With all the old world wines we've been drinking lately, it's really a treat to return to home, as it were. Here's my old favorite: Oregon Pinot Noir. We started with a really dirty Cotes du Rhone (that I really liked), and then a Medoc (slightly thin). So what on earth was a thinking pulling out an Oregon Pinot after all that French? Well, we had this great chocolate dish. And Pinot -- especially Oregon Pinot -- and chocolate pair perfectly, imho.

It was a tad cold when we started, so it was espeically hard to discern the aromas and flavors. The nose was vanilla (of course), violet, rose, and something creamy. Pepper and dust. Denise described the "dusty" smell as: "grandmas old fabulous dress from the 50s".  The taste was raspberry, strawberry, carmel and honey suckle. The finish was raspberry and floral (rose). Caleb found strawberry and fig too. Later on, it had a nectarine finish, which I usually do not like. But in this case I don't mean it was sour. Instead, it was like the over-ripe flesh of the nectarine -- not that skin taste at all (not sour).

Cost:    

Rating:    8.5

The French have been around for a long time now; at least since the last millennium. So they are not afraid of time. And sometimes you have to give their wine some of that time back. This was one of those. You open it, swirl it. And it tastes ... thin! What's wrong with my wine? Well, just wait a bit my friend, and often a French wine will get better. And this one did too.

The nose started with stems, lavender, bark, dust, yeast, chocolate, leather, cedar, and Cheryl smelled vanilla. This wine even tasted like cedar (not just the smell). And the wine was flabby: super thing. Surprising for a Bordeaux. The finish was red delicious apple, red currant, and thimble berries (harks me back to childhood).

But then, over the course of an hour, this wine changed significantly. The body went from a thin watery substance to almost a medium bodied wine (weird!).  The taste evolved into a red cherry for me, while denise found it to be strawberry and arugula.We all could taste more vanilla now. The later finish was more a granny smith than a red delious, but apple nonetheless.

Cost:   

Rating:    8.0

(55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, 5% Malbec)

We don't often drink Loire valley wines (France), so this was fun to venture off the beaten track. Apparently the Chinon region is Cabernet Franc (with only up to 10% Cabernet Sauvignon). So, it's Cab Franc.

The nose was squash, stems, canned cherry pie filling, raspberry snuff, rhubarb, parsley (subtle), and chrysanthemum. The taste was prune (but hard to distinguish really), salad (yeah, I was tasting a salad, seriously), carrot celery juice, green olive, black cherry and raisin. And we're serious about that green olive, for it returns in the finish. But it quickly dissapates. A bit later, the finish had a pretty strong stem taste. Yep, pretty bitter, but not so much as to ruin it.

Cost:  

Rating:    6.0

I'll start with the plain and simple: I really liked this wine. I can't say that other critics would think it was anything special, but sometimes there's that je ne sais qui -- and this was that. It was like that Domain de la Guicharde we had not so long back. It's basically mushroom and manure -- but in the best possible way to use those words. If you like earthy and dank and dirty, then this is a wine for you (it was for me). Yum.

The nose was all kinds of things: veggie, mushroom, bark, stems, rhubarb ... and manure! And peat, tobacco. The body was surprising for a Cotes du Rhone -- definitely a solid medium body. The taste was not too prune-y, and not too dry. The taste was mainly cherry, but it was quick to return to that veggie plus barnyard thing in the nose. And peat! Zucchini. Pepper. And butter lettuce (that's it)! The finish was that apple dryness, but subtle. You could also make out black cherry, bark, and pepper.

Yes, I will be hunting for more bottles of this at the store.

Cost:   

Rating:    9.0

I really want to like Italian wines. The history. The diversity. All those names to learn -- is that a village or is that a grape (maybe both). But it's rare for me to find a Chianti that I really like. This, however, isn't a Chianti exactly. This wine is from the DOCG region located in Tuscany, just south of Chianti, and is composed mostly of Sangiovese (like a Chianti). But this was different.

The nose was chemical at first, and then vanilla/wood, vegetable (maybe artichoke, maybe brussel sprout). The vanilla is both subtle and prominent. It's intertwined in the other aromas. There was a hint of violet in there too. Very nice nose.

