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! : )