Guzzling hiatus...

Well, it's been several months since my last post... and for good reason!
Clay and I are having a BABY!!! : )
We're due September 21, 2011 and couldn't be more excited!!!

So, the Greenhorn Guzzler is officially on hiatus! : )

2008 Yalumba Shiraz Viognier- The Y Series

Clay and I decided to continue our Christmas Movie Marathon a few days later. We REALLY wanted to see "It's A Wonderful Life" because Clay's never seen it; however it wasn't On Demand, so we settled for "Elf"! : )
(Side note: How Clay has never seen ANY movie is beyond me!? He's a walking movie encyclopedia... it's strange!!!)

2008 Yalumba Shiraz Viognier (The Y Series)

South Australia

Date tasted: 12/22/10

Purchased from: Shiraz wine store

Price: $9.99

Rating:

Rebecca: 8.5

Clay: 7

Sight: dark and really clear

Smell: spicy and jammy

Tastes: med-full bodied, easy to drink, spicy, dark jammy fruits

I've talked about Yalumba before... I've never had a bad bottle! This was no exception. It's 92% Shiraz and 8% Viognier. (And, it's a screw top which I always love!) It's really smooth and easy to drink, but still dry and spicy. It's just a great 'drinking wine'! This one isn't anything special, but it's just a good, easy bottle of wine! This, to me, would be a great bottle to just keep on hand for when you want a glass of wine at night... especially since it's only $9.99! It's not a special occasion wine, it's just good! : ) I would and will definitely buy this again!

2009 Domaine Bahourat Cuvee Elizabeth

Clay and I were trying to really get into the Christmas spirit, so we decided to have a little Christmas Movie Marathon! The marathon ended after one movie when we were both too tired to sit through another... does that mean we're old!? : ) We decided to make it extra festive by drinking out of our beautiful Waterford glasses! Sometimes, you just need to pull out the fancy stuff and live a little! : ) "Christmas Vacation" probably shouldn't be the movie to watch while drinking from Waterford, but hey, who cares!

2009 Domaine Bahourat Cuvee Elizabeth

Costieres de Nimes, France

Date tasted: 12/19/10

Purchased from: Shiraz wine store

Price: $13.99

Rating:

Rebecca: 6.5-7

Clay: 8

Sight: dark, raspberry color, clear

Smell: slightly chalky- lead, earthy

Tastes: very slight spice, kind-of drinks like a bolder Pinot, some tobacco/smoke, medium bodied

The wine was 80% Syrah and 20% Grenache.

It was a lot lighter than I expected it to be. Not bad, but definitely not my favorite. Clay liked it and said he would drink it again, but I probably wouldn't buy it again. There are just too many other great wines to try! : )

2005 Baron de Magana

Before I talk about the wine, I have a confession... My name is Rebecca and I am utterly and completely addicted to Mexican food! It's pretty ridiculous! And, even though I can admit it, I still totally blame my mom for this obsession! : ) Clay and I eat Mexican WAY too frequently and this night was one of those many, many occasions!

The weather was horrible, we were lazy and all the pieces just fell together for a great and relaxing evening in! We had Mexican delivered to the house (Bulldawg Food delivery*= greatest idea/company EVER!), watched TV and had some wine. It was just perfect!

*Bulldawg Food is a new company in town. They've teamed up with tons of local restaurants and will deliver anything from the menu for $2! Seriously!? Why didn't I think of that!? They have an awesome website and have probably added to my increasing waistline the last couple months! : ) I may be their only customer (but I'm a good one!), so here's their website: http://www.orderbulldawgfood.com/ Enjoy Athenians! : )

Now, back to the wine!

2005 Baron de Magana

Navarra

Date tasted: 12/15/10

Purchased at: Shiraz wine store

Price: Normally $21.99, but $19.99 this month

Rating:

Rebecca: 8.5

Clay: 8

Sight: very dark, clear

Smell: slight fruit- raspberry, smoky, lead, slight hay/straw- interesting

Tastes: very dry, smoky, very strong, seems very acidic/tannic

This wine is 40% Merlot, 40% Cab. and 20% Tempranillo. I have been pretty vocal about my aversion to Merlot; however, I'm always willing to squash stigmas! The wine didn't drink like there was any Merlot! The Cab. and Tempranillo really did a great job of bringing out all of the Merlot's good qualities without showcasing the ones that I'm not super fond of! It was really, really good! I wrote in my notes, "YUM!" so that should say something! : )

I would definitely buy this wine again!

