If you are going to drink THIS KIND
of wine then why not have “camp food”.
Bannock with sausage and dirty eggs.
My bannock mix has baking powder
in it and I will cook it on a
covered cast iron griddle.
This wine is good at lowering my
“cost per bottle” and is a
“reasonable facsimile” for PN wine
in general.
This was my first attempt at
bannock.
Even with the baking powder it
was “filling”.
Less fluffy than, but similar to
biscuits.
The wine reminds me of the
smell of balloons.
Maybe this was a poorly
inspired “wine pairing”.
I’m picking up a bit of the
“cherry cola” in this one.
That’s nice, but the overall
feel is that of “softness”.
Too soft for me.
Maybe a bit of cinnamon.
Who cares?
This is a “hugely generic”
wine, so the important question
is whether it is a “palatable
cost per bottle reducing
agent”.
It’s on the borderline in
terms of palatability.
Dear Cupcake,
Please excuse my meanness,
I’m just having a
“day of disorientation” and
YOUR WINE ISN’T HELPING
ONE BIT.
Sincerely,
OTWN
“RETAIL” could be rescued
out the jaws of AMAZON simply
by having this wine freely
ON TAP in the center of the
mall or store.
Wife: Oh darn, I have to go
to Walmart to get some
.
Hubby: I’ll go.
W: Huh?
H: I need to look for
string trimmer line.
W: What kind of wine
is on tap today?
H: Cupcake PN 2015.
W: You’ve got 15 minutes.
H: Hand me that last
piece of bannock.
W: Here you go dear, but
let me wipe the egg off
your face before you go.
<15 minutes elapses>
W: See anything interesting
at Wally Mart?
H: Not really. Just the
usual…
The wine bottle made
me do it…
Day Two…
I’m not letting FOOD get
in my way today.
Let’s track test this
puppy without any
competition.
At least I got the French
part right and half the
barrels were “older”.
If you watch the video,
you will see where some of
the grapes come from an
inland/warmer area and
“contribute” to the
richer/fuller/darker
nature of the wine.
That manifests as “pruney”
on my tongue.
Pruney may have a negative
connotation but that is
not the intent here.
The intent is to contrast
the flavor of a fresh plum
with a dried one.
I don’t know that saying
“dried cherry” brings the
same idea to mind.
PN can get pruney.
If they get “too pruney”
then I have a hard time
enjoying the wine.
To avoid pruney, I look
for growing areas that
have lower amounts of
sunshine and/or colder temps.
Don’t let those PN grapes
grow TOO well or get TOO ripe,
or you’ll get prune juice.
This wine is just fine.
Instead of dancing cherries,
we have mellow cherries
laying on the beach,
tanning under a late spring sun.
That’s hard for ME to resist.
Another plus for this wine is the tannins.
(The baggage of oak is tannins
and each can/should be detected
and evaluated separately.)
The producer calls the tannins
soft and velvety.
Whatever.
Tannins are like metal files.
Some are raspy and some are
fine toothed, but I would never
call a metal file soft and velvety
unless I had been an
ex-marketing director for Mel Torme.
Sooooo…
The tannins are fine enough
to allow you to enjoy the wine
SLOWLY without causing more than
short term damage to you tongue,
vocal chords, and esophagus.
OOPS. Where’s my marketing director?
He’s laid out on the beach with an empty
bottle of JG SB PN marked “1/12”.
Quick, somebody grab the key
to his wine locker.
Day Two…
This is another one that
seems a bit more jammy/syrupy
on the second day.
The second best thing about drinking
a bottle of wine over two days
is that on the second day you have
“proper expectations” and can enjoy
it EVEN MORE than you did on the first
day.
This wine stays on my FAVs list,
primarily because it increases the
range of lushness that I enjoy in
a PN to the MORE side.
I like to be caressed by a PN,
not bludgeoned to death.
Desensitization is the approach
I’m taking to “a fuller enjoyment
of wine”, but at this point it
doesn’t take much to send me
scurrying back to rosé.
I can hold my ground with this one
and gird up my loins for something
even MORE challenging.
If you are keeping score,
you will note that there are
no words beginning with “acid”
herein. Yet.
Oops.
I have this “vague idea” that
acidity is THE THING that allows
me to enjoy PN above all other
RED wines.
This wine HAS PLENTY. Not offending,
not excessive, just lots of it and
that keeps the “lushness” at bay.
I’m so cloud-enveloped at this point
that only Rammy can help.
Sound familiar?
Erst wenn die Wolken schlafen gehen
Kann man uns am Himmel sehen
OK, the sprouts are “down sauteing”;
it won’t be long.
I’m doin’ the “Cast Iron Genuflect”
as I wait.
HE LIKES IT!!!
And the wine is still hanging in there.
Slurpy good.
Day Two…
I’m looking forward to a few more
sips of this one.
Leading off is mild cheddar with
oven fries on deck.
I think I have some shredded hard
Italian cheese to put on the fries.
The Gewürztraminer stands out or at
least I can “detect” it.
This would be a good “training wine”
for G.
And I’m always game for a Somerset
Ridge Traminette.
(OK, I’m lost. I can find find a
good description of a farm-to-market
road on the Texas DOT site, but I
can’t find a description of Traminette
on the Somerset Ridge site.)
