Indiscriminate Ideas

My Daughter the Drum Major

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff) — Tue, 27 May 2008 03:24:00 +0000

P1000936
Originally uploaded by Jeff Cleveland

My daughter was just selected to be a drum major in her high school band. Today was their first parade. By the look on her face can you tell if she likes it?

Amazing Wall Art

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff) — Mon, 19 May 2008 01:32:00 +0000

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Sungha Jung

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff) — Wed, 14 May 2008 02:19:00 +0000

It's kids like this that keep me from picking up my guitar and playing more often.

Is It Really the Thought That Counts?

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff) — Sun, 11 May 2008 00:18:00 +0000

Tomorrow is Mother's Day. Most moms love whatever it is their kids do for them on this special day. The gift is special because the kids are special. But sometimes, it's good they only see the final product.

Open That Bottle Night 9 - Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:39:00 +0000

A couple weeks have passed since Open That Bottle Night 9 and you might be wondering what Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher, the founders of the event, opened and drank that night. Here you go.

Open That Bottle Night 9

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 17:08:00 +0000

Open That Bottle Night is an event created by Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher, wine columnists for the Wall Street Journal. Most wine collectors, no matter how big or small their collection, have bottles that they are holding on to for a special occasion. John and Dottie heard too many stories of bottles that had been held too long before opening. Sometimes that meant the bottles were "over the hill" and no longer enjoyable and other times the people who had waited to open them or those whom they had hoped to open them with were no longer around to enjoy the wine. Thus Open That Bottle Night became the "special occasion". On this night in February people are encouraged to open the special bottle they've been saving and enjoy it before it's too late.

I was not home on Saturday evening and so we decided to open our chosen bottle on Sunday. The bottle I chose was a gift from a special friend. It was the 2004 Weingut Tesch Riesling Kabinett Trocken from the Nahe region of Germany.

The wine was outstanding! Rock and mineral aromas lept from the glass and followed through on the palate. There was a touch of delicious fruit that balanced perfectly with the minerality. The finish went on and on. We drank this with a simply prepared pork roast, mashed potatoes and green beans. [Next time you have a pork roast I recommend you try a dry Riesling. You won't be disappointed.] The flavors of the wine sang alongside the fruit. I'm not sure how much longer this wine would have lasted but the balance led me to believe it could have carried on quite awhile. Regardless I'm glad we opened it because it was so delicious. We talked about a recent visit with the friend who had given us the wine and finished a lovely evening with this lovely wine.

If you've never participated in Open That Bottle Night, mark your calendar for the last Saturday in February next year and start thinking about which bottle you'll open. Better yet, consider any night a special enough occasion to open that special bottle you're holding on to.

Three Steps to Picking a Bottle of Wine You'll Like

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff) — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 16:12:00 +0000

How many times do you open a bottle of wine that you purchased and looked forward to tasting, only to discover that it's really not your kind of wine? This is disappointing especially if you've spent as much or more for it than other bottles you've enjoyed more. So how do you avoid this? How can you explore the world of wine and increase the likelihood that you'll enjoy the bottles you'll purchase? Here are the three steps I take to pick a bottle of wine I'll like.

Find a good retailer. Do they have a diverse selection of good wine? Are the salespeople friendly? Can they talk knowledgeably about wine? Are they welcoming no matter how much you know or don't know about wine? To fit the criteria of a "good retailer" the answer needs to be "yes" to each of these questions. I also like to see handwritten shelf talkers (the cards hanging next to the wine with tasting notes) rather than just Wine Spectator or Wine Advocate scores and notes. If you don't find a good retailer the next two points won't really work. [Keep in mind that with a little tweaking, these three points could work with an online retailer. Jill at domaine547 seems like she could fill all three points wonderfully.]
Get to know the salespeople. If they're a good retailer, they won't mind you hanging around, looking at bottles and talking to them about wine. After you drink a bottle you've purchased from them, make sure you talk to them about it. Tell them what you liked and didn't like about it. Better yet - show up when they have tastings. [Don't be one of those people who come in every time there's a free tasting, tries all the open wine and then walks out without buying anything. Those people suck.] Smell and taste and talk about the wine. Even if you feel like you're not good at it, describe it and listen to their descriptions. You're trying to give them information for my next point so the more you say, the better. Do this for a few months and if they are truly a good salesperson, they'll start to understand you preferences. They need you to do this for step three.
Ask them for recommendations and trust them by taking the recommendations home. By now they should know you well enough that they can put your preferences together with the new wines they're tasting and bringing into the shop. The more you do this, and of course keep filling them in on how you liked or didn't like the recommendations, the better the chances you be walking out the door with bottles that you'll really enjoy.

