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!

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! : )

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! : )

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!

2008 Argie Andes Torrontes

A girly TV night filled with admittedly terrible shows (i.e. new 90210, Gossip Girl) calls for wine! I had a couple bottles of white wine from our wine club selections in the fridge, so I decided to give one a try.

2008 Argie Andes Torrontes

La Rioja / Andes / Argentina

purchased from Shiraz wine store (Athens, GA)

$13.99

Rating: 8.5

I have to admit, I'm always a bit nervous opening a bottle of white wine. I have always prefered red wine and white wine intimidates me. I know that there are tons of red wine varieties and grapes, but for some reason, they seem easier to conquer. I can't remember a Chardonnay from a Pinot Grigio for anything! But... I'm trying!

All that being said, I was extremely pleased with this bottle! Again, I'm always wary, but the first sniff and sip put me at ease.

I'm not good at identifying aromas and tastes with any wine yet, but whites are definitely harder for me than reds, but here goes nothing...

Appearance:

very light in color, slightly yellowish, also slightly lighter around edges, very clear

Aromas:

slight honey maybe, possibly slight watermelon?, it smells fruity, but it's not sweet smelling, it smells really good, could possibly smell citrusy

Tastes:

medium bodied, seems fairly acidic and crisp at first, but then not as much so after a few sips (maybe as it warms?)

light, not sweet (but not dry necessarily either), possibly a little buttery tasting, but I could be way off on that, pretty noticeable alcohol taste at the end, seems like it would be a great Summer wine, light and refreshing, maybe a little earthy (a little cut grass maybe?)

I would definitely buy this wine again! Also, I think this would make a GREAT Spring/Summer gift because it seems so neutral and easy to like! I'll have to refer back to this one next year when we're invited to dinner or something.

Also, I don't know the first thing about pairing, but I can really see this being good with light seafood (raw oysters, shrimp cocktail, etc.). Who knows!? I can't wait to try and see though!

Definitely a good start with the first blogged white! : )