2009 Domaine des Huards Cour

Clay was out of town for work and I just couldn't bring myself to eat another Lean Cuisine for dinner, so I ordered Cuban food, a girlie movie and opened a bottle of wine! : )

2009 Domaine des Huards Cour- Cheverny Michel

Mis en Bouteille au Domaine Par- Gendrier-Vigneron (if you can understand this line and the one above it... more power to you because I haven't a clue!)
Date tasted: 12/8/10

Purchased from: Shiraz wine store
Price: $16.99

Rating: 9

I hate to admit it, but I'm still always apprehensive when I open a bottle of white wine. I know that I've found some great whites that I love, but it's hard for me to let go of that negative outlook on them. So, with great hesitation (because I was REALLY looking forward to a wine night), I opened this bottle. It was fantastic!!!

I ordered Cuban food with ZERO intention of a good pairing, but the spicy food and this delcious wine actually went perfectly together! Huh, who knew!? : )

Sight: Slight yellow, very clear

Smell: Buttery, kind-of herbal (?), stony

Tastes: a little petrol (one of my favorite things to taste in a white wine), kind-of spicy for a white wine, not at all sweet, seems really acidic

Again, I really enjoyed this wine! It was really interesting and hard to explain. It REALLY dried my mouth out. Had A LOT of flavor- almost drank like a red and was full-bodied for a white (not thin).

It completely held it's own against the food and, more importantly, my reservations about it! : )

I would absolutely buy this wine again! It ranks up there with Pikes Dry Riesling for me, but with more flavor! YUM!

2005 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon and 2005 Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon

Clay, Hodge, Alli, Maxey and I decided to try out one of the "themed" dinners that the Country Club offers throughout the month. This one pulled us in primarily because they offer 1/2 price bottles of wine ($100 and under)! Who can say no to that!? : )

We had a pretty good meal, LOTS of laughs (mostly at Maxey) and some delicious wine!
We had 2 different bottles, but I've bundled them onto this one posting since it was the same night!

2005 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon
Date tasted: 11/23/10

Purchased at: Athens Country Club

Ratings:

Rebecca: 9

Clay: 8

Alli: 9

Hodge: 9

Maxey: 8.5-9

I very 'inconspicuously' took some pictures from my phone.

Very oakey smell and tastes- smoky, jammy, cigar tastes, it's definitely a BIG California Cab., Spicy

Alli and Hodge went to Napa for their 1st Anniversary in August and she said this wine just brought back so many great memories for her!

Next up:

2005 Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon

Alexander Valley
Ratings:

Rebecca: 8

Clay: 8

Alli: 8

Hodge: 7.75 (yup... he's difficult :) )

Maxey: 7.5 (Maxey had been drinking for quite some time at this point and had some very explicit and hilarious commentary about this wine!)

We really shouldn't have strayed from Silver Oak, but we thought we should at least be adventurous! The Jordan Cab. was a little lighter than the Silver Oak and just not as flavorful. It was still good, but was definitely overshadowed and overpowered by the delicious Silver Oak we had just finished!

Everyone thought that it had a really strong alcohol smell- which isn't super pleasant while drinking!

So... for entertainment value, I'll give you one of Maxey's PG-rated quotes on the Jordan:

"Ive had some 2 Buck Chuck that tasted better than this! It smells like rubbing alcohol!"

He still gave it a 7.5 rating, so it obviously wasn't too bad! : ) Also, Maxey buys 2 Buck Chuck by the case, so that's not exactly his best comparison! : )

Silver Oak is just always a great choice! Again, we really should have just stuck with two bottles, but oh well! You certainly can't beat it at half price either!!!

All-in-all... a great night! : )

2008 The Chook Sparkling Red

AGH! I am SOOO far behind! One day I'll catch up! : )

All the guys decided to start having a "Guys Night" every Monday to play poker, etc. So, Alli and I decided we'd just have a little girls night too! : ) (Side note: Monday night Poker only lasted 2 weeks! Boys... :) )

So, Alli came over, we ordered take-out and rented the girliest movie we could find! We looked through our options for wine and decided we'd take a chance and try something neither of us had ever had (or heard of for that matter)!

2008 The Chook Sparkling Red

Date tasted: 11/21/10

Purchased at: Shiraz wine store

Price: $18.99
Rating: None (will explain)

So, this was a sparkling Shiraz... strange, huh!? We thought so! : ) The bottle said to serve it chilled, so that's just what we did. Unfortunately, it was a lot too chilled! If I had it to do over again, I'd probably serve it at the same temperature that I serve regular red wine.

