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!

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!

2007 The Table Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Clay and I bought a new grill a couple days ago and thought we should properly break it in... with a nice, juicy steak! So, we went to our wine fridge and found what we hoped would be a great Cab. to go with it.

2007 The Table
Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
ONCE Sommelier Series
Purchased from Shiraz wine store (Athens, GA)
$20.99



We loved this bottle! It was a really great, perfect example of a Cab. Seemed really tannic to me and also seemed to maybe have a bit higher alcohol content, but I really don't know if it did. I would say that, unless you really love Cab., you wouldn't enjoy this bottle as it is very dry, tannic and strong. All the qualities I love! : )

My notes:
Dark in color with slightly lighter edges. A bit cloudy because of noticable sediment (the bottle ended up having A LOT of sediment- the last glass I poured from the bottle was FULL of sediment, but it wasn't a distraction to me). (You think that sentence had the word sediment enough times!? Geez Rebecca!)
Starts off with a strong pine smell, then at the end of that same whiff, it smelled like really sweet cherries. Very interesting and really pleasant.
Earthy tastes (I'm sure the sediment has something to do with this), thick jammy tastes (not fruity though).

Rating:
8.5-9.5 (that's as specific as I can get... I am NOT good with ratings!)
I will definitely be buying this wine again and again!