Vintage Fine Wine Selections (in the picture) is my favorite place to purchase wine. In the list of wines I enjoyed most in 2007, the top six came from this shop. This happened because after I found this shop, I took time to get to know the owner, John, and trusted his recommendations. These days almost every time I walk in, he says, "I've got a new wine that I know you're going to like." And pretty much every time, he's right.

That's what I think anyway. What do you think? How do you increase your chances of picking good bottles? Let me know in the comments.

Wine Blogging Wednesday #42 - 7 Words

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 02:52:00 +0000

Today is the forty-second installment of Wine Blogging Wednesday only this time there was a special twist. We were to taste an Italian red wine and our tasting note could be seven words and seven words only. So to honor that brevity, here's my note.

Vintage: 2005
Producer: Corte alla Flora
Region: Tuscany
Appellation: Rosso di Montepulciano
Grapes: Prugnolo Gentile 90%, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon 10%

Tasting Note:
Never thought to put raspberries in coffee!

Helping Children Have a Healthy View of Wine

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff) — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 21:28:00 +0000

Gabriella Opaz wrote a post that generated tons of comments at the Catavino blog. The bulk of the post was an interview with Miguel Angel Castiblanque who is the founder of Bodegas Castiblanque. He answers questions revolving around a program he has which seeks to educate children about wine making. His desire is to not only create consumers who will enjoy his product in the future but also to help make sure children know "how to enjoy and appreciate wine".

As of right now the post has fifteen comments which argue (in a good way) whether a program like this is helpful or harmful to help children gain a healthy view of wine. After adding my comment I continued to think about this for the rest of the day and when I was deciding what I would write about today, I felt like expanding on my comments.

We live in a society that historically has dealt with problems by creating rules and laws in an attempt to eliminate the problems. The result is a rule prohibiting something that in and of itself isn't really a problem. The problem only exists when an individual isn't responsible in the way they handle something. I often choose to enjoy a glass of wine with dinner. No problem, right? One glass of wine with food is responsible by most people's standards. The problem comes when I consume a lot of alcohol and begin to have no respect for the people I'm with or get behind the wheel of a car and drive away. Is the alcohol the problem or the choices I made in the amount I consumed and what I did after consuming it? Most people would not blame the alcohol.

I would rather have my children grow up with authority figures in their lives who explain to them all of the responsible choices one needs to make when consuming alcohol rather than simply telling them to wait until they're twenty-one or show them videos of car accidents caused by underage drinkers. When I sip a glass of German Riesling at the table would I be helping them make better choices by allowing them to have a taste or lead them to believe that something magic happens the day they turn twenty-one which will make it ok. ('Cause we all know that twenty-one year olds, especially on their birthdays, always make responsible choices.)

Don't get me wrong; there are things to be avoided. I'm sure someone could find a hole in my logic and if you can, please leave a comment. But since I have the choice, I'm going to offer my kids a taste of wine at the dinner table. Who would you rather have offer your child their first drink; you or one of their friends?