I didn't take too many notes on this one because we were so puzzled by it! : ) However, here's what I did write down:

Sight: dark, much lighter on edges, really clear

Smell: cold- weird! : ) Still smells like a Shiraz

Tastes: strange since it's cold and bubbly- does have the peppery Shiraz tastes

Wouldn't serve as cold next time- got so much better as it warmed up some

We didn't rate this wine because we only had one glass and didn't think it was fair to judge it (how very PC of us)! : ) We decided to just open up a bottle of Pikes Dry Riesling! Alli enjoyed it as well... it's still a great recommendation! : ) I fully intended to go back to The Chook and try it again less chilled... but never did! Oops!

I probably wouldn't buy this again- I'd just rather either drink a regular bubbly or a regular Shiraz! : )

Despite the hiccup in the wine, we still had a great and girly evening! And, I'd place a large bet that we could make a regularly scheduled Girls Night last a lot longer than 2 weeks! : )

2009 El Posadero

Wow it's been a long time since I've posted! I have 4 additional posts after this one to get to as well... Oops!

So, after the UGA vs Colorado Basketball game on 11/16, Clay and I decided that we needed to celebrate the (much too narrow) Dawgs win with a glass of wine at home! I went to the wine fridge and pulled out a bottle that looked interesting. I poured a glass, took a whiff and did NOT like what I smelled!!! I then looked at the bottle again and had a flood of memories attack me! Emily: "Rebecca, you need to make sure that you decant this wine for about an hour before you drink it. I tasted this straight from the barrel earlier this year, so it's super young." CRAP! We didn't want to wait an hour and now I've already opened this bottle! UGH!

So, I poured it into our decanter in the most un-ladylike manner possible (to try and get as much air in there as fast as I could)! I swirled the decanter full of wine with power and determination! : )

So, here we are... trying to rush the process of aerating the wine! Well, it sort-of worked! : )

2009 El Posadero
Vinos de Madrid Denominacion de Origen
Date tasted: 11/16/10
Purchased at: Shiraz wine store
Price: $10.99

Rating: 8.5-9 (Clay: 9)

This wine is 85% Tempranillo and 15% Syrah and 100% DELICIOUS!!! You would NEVER believe that this was an $11 bottle of wine!!! This probably sounds stupid, but it seems like a really sophisticated wine! I would serve this or take it to a high-class dinner party and not worry at all!

Really dark in color, gets lighter at edges; very clear; beautiful deep Garnet color.

Smell: maybe cherry, not really jammy, almost flamed cherries!? (yes, I know that's weird... but it had a Cherries Jubilee type smell), some spice, maybe a little chocolate, coffee, pencil lead

Tastes: BIG, bold flavor, spices, acidic, tannic, seems like it may have a higher alcohol content than normal, but I don't know that that's true

We didn't eat anything with this wine, but I felt like we really should have! I almost felt like I was wasting the wine by not having a good meal with it!

It continued getting better and better as it had time to breathe. The last 1/2 glass was phenomenal!

I made a note that the smell throws the wine off a bit to me... Not that it smelled bad, but it tasted a lot better than it smelled to me.

I will definitely buy this wine again! Especially since it's only $10.99!!!
*Note: I did actually go back and get 2 additional bottles. Next time, I'll make sure to give it ample time to open up and breathe! And... I think we'll have a great meal with it too!

**I always talk about making notes, etc. Well, I have a wine book that Emily gave me to take notes, etc. about wines tasted. I usually just fill in the blanks on the pages, but this wine had me writing all over the page trying to fit everything in! So, I figured I'd take a picture of that as well! : )

2009 Darting Scheurebe Spatlese Durkheimer Spielberg Pfalz

My dad's officially getting old! : )

My dad, who looks no older than 30, just turned 64, so I went down to Milledgeville to celebrate with him and my mom!

My dad is definitely more of a beer man than a wine man... and he's really picky about his beer! Hand him a light beer and watch him morph into the biggest snob you've ever met! : ) So, his primary gift was beer; however, I did bring along one of our wine club wines to toast the fact that he's a year older!

2009 Darting Scheurebe Spatlese Durkheimer Spielberg Phalz

Germany- Gutsalfullung

Date tasted: 11/10/10

Purchased at: Shiraz wine store
Price: $18.99

Ratings:

Rebecca: 5

Mom: 5-6

Dad: 7.5-8

Very pale yellow and clear. Very, very fragrant, has petrol smellls, maybe a little citrus. I also wrote, "this is probably way off, but maybe lavender?". Doesn't smell sweet at all. Has a really great smell!

