Average Joe Wino

Half Full?

2009-04-08T09:58:00.000-07:00

People say a lot about winos. Pessimism is one of them.
For more wino/inebriated quotes
check out quotejar.net . And hey, if you have a few to share, throw them in the jar!

Dr Steve Brules Rules: on Wine Tasting

2009-01-13T10:34:00.000-08:00

This clip if from the insane show of Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job.
John C Riley is Dr Steve Brules giving you useful facts on life.
This is his segment on wine tasting.
While not informative, tis entertaining (for some).

Wine Comic #004

2008-10-13T22:43:00.000-07:00

Castle Creek - Uinta Blanc

2008-07-31T00:13:00.000-07:00

This is a great wine for a summer time picnic. It's light and refreshing and on the nose it smells like a big bowl of spicy fruit salad. I had this sweet wine with lemon pepper grilled salmon and the two went well together. I think this would be a good one to offer to someone who is new to wine because the refreshing sweetness makes it very approachable. There really isn't anything dry about it. I would say this is the sweetest white wine I have had in a bottle that isn't a dessert wine. To look at it from the other side, I would suggest steering clear of this wine if you aren't a fan of sweet boxed wines, because this thing is on the borderline of tasting like one.

Bogel - Chardonnay

2008-07-29T03:39:00.000-07:00

I wouldn't say this chardonnay is one of the best I have had, but for the inexpensive price I think we got our money's worth. It has light apple and pear notes on the nose and a crisp taste of the same. No buttery texture or vanilla flavors here, this is one of the more simple chardonnays I have had, but I will probably pick up a couple more bottles to have on hand.

Bogle Vinyards - Merlot

2008-07-21T01:46:00.000-07:00

I am really enjoying the reds by Bogle Vinyards. This merlot has a nice fruity spice to it and a hints of dark cherries and raisins both on the nose and to the taste. I served this with a dinner of lettuce wrap turkey burgers and the pair went hand in hand. So much so that I made the same dish the next night. I would even say the wine tasted even better the second day. I bought this one on sale for $7 at my wine store and I would say it's great for the price. I will stocking up on this merlot before the sale ends just as I did with the Bogle Petite Sirah.

Bogle Vineyards - Petite Sirah

2008-04-26T02:45:00.000-07:00

Bogel Petite Sirah is a wine that I have purchased on many occasions. If you are going to be drinking with people who enjoy big fat red wines, you should give this a try. I bought this wine on sale for $9.99 at my local wine shop.

It has wonderfully intense aromas of chocolate, cherry and sweet raisins. It has a full body and bold tannins. The flavor is that of dark fruits and pepper with a hint of oak.

I have enjoyed this wine on its own and pair with grilled meats and I think its great. I would gladly take this wine to a party or nice dinner. I think the price is very fair for a wine this good. I would pay $25 for this wine, but I'm glad I don't have to. ;) The only thing I will say is that this wine is way too bold for someone not used to red wines.

The Little Penguin - Shiraz

2008-04-25T04:36:00.000-07:00

Well, I wasn't expecting much from this inexpensive shiraz, but it really wasn't too bad. It has a body that is somewhere between medium and full. It's quite aromatic too. It smells peppery and fruity with hints of dark cherry or maybe black berry. The taste isn't far from the smell. It definitely has a peppery taste to it. The tannins are very present. It didn't take long for my tongue to feel slippery.

For the price I probably wouldn't mind having a couple bottles of this shiraz on hand as an everyday wine. I don't think I would consider this a wine party bottle, but who knows, it might surprise some people if there was a blind tasting at the party.

Thumbs up on this one.

Mattie's Perch - Shiraz

2008-04-20T04:05:00.000-07:00

I bought this shiraz for only $4 at my liquor store. I have been surprized by a cheap bottle before, but certainly not this time. This bottle is definitely worth nothing more than $4. This wine tastes cheap. Rather than interesting flavors, I found the alcohol flavor over powering. I also found the body of the wine to be lighter than i would have prefered.

