♥ Wine Club 44: Spanish Wine with a German Name

Date: May 8th, 2013
Host: Andrea
Served: Chicken noodle soup, club sandwiches with sweet potato fries, dessert
Bonus Bottle (from the host's personal inventory): Makulu Iswithi Pinotage 

Vigne di San Martino Gavi di Gavi 2011 (Italy) Cortese grape, 12% alcohol, $15 at Otto's

Andrea says (14): Clear wine, the color of champagne. Smells nice and sweet, honey, pear, floral, and a little bit of plastic smell. Tart, acidic taste. Had flavors of honey, grapefruit, herbal, and grass. Thin body, left something to be desired.

Christine says (14.5): Light lemon yellow. Floral, honey, peaches and pears in the nose. Smelled good! Wasn't as fruity as expected: bright-tasting, acidic and grassy. Good with the soup. I didn't like it as much as the less-expensive Principessa Gavi we had earlier.

Kim says (11): Well, my seasonal allergies were bothering me this night so that may have had an effect on how I scored this wine in Aroma and Bouquet. Oh, who am I kidding... I always need help in those categories! Anyway, for a split second I caught some sort of smell that made me think, "Adhesive," but then it was gone. I swirled my glass and was instantly transported back to my childhood, watching my mom curling off apple skins until there was a heaping pile of them in the sink (and warm, homemade applesauce would follow). That's all I could smell with this wine... raw apple skins. It also had a very thin body, especially in comparison to the Principessa Gavi which was nice and full. This Gavi di Gavi was also very acidic and the finish- although long- was pure citrus. Not impressed.


♥ Blau Red Wine 2010 (Montsant, Spain) 50% Mazuelo + 25% Syrah + 25% Garnacha, 14% alcohol, $13 at Otto's
♥ Love love love ♥ : This wine scored 18 or higher with each of us.

Andrea says (19.5): A dark burgundy color with clear edges. My first smell was of alcohol, then chocolate, tobacco, raspberry, blackberry, vanilla, and pepper. I loved the smell. The taste was really nice! Berry flavors, nice tannins, good balance, nice body. I think that this wine would go really well with a lot of foods. I docked it half a point for the finish, but easily could have given it the full 20! I would definitely get this wine again, I thought it was very drinkable for being so high in alcohol.

Christine says (20): Very pretty intense burgundy color with magenta edges. Visible alcohol that floats on top and falls down the side of the glass in sheets. Bouquet had peppercorns, tobacco, alcohol, berries and a little fresh mint leaves. BIG taste! Good and perfect tannins. Rich, round mouthfeel. Fruity, but not a sissy wine. A lot of personality. I considered docking it 1/2 point for finish, but I decided to give this wine a perfect score since I wanted to give it greater than max points for its amazing body. Win! It was good with the Andes candies-like brownies. Another delicious 2010 Spanish wine.

Kim says (19): Okay, I take back all the bad things I may have said about Spanish wines! I had recently become disillusioned with them but Herr Blau has solidly reestablished their rightful place in my Top Five! This red blend had a pretty, cranberry meniscus and thick color. Smelled like black pepper and brown sugar; had a wonderful taste, perfect balance and nice, strong tannins. If possible, I would have scored them higher than the maximum allowed in Body and Balance! The missed point was in Bouquet.




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Makulu Iswithi Pinotage NV (South Africa) 13.5% alcohol, $4 on sale at Discount Liquor-Manitowoc

Andrea says (17): Burgundy colored, transparent, with clear edges. Smelled like caramel, plum, and currant. Tasted fruitier than it smelled. Very jammy, tasted like strawberry and vanilla. Good body and good tannins. I great deal at $4.00!

Christine says (18): Deep claret color. Smelled like plums, berries, currants and alcohol. Thinner body, but nice. Good fruit. Nice tannins and a long finish that included tobacco. Would be great with barbecue ribs.

Kim says (18): I smelled alcohol and raisins. Although there was no vintage, I did detect a slight tinge of brown so possibly approaching its peak. Regardless, I very much enjoyed this wine... perfect scores in all the technical and subjective categories except Bouquet.

