Wine Wednesday

Last night, my friend and I were sitting in the living room and I said to her, 'I never want to live in a vegetative state, dependent on some machine & fluids from a bottle. If that ever happens, just pull the plug.'

She got up, unplugged the Computer, and threw out my wine.

She's such a bitch......

Ha! My mom sent me this e-mail the other day because she and I both fall into this category. I love love love wine, as much and maybe even more than I enjoy cooking. Her e-mail made me realize that I should be including reviews of the wine I drink on my blog along with my adventures in the kitchen.

We drink some wine at our house!

The obsession I have with wine started five years ago when my parents took me along with them to Napa Valley, California. We spent three days traveling from winery to winery tasting wine from different regions. My eyes were opened to the wide world of wine and my taste buds have never been the same. Ever since that first baptism into California wine I’ve been craving wine knowledge and satisfy that craving by attending wine seminars, volunteering with the Wine and Food Foundation of Texas, holding monthly wine tastings with friends and sampling as much as I can. Here are some of my absolute favorites…

• Shafer Merlot – probably one of my absolute favorites. It is in the $40 range (retail).
  Miner’s Oracle – another wine from Napa is really big and bold. This retails in the $60 range.
• Seghesio – Zinfandel Old Vine is so juicy and delicious. This retails in the $30 range.
  De Loach – The De Loach Zin from the Russian River Valley is bright and lovely. Retails in the $20 range.
• Turnbull – Oh, this vineyard is dear to me because it was the first winery tour I’ve ever taken. The winemaker spent an afternoon walking us around his property and then I fell in love with his wine. The Turnbull Old Bull is so reasonable and taste so great. Retails in the $20 range.
• Sterling Vineyards – There are many different Sterling wines that I thoroughly enjoy. There is an stunning single vineyard wine collection, a vintners collection and some reserve labels that they send to exclusive wine club members. Sterling wines range in price from $30-70.
• Imagery – They have really great wine also, I like the petite sirah and malbec. These retail in the $50-60 range.
• Coppola – Like Sterling, Francis Coppola has a slew of delicious wines. Favorites of mine are the Director’s Cut label the sparkling Sophia, and the almighty Rubicon! Francis Coppola wines range in price from $20 - ? over 100.00 probably.
• Honig – I love Honig not only because they have a femalE wine maker in a male dominated industry… her winery is going green by making huge leaps in sustainable farming. This Honig cab retails in the $30 to $40 range.
• Pine Ridge – They too have many great wines and I must name a few of my favorites…the Charmstone is delish as well as the Crimson Creek Merlot. These retail in the $30 range.
  
  This is my new best friend. The emerson electric wine bottle opener charges on a base, and then when you are ready to use it, you simply place the bottom of the handle on top of the bottle (after removing the foil from the wine first.) Hold down the button and voila, you have an opened bottle of wine. I love it! These are only $20 and I found mine at Target but also saw them at Walmart and Amazon. There are other brands of this same contraption, I’m sure they all work about the same way.
  

Tonight I’m drinking a Cab Franc from Sterling. Their Three Palms Vineyards actually has three palm trees in the middle of the vineyard which can be seen from their tasting structure. I say structure because I don’t know what to call it, it’s a huge mansion that you ride in a cable car to get to. It’s a very cool tour to take in Napa Valley. This particular Cab Franc is from 2005 and is light in tannins and rich in fruit flavor. I like this because it is strong and structured and full flavored.

Mmmm mmm mmm…WINE!

Jim and I are spending our Labor Day Weekend in California's WINE COUNTRY! I'm so excited about this trip. We leave Friday and fly direct to San Jose. My girlfriend Tara and her husband will be taking us to dinner Friday night. Saturday the plan is to explore the San Jose area up to San Fransisco. Sunday we will be wine tasting in Sonoma and possibly Napa. I'm afraid we are trying to bite off more than we can chew. I will definitely be posting about our adventures in California. Stay tuned!