A little back story behind how we found this wine.
In February Mary and I met my cousin Matt and his wife Megan in Los Olivos in the Santa Ynez Valley just north of Santa Barbara for a day of wine tasting. They were driving in from Phoenix while we flew into LAX and then drove up, and we arrived early enough to do a few tastings by ourselves. One of the places we tasted was Bedford Thompson. One unique aspect of their wines was that they were all from 2001 and thus were already aged and in their prime (I'm sure when we drink one of their wines [we bought 4] I will write about it). Whenever we find a new winery we really enjoy, we often ask the pourer if they recommend any other places to visit, and he recommended a place called Buttonwood.
The four of us arrived at Buttonwood at 11am right when the winery opened (you know the day is going to be good when that happens). When we were tasting our wines at Buttonwood, someone who worked there mentioned that his wife pours at Carina Cellars and he gave us a pass for 4 free tastings at Carina Cellars. We had never heard of Carina Cellars prior to the trip and had not planned on visiting there but we couldn't pass up some free tastings!! We were so glad that we did because we enjoyed all of their wines and it was hard to decide which ones we would buy. Plus, Carina Cellars shares its tasting room with Tensley Wines and we were able to taste them for free as well!!! This is just another example of how during our wine travels that some of our favorite places have been those that we never planned on visiting.
Now onto the wine...
Tonight we drank the Carina Cellars Sybilline. It is a blend of 55% Mouvedre, 33% Grenache, and 12% Syrah. The website describes it as "a vibrant bouquet of cassis, blackberries and jasmine. Unable to resist these alluring aromas, you become engaged in a decadent palate of bright fruits and vanilla that culminates in a smoky cranberry and white pepper finish. This wine will leave you wanting more, and will tempt your palate long after the last sip is gone." It paired well with the BBQ chicken with zinfandel BBQ sauce. Interestingly, we also bought a wine from Carina that is 55% Syrah, 33% Grenache and 12%Mouvedre. So it will be interesting to taste how a wine that switches the percentage of mouvedre and syrah.
Cheers,
BC
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
2006 Qupe Syrah Purisma Mountain
Tonight I had the taste for a steak and good wine to go with it. Mary was out of town so I couldn't open one of our good wines. We have an agreement that neither one of us can drink one of our favorite wines or wines that we purchased on a wine trip without the other's permission. I don't have any nice wines I purchased myself so I went to the wine store to buy some wine. We don't visit the wine store that often because we get shipments from our wine clubs often enough that we have plenty of wine just from those few clubs to which we belong.
I knew I wanted to have a steak for dinner so I wanted something that was full-bodied and would not be overpowered by a grilled steak. Thus pinot noir was out of the question. I was hungry as hell so I didn't want anything that needed to breathe. I had a petit verdot from Portugal which sounded very interesting, but then I saw tat they had a couple syrahs from Qupe Winery. We visited Qupe on our recent trip to the Santa Ynez Valley and enjoyed their wine. They had two syrahs from Qupe one was the 2006 Bien Naciedo, which we brought back from our trip so I bought the Purisma Mountain Syrah.
On the website it is described as "Bright ruby-red. Wild nose combines redcurrant, rhubarb, underbrush, herbs, resin and oak; notes of cherry skin and minerals merged with aeration. Supple, suave and quite dry, with the slightly bitter cherry skin element giving the wine a refreshing character. Finishes with very suave tannins and a mineral edge." And I can't describe it better... maybe because I've drank alot of this wine tonight.
I knew I wanted to have a steak for dinner so I wanted something that was full-bodied and would not be overpowered by a grilled steak. Thus pinot noir was out of the question. I was hungry as hell so I didn't want anything that needed to breathe. I had a petit verdot from Portugal which sounded very interesting, but then I saw tat they had a couple syrahs from Qupe Winery. We visited Qupe on our recent trip to the Santa Ynez Valley and enjoyed their wine. They had two syrahs from Qupe one was the 2006 Bien Naciedo, which we brought back from our trip so I bought the Purisma Mountain Syrah.