For dinner I made my mom's chicken dumpling soup, baked club sandwich rounds, sweet potato fries and mint brownies.

♥ Wine Club 39: One Honey of a Wine

Date: March 21st, 2013
Host: Christine

Served: taco meat loaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, chocolate creme pie

♥ Honey Badger Sweet Red 2011 (South Africa), 95% Shiraz + 5% Pinotage, 12.5% alcohol, $9.99 at Discount Liquor in Manitowoc

     ♥ Love love love ♥ : This wine scored 18 or higher with each of us.

Christine says (19): Pretty raspberry color with fuchsia. Smelled of red berries (mostly raspberries, but strawberries, too) and jam, plus a hint of sweet, edible tangerine peel and tobacco. For taste, my first thought was "Wow!" It was very much like brown sugar, plus tangerines. Lively and jumping off of the palate. Sweet and good. I would love this with cheese! Or other picnic foods. The wine was good with a chill on it...warmed up at room temp for 1/2 hour out of the frig seemed perfect to me. I loved it.

Andrea says (19): This would be a great wine for people who say that they don't like red wines. Sweet and fruity. Smelled like strawberry, blackberry, citrus-maybe tangerine and jam. My first taste was of honey and strawberry, next I could taste tangerine and grape. A delicious light, bright red. Highly recommended, great with dessert (thanks for the suggestion T.B.).

Kim says (19): Holy grapes, Batman! Throw the words "honey" and "sweet" around and I am already inclined to dislike it but that was not the case with this lovely find! A very pretty color... vibrant and warm. Smelled wonderfully of berries (red), kiwi and bananas. Tasted like fruit and brown sugar. Even served below room temperature, this wine had a nice, long finish... like I had just finished a mouthful of deliciously ripe berries. Note to self... try with Andrea's dreamy apricot baked brie!

Terre des Chardons Marginal 2009 (Costières de Nîmes, France), Grenache + Syrah, 13.5% alcohol, $9.99 on sale at Waterford

Christine says (11): We've often snickered over the previous months, wondering if this wine would live up to its marginal name. In that regard, it did not disappoint! It looked very thick in the glass, with an intense deep blood-red color. It smelled like Dwight Schrute's farm: barnyard and beets. By beets, I mean earthy, sweet and fresh. A hint of the spices I put into pickled beets (cloves, allspice, peppercorns, bay leaves). It was a chewy wine. I didn't like how much I had to think about it. I'd be disappointed, too, if I were that customer who dropped $27 apiece for a case of this stuff. I was starting to feel like an 11 score was generous as I struggled to finish my glass. Though I've never had a Costières de Nîmes, I felt like this example had a lot of terroir. I'd try the region again.

Andrea says (11.5): This was an interesting wine that I was eager yet nervous to try. I had purchased it at Waterford for $9.99 marked down from $27.00. A discount like that made me curious. An employee told us that customers had been put off by the scent. It had a dark maroon color, almost bloody, and very thick, you couldn't see through it. The first smell was pretty awful,  burnt rubber and asphalt.With some heavy swirling I could smell berry, licorice, sweetness, apples, and something earthy. The taste was berry but mixed with chemicals and rubber. It was interesting and very complex. It actually went well with the meal, but I certainly didn't give it a $27.00 score....

Kim says (14.5): You know how you look too hard at something and then it kind of shifts right in front of you? Yep, that's what Marginal did. This wine was deep burgundy in color and so dark that it made me think of thick, velvet drapes. The up side- no hint of brown. The down side- the instant and overwhelming smell of barnyard funk and asphalt. Also (on about the 30th inhale in my stubborn attempt to find something redeeming about this wine), the oh-so-faint and barely discernable tease of carmelized onons and wet cardboard (in that order). Unfortunately, it also tasted exactly what it smelled like... sharp, burnt, acrid, chemical. But when I took a significant mouth full (again, stare long enough and you might see something different), I could pick up on the hidden spice and something vaguely sweet. Would I buy this for myself? Perhaps. Would I serve it to someone else? Heck no. But it did pair very well with Christine's delicious taco meatloaf!