When we paired this Shiraz with some grilled chicken it became a bit more enjoyable. I would definitely recommend drinking this with a meal, rather than on its own. It's probably worth a try, being as it is so inexpensive, but I wouldn't personally recommend showing up at a party with it, especially if you wanted to impress somebody by doing so.

Just my opinion.

7 Deadly Zins

2008-04-17T00:37:00.000-07:00

I have had this wine more than just a few times. It is definitely one of my favorites. In my opinion it is one of the best Zinfandels you can get under 20 bucks, if not the best. I bought this on sale at my local wine shop for $15.

The aromas are of nice rich and dark fruits. It has a full body and has a subtle sweetness to it that I enjoy. It seems to taste better the more you let it breathe. Infact, I think it tastes best if you have some left over the next day.

I have taken this wine to many parties and I've served it at my own and it usually gets a good response. The only people I have known to dislike it are people not really in to red wines in the first place. It seems to be a bit bold for the light wine drinker.

Warre's Ruby Port

2008-01-19T10:19:00.000-08:00

This is a good port for under $20. I paid $14 for and I think I would again. I had this a couple times before and liked it, but it was a few years ago and my tastes have changed considerably so I didn't know what to expect.

I had this as a dessert along with some nuts and dried fruit. It all went together very well. The aroma of the wine is strong, because of the higher alcohol content. I got hints of sweet raisin and vanilla and other darker fruits.

The flavor is strong too, attacking the back of my tongue a bit. It is very full bodied with flavors of jammy dark fruits.

From what I have heard and read about this port, if you hang on to it for a few months after opening it, the wine matures very well and will taste even better. I haven't tried this myself, but I am thinking about it.

Click the image of the bottle to go to Warre's site.

Your medial orbitofrontal cortex may be lying to you!

2008-01-16T08:50:00.000-08:00

A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that the more expensive a wine is, we believe that we are having a better time drinking it- regardless of how it tastes.

Researchers at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the California Institute of Technology found that activity is triggered in the part of the brain that registers pleasure called the medial orbitofrontal cortex- even though our taste buds may not necessarily be enjoying it as much as our brain is.

We are expecting wine to taste better because we spent so much money!

Lets hope the marketing wiz's in the wine world don't hear about this study.

To read the full article at Reuters.com click here

Vendange - Cabernet Sauvignon

2008-01-08T02:00:00.000-08:00

Vee and I have often joked about drinking wine from a juice box like the ones we had in elementary school, and Vendange offers something very close to just that. They call them Tetra Paks. Take a look at them here.

I sample the their cabernet and I enjoyed it a lot. On the nose there were hints of dark berry, cherry and pepper. It also smelled just slightly oaky.

The flavor was nice and spicy. The body was medium to light, yet the tannins were a bit high.

I imagine this would go great on a picnic with a club sandwich or something like that, but I think it can also be enjoyed on its own. At $1.99 for the 500ml carton I believe it was well worth the price.

Chateau Ste Michelle: Cabernet Sauvignon

2007-12-17T18:45:00.000-08:00

If you are a regular wine drinker and haven't had a wine by Chateau Ste Michelle, you've at least heard of them. With Vee out with her mother for the night, I was only cooking for one and the camper in me was craving for my favorite cold weather camp fire dinner: meat, potatoes and onions.

We had some left over wines in the fridge from our party over the weekend and I was excited to discover we had some Chateau Ste Michelle Cab left, because I couldn't think of a better match.

I think I may have to update my favorites list once again, because I forgot how good this cab was. It had hints of dark fruits, subtle spice and a full body. The wine wasn't particularly dry, which I enjoyed and it wasn't too acidic either.

Because this wine is so approachable I would recommend it for any dinner party where you need to serve a red wine, but don't know everyones' preferred tastes. I think this wine has a classy taste for a wine under $20.

Wines worst enemy.... CORK!

