used to blend into Champagne and sparkling wines, like Pinot Noir is. Most Champagnes, white or rose, are blends, with the exception of Blanc de Blancs, which is made exclusively from Chardonnay. Rose Champagnes, though, are blends of white and rose juice from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier. It’s generally agreed that Pinot Meunier is a mutation of Pinot Noir, a grand dame of a grape with slutty, mutant ways; Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and even Gamay are also thought to be mutations of Matron Momma Noir.

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