Photo by Tin Green

Too Busy to Drink Wine

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff) — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 02:39:00 +0000

It's hard to write blog posts on a wine blog when you don't have time to drink wine. So what has kept me so busy? Shoveling! I have about reached my limit of shoveling this year. Two weeks ago I heard on the news that we have had more snow so far this winter than we had all last year. I've also had meetings at my kids' schools. My daughter will soon be going to California with her high school band and my son is starting wrestling. And last but not least is work. I'm training a new manager on top of all my regular stuff and it just takes more time.

Some people might think this is a prescription for drinking wine but not me. I don't enjoy opening a bottle at the very end of a long day when I'm too tired to appreciate it. Also the kind of meals we tend to prepare when we're busy like this aren't screaming for wine.

Let me know if you think I'm crazy. Or maybe just let me know that you understand. Either way, I'm working hard to get back to the cellar and dig out some bottles to drink. Keep your fingers crossed.

P.S. We're supposed to get eight to nine inches of snow tonight! :(

What Every Wine Needs

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff) — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 23:29:00 +0000

I enjoyed the 2006 Bodegas Muga Rioja Blanco last night and I think you should grab a bottle if you ever find one. No really, buy it if you see it. Here's why.

Do I think this was a 96-point wine? No. (I don't rate wine like that anyway.) Is it because I couldn't find anything wrong with it? No. It wasn't as expressive on the nose or palate as I would have liked so that was slightly disappointing. Did I decide to recommend it to you after coming up with a list of descriptors that I knew might appeal to you? Actually, I had a really hard time coming up with a tasting note to add to CellarTracker. About now you're probably wondering why you should part with $14.99 to end up with this bottle then.

If a future Wine Blogging Wednesday theme requires us to taste a wine and describe it in exactly one word I would drink this wine and then type the word "balanced". In the glass there was fruit balanced with acidity. There was some oak but it played it's supporting role perfectly by balancing freshness with structure. And I think you should buy this wine because when a wine is this balanced it will not only last for a long time, but it will usually continue to develop and evolve in the bottle. So I believe that in a couple years the reticent nose will blossom and the leanness on the palate will fill out as the oak integrates more into the wine. Because of that I rated this wine Excellent.

I really believe that balance is what every wine needs. So many wines lack balance that when an example as good as this comes along, I think everyone should try it so we know how good a wine can be. And if you happen to find it, let me know what you think.

2005 Bordeaux and the Perfect Steak

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff) — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 17:07:00 +0000

I found myself in the unusual situation of being the only one who was going to be home on Friday night. Normally there would be four kids or at the very least my wife, but two nights ago it was just me. So I stopped at the grocery store on my way home and picked up a nice New York Strip, a sweet potato and some greens. My inspiration for this grocery list was an inexpensive 2005 Bordeaux I had recently picked up from my favorite wine shop.

I had thoughts of firing up the grill but a quick check of my iPhone's Weather App (you know you need one Jill) revealed that it was four degrees below zero. It was then I remembered a technique I had read about on the Capozzi Winery blog - Pinotblogger - entitled How to Cook a Steak Perfect for Pinot.

Josh came up with the technique because he wanted a "juicy, flavorful steak with a nice crust" but also didn't want it to have "that weird ring of gray, over cooked meat around the perimeter". Here's a photo of the finished plate but take my word for it, this is a phenomenal way to cook a steak and one that you need to try soon.

The wine I opened was a 2005 Château Cotte des Rambaux Cuvée Petit Martinot which I had picked up for $12.99. It had a nose of green beans, dark red fruits and a slightly damp, earthy aroma. On the palate there were slightly rough tannins, a nice burst of red fruits on the mid-palate, some glycerin and a faint hint of that cigar box/tobacco aspect that Bordeaux often has. It was delicious with the steak and oddly enough even better with the sweet potatoes which I had browned with onions and garlic before adding some chicken stock and thyme and simmered until tender. This was an extremely well made wine that while approachable, probably would have been a little better a few months or years down the road. I rated it Good and feel that this wine lives up to what I keep hearing about how good inexpensive, 2005 Bordeaux really is.

I will definitely keep making steak this way but I'm curious how you like to prepare steak. Let me know in the comments.