My maiden voyage with the Taco Meat Loaf recipe was a success! I baked it at 350 degrees instead of using the slow cooker (glazed after baking for 50 minutes).  I used 1/2 pack each of taco and fajita seasoning instead of 1 pack of taco, because it was what I had on hand. I added 1/3 tsp. chili powder. This was a delicious make-again. I added sour cream and paprika to the mashed potatoes. I bought a chocolate pie, anticipating that Andrea would bring red wine. : )

Wine Club 15: Barista Pinotage Coffee-Inspired Wine

Date: June 19th, 2012
Host: Christine
Served: BBQ ribs, pasta salad, some pita chip what-nots, strawberry brownies


Elena Walch Merlot; Barista Pinotage

Barista Pinotage 2010 (South Africa), 13.5% alcohol, $15 on sale at Waterford Wine

Christine says (18): A coffee-inspired wine? Sign us up! We loved this wine when we tasted it at Waterford, and I built a meal to go around it. The Pinotage is aged in nearly blackened and burnt oak barrels to give it coffee-like characteristics. It had a ruby-violet color and amazing bouquet of peppercorns, chocolate, strawberries, and coffee (though not as much coffee as I'd remembered in store). The wine was delicious, complex, rich and fruity, spiced, and a bit brambly. It went well with both the spice-rubbed ribs and the brownies. I would love to try it with steak au poivre.

Kim says (17): I had never heard of Pinotage before and assumed this was a blend but that is incorrect. As Christine referenced, Pinotage is made from a grape that is a cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsault (known at the time as Hermitage)... what I might loosely call a hybrid grape but is not strictly accurate. This wine had a distinct bouquet of roasted peppers, rosemary and wet coffee grounds (but not in a bad way). I very much enjoyed this... it had the potential to be overbearing and brash but wasn't. Just right! And Christine did an amazing job creating a meal around this wine... an excellent combination!

Andrea says (17.5): I am not a coffee drinker but I did enjoy this wine. It was a violet-ruby color. I could smell vanilla, pepper, chocolate, coffee, and strawberry. It has a very smokey, oak-y flavor. almost burnt taste. Went very well with the ribs!

Elena Walch Merlot 2006 (Alto Adige, Italy), 13.5% alcohol, $6 on sale at Waterford Wine

Christine says (11): Claret, blood-red color, though pretty translucent. Bouquet of wet leaves, must, blueberries, raspberries and Brie. Though the wine would be good with a variety of food, I thought it was flabby (yes, flabby!) and one-dimensional. I wouldn't mind trying it with Brie.

Kim says (10): Well, I thought this Merlot had a distinct bouquet and unfortunately, it wound up tasting exactly what it smelled like- must, mold and brie rind; pleasant blueberries and strawberries but then twisted into something flat. Think old, abandoned Christmas decorations- stale orange slices and dried up pine needles.

Andrea says (14.5): I did not enjoy the smell of this wine, but there is no arguing that it had a distinct bouquet. I definitely agree with Kim and Christine, I smelled Brie, along with mold, must, and feet. But I also smelled berries. Taste was a little boring.

I mixed up strawberries, sugar and a little cinnamon to go over the homemade brownies and call out more flavors of the Barista Pinotage. Kim took a beautiful photo!

  

Toasted pita wedges with kalamata olives and goat cheese.

BBQ Ribs
3# pork baby back ribs
1/4 c. minced onion
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. each onion powder, garlic powder and cinnamon
1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced
1/2 c. water
1 c. BBQ sauce



Cut ribs into serving-size pieces. Combine the minced onion and spices; rub over ribs on both sides. Stack in a slow cooker, layering with sliced onion. Add water to slow cooker. Cook on high for 4 hours if you can. (If cooked on low for 8, they will be more fall-off-the-bone as shown.)

Remove ribs; discard cooking liquid. Dip ribs in sauce; return to slow cooker and cook on low for 1 hour.