The taste was smooth. Earthy. And a bit musty -- not exactly dirt, not peat, not barnyard ... more veggie I suppose. But then, this is Sangiovese, and the finish was light to medium -- lighter than the smell might lead one to believe. Cherry. Wood. And red leaf lettuce (seriously).

Overall, I really liked this wine. However, this is not your garden-variety cheap Chianti (it's not really a Chianti of course), so you have to pay for that goodness.

Cost:   

Rating:    8.0

We've been really diggin' the southern French wine lately (I probably sound like a broken record if you read this regularly). So I've been trying to dabble to the east (Italy) and the southwest (Spain). And this is one of those Spanish wines. Just a random grab from the grocery store shelf (you never know).

Denise sipped it, and exclaimed: "Oregeno!" It's a spaghetti sauce wine. She found it to smell like bay leaves too. Oh, and grass. Denise also claimed that it tasted like oregeno, and raisin; oh and grass too (strange). The finish was a bit more normal: raisin and dry (like an apple).

This was not a great wine. And, honestly, it wasn't really all that interesting, aside from all the jokes about this being a spaghetti-western in a bottle. It was a bit thin. And the first sip you think: this is going to be one of those really sweet reds (like a bad Syrah); but then it's not sweet at all, and pretty dry actually. However, it was also readily quaffable; a fine decent table wine.

Cost:   

Rating:    6.0

(80% Tempranillo, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon)

Mondavi and Parker: the two most famous Roberts in the wine world. Big! And they make all kinds of wine. We drink a lot of Oregon and French Pinot, but I don't usually drink all that much from California. When I do, it's usually because someone brought it, and this was one of those cases. I wouldn't usually pick such a thing at the grocery store, but I'm very curious to taste it if given the chance. And here it was ...

The nose was red cherry -- really strongly cherry! Past that, there was a bit of raspberry, bark -- as well as green floral aromas: geranium, lavender, and carnation. The taste: whoa ... Cherry! Denise took a sip and exclaimed: "cherry bomb"! There was some subtle vanilla in there too. The finish was, well, you can guess. The finish was also a tad citrusy (acidic).

The back label describes it this way: "our Pinot Noir unfolds in elegant, silky layers of wild cherries, berries and aromatic spices. Warm oak nuances linger on the finish". Which is to say: cherry and a bit of vanilla (oak); we didn't find any spices that we could discern.

Denise described irreverently (as she does): "this is like teenagers who wear that cheap perfume. It's as shallow as cheap perfume". She went on to say that it was just not complex, and had no depth. I agree with that. Simple. Fruity. Good if that's what your you're looking for. Plus, it's cheap ($11).

Cost:   

Rating:    5.0

The nose is pretty strongly vanilla. Yeah, there was a fair amount of oak in this bottle. However, it wasn't so much so that I didn't like it, yet it was strong nonetheless. I guess I didn't mind it because it wasn't that overly sweet smelling vanilla. Beyond that vanilla was raspberry and strawberry.

The taste was also strawberry and raspberry mix. And yep, the vanilla/oak was here too. And in the taste there was a flash of that vanilla sweetness -- luckily, it came and went very quickly. The body was medium; a bit heavier than the average Pinot.

The finish is where this got interesting. The berry flavors dissipated into pepper. Then the pepper into a subtle nectarine (sort of citrus/acidic), and then quickly into some sort of vegetable flavor. I had a hard time deciphering what that vegetable was. It wasn't overly bitter; in fact it was really mild. Potato? Hmmm ... not quite. Herb thought perhaps it was squash. That's probably pretty close. Something mysteriously veggie whatever the case.

Cost:   

Rating:    8.0

Robert Parker (or at least his Wine Advocate) loves this wine. They gave this vintage a 90; and the one before that, they gave a 92. So it's got to be great, right? Not terrible, but we didn't find it to be great, exactly. Here's what we found ...

The nose was vanilla, stems, red cherry, saw dust, and rose. There was also that barnyard smell -- hay and manure -- but it was very subtle. The taste was a combo of red cherry and raspberry -- not exactly sweet, or sour. The finish starts with the cherry and raspberry, flashes with pepper, and then dissolves into raspberry.