Wine Blogging Wednesday #41

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff) — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 01:58:00 +0000

Wine Blogging Wednesday is a monthly, virtual wine tasting participated in by wine bloggers all over the world. This month’s event was hosted by Jack and Joanne at Fork and Bottle and was focused on the white wines of Friuli-Venezia-Giulia.

My wine came from the region of Collio. For many years this area of Italy has produced Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Bianco, Pinot Grigio and Tocai Friulano. The wines have most often been unoaked and cool-fermented so that the wines would remain lively and fresh. While many wines are made this way today, back in the 1970’s this was pretty revolutionary winemaking; at least in this part of Italy.

The Schiopetto Family bottled their first vintage in 1964. Today they farm 70 acres and produce 230,000 bottles annually. The winemaker is Mauro Simeoni and there is some consulting done by Giorgio Schiopetto. The 2004 Schiopetto Tocai Friulano Collio DOC is made of 100% Tocai Friulano grapes that were grown 170 feet above sea level with a Southern exposure and a marl and sandstone soil composition. Yields were 3.2 tons per acre and the grapes were harvested between the 10^th and 20^th of September. Fermentation took place in stainless steel and the wine was aged for seven months followed by six months in bottle before being released from the winery. The wines did not undergo malolactic fermentation and were bottled unfined and unfiltered. I paid $29.99 for this bottle at a local wine ship.

My initial impression of this wine was that it was like the very best Pinot Grigio on steroids. There were fresh aromas of lime zest combined with the smell of blanched almonds. It was soft and lush in the mouth with absolutely perfect acidity. The finish was moderate in length.

I ended up giving this wine a rating of Good. (My scale is Yuck, Ok, Good, Excellent and WOW.) While the wine was very enjoyable and had been made extremely well, I wanted more out of a wine in this price range. I would love to continue to explore the wines of this region as the quality in the bottle was obvious. Thanks Jack and Joanne, for encouraging me to visit a region I haven’t spent much time in.

I Need to Diversify my (Wine) Portfolio

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff) — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 23:15:00 +0000

My recent post describing the wines I enjoyed in 2007 revealed that I am not as diverse as I could be in my consumption of wine. I tend to favor certain types of wine to the exclusion of others. If the wines I drank last year were an investment portfolio, a good financial advisor would tell me that I need to diversify.

What did I tend to stay away from? Sauvignon Blanc from anywhere but France, sparkling wine without a celebration, Australian wine of any kind and Spanish wine that cost more than $12 per bottle. As I reflect on this and try to come up with an explanation it seems to be my preconceived notions. (Please don’t tell Gary Vaynerchuk on me!) The unfortunate part of this is that I haven’t been drinking wine all that long. But in five or six year’s time, I’ve already become set in my ways and haven’t tried many new things.

Now I’m not going to make this a New Year’s Resolution but I do think it’s something I need to change. After all, it was the diversity of wine that drew me to this hobby in the first place. So if you see me browsing bottles in a wine shop and I seem to be standing in front of the same racks I always look at, just walk over and remind me that I need to diversify. And just so I don’t have to feel alone in my rut, what wine have you been ignoring?

Photo curtesy of sibi_thedesigner

Adelsheim Willamette Valley Pinot Noir

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff) — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 03:10:00 +0000

I enjoy drinking good Pinot Noir and I’ve really enjoyed the ones I’ve had from Oregon. As I browsed the racks at my favorite wine shop in June I saw a new arrival from a producer I had heard about but had yet to try. According to the company’s web site the 2005 Adelsheim Willamette Valley Pinot Noir is a blend from several vineyards in the northern part of Oregon’s Willamette Valley. The final blend consisted of 80% estate-grown fruit from vineyards located on the south side of the Chehalem Mountains. The $29.99 price tag was more than I normally spend on a bottle of wine but I took it home anyway.