On the website it is described as "Bright ruby-red. Wild nose combines redcurrant, rhubarb, underbrush, herbs, resin and oak; notes of cherry skin and minerals merged with aeration. Supple, suave and quite dry, with the slightly bitter cherry skin element giving the wine a refreshing character. Finishes with very suave tannins and a mineral edge." And I can't describe it better... maybe because I've drank alot of this wine tonight.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
2003 Crauford Zinfandel
The 2003 Crauford zinfandel was so far the best zinfandel I've had this year. The color was a dense, dark purple to a point that it was almost black. The taste had strong notes of plum and cloves that had a nice long finish. I bought this at The Corkscrew in Springfield for ~$30 and it was well worth the money. I drank this wine with some barbecued ribs and the zin was a great match the the smoky ribs. I highly recommend this wine and am about to go online and try and buy some more from the winery.
Cheers,
BC
Cheers,
BC
Thursday, April 16, 2009
2005 Kaz Dudes Petite Sirah
Last night we had a petite sirah from one of our favorite wineries Kaz.
It had a great dark berry flavor that had a long finish. Unlike many petite sirahs, it was not overly tannic and like most of their wines it is very food friendly. Although it is a red wine, we had it with some grilled shrimp and potatoes and it did not overpower the taste of the shrimp. I can't wait to have this wine again!!!
It had a great dark berry flavor that had a long finish. Unlike many petite sirahs, it was not overly tannic and like most of their wines it is very food friendly. Although it is a red wine, we had it with some grilled shrimp and potatoes and it did not overpower the taste of the shrimp. I can't wait to have this wine again!!!
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Favorite Wines of 2008 Part 1
So I've kept track of almost every wine Mary and I have drank this past year, and I'm happy to publish some of our favorites. To date we have finished ~140 bottles of wine this year. Additionally, this year we took a trip to Sonoma and made many visits to wine bars this year. I mention this because although we are not in the wine business or wine professionals we are avid wine drinkers and have a large sample of wines from which I have chosen my favorites. That being said, as everyone else, we do have our biases. In our list of wines about 80% are reds and we tend to like big, jammy reds. That being said here is the first part of our list of favorite wines of 2008.
1. 2004 Garretson Syrah "Bulladoir" from Paso Robles, CA.
It is a HUUUGE WINE (16.7% alcohol) The color is a deep purple almost black in color and it even seems to pour a little bit thicker. This is a mouthful of jammy flavors almost similar to a port. This wine is not for the weak. Big jammy flavors of black berry, raspberry, with hints of mocha and looong finish. I would love to try this wine again in 5-10 years. The average score I found online was 95!!!
We had it with pasta and some of my wife's homemade tomato sauce. This wine would go great with a grilled steak. This was our first great wine of 2008 as we drank it on January 3rd. This exctied us for what would be a year full of amazing new wines and discoveries.
2. 2002 Tobin James Syrah James Gang Reserve
Very similar to the Garretson. I've included this because it seems like most of my favorite wines are big, dark, thick, jammy wines. However, these wines are able to be intense without being too much of a fruit bomb in that it is not too sweet and fruity that I feel like I am drinking fruit punch. Nor are they too tannic where it is impossible to drink.
Also both of these wines are from Paso Robles. We visited the region in 2006 and have loved their wines ever since. They make great Rhone style wines and zinfandels, and since syrah and zinfandel are too of our favorite wines the region is one of our favorites.
1. 2004 Garretson Syrah "Bulladoir" from Paso Robles, CA.
It is a HUUUGE WINE (16.7% alcohol) The color is a deep purple almost black in color and it even seems to pour a little bit thicker. This is a mouthful of jammy flavors almost similar to a port. This wine is not for the weak. Big jammy flavors of black berry, raspberry, with hints of mocha and looong finish. I would love to try this wine again in 5-10 years. The average score I found online was 95!!!
We had it with pasta and some of my wife's homemade tomato sauce. This wine would go great with a grilled steak. This was our first great wine of 2008 as we drank it on January 3rd. This exctied us for what would be a year full of amazing new wines and discoveries.
2. 2002 Tobin James Syrah James Gang Reserve
Very similar to the Garretson. I've included this because it seems like most of my favorite wines are big, dark, thick, jammy wines. However, these wines are able to be intense without being too much of a fruit bomb in that it is not too sweet and fruity that I feel like I am drinking fruit punch. Nor are they too tannic where it is impossible to drink.
Also both of these wines are from Paso Robles. We visited the region in 2006 and have loved their wines ever since. They make great Rhone style wines and zinfandels, and since syrah and zinfandel are too of our favorite wines the region is one of our favorites.
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