2007-12-05T15:07:00.000-08:00

Have you ever had a bad bottle of wine and suffered through it because you were sure it was YOU and not the WINE? well there's a pretty good chance your taste buds weren't deceiving you. You and your wine may have fallen victim to CORK TAINT! BLECH! The real downer is our assumption that perhaps it was the type of wine, or the winery that failed you and then you cross them off your list forever.
So after a bit of good ole wiki-research we've nailed down the culprit of icky cork taint: a bacteria called Trichloroanisole (TCA). Imagine this, except for with an angry face:

TCA has an odor that is often described as moldy newspaper, wet dog, or damp basement. Because the bacteria manifests after the wine has been bottled, aged and opened the distaste and stinkiness may range from anything to your wine tasting or smelling a little "off" to being totally undrinkable (as a note, TCA is completely harmless, just a downer). TCA is also known for muting the aromas of the wine- the bastard.

So why must we winos suffer through the risk of bad tasting wine? Well...we don't really have to. its just as simple as considering cork a thing of the past...

But thats opening another conversation entirely. I'm gonna save the great debate of corks vs screwtops/synthetic stoppers for another day. Until then may your wine be taint free!

Wine Comic #003

2007-12-05T01:22:00.000-08:00

Did you know . . . approximately 630 grapes are smashed to make one bottle of wine?

Carlo Rossi

2007-11-27T01:51:00.000-08:00

With Christmas fast approaching, the need arises to cut corners on normally expensive hobbies like being a wino. Its times like these I go on the hunt for a boxed wine the gives you a lot of bang for your buck.

My local liquor store offers many boxed wines of the "light and fruity" variety, which I am personally not as fond of. I mean, if YOU like those kinds of wine thats cool, but I personally like finding a box that tastes like it came from a bottle.

Among the white Zinfandels, blushing reds and white sangrias I found this box that said Cabernet Sauvignon. It cost me $17 which wasn't bad considering it contained 5 liters of wine which is just over 6 1/2 bottles of wine.

On the nose it was definitely fruitier than a bottle of Cab and the smell of the alcohol stood out more. It had hints of tobacco and light spices and a little berry. It was certainly not over powering to my nose.

It did have a Cabernet taste, but a much mellower one. I suspected it had a lower alcohol content, so I checked the box which confirmed that it contained 11% instead of the usual 13% for a bottled Cab. It had a peppery berry taste and a refreshing yet short finish. It had a medium to light body and was low on the tannins.

I would say this wine was a good purchase for the amount to price ratio. It would probably be nice with a casual lunch or dinner or even a picnic. Typically, box wines are best drunk within the first month for the best flavor and I hope we can make this box last that long as to save our pennies for Christmas shopping.

Wine tip for the average Joe #003

2007-11-19T00:58:00.000-08:00

Preventing tongue burn out:

In a response to my post about tongue burn out, the Hot Librarian left the following comment:

"This is really good advice... do you have any tips on, um... tongue resting/giving your taste buds a break when you know you're going to be tasting a lot of wines?"

I hadn't realized that in my warning about tongue burn out and the effects it might have on your judgement of wine, I hadn't said anything about how to prevent it from occuring.

The answer to this is actually pretty simple and cheap. Between tasting different wines, eat some plain, unflavored crackers or bread. Also keep a glass of water near by, both of these will aid in cleansing your palate. Also, if you are going to be tasting a large number of different bottles of wine, you might consider smaller samples of each. Especially when sampling wines at your's or a friend's home where the wines you enjoyed would be available for you to drink more after the tasting is over.

On our 5 stop wine tour I don't recall being offered crackers at any of the wineries and that might have had something to do with the fact that they have so many tour groups go through daily, but I wish I had brought some crackers along with me to help prevent the burn out. I'm sure I won't let the same thing happen again.

Folonari Chianti 2006

2007-11-15T04:37:00.000-08:00

In honor of my favorite three foot tall Italian, Mario, I went out and purchased an Italian wine to drink as I played his latest adventure, Super Mario Galaxy!

For those of you who don't know, Chianti is actually the name of the area in Tuscany, Italy where the wine is produced. Traditionally, Chianti is made mostly out of Sangiovese grapes.