While waiting for the right time to open it I read Dr. Debs blog post about this wine and started to get nervous. In the middle of her post she called the wine “an expensive disappointment” and rated it a poor QPR. I had no idea how my bottle would compare to hers or even how her palate and mine compared so I still looked forward to enjoying the wine.

When I opened it last week the nose was mostly cherries, a little of that Oregon Pinot funk and some green, vegetal notes. On the palate there was red fruit and pleasant spice with decent acidity but it was very astringent. And while it was soft it was really lacking the silkiness of a great Pinot. I have enjoyed a lot of $8-12 wines that tasted exactly like this but the fact that I had spent $30 for this bottle was really, really disappointing.

I enjoy trying new things in wine and I have no problem occasionally spending more than normal to try to experience great wine. But I have to admit that when it doesn’t go well, it can be pretty frustrating.

What’s the last bottle that you had really been looking forward to enjoying only to find out it wasn’t what you were expecting?

My 2007 Wines

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 16:40:00 +0000

When I started this blog I wasn’t sure what I wanted to focus on; I just knew I wanted to be a blogger. But the more I wrote wine-related posts, the more I knew that’s the direction I wanted to go. In order to help you understand where I’m coming from, I thought I would recap the wines I drank in 2007 so you would at least know what wine I tend to enjoy. And while I wanted to write this before the year ended, I figure better late than never. So here is a snapshot of the wine I enjoyed last year.

I don’t prefer red wine over white or white wine over red. When I go into my cellar to choose a bottle, I try to figure out what wine will pair best with the meal I’m having. Over the past year I opened slightly more reds than whites and if there’s anything I like to drink more of in 2008 it would be rosé.

Wine Consumed by Color
Red	53%
White	42%
Rosé	5%

When it comes to wine, I enjoy trying new things. I tend to prefer old-world styled wines and I will never turn down a wine from France, Germany or Spain. (Actually I don’t turn down wine very often.) One of the main ways I buy wine is to go to wine shops when they have tastings and sample things I haven’t tried before. I buy what I like, take it home and wait for the right time to open it. That leads to a wide variety of bottles in my cellar. But looking back over the last year, I guess I really liked the country of France.

Wine Consumed by Country
France	34%
United States	19%
Spain	18%
Germany	10%
Italy	9%

Like most people, I don’t have as much money to spend on wine as I would like. But even if I did, I think I would still enjoy finding bottles of wine that tasted great and didn’t cost a lot of money. In 2007 the average bottle of wine that I consumed was $13.34. However, the wine I scored the highest of all the bottles I opened this year also was the most expensive.

Wine Consumed by Cost
$0-9.99	27%
$10-19.99	60%
$20-29.99	13%
$30 or more	1%

So of all the wine I drank in 2007, what were the wines I enjoyed most?

2002 Domaine Lignères Corbières Cabanon de Pascal Montagne d'Alaric (France, Corbières)
2005 Alfred Merkelbach Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Spätlese (Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer)
2005 Weingut Josef Leitz Rüdesheimer Magdalenenkreuz Riesling Spätlese (Germany, Rheingau)
2005 Franck Millet Sancerre (France, Sancerre)
2005 Jean-Claude Lapalu Beaujolais-Villages Cuvée Vieilles Vignes (France, Beaujolais-Villages)

This may not be the most exciting post I’ve ever written but if you continue to follow my blog, at least you’ll have a little better picture of what kind of wine drinker I am. I look forward to our conversations this year. Cheers.

Dorthy J. Gaiter and John Brecher on Value Wines of 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff) — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 22:27:00 +0000

When I first became interested in wine I looked for books that would provide information about my new hobby. I can't even remember all the titles I read but I came across two people's writings who put the enjoyment of wine in what I felt was its proper perspective. Dorthy J. Gaiter and John Brecher are the authors of three wine books and a weekly column about wine in the Wall Street Journal. They were not only knowledgeable about the subject but they understood that knowing about wine wasn't the point; you were supposed to come up with ways to really enjoy what was in the glass. If you haven't read any of their books, I highly recommend them.