Most striking is how fruity this wine is -- I won't have guessed from the taste that this was an old world wine. Though the aromas were very interesting, the taste was fairly simple (fruit). In some ways it reminded me of some 2005 Oregon Pinots we've had recently -- a bit sweet at the start, and sort of overly acidic (perhaps this 06 was just a tad young?). It was, of course, more peppery than a Pinot, yet the body was similar: a light to medium body. Denise found it: "not that interesting".

Cost:   

Rating:   7.0

(70% Grenache, 30% Syrah)

Here's the last installment of our round-up of this years wines from Emerson Vineyard. If you don't know this vineyard, or didn't get a chance to read the other reviews, I'd encourage you to read those too -- these guys make very nice, affordable wine. So, on to the Chardonnay ...

White wines don't always smell like much, and often Chardonnay's can be especially lacking in strong aromas, making our job harder. So understand that what we smell can be -- especially in this case -- very much muted. So with that caveat, this wine smelled like tangerine. For me the smell reminded me of flat 7up -- that sort of light citrus smell. Denise said she smelled parsley too -- "no wait" she said, "it's narcissus flower!". She has a better nose than I.

The most predominant taste is tangerine and lemon -- it flashes tangerine, and then mutates into a soft (non-acidic) lemon. But, and there was much perplexing about this, there was something "green" in there. We agreed on that, even if we couldn't exactly agree on what that green thing was. Denise said it was grass. Hmmm. Not exactly that for me. But then, I couldn't quite get my head wrapped about what that was. Maybe peapods? Perhaps. And as a wine blogger, it seems silly to say this, but this tasted very much like the inside of a green seedless grape. But it really did -- that sort of light citrus taste.

The finish was also lemon, but also mineral. Denise said the finish was "rock"; sort of that gravel, basalt taste (and yes, we mean this in a good way).

But before you say this sounds Burgundian, this wine was also very heavy in body. The weight was really more like a heavier Chardonnay from California and from those from Burgundy; however, it completely lacked all that thick butter indicative of those wines from the south. So somewhat thick, but not buttery (which we liked).

Cost:   

Rating:    8.0

Madeleine: Madeleine is a part-time therapist and yoga instructor. She speaks fluent French and Spanish. When not working, Madeleine enjoys knitting, "date nights" with her husband, and playing with their three-year old daughter.

Andrew: Andrew works for a large corporation and frequently travels around the world on business. Ironically, unlike his wife, Andrew does not speak other languages. But to his credit, Andrew graduated with a Masters from Stanford University. When at home, Andrew enjoys time with his wife, and playing with their three-year old daughter.



Dinner:

• red leaf lettuce and sliced onions with blue cheese vinaigrette
• creamy carrot soup topped with crostini and parmesan cheese
• beets and orange wedges with cilantro and goat cheese
• homemade pasta with marinara and parmesan cheese
• pear and date crisp with vanilla gelato
• grapes

Wine:

• Novella, Paso Robles, Petite Syrah, 2004
• Dracula's Blood, Cabernet Sauvignon, 2006
• Emerson Vineyards, Lodi Syrah, 2006

Oh my, this was an interesting wine. We had this following a decent California Petite Syrah, and a rather terrible "Dracula's Blood" wine from Transylvania (it was Halloween). And without a doubt, this was the superior wine of the bunch.

First, it was complicated and a bit enigmatic. I pulled it from my "cellar" and we opened up just short of room temperature. So the wine evolved a lot over the course of the hour we drank it.

The nose started with a damp oak smell. Following those other wines, Andrew noted immediately: "there's no turpentine!" ... always a good sign. There was also that saw dust smell (sort of similar to damp oak, I suppose), and pepper.

The wine started off by Andrew's description as a "nice, rich vanilla taste". Madeline exclaimed: "Rosemary chicken!" She then proceeded to explain that "It's like a meal right when it hits your mouth!" Yes, the consensus was that this was a hardy and chewy wine -- and really smooth and rich.

The fruit flavors were a bit elusive and mysterious. Black cherry maybe? Plum perhaps? Blackberry? It was hard to discern exactly. Denise tasted cranberry, pomegranate, and tangerine -- but that's misleading as this wine was not sour at all. A bit later, the wives were tasting melon -- cantaloupe -- sandwiched in-between the mystery berries. That is, the berry hits immediately on the taste, then some of the melon, and then back to the berries at the end of the finish. However, the men found this whole melon taste perplexing.

