So what are the wine plans for the weekend?

[David M. Bueker]

Tonight it was Mexican food (the real stuff, not Tex-Mex) and a couple of beers.

Tonight I had a Rodney Strong malbec paired with chicken and andouille jambalaya. Delicious.

-Paul W.

[David M. Bueker]

I didn't know Rodney Strong had a Malbec in the lineup.

Tonight (Fri.): '08 Damiani Pinot Noir, Finger Lakes. Light in color (bright carmine), but lots of bright cherry pinot character, with hints of tar and smoke. Very good stuff. For the rest of the weekend: unknown.

I subscribe to their wine club, primarily for access to their flagship Meritage, which IMO is top shelf. Many of the selections I've received as a wine club member have been of the overly-alcoholic fruit bomb persuasion. The wine I referred to in this thread is the Rodney Strong 2008 Estate Vineyards Dry Creek Valley Malbec. I, too, was surprised to see a Malbec from this estate. It's dark, concentrated, and ripe, but at least at this young stage it's showing pretty well and IMO avoids falling in the fruit bomb category. I will probably buy half a case to see how it evolves.

Double Larry Moe at present on the Stooges rating scale. Could go Curly with age, but equally could earn a Shemp for just trying too hard. But I think I may take the gamble with this one.

-Paul W.

Well, lucky me. The Grill is discontinuing some real gems including the `05 Grosset Watervale Riesling from Clare Valley. Might have to bump my original intention for the weekend. Oh, $24 Cdn and a bargain if it has been stored correctly.

[James Roscoe]

A cheapie CdR with meatloaf! Life is just fine.

Thinking of a TJ Cab-Syrah with rib eye steak, corn, and zucchini.

After finishing the Damiani Pinot Noir, we had a glass of 2005 Quinta da Pacheca LBV Port. This was even better than I remember from tasting at the quinta, with rich chocolate and berry flavors tapering off into a lovely finish. Just a bit hot on the nose (but I often feel that way about port). When removing the capsule, I surprised to see a regular cork (not one with the little plastic knob), and found there was also some sediment. This leads me to believe that this is an unfiltered LBV; these are capable of actually improving with bottle age, a fact not noted on the label.

I wish I had more of these, but would probably need to go back to Portugal to get it (not that I would mind...).

MeBad...it was not the '94 MonteBello I pulled, but the '97. And we didn't get around to opening it, alas.
Tom

[David M. Bueker]

MeBad...it was not the '94 MonteBello I pulled, but the '97. And we didn't get around to opening it, alas.
Tom

Bah!

Hi Bob,

This weekend we were invited to a friend's nouse for Saturday night dinner. We had an Ontario Cab sauvignon that was really quite tasty, Hillebrand 2007 (good red vintage year for Ontario). It had an oaky nose with some fruit, nice deep ruby, and gorgeous silky but grippy midpalate with a nice medium long finish. My only complaint was that it was a bit of an oak bomb with the oak dominating the nose making it difficult to detect the underlying fruit. Really nice match though with grilled medium rare beef tenderloin and a mushroom risotto infused with a rich beef reduction sauce.

Tonight was more simple fare, a carmenere from Chile that matched nicely with my grilled cheese burger and with my salad that had fresh tomatos from the gardena and was dressed with a balsamic vinagrette. It was a 2008 Canepa reserve carmenere 13.5% abv. It had an earthy and fruity nose with some plums. Nice midpalate with spicy earth and subdued fruit and medium finish. I would buy it again because it was a delightful medium-bodied wine that went well with food.