By way of introduction, here is a video I came across on the Wall Street Journal website where they talk about the top wine bargains they came across in 2007. I hope you enjoy it. I'll list the titles of their three books underneath the video in case you're interested.

Wine for Every Day and Every Occasion : Red, White, and Bubbly to Celebrate the Joy of Living
The Wall Street Journal Guide to Wine: New and Improved: How to Buy, Drink, and Enjoy Wine
Love by the Glass: Tasting Notes from a Marriage

Why I Haven't Posted

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff) — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 20:35:00 +0000

Ok, I know that I've been a terrible slacker. As anyone in retail can attest, spare time is non-existent in the month of December. But I promise to return very soon with some commentary on some of the great wine I've had lately. (OK...busted! It's not that I haven't had ANY time. It's just that when given a choice between blogging and opening a bottle of wine - well, I picked the wine.) So thanks for your understanding and I'll be back in a couple of days.

Happy Holidays!

How My Wife Got Excited About Wine Blogging Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff) — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 04:08:00 +0000

I have an amazing wife! She is beautiful, thoughtful, caring, and amazing in more ways than I can name. She has several interests and many things that she is good at but if she were to list her most favorite things, wine would probably not end up on the list. It’s not that she doesn’t enjoy wine. We drink it with our meals several times a week. We even have a “weekly wine night” where just the two of us make a special meal and pair it with a specific wine and she helps me come up with descriptors to put in my tasting notes. She accompanies me to tastings and wine shops. She finds things to do while I catch up on all my RSS feeds and read books and magazines related to wine. Again, she’s indulging me; it’s really not her thing but today she got really excited about Wine Blogging Wednesday. I’ll tell you why in a minute.

Wine Blogging Wednesday, as most of you know, is a day set aside each month for those who blog about wine to come together and enjoy a virtual wine tasting. A theme is chosen, participants chose a wine, and then blog about it. I don’t feel like I fall in the official wine blogger category but anyone is welcome so I’m tagging along.

This month’s theme was chosen by Sonadora at Wannabe Wino. She chose her favorite red wine varietal – Petite Sirah. I don’t think I had ever purchased a bottle of Petite Sirah before so I was pretty excited. I spent the month looking at four of my local wine shops and they actually had a pretty decent selection. There were seven bottles one place, five at another, and, well you get the idea. I would take pictures of the labels with my iPhone and then go home and look up the wines in CellarTracker and read what people had said about them. I thought I had it narrowed down to one bottle but then I drove past a new wine shop today. I went in and came across a bottle that seemed interesting enough to try so I walked out with a 2003 Markham Vineyards Petite Sirah from Napa Valley.

We had the wine with dinner which was Oven-Roasted Spareribs with a Spicy Orange Glaze, Savory Corn Fritters, and Thai Jasmine rice. I tried the wine before dinner. It had dark, dark color with aromas of raspberry, oak, vanilla, and glycerin. It was big and fruity but the tannins were so gripping that it was hard to enjoy. But two hours later with dinner it had completely changed. It had come together especially on the nose. The oak had become really integrated and it now just smelled of sweet, rich fruit. It had become so smooth on the palate as the tannins had softened, allowing the spice in the wine to become more evident and pairing nicely with the spice in the glaze. As I finish it off while writing this, now four hours after opening, the tannins are still there (wow is Petite Sirah a big wine) but it has really mellowed out. I can’t say that my favorite reds are the big and tannic styles, and this particular wine was almost too big for my enjoyment, but on a cold snowy day (several hours of which were spent shoveling) a big wine like this was almost warm and comforting. I can think of times when this would be the perfect bottle to pull out. (I wonder how it would go with not-too-spicy chili?) Thanks, Sonadora, for expanding my horizons.

Oh yeah, how did my wife get excited about Wine Blogging Wednesday? The bottle was originally marked $29.99 but was marked down to $14.99! Hey, she may not rank wine at the top of her excitement list but I promise you, getting a deal holds her number one spot.