Well, I wish I could say this wine was as great as Mario Galaxy, but this was just not the case. I bought this one for $8 at my local state owned liquor store. I have had many decent tasting wines that were cheap to purchase, however, $8 is considerably low end for Chianti and it was evident in the first sip.

I would compare this wine to a lighter than normal Pinot Noir. The aroma was too subtle and and I don't think it spent enough time in a barrel if it was aged in one at all. The berry hints on the nose were nice and I did get a faint hint of tobacco, which is always nice.

I could tell by the smell that it would be on the dry side and my nose didn't fail me. It definately was dry and a bit tart on the after taste. The tannins were too present and the body was too light. It didn't take long for my tongue to get that slippery feeling.

The wine was refreshing, because of how light and simple it was and I think it would pair well with a cheap meal, maybe a lunch or even a picnic. A little pizza probably would have made this taste great. This is probably one of those wines that isn't too bad when you are drinking it with a meal, but I would avoid tasting it solo.

Oh, and as for Mario Galaxy. . . . greatest . . . . game. . . . ever. Like a big Cabernet Sauvignon and a New York Steak. Oh yeah, with mushrooms too, it wouldn't be a good Mario comparison with out mushrooms.

Upcoming wine and video game pairing. . .

2007-11-12T22:48:00.000-08:00

So, I have been extremely excited for Mario Galaxy for a while now and after a long wait I got it today. I was planning to review an Italian wine in honor of our favorite little Italian plumber, but I forgot one thing: today was veteran's day and all our liquor stores were closed. What is the world coming to when a guy can't get wine on a Monday??? So it will have to wait, but please stay tuned! I guess I will just go play for a few hours. . .

Wine tip for the average Joe #002

2007-11-11T21:08:00.000-08:00

Tongue Burn Out

In my post about my top 5 favorite wines, I mentioned that my number 3 was the Rutherford Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon. I have an interesting story about this, because I had a very different impression of it when I had my first taste. When Vee and I went on our honeymoon to wine country in Cali, we took a 5 winery tour of Napa. I can go into detail about the other wineries in another post sometime, but I will just say that at the first winery we tasted 4 sparkling wines and at the second we tasted 6 more wines: 3 white and 3 red. Thats a total of 10 wines! Rutherford Ranch was the 3rd winery on our tour and what we didn't realize was that by that time our taste buds had taken a major beating. We had 6 more wines at Rutherford Ranch and the Cabernet Sauvignon was the last one.

When I tasted the wine, I found it to have a bland taste, lacking a bold dynamic flavor one would come to expect from a Cab. I didn't really think much of it, I had tasted bland wines before and just assumed that was that. When it came time to leave the winery I purchased the Cabernet and a Rutherford Merlot as souvenirs and nothing more. I meant to have them on hand to give to friends or something like that.

The week after we got home from our trip, we went to hang out with Vee's step dad while he was hanging out alone for a weekend and I thought we might bring the Cab along just as something for us to sip on while we chat. I popped the cork and poured each of us a glass. To my surprise I had been mislead by my tongue at the winery! This was the best Cabernet Sauvignon I had ever tasted. I was really confused because of my experience the first time with the wine. I realized then that I need to make sure to take better care of my taste buds when I am planning to sample so many wines. I assumed the bus ride between wineries was enough recovery time for my tongue, but it obviously wasn't. My tongue didn't even actually feel worn out either. And the Merlot we bought that same day turned out to be the best Merlot I have had. I'm glad we decided to buy those 2 bottles even after my unfair judgement, because Rutherford Ranch has turned out to be a very reliable wine producer. We haven't had one of their wines that we didn't enjoy.

So, this post is to make anyone who reads this aware of the possibility that you may beat the crap out of your tongue at your next wine party and miss out on a really good wine. If you suspect that your tongue may be misleading you, listen to your friends' opinions about the wine in question and you might have reason to try it again another time when you can devote your tongue to it.