Rich flavor. SWEET- I definitely didn't expect that after smelling it! Maybe some honey. I also wrote, "this is probably not a good thing to say about a good wine, but scuppernong (sp?)!"

My first sip was SO unexpected! I was ready for something completely different from what I got! It really drank more like a dessert wine and I wasn't at all mentally prepared for that! (I know that sounds dumb, but it was a shock.) It smelled SO good and then, it just wasn't for me!

I really didn't enjoy drinking this, but I know a lot of that had to do with my expectations of the wine! I think that if I had this again and knew what to expect, I may like it better; however, I can't rate it highly after this try. I definitely wouldn't buy this one again.

Dad really liked it and said that he would definitely get it again. Mom said that, "To sit and sip it, it's pretty good, but I wouldn't want it with dinner. I don't know what it would complement." Apparently she has become an expert with pairings! ; ) She also said, "I would get it again, but don't really want to rank it very high." So, basically, because my mother is the world's best optimist and sugar-coater, I'll translate... she didn't like it! : )

*I'm pretty sure that I've had a dry Riesling from Darting that I enjoyed a lot, so I'm not writing them off completely! : )

2008 Turkey Flat Vineyards Rose

I decided to try and make a healthy dinner for Clay and I one night, so I made pan seared tilapia, sauteed spinach and couscous with zucchini. I had wine, Clay did not. He said that having wine sort-of negated a healthy dinner... what a buzz kill! : )

So, I picked something I knew he'd turn his nose up to, a Rose (it really bothers me that I have no idea how to put the accent mark on the e!). I'm sure I've probably had a Rose at some point in my life, but I really have no recollection of it! So, for all intents and purposes, this was my first!

This particular Rose was 63% Grenache, 18% Shiraz, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon and 6% Dolcetto.

2008 Turkey Flat Vineyards Rose

Barossa Valley, Australia

Date tasted: 11/8/10

Purchased at: Shiraz wine store

Price: regularly $16.99, this month $13.99

Rating: 8

just trying to show the color

Coral colored and very clear. Really good and very dry. I don't really get any fruit flavors, but I'm probably off on that. I think I was expecting it to be somewhat sweet, but it really wasn't sweet at all!

Smells fruity (but not sweet), smells yummy (that's helpful, right!?), slight grassy smell.

Seems acidic maybe. Really can't decide how it tastes, but it's really good!

Would definitely buy again!

*Note: I made this note the next day: Wasn't as good the 2nd day... that's disappointing!

I can't decide if that affects my rating and overall opinion... guess I'll just have to try it again! : )

2006 Chupacabra California Red Wine

Clay recently accepted a promotion at work that will really cut down on his travel... SO EXCITING! : ) So, this means more home-cooked meals and (fingers crossed) more wine! : )

We decided to have an at-home dinner during his first officialweek of the new job. We recently got a Trader Joe's in Athens, so I stopped by to try and find something good for dinner. I bought a Cabernet marinated roast, brocollini and fingerling potatoes. Well... not super impressive. The roast was just ok, so that was slightly disappointing. But, I still thought Trader Joe's was pretty cool! : )

We figured we needed a Cab to go with our Cab marinated roast, so I pulled one out of our wine fridge and hoped for the best. This particular bottle was (surprise, surprise) one of our wine club wines and I had been wanting to try it for awhile. The winemaker is the lead singer of "Tool"... pretty cool, huh!? : )

It's a blend of Cab, Petit Verdot, Petit Syrah, Valdique, Cab Franc and Zin. and the grapes are from both California and Arizona.

2006 Chupacabra California Red Wine

Merkin Vineyards (Livermore, CA)

Date tasted: 11/3/10

Purchased at: Shiraz wine store

Price: $20.99

Rating: 7.5 (Clay didn't think it was as good, but didn't give it a rating)

Clear and really, really dark wine.

Smells: cranberry- almost overwhelmingly so, smells jammy

Tastes: hay or wood tastes, not fruity, slightly smoky, really tannic (really dries mouth out)

Doesn't have a whole lot of flavor while you're drinking, but has a pretty spicy/powerful aftertaste

I would drink this one again, but I probably wouldn't buy it... does that make sense!? : )

Las Vegas- 2005 Banfi Summus

Vegas was off to a GREAT start and Day/Night 2 did not disappoint!