What About Wine Excites You?

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff) — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 02:08:00 +0000

When I was a kid, I was the one who bounced from hobby to hobby, passion to passion, and sport to sport. Whatever my current obsession was became obvious to anyone around me. It was all I talked about, all I thought about, and all I did. One week my parents were driving me downtown to get parts for my BMX bike and the next helping me cover the windows in the laundry room so that it could be converted to a darkroom for developing film. Basically when I fell for something, I fell hard.

For the last few years I’ve transferred that passion to wine partly because there are so many aspects of wine to enjoy. There’s the pretty bottles and labels, the history, all the different categories and styles, and let’s not forget that it’s actually fun to drink. I enjoy it all. I religiously add my purchases and tasting notes to CellarTracker. I’ve built a room in the basement to store wine in and two shelves of my bookshelf have been taken over by wine related books. If I’m completely honest, I enjoy all of this as much (sometimes even more) than actually drinking the wine. As I pay attention to which aspect I spend the most time on, I realize that it’s “the hunt” that I enjoy the most. Finding the perfect bottle to purchase, the one that would pair with dinner, or the wine a friend would find the most enjoyable is something I spend a lot of time on. I love to get out The World Atlas of Wine and learn about the region a wine came from. I search CellarTracker to find out what others have said about a particular bottle. By the time I pull the cork or remove the screwcap, I’ve already really enjoyed myself so drinking the wine is like icing on the cake.

I’m really looking forward to Wine Blogging Wednesday this week. I haven’t purchased a Petite Sirah yet, but I’ve narrowed it down to two bottles. On Wednesday when I open that bottle it won’t be the beginning of my enjoyment. I will drink that wine as the end of a process of learning and exploring that started when Sonadora announced what we all would focus on this Wednesday. I’ve had a blast.

I’d love for you to leave a comment and let me know what your favorite aspect of wine is. (I’m guessing that Ryan and Gabriella enjoy the learning aspect. If you haven’t yet checked out their website, I recommend you head there immediately. They put a lot of effort in sharing what they’ve learned about Spanish and Portuguese wine and you can’t help but find their enthusiasm infectious.)

Quick Pork Chops After Work

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff) — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 01:41:00 +0000

I don’t know about you but sometimes I arrive home after a long, tiring day at work and I’m hoping I can figure out something for dinner that won’t take much time to prepare but will taste like it could have. That was the case earlier this week and I came across something that I’m going to keep for future use because it turned out so great.

My wife had picked up two really nice pork loin chops and I remembered an interesting recipe I had read in one of my favorite cookbooks. Here’s the recipe but basically you brown the chops on one side in a sauté pan and then after turning them you add a mixture of vinegar, brown sugar, apple juice, mustard and soy sauce and simmer the chops until they’re done. By that time the sauce has reduced down to a syrupy consistency that coats the chops and is the touch that could convince you that this dish took a long time to make when actually it was about twenty minutes from start to finish. A baked potato on the side completed our meal.

My favorite wines to pair with pork are usually dry or with just a touch of sugar but most important to me is that they have nice fruit balanced with great minerality and if they end up being from Alsace, even better.

With this dinner I opened a Pinot Gris from Kuentz-Bas, one of my favorite producers of Alsatian whites.The 2004 Kuentz-Bas Pinot Gris Tradition had a complex nose showing lime, lemon and flint that all came together and made you want to keep going back for a whiff. It had really great acidity and was really smooth on the palate. It didn’t have as much fruit as I would have like but the minerality showed really nicely on the decent finish. I wouldn’t say this was the perfect match with this dish but both were delicious nonetheless.

If you try this dish, I’d love to hear what you thought and what you chose to pair with it. If you do, let me know.

What I Learned this Thanksgiving

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff) — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 02:51:00 +0000

I just got home from taking my children to their house with their mom. This was the first time in five years they were with me on Thanksgiving Day and we had a great time. I could write about the food we ate and the wine we drank (not the kids) and the places we went. But like most of you, while that stuff is important, the real highlight of the day is the time spent with those you love. And I do love my children! Here are a couple things I learned from them the last four days.