Maybe the wine was still warming, or perhaps opening up, but it definitely changed over time. We discovered that in that berry finish, there was a really nice liquorice. And a bit later still, there was a distinct molases taste. No, I don't mean it was sweet in anyway. Maybe it was slightly resinous (but not in a bad way). And the nose developed leather and definite tobacco aromas. At one point Denise exclaimed: "orange blossoms". Yep, this was one of those really intriguing wines.

A Syrah from the WIllamette Valley? Perhaps not unknown, but not typical either. Well done, and yummy. If you haven't tried Emerson wines, they are really very nice.

Cost:    ($18 ... a serious bargain)

Rating:    9.0

Yikes! This wine is indeed scary. Okay, it was Halloween, and these places put these funny labels on their wine. And we're suckers enough to fall for the label. Halloween + Dracula ... how you can you not buy such a bottle of red? But, then there's what's inside.

The nose, in a word: turpentine. If you can get past the singed nose hairs, there's some strawberry, currant -- oh, and the smell of Jolly Rancher. Not sure the flavor of that JR, but it definitely smelled like candy.

The best way to describe the taste was that it was like a thin Chianti. If I had tasted this blindly, I would have sworn it to be a Sangiovese, not a Cab! But that's label says. The flavor was also infected with a metallic taste, and sardines! It was just not good, and sour.

...

That was the first day. So I sucked all the air out of the bottle and sealed it. Then, I drank it the next night, and it wasn't terrible. It still tasted like a (thin) Chianti -- that remained. However, that strong turpentine smell was gone, leaving it drinkable enough.

Cost:   

Rating:    4.5

Our friends brought over this bottle. It was a favorite of theirs; they bought a case of it.

The nose was spicy: pepper and cayenne. This wine was oaked too, so there's the vanilla. There was a bit of a chemical smell too. Andrew described it as "turpentine". Getting past all that, there was some dark fruit buried in there too: prune and raisin. And if you sniff really hard, there was bark, honey, and cinnamon.

The taste was mainly plum. But they oaked it so it was vanilla and cream. Denise said I was off with the plum; for her it was fig an blackberry. Suffice it to say it was dark fruit.

The finish was -- depending on your perspective -- plum and perhaps blackberry. It ended with a tannic stems-taste (but not in a bad way).

Denise and I agreed: it's one of those decent, quaffable wines. Not memorable for any greatness; but then, not memorable for being horrible either. But this one was just a slight cut above.

Cost:    

Rating:    7.0

Kenny: Kenny works in construction finance for Kaiser. He volunteers for Habitat for Humanity and his hobbies include golf, soccer, the outdoors and music. This "Weegie" is originally from the west coast of Scotland.

Elizabeth: Elizabeth is a commercial real estate investor. She is active in many Portland nonprofits and is busy raising her three-year old daughter.



Dinner:  This dinner took place on the eve of the election. While the TV maintained a running tally of electoral votes, the four of us maintained our nerves with several glasses of wine. A table was unnecessary for this meal. We stood and waited and watched and chatted. And when Obama was declared the winner, we cried. 

• hummus and pita bread
• falafel with tzatziki, diced onions, and tomatoes
• dahl
• Moroccan vegetable stew with boiled potatoes
• chocolate cake

Wine:

• King Estate, Pinot Noir, 2006
• Emerson Vineyards, Avelina, Pinot Noir, 2006

For those not from Oregon, King Estate is, well, King-sized HUGE. Take a gander:



They do a lot of wine, and they generally do it very well. And this one was no exception.



To start out, we had this right after the Emerson Pinot. The Emerson (see the review) was much more Burgundian in style. So this one smelled sweeter. Yep, smelled more like vanilla. But there was also paprika, black pepper, cherry and currant.

And to keep the comparison going, this wine had more body than the Emerson. But then, the styles were just different. Like the Emerson, this one was also super smooth. The taste was vanilla, blueberry and raspberry -- maybe red cherry too. It had a slight nectarine finish -- just a bit more sour (not overly so) than the Emerson.

...