Clay, Maxey, Hope and I had reservations at Bartolotta Ristorante di Mare at the Wynn hotel. Bartolotta is an Italian seafood restaurant (hence the name) and the menu was just insanely delicious looking! I was a tad bit nervous though because Clay's not a huge seafood lover; however, I knew he'd find SOMETHING he liked! : ) Well... we all did! We had enough food to feed a small country (and ate EVERY bite)! It was so delicious and fresh and amazing! We all loved it! It was also a neat experience... we ordered several different courses and for our main course, we ordered two fish... two whole fish to split as a table. The wait staff came out and took the head off of our fish and deboned it right in front of us. I've seen this before, but it never ceases to amaze me how easily these people make it look! : )

We consulted with the sommelier and decided to stick with what we all really prefer... red wine. We knew that we wanted an Italian wine and Maxey and I were both pushing for a Sangiovese. We settled on a Sangiovese, Cab and Syrah blend that sounded too good to be true!

Our first sips were a bit strange. I really didn't think I was going to like it very much... it seemed SO light for a blend of such big grapes! We all decided to finish our drinks from the bar and let the wine sit and breathe for awhile. GOOD MOVE! This wine DEFINITELY should have been decanted! The first sip and the last sip could not have been more different!!! I'm always fascinated to see how much a wine can change and this bottle was the strongest example of that that I've seen!

2005 Banfi Summus

Sangiovese, Cab, Syrah

Ratings:

Rebecca: 8.5-9 (although I would have given it no higher than a 7 at first!)

Clay: 8.5

Maxey: 8.5

Hope: 8

*Again... iPhone pictures:

Really dark in color. Has strong coffee smells, slight licorice smell maybe (not unpleasant though- that's really not a smell/flavor I enjoy typically). Dark berry flavors, spicy, maybe a little chocolate flavor. You feel it in your nose when you drink it... I'm thinking maybe this is due to the spices!? It's dry-tannic.

This is definitely a bottle that I'd get again, but this time, I'd open it up, decant it and let it breathe for an hour or so before indulging! : )

Las Vegas- 2006 Stags Leap Artemis Cabernet Sauvignon

First off... I LOVE VEGAS! : )

But really... what's not to love!? It's such a fun and energetic environment with anything you want right at your fingertips! Ahhh... Vegas!

So, Clay and I, along with our friends, (Joe) Maxey and Hope, all headed out for a few nights of fun! Maxey was really concerned with our dinner and wine selections because he knew it would mean that he would have the honor of being featured in my award-winning blog (HA!), so we did some pretty extensive research before leaving Georgia! (No award will ever be given with run-on sentences like this one... good grief!)

We arrived in Vegas in plenty of time to lose some money and get ready for a long night!

Dinner on night one was at Mandalay Bay hotel at Aureole restaurant. The restaurant looked to have a good menu and a cool vibe online; however, that had nothing really to do with our selection! Aureole has this ridiculous wine cellar and "wine angels" and almost 10,000 bottles of wine to choose from! Seriously, that wasn't a typo!

This is what Aureole's website (http://www.aureolelv.com/) says about it...

"Four stories high and 14 feet square, this skyscraper-like structure is a frame of stainless steel fitted with laminated glass. Nine thousand eight hundred and sixty five bottles are held in the sandblasted Plexiglass wine racks and the entire structure is climate controlled to a wine-keeping ideal of 55 degrees and 70 percent humidity."

"Inspired by a scene from Mission Impossible, Adam D. Tihany designed Aureole's wine tower with mechanical hoists to lift wine stewards or "wine angels" up and down the four sides of the tower. Equipped with an intercom, printer and wine bottle holster, a wine steward travels from the ground floor to the top of the 42 foot tower in about 10 seconds."

*this was taken from my iPhone, so excuse the terrible quality!

We all decided that our first night in Vegas should call for a really great bottle of Cab! So... we went through the ELECTRONIC WINE MENU (seriously amazing) and after narrowing down TONS of amazing options, we decided to go with one of Clay's favorites... Stags Leap! It was SO delicious (delicious enough for us to warrant getting two bottles)! Clay and I had both had Stags Leap before, but Maxey and Hope were new, big fans instantly!

The wine went perfectly with our awesome meals and we all had a really great time!

2006 Stags Leap Artemis Cabernet Sauvignon

Napa Valley, California

Ratings:

Rebecca: 9

Clay: 9 (his current favorite wine, Cakebread, holds his only 10)

Maxey: 9.5 (Maxey really wanted to give this one a 10, but got nervous that he'd give this a 10 and something better will come along... hmmm... this doesn't sound at all like a reason Maxey's still single now does it!?)