Patience really does matter when you’re helping someone learn something new. My son is a lot better than me at video games. This was the first time I had ever played Halo and I was pretty incompetent. But while I was learning what all the buttons on the controller would do to my character on the screen, he was patient with me. He spoke calmly and in a quiet voice. He praised me when I did well. He made light of my mistakes while telling me how to do better the next time. I guess you could say he was the perfect teacher. It reminded me how I should treat him as he is learning things. I sure hope I can be as patient as he was.

The best thing you can do with your friends is have fun and be yourself. I took my daughter and one of her best friends to the mall. As I watched in the rear view mirror and across the mall I observed her laughing, joking, talking but mostly being herself. I was reminded that I often am too conscious of the image I am portraying or the way I’m coming across instead of relaxing and being who I am. I’m confident that she is having more fun and I want to be more like her.

There is more but I don’t want to bore you. I’ll be working on applying these lessons this week but I’m curious what you were thinking about over the holiday. Let me know.

'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving...

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff) — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 04:45:00 +0000

...and it SNOWED!

Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé! - Only $13.99

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 15:29:00 +0000

Let me start by saying that I didn’t open a bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau this year. I did go to the wine store last Thursday with the intention of picking one up. But when I got there I had a choice between two bottles; Georges Duboeuf and another that was imported by Kermit Lynch. I ignored the Duboeuf bottle as I have never really enjoyed their Nouveau. I was about to pick up the other bottle when I saw that the price was $13.99! I walked away without getting anything.

In my opinion that is too much to spend on something that is more marketing gimmick than real wine. In the past I have enjoyed the excitement of going into a wine shop and participating in the excitement that is “Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé!” But I can’t ever say I’ve really loved the wine I drank when I got home. Now real Beaujolais? That’s another matter.

I recently enjoyed the 2005 Jean-Claude Lapalu Beaujolais-Villages Cuvée Vieilles Vignes. My tasting note reads, “This wine has an amazing and complex nose with a nice bit of barnyard along with dark red cherries. On the palate you know you have Gamay, but this is not what you’ve come to expect from Beaujolais. It has beautiful acidity, the mid-palate could be a bit more pronounced, but the finish is long and almost elegant.” Yes I paid $19.99 for this bottle and that is more than I usually spend on an everyday wine. But this was really good wine. I’ve never had a bottle of Nouveau that I enjoyed nearly as much.

Yes I know, I’m comparing apples and oranges but I don’t have a lot of money to spend on wine. I prefer to buy wine that I know I’m going to enjoy. To me that’s all the hype I’m looking for.

What about you? What do you think of Beaujolais Nouveau? What’s the last real Beaujolais you’ve enjoyed?

My Alternative Thanksgiving Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff) — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 17:59:00 +0000

On Tuesday I wrote about why my Alternative Thanksgiving came to be held on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. It looks different today than it did the first couple years. As the kids get older there is one part of the early tradition that not everyone is so excited to continue.

The first year we decided we didn’t want to celebrate alone so we invited friends of ours. My seven year old got the idea that the three of us should dress as Pilgrims and ask the three of them to dress as Indians. Hopefully none of our neighbors were looking out the window when they arrived as the costumes were pretty good. (Come to think of it, the lady downstairs never really would look me in the eye again.) We had a really good day, the food was good and most of all we started a new tradition that made starting over a little bit easier.

Last October there was a wedding and now we all live in the same house together. My wife is in the kitchen with her daughter making pumpkin pie and my daughter and I will start making dinner in a few minutes. (The two boys are upstairs getting into the Thanksgiving spirit by playing Madden 2007 on Xbox 360.) Listening to the chatter around the house this morning I think only the youngest two are planning on dressing up. I plan on using the excuse that my pilgrim hat poses a fire risk so close to the stove.