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! : )

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!

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! : )