Serendipitously, we had this exact same wine two days later. The taste the second time around was less blueberry, and perhaps more cherry. Sort of a chery, strawberry, and raspberry amalgam. It still had that slight nectarine finish. It was just slightly acidic; but again, not overly so because that citrus just flashes after you swallow it, and it disappears in the finish.This second time the vanilla was much more subtle. It's interesting how wines can differ bottle to bottle. And there it was.

Not an overly complex wine, yet rich and smooth!

Cost:   

Rating:    8.5

We've been reviewing Emerson wines recently -- a Pinot Gris, a Syrah, and now this Pinot Noir (we've also had their Chardonnay too, but that review is coming). We have to say these are great mid-level wines -- by that I mean they're not overly expensive ($18 for the reds and $15 for the whites), yet really a great value. As far as we can tell, you'll have to order direct as I have yet to see it in any store or wine shop. Anyway ...

The nose on this Pinot was -- according to Denise -- "brick ... some sort of stone". She wasn't sure, exactly, but it was earthy in a rock/brick/stone kind of way. It's "hot rock" she later exclaimed. "Like lava?" I asked. "Exactly' was the reply. Additionally, there was vanilla, and spice -- perhaps a subtle cayenne. It also had that sort of dusty smell.

It sort of smells like an Oregon Pinot, and then you taste it. And then you're transported a few thousand miles as it tastes Burgundian. The body is much lighter than most Oregon Pinots -- more like French. Not just light, but also very smooth. The taste was raspberry, strawberry, red cherry -- and a very subtle vanilla. In-between the swallow and the finish was a hint of something in-between peach and nectarine -- a slight citrus to it (acidic). But this was very subtle (and not in a bad way).

Denise really got into the mineral/earth quality: "it's a spelunker's delight", referring to those that climb in caves and holes in the ground. "It's like wet mineral rock -- like dripping stalactites", she said. And after all that, it hit us, there's a whiff of pumice in there (going back to the 'lava' reference). Later on, someone thought it was blackberry in there.

Denise really likes that Burgundian Pinot, so we're rating this one well.

Cost:   

Rating:   8.5

Nicole:  Nicole has been waiting all her life to say these words: "I'm a stay-at-home mom." After the birth of her daughter, she left her job in the dust. Nicole's new hobby is getting back into shape.



Luke:  Luke is an electrician. He enjoys fishing, hiking, and camping. But Luke's most enjoyable hobby/job just arrived two months ago--his baby daughter.



Annette:  Annette is an environmental engineer and is fortunate enough to have her work be her hobby. Annette is a Florida transplant. She is obsessed by figuring out where her she, her husband, and their two-year old son are going to buy a Portland home.



Jeff: Jeff is a physical therapist. His hobbies include scuba diving and wind surfing. One time Jeff tried to eat a baby loaf of cheddar cheese (two pounds) in 15 minutes while everyone chanted to the Pixies, "Jefrey with one F, Jefrey!" Jeff failed miserably and went to bed sick. His punishment for failing: the purchase and viewing of "Dorf Goes Fishing" (of which Jeff is still the proud owner). Fortunately, both Jeff's wife and two-year old son like cheese.



Dinner:

• red leaf lettuce and sliced onions with blue cheese vinaigrette
• creamy carrot soup topped with crostini and parmesan cheese
• beets and orange wedges with cilantro and goat cheese
• twice-baked potato with stovetop beans
• Jeff and Annette's apple crisp with vanilla ice cream
• cheese

Wines:

• Westrey, Reserve, Pinot Noir 2006
• Domaine d' Andezon, Cotes du Rhone, 2006

Here's yet another Rhone review. I'd apologize for this rut, but they really are quite good, and cheap!

The nose is earthy: dirt and a subtle moss. There's also cherry, rhubarb, and salmon berry -- sort of fruity with a slight sourness (not in a bad way). Denise got some eucalyptus and nutmeg. The taste is black cherry, and maybe some plum. There's pepper too, but it's very subtle. And Denise found roses and fig. The dark cherry lasts into the finish along with blackberry.

We had this following the Westrey Pinot Noir, and this was noticeably more dry than the Pinot. It has that red-apple dryness thing at the end of the finish. In fact, this one was a bigger crowd pleaser than that Pinot (me, I'm always a sucker for Pinot).