Hope: 9

*I forgot to take pictures of our bottle... Oops! I really was enjoying this one! : )

Dark and clear with slightly lighter edges. Super smooth (personally, I think this is the wine's best characteristic)!

Smells: Smells absolutely delicious! Dark berry smells, earthy, minerally

Tastes: (I really forgot to take notes... I was too busy enjoying it!) Tannic, so smooth, hard to pinpoint individual tastes- Perfect Cab.!

2007 d'Alessandro Nero d'Avola

MY BEST FRIEND IS GETTING MARRIED!!! : )

Kauleen got engaged and we were too busy to actually get together to celebrate until about 2 weeks later! Geez!
Once we were both FINALLY in town at the same time, we decided a girl's night was in order! So, I ordered lasagna and a spinach salad from Mirko Pasta (here in Athens) and drove down to Lake Oconee for a much needed night of wine and girl/wedding talk!

The lasagna lost a little of it's deliciousness in the hour drive, but Mirko is always a winner! The wine... not so much, unfortunately!
I took a bottle that we had gotten from our Shiraz wine store wine club. I cheated* this time and looked at Emily's description in the newsletter and saw that this wine was supposed to be good with Italian food/pasta, so I was really hopeful that we would have the perfect night!
*I never look at the newsletter's descriptions of the wines before I try them so that I won't be influenced by Emily's expert opinion.

I can honestly say that I'm VERY rarely disappointed with our wine club selections! I know that everyone has different opinions/tastes on wine, so it's really not a surprise that once in a while I'm not crazy about one! However... I will say that I was a bit disappointed about this one, simply because this was a celebration and the wine was just ok! Oops! Sorry K! : (
Next time we'll take no chances... BUBBLY!!! : )

2007 d'Alessandro Nero d'Avola
Agrigento, Sicily, Italy
Date tasted: 10/27/10
Purchased at: Shiraz wine store
Price: normally $16.99, but it was $14.99 at the time
Rating: 6 (I forgot to ask Kauleen what she would rate it. She said that she liked it, but I think she was being nice more than anything!)



The wine was really dark (really dark) and very clear. Was extremely dry and tannic (dried my mouth out significantly) and seemed acidic for a red (not sure if that's accurate though).
Smells: slight chocolate, cinnamon and some kind of fruit (not sure what though)
Tastes: Maybe cranberry?, not jammy at all and doesn't taste fruity at all- hard to explain
Notes: Didn't really like it much at all- wasn't terrible, but I wouldn't buy it again

Oh well, regardless of the sub-par wine, it was great seeing Kauleen (and that rock she now sports on her left hand) and talking about the wedding (and, of course, THE BACHELORETTE PARTY)!!! : )
Congratulations Kauleen and David!

More about Yalumba

That last post really got me thinking about Yalumba and I really wanted to know more about the winery. So, here's a little info.:

Here's Frommer's review:
"This winery was built in 1849, making it the oldest family-owned winemaking business in Australia. It's also huge. The winery's Signature red Cabernet-Shiraz is among the best you'll ever taste. Open daily 10am to 5pm."

YUM! I will now make it a mission to try this delicious sounding Cab-Shiraz!!!

From Wikipedia:

"Yalumba is a winery located near Angaston, South Australia in the Barossa Valley. It was founded by a British Brewer, Samuel Smith, who emigrated to Australia with his family from Wareham, Dorset in August 1847 in the ship 'China'. Upon arriving in Australia in December, Smith built a small house on the banks of the River Torrens. He lived there less than a year before moving north to Angaston where he purchased a 30-acre block of land on the settlement's south eastern boundary. He named his property 'Yalumba' after an indigenous Australian word for "all the land around". In 1849, Samuel Smith, along with his son, Sidney, planted Yalumba's first vineyards, beginning the Yalumba dynasty. Today, Yalumba is Australia's oldest family-owned winery."
"Yalumba is part of Australian wine alliance Australia's First Families of Wine, a multi-million dollar venture to help ressurect the fortunes of the $6 billion industry highlighting the quality diversity of Australian wine. The 12 member alliance includes Brown Brothers, Campbells, Taylors, DeBortoli, McWilliams, Tahbilk, Tyrell's, Yalumba, D'Arenberg, Howard Park, Jim Barry and Henschke. The main criteria is that the family-owned companies need to have a "landmark wine" in their portfolios as listed under Langton's Classification and/or 75% agreement by group that a wine is considered "iconic", must have the ability to do at least a 20-year vertical tasting, have a history going back a minimum of two generations, ownership of vineyards more than 50 years old and/or ownership of distinguished sites that exemplify the best of terroir, and be paid-up members of the Winemakers Federation of Australia."
Wikipedia also lists that they produce 750,000 cases/year and that they are most known for The Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz and The Octavius Old Vine Barossa Shiraz.