((Texas, being quite coy, doesn’t
specify that their FtM roads are paved
with Traminette seeds and the Kansas
wine growers get a cut of the “road use
taxes”.))
D: Let’s put a descriptive article
about our Traminette on the web site.
C: We can’t.
D: Huh?
C: Our contract with TxDOT precludes it.
D: Why?
C: They already have enough roads and
it’s a perpetual contract. They are
thinking about building financial
institutions with the excess seeds.
And while we’re daydreaming about the
German wines, it occurs to me that
MAYBE I should relax my “dry only”
standard and dip into the Spätlese bin
to see if I can come up with one that
has “just the right amount” of sweetness
for me.
Now I’m imagining a “stay inebriated”
string trimmer’s vest or backpack
for the blisteringly hot days to come…
Features:
6 x 750ml bottle pockets.
Two at the rib cage, four on the back.
Triple insulated for dry ice or
liquid nitrogen use.
Secure cork screw pocket.
User selectable list of target vegetation.
Non-target vegetation destruction
alarm system that is armed after
30% fluid depletion.
There are no weeds in this wine.
Only that “tropical fruit” that
the producer blatantly alludes
to (oxymoronically?).
Wines this easy drinking and delicious
are plentifully rare.
The taters are gone and were followed
with the last tiny sip of wine.
The wine-enjoyment/
food-preparation-complexity
ratio is off the charts today.
If you are new to the program,
that is the dual objective.
Enjoy wine to the fullest and
waste as little time as possible
“conjuring” food.
(Upwardly, if necessary.)
Some food, apparently, simply GROWS.
Let’s take advantage of that
and focus our energy on the
numerator.
I get worn our after a good
uncorking ceremony.
And since the horse appears to be
still gasping for breath, let me
point out that the numerator “noun”
is enjoyment, not quality; and the
demoninator noun is complexity,
not enjoyability.
The food HAS TO BE enjoyable,
and the wine MAY OR NOT BE complex.
Got it?
The drooling started yesterday when Theresa
told me that the egg salad was done.
I just finished making the finger sandwiches
and my stomach is growling.
I decided to dust off the Riedel white wine
glass for this one. I’m waiting for the glass
to chill.
First sip…
This is the driest and most austere R that I
have ever had.
First bite…
This might not be PERFECT, but it will do.
The egg salad wins the flavor battle, but the
wine wins the beauty contest and leads the
cheering squad.
It’s really hard not to shovel and gulp.
Give me an “A”, Apple of my Eye.
Give me a little “h”, honey.
Give me another “h”, honey.
…
What’s that spell?
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Brunch is over and now I get to enjoy
a bit more of the wine without all that
“flavor distraction”.
Boiled eggs CAN BE real stinkers.
Maybe deviled ham WOULD BE better. That’s
easy enough to figure out.
“As The Grape Ripens”…
In this episode, our wine slush contemplates
which food might be best to have for a “wine
brunch” so he can keep having experimental brunches
until he can’t contemplate anymore.
Biscuits and Gravy
Liver and Onions
Gizzards, Gonads, and Geodes
…
The follow-on sips reveal a wine with subtle
flavors of honeycomb and softer, less citrusy
fruit than I’m used to in R. Not quite
pear, but getting there.
And there’s an “earthy” quality that I can’t
yet pin down.
Or maybe something “stemmy”.
No. It’s minerals. “Clean Slate”.
Now I can match the taste and smell. Very nice.
Judge: You have been accused of mixing food
and drink in “an unseemly fashion”. How do you
plead?
Wine Slush: Aggressively.
J: The court finds you guilty of violating
Wine Enjoyment Ordinance #337. You must pay $500
OR do “corrective” community service. Which
do you chose?
WS: Community service. What is it?
Court Order:
Prepare the palate.
Eat the sandwiches.
Clear the palate.
WS: What kind of sandwiches?
J: Court adjourned, it’s time to obey WEO #1.
Day Two…
I “preparing my palate” this morning.
The subtle things are becoming more evident, but
I need more time to prepare. For what, I don’t
know.
I actually got the impression of Semillon. How
can that be? Please tell me I don’t have MORE
brain damage.
Please read ALL of the comments and then answer the following
question.
What “musically significant thing” happens at exactly 4:19
in this “particular video”?
I keep looking at the neck of the wine bottle which is
exposed above the wine bib to see it the spelling has been
changed to “Sturm”.
Alas, it is static and I’m forced to investigate Stirm’s web
page.
Hmmm.
For a minute there I got a little “geographically confused”,
but after figuring out that the “Kick-on” vineyard was near
Santa Barbara I felt a little better.
As you know, I consider the Solvang/Los Olivos/Santa Ynez
“triangle” to be oenologically endowed by GOD, so when I
connected this wine to Los Alamos, I was “relieved”.
Maybe I need to add Los Alamos and Buelton to create a
parallelogram of sorts.
And the verdict is…
The bottle is empty and the wine will be sorely missed.
But school is still in session…
Campo de Borja/Calatayud/Cariñena is another “triangle”
that haunts me.
Someday I will have a wine from from this area that is
“light and elegant”. I can wait…
Option Trader's Wine Notes 