Cost:   

Rating:    7.0

This was a bottle that Jeff gave us as a gift for helping he and his family find an apartment in Portland. They knew we were Pinot fans, so this was a nice gift. And when we had them over recently for dinner, it seemed like a great bottle to try with them.

The nose was spicy: pepper and nutmeg. But it was also cherry; it had that sweet cherry jolly rancher smell (yes, it smelled like it would be a sweet Pinot). And there was herbal and floral elements too -- I got lavender and violet. Nichole smelled fig. For Luke, searching our aroma wheel asked: "they don't have model glue"; apparently it had a chemical smell too.

This wine reminded me of a recent Evesham Wood bottle that was way too sweet. This wine smelled like that one. And when you taste it, it was immediately sweet. No, not sugary-sweet, but that vanilla-sweetness. However, unlike the Evesham Wood, this one only flashed sweet, and then went immediately dry. That vanilla flash was followed by red cherry and raspberry. The finish is cherry.

I think everyone had high expectations for this wine. Jeff said that it was "a little harsher" than he expected. However, I enjoyed the wine. I would say that I'm still remembering that Adelsheim we had recently, and that was definitely better in my opinion (and likely cheaper than this one).

Cost:    

Rating:    7.0

The nose starts with vanilla and that dusty river rock smell. Then there's cherry, raspberry, and pomegranete. The taste was sort of citrusy along with berries: pear and nectarine on the one hand, and raspberry and strawberry on the other. Those berries followed into the finish (raspberry and strawberry), and the citrus lingered a bit (sort of acidic). And right at the end, it was had a very slight and subtle bitterness -- sort of like a hint of rhubarb, or maybe stems. I was searching for spice, and maybe there was a hint of pepper in-between the taste and the finish. The body was medium.

We drank this along side Adelsheim, and while this wine was nice, it was definitely second place. It also had a richness, but not near as rich and smooth as the Adelsheim.

Cost:    

Rating:    7.0

It was Halloween, so we had to try it. We bought some last year (also for Halloween then), but we never got around to trying it (the scary thing still lives in my cellar).

One whiff, and it's like you you were thrown into the bottle of a fishing boat. Seriously fishy. Sardines, sea funk, old clam shells, sea smegma, mussels. And really strong too. Yes, seriously weird. If you can get past that stench, the taste is raisin and prune and maybe some hints of black cherry. There's also the taste of stems (a sort of slightly bitterness). The finish is also prune. It's dry, but that prune has a slight sweetness to it.

Sorry to say, but this was not pleasant. While the taste and such was fine, that smell was just too much to get past. Most poured the wine back into the bottle, and we moved on.

Cost:    

Rating:    1.5

I think when you drink wine regularly, you sort of get into various ruts. Currently, we've been drinking a lot of Rhone wines for example. A long time back-- like ten years ago or so -- Denise and I were in an Oregon Pinot rut -- this was before the recent astronomical prices of such stuff. And back then, we drank a lot of Adelsheim (amongst a handful of other usual suspects). We loved the stuff, and it's inexplicable to me why we haven't had more of this between then and now.

The nose was vanilla, which a lot of the time can be sort of pedestrian -- but not in this case. It was done just right to my tastes. There was also dust, cinnamon, nutmeg, and -- seriously -- it smelled like cherry pixie sticks (the candy). Though, I have to emphasize that the candy smell was not in a bad way (if you can imagine that).

The taste started out with dark fruits: prune and black cherry. But later as the wine opened, those dark fruits gave way to more like raspberry. There was that bark taste in there too (sort of bitter, but not overly so). The vanilla was also in the taste. The finish was strawberry and raspberry (so much for dark fruit at this point). This wine was really rich, and the body was medium (a bit more body than the average Pinot). And it was very smooth.

We really liked this wine. Yummy.

Cost:    

Rating:    8.0

It was Denise's birthday dinner and we were at Cafe Mingo, a local (and wonderful) Italian restaurant (on NW 21st). So when in Rome ... we ordered this Barolo. Besides, we don't drink all that much Italian wines generally, so it's fun to explore a bit. And Barolo is rarely disappointing (though the cost is correspondingly approriate, unfortunately).

