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!

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! : )

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! : )

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!