After looking at Yalumba's website (www.yalumba.com), I discovered the GSM that I had in Texas about 4 years ago! They actually call it the Yalumba m/g/s (so, does that mean that it's majority Mourvedre!?) rather than GSM. All I know is that I want it again! : )

Hmmm... a trip to Australia is sounding better and better! : )

St. Louis- 2008 Yalumba Cabernet Sauvignon

Clay had meetings in St. Louis and I'd never been, so we put the Skymiles to good use! : )

It was a VERY quick trip (I flew up there Friday afternoon and we came back on Saturday evening)! But, still great to see new places, etc.!

We didn't really have much on the agenda other than having a good dinner and seeing the arch! The weather was supposed to be terrible on Saturday, so we went ahead and got the touristy bit out of the way on Friday when I got there. The arch is amazing! I didn't think I'd be impressed (I mean... it's just a metal arch in some random city); however, I was definitely mesmerized! It's just incredible how tall that thing is! Apparently, I missed the portion of the museum under the arch where it listed the height and some fun facts about it, but smarty pants Clay didn't (of course)! He listed the height (which I don't remember) and said that the Statue of Liberty, the Washington Monument and the Empire State Building (I'm not 100% sure I'm right about that last one) would all fit under the St. Louis arch! That's pretty tall!!! It was an absolutely PERFECT day outside and the sunlight was bouncing off of the metal in such a really beautiful way! So, St. Louis gets a check in my book!

Now... on to dinner!

We ate at Herbie's Vintage 72 (herbies.com) in this really adorable part of St. Louis (that Clay had never seen)! I wish it had been earlier so that we could really walk around and explore, but oh well!

I had really high hopes for the food after looking at the menu at home; however, I have to admit... I was a bit disappointed! : ( Clay really enjoyed his meal, so that's great; however, mine was definitely sub-par! BUT... the wine was great! : )

We ordered the 2007 Yalumba Cab, but they brought out the 2008... oh well! Like I'd actually know the difference! : )

This particular bottle was the cheapest Cab. on the menu (which NEVER happens), but I was excited to try it and had been looking forward to it!

I've had 2 other wines from Yalumba and was incredibly impressed! I've had a GSM and a port and loved both! So, I figured the Cab. would at least be good too! It was!

2008 Yalumba Cabernet Sauvignon

South Australia

Date tasted: 10/22/10

$30- pretty good for a restaurant, huh!? : )

My rating: 9

Clay's rating: 8

Had jammy, smoky smells (mostly cigar) and peppery tastes. It was not super full bodied, I'd actually say it was closer to medium bodied, but still had big Cab. flavors.

That's all the notes I took on it while we were there... oops!

It's DEFINITELY a bottle I'd buy again! And, it just proved to me more that I love Yalumba and will feel confident when I see it listed!

2007 Pikes Traditionale Dry Riesling

I have a lot of blogging to do... : )

I mentioned (briefly) in an earlier post that I think that Riesling has an unwarranted bad reputation, so now I'm proving that!

I, along with SO many people, thought Riesling was ridiculously sweet and unbearable to drink (and there are plenty of those); however, dry Rieslings are delectable! They are very neutrual wines and can be paired with anything (or just enjoyed alone)! Most (good) dry Rieslings will actually spell it out for you and put on the label that it's a DRY Riesling, so definitely be on the lookout for that!

This particular dry Riesling was the feature wine at Shiraz wine store here in Athens for the month of October. I walked in to pick-up our wine club wines and Emily (the store owner) said, oh Rebecca... you're going to want this one! : )

See, Emily is the person who made me take that brave first step and "try" a Riesling again. Only, she didn't exactly tell me that it was a Riesling... she tricked me! : ) She does a great job of trying to learn your particular tastes and guide you to try new things. Emily asked (early on) what I usually drink, etc. and I told her that I just really haven't been a fan of white wine, but would love to find a few "go-to" whites. She started by asking what I don't like about white and if there are any varietals in particular that I don't care for. My first response... "I hate Rieslings!" She calmly said, ok, why? I explained to her that I just DO NOT care for sweet wine (unless it's a dessert wine and I'm mentally prepared for it to be sugary sweet)! Emily's response, "No problem... I actually have a great bottle of white open, why don't you just try it and tell me what you think." So, low and behold, I take a very cautious sip of white wine and fall in love... with none other than the dreaded Riesling! Emily says this is one of her favorite tricks to pull and that tons of people have the same reservations about Riesling until they try a good one. So, the moral of this (way too long) story... TRY A GOOD DRY RIESLING!!!