Great Wine Podcast

2007-11-10T22:56:00.000-08:00

Bill Wilson has a wine podcast called Wine For Newbies: Your Free Online Wine Course. I have seriously listened to almost every one of them twice. This guy is very informative and he really knows his stuff. If you feel like gaining some major wine knowledge, give this a listen. His website is http://winefornewbies.net.

Rutherford Ranch Chardonnay - Ryan's Review

2007-11-09T22:21:00.000-08:00

Today we decided to make a nice dinner so that we could pop open Veronica's favorite wine. We've had a bottle of Rutherford Ranch Chardonnay sitting in our wine fridge for a couple of weeks now and after thinking hard about her "top 5 favorite wines" post she got a craving for her top fave. We made some spinach ravioli on which we grated sharp white cheddar cheese and poured a garlic olive oil all over.

The wine itself was great, with hints of vanilla, oak and pear on the nose.

The flavors were that of subtle green apples, pear, and oak with a decent finish and only a slight bite on the back of the tongue. It had a nice buttery texture to it that contributed to the full body. Even thought I'm not a huge white wine guy in general, I can honestly taste what Vee likes about this particular one.

This chardonnay paired very well with the ravioli. The sharp cheddar and garlic countered the dryness of the wine and together in my mouth the flavor combination was almost creamy. Now, I have always been a sucker for a big cabernet sauvignon and steak pairing, but this perfect match took me by surprise.

This was an affordable wine at $10.99 on sale from $15.99 at our local state wine store. Rutherford Ranch is one of the wineries we got to take a small tour of on our honeymoon and we have been drinking their wines a lot since. We have tried a handful of their wines and found that you can't go wrong with them. Their cabernet sauvignon is one of the best I have had. Click on the image in this post to read more about this chardonnay.

Vee's fave 5 and a little extra

2007-11-08T11:03:00.000-08:00

I've mused about my top five wines for a little over a day, and alas I can't really think of five. Here are my problems:

I'll drink a wine no matter what- if its mildly enjoyable, I'll drink to it!fc b
I'm still learning to completely discern what in particular in a wine is so enjoyable to me.
I'm incredibly forgetful, so my memory doesn't always serve me well, especially if I'm feeling a bit tipsy
I become overwhelmed that each and every wine is absolutely different (their like little snowflakes, no two are alike).

An Example: I get frustrated when I try a wine a like for example Gewürztraminer of a particular brand I think, "I must like Gewürztraminer" then I try another brand and its everything I don't like in a wine- which leaves me confused.

Being overwhelmed and frustrated and confused does not make good for wine drinking.

And ryan is right, sometimes we get stuck on something that we know we like, and avoid the unknown, or the untasted in my case. But we must remember that our young palates are growing and there are many wines to be tasted! So, without further a do, what i like to drink so far:

Rutherford Ranch- Chardonnay
DuMol- Chardonnay
Yellowtail- Shiraz
Zilliken- Reisling
... still unknown...

Also, a small aside if you've read my comments or my blogs i've mentioned tinikling (sp right) I went to a Latin America Dance Spectacular and one of the dances featured TINIKLING! so, now your imaginations can be put to rest and you can now witness the amazingness of one of our after party favorites!

so in case you can't see past the low video quality its basically a version of double dutch stick dance. See you've at least learned one new thing today, THE MORE YOU KNOW!

Ryan's current top 5 favorite wines.

2007-11-07T06:24:00.000-08:00

Let me start off by saying that this list is constantly changing, because I am always falling in love with another wine. I'm a wino and a wine-ho. Man, that was lame! But its true, I'm fickle with my tastes. Its always the big reds that I fall for, but sometimes I will go without a particular one and when I come across it again I remember why it was my favorite just a few months back. Then, I might try a new one that at that moment tops them all, only to be taken down by another old favorite. So, all that being said, here is my current list:

1. Martinelli - Zinfandel
2. Bogel - Petite Sirah
3. Rutherford Ranch - Cabernet Sauvignon
4. Michael David Vineyards - 7 Deadly Zins
5. Zilliken - Riesling (What???!!! A white????!!)

Vee, when you read this I think you should share your list too!