This is an earthy and rustic wine -- and complex. The nose earthy: moss and peat -- sort of that walking-through-fresh-barkdust smell. Denise said the smell reminder her of walking through small alley-ways in Chateauneuf du Pape. It also smelled like grapes (funny to say, but true), and the fruit smelled like blueberry. And there was wood: it has that just-cut-2x4 smell. Yep, lots to smell there.

The flavors were also complex. Blackberry. Leaves. Wood (fir). Blueberry. Plum. Red grape skins. Apple skins. Dark berries. Raisin. And that blueberry was subtle and not at all sweet; this is not a sweet wine -- very dry. There's moss as you taste, and it comes back later in the finish. The finish had that sort of bitter (but not in a bad way) grape skins taste, along with Apple skins, and stems. There was also a lingering vegetable -- like artichoke. At the beginning it started with berry flavors, and ended with those apple skins.

Denise described this wine as being "Harvesty" -- she thought this would make a great accompaniment to a big Thanksgiving dinner.

This bottle had an intriguing "Albeisa" etched in the in glass towards the top of the base, right before the flute starts to tapper:



Apparently this started way back in the 1700s as a way for the winemakers in the Alba district to distinguish them from others made in Piedmont. The bottle was actually shaped a bit different so the wine was conspicious to someone in-the-know. Then, this practice died out for a long time, but was recently revived in the 1970s. Apparently the new designation defines wine from the Langa and Roero hills, including the following producers: Terre del Barolo, Marchesi di Barolo, Produttori del Barbaresco, Giacomo Borgogno, Ceretto, Gaja, Batasiolo, Bartolo Mascarello, Renato Ratti, Oddero, Francesco Rinaldi, Cavallotto, Elvio Cogno, Marchesi Fracassi, Mauro Mascarello and Calissano.

Just in case you were interested too ...

Cost:   

Rating:    9.0

We typically review wine and don't generally blog about the state of wine blogging. Many others do a fine job of that. However, I saw this today on Enobytes and am compelled to share:

... I created the "Google Top 100 Wine Blog" list by simply typing in a simple key term "wine blog" in the Google search engine. I then removed content that did not meet certain criteria, excluding blogs that haven’t been updated in over 3 months or websites that simply list other blogs. ...

http://enobytes.org/wine_blog/2008/10/31/googles-top-100-wine-blogs/

And our humble site was ranked at number 51!

Our traffic levels have certainly increased significantly, especially in the last six months. We've been at this for about a year and a half, but at the beginning no one's really paying attention -- no one really knows you exist. It's only after you develop a lot of content -- hopefully consistent and enjoyable for our readers -- and are around long enough to be placed on various lists that people do start to pay attention -- they start to know you exist.

Currently Google Analytics says we get about 1200 unique visitors a month; and that number has been rising fast lately. However, our content is available via RSS feeds. Those feeds get more hits than our regular pages of content. It's hard to determine what that means in terms of actual readership. Feeds might go into someone's feed reader, and others are automated computers that pull content and list on other wine sites (yep, our content shows up on a growing number of sites that aggregate wine blog content).

So, thank you dear readers. It's nice to know that I'm not only typing to myself anymore. And whatever you think of this particular rank list, it's flattering to be included, especially (I have to admit a bit shockingly) so high up.

Domaine Serene typically produces that stereotypically Oregon-style Pinot Noir: hardy and jammy. It's Pinot, but this ain't Burgundy. It was the 2003 vintage, which is characterized with more fruit than normal -- more jammy, And this wine fit right into this description.

The nose was full of spice, and leather -- cinnamon, and nutmeg, and strawberry and raspberry. And that fruit followed into the taste. Raspberry and strawberry were predominant at the beginning. And a bit later on as it opened up is was more like logan berry and marionberry. This wine had it's fair share of oak; it had that vanilla sweetness in the taste, though not overly so. It also a hint of citrus to it; not overly strong, but it was there nonetheless. The very end of the finish was raspberry and pepper, and then it goes dry with a sort of artichoke taste. Yeah, despite it's jammy taste, the finish goes into vegetable instead, and a little vanilla.

The body of this was medium -- much heavier body than a typical Pinot, especially Burgundies. Despite the vegetable finish, it's still predominantly fruit -- very typically of the 03 Oregon Pinots.

Cost:   

Rating:    8.0