2007 Pikes Traditionale Dry Riesling

Australia- Clare Valley

purchased at Shiraz wine store (Athens, GA)

$19.99 normally, but it was $9.99 because it was the feature wine

Date tasted: 10/19/10

Rating: 9-9.5

I had this wine one night when Clay was out of town, but I still wanted a great meal. So, I grilled a peppercorn pork tenderloin and some zucchini and opened up this fabulous bottle!

Pale yellow in color, gets more yellow around the edges, very clear wine

Smells: honey, grass, petrol- Yes, petrol/gas... I know that's odd, but it's very common and doesn't mean that it's not good... it's actually DELICIOUS! : )

Taste: medium bodied, acidic and dry- light and crisp, earthy, petrol, not sweet at all, also has little spice kick at the very end of the sip

My notes:

Really crisp and refreshing dry Riesling- Really great! Seems super versatile- I would think this wine would change someone's mind about whites and especially about Rieslings! Would definitely buy again (and again and again)! Screwtop bottle. Hard not to chug this one- it's really great!

Side note: I did actually buy this wine again... Shiraz decided to extend the $9.99 special into November, so when I picked up November's wine club wines, I bought two more bottles!

Boston! 2005 Gigondas Les Hauts de Montmirail

First off... Boston was awesome! : )

We had a great time on all fronts and I can't wait to go back!

But, the big decision for our wine at Aquitaine didn't get any easier once we were there! : )

We got there and loved it at first sight! It was such a cute, quaint, dimly lit little restaurant and we knew there was great potential from the moment we walked in! And, since I had already memorized the menu and decided what we'd order from appetizer to dessert (minus the wine decision of course), we had plenty of time to soak in the atmosphere and have a romantic evening!

I knew that I wanted to go ahead and order our bottle right when we got there so that it would have time to breathe while we had our appetizer, etc., so I really had to get with it! So, I discussed with our waiter some of the top choices I had made prior to getting there and we decided on the Chateauneuf du Pape, Domaine du Galet des Papes (2004)... and I was pumped about it! Well, the waiter came back a couple minutes later and said that someone had just ordered the last bottle! Of course they did! Had these people known how much time went in to choosing that exact bottle, they may have given it up to me! : ) So, we moved to plan B. Our waiter was very patient with me (but also obviously annoyed) and helped us decide on our perfect bottle! We ended up with the 2005 Gigondas Les Hauts de Montmirail. I was really hopeful about this one because it's a GSM and I've had some really great GSM's. This particular one is 55% Grenache, 25% Syrah and 20% Mourvedre (G=Grenache, S= Syrah, M= Mourvedre). The waiter thought that the peppery notes would really go well with our Filet au Poivre and that we'd be pleased with the flavors and weight of the wine.

We LOVED it!!! It was so perfect with our filets and it just completed an already perfect meal!

(We had the Mussels en Cassoulette for an appetizer and were basically licking the cassoulette when the mussels were gone! SOOO good!!! Then, we both had the Filet au Poivre for our entree. It was the best au Poivre sauce I've ever had!!! The filet was cooked to perfection and had the best pepper crust... YUM! I'm salivating now just thinking about it! And then we split a Creme Brulee for dessert. It was huge and amazingly delicious!)

This picture is from Aquitaine's website, but it has a picture of the Mussels en Cassoulette, so I included it! : )

Here's our steak (with the stupid good potatoes) and yummy wine! : )

Ok, concentrating on the wine again! : )

So, I didn't take too many notes because I was way too busy eating and drinking, but I'll list what I have!

Smells: slightly smoky smells (cigar)

Tastes: full-bodied, jammy fruit flavors, peppery finish

Rating: Clay gave it a 8.5-9 and I gave it a 9-9.5

These pictures were taken with my iPhone, so they're not great!

It really was a delicious wine and went perfectly with our amazing meal! Next time we're in Boston, we'll definitely be stopping back in to Aquitaine for another great experience!