Wine Club 68:

Date: March 28th, 2015
Host: Andrea
Served: baked brie, cous cous, green bean almondine, chili-crusted tilapia, coconut-crusted tilapia, pie

Sandstone Ridge Frontenac Gris NV (Wisconsin, USA), purchased at Wisconsin State Fair

Andrea says (15.5): Golden yellow, very transparent. Smelled like minerals and green apple. Nice fruity flavor - green apple, cherry and peach. Nice acid. I'd drink it again. went well with the fish.














Laya Almansa 2013 70% Garnache + 30% Monastrell. 14% alcohol, purchased at Otto's.

Andrea says (17.5): Dark purple and opaque. Smelled like vinegar, but good, aged, balsamic. Nice, smokey and peppery aromas. Also smelled of dark fruits - blackberry and black cherry. I liked the flavor! Tangy - pepper, vanilla, blackberry. I really enjoyed it. Also went well with the fish.














Yalumba Viognier 2013 (South Australia) 14.1% alcohol, purchased at Otto's.

Andrea says

Wine Club 54: Pretty Cocktails

Date: September 22nd, 2013
Host: Christine
Served: carrot soup, apple cider chicken & potatoes, pineapple upside-down cake
Bonus bottle (from the host's personal inventory): plum wine cocktails

Ménage à Trois Pinot Grigio 2011 (CA, USA) 13.5% alcohol, $7.50 at Woodman's-Appleton

Christine says (14.5): Very, very pale with a hint of lemon color. A strong and good aroma! Lemons, pears and green apple. Big body, strong streak of acidity. Tart green apple finish that was on the short side. We all liked this one better than the White Blend we tried last spring.

Andrea says (17.5): Clear golden color. Wonderful aroma! Floral, peach, honey, pear, and a little lemon. The taste was sweet, like pear and honey. Nice level of acid. Crisp and tangy. Very good, almost a love for me. Great with the meal.

Kim says (17.5): I think the name of this wine is meant to shock and seems a bit gimmick-y but I've had their Folie à Deux; and we've also scored their White Blend (Chardonnay + Moscato + Chenin Blanc) and I enjoyed them both. But it's this Pinot Grigio that impressed me the most... Andrea and I both scored this 17.5... a very serious score! The aroma was outstanding... strong and pleasant but I couldn't quite put a finger on anything except honey, and possibly very faint... green apple. Very pleased that this wine tasted just like it smelled!

Pine Ridge 2012 (CA, USA) 80% Chenin Blanc + 20% Viognier, 12% alcohol, $10 at Woodman's-Appleton

Christine says (18.5): Pale gold. First whiff was of cat urine and pine trunks, but not in a horrible way. Also apricots, flowers and minerals. Yum taste! Tart mid-palate, nice body, taste of apricot, honey, minerals. Sweetness, but with a delightful zing. And after tasting, I didn't smell anything unpleasant in the bouquet. Tart finish. Good with the soup. I liked it!

Andrea says (18.5): Almost exactly the same color as the first wine, clear and golden. A delicious fruity and floral scent... at first. After letting it breathe, it had an earthy, dried-leaf smell. not great, but brought out the mineral smells. When swirled the fruity floral smell came back. Christine mentioned apricot, definitely could smell and taste that. The wine was smooth and sweet, nice thick body, tasted like peach and apricot. Fantastic pairing with the carrot soup!

Kim says (17): Andrea knows us so well... she picked this wine because it's a blend of Chenin Blanc (one of Christine's favorites) and Viognier (one of my favorites)! Both of these wines had such a strong aroma that we could actually smell them immediately upon pouring... from five feet away! I think it was the Pine Ridge that smelled the strongest and the best... of peaches and fruit cocktail. But interestingly enough, in the (less than ten) minutes it took to score the first wine, something happened to this one. The smell turned somehow. Gone was the light, fruity aroma, replaced with the smell of pine sap and wet bark. And while I like those smells, this was not pleasant. Extremely vigorous swirling brought a little bit of the peaches back, but barely. And this wine was full of surprises... it looked frizzante but wasn't; it smelled fruity but was nice and tart; and amazingly enough... was an extremely good match with Christine's delicious carrot soup (which contained leeks, onions and hot sauce)!

Christine says: My goal with this meal was to use up as many vegetables on hand as I could. Check!--though I'm still eating the soup leftovers, which used a staggering 3 pounds of carrots. I doctored this soup to where it would be impossible to provide a recipe. I did document the chicken and spuds, though: It was a winner and one I'd make again. Here goes:

Apple Cider Chicken & Potatoes
1 c. apple cider
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1-1/2 Tbsp. wine peppercorn mustard with seeds (I used Mrs. McGarrigle's)
1-1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. poultry seasoning

Combine all; save 1/4 cup for the potatoes. Pour the rest into a large resealable plastic bag and add:

4 bone-in chicken breasts

Marinate overnight, turning occasionally. Drain and roast (on a foil-lined pan! for the love goodness, an absolute MUST for next time! makes one hell of a mess!) at 375 degrees until done. Meanwhile, cut up:

1-1/2 pounds red potatoes

Toss on a baking sheet with salt, pepper and a little olive oil. Add the reserved cider mixture; toss to coat. Bake until done, stirring occasionally. Note: I added the potatoes after 25-30 minutes of roasting the chicken. These were enormous chicken breasts, nearly a pound each, and roasted for 50-55 minutes total.

For each plum wine cocktail, I mixed 1-2/3 shots of plum wine with 1-1/3 shots of Pellegrino and 1 shot apple cider. Yummy with the cheater's dessert I bought at Whole Foods.

Wine Club 47: Goodbye, Old Apartment

Date: June 12th, 2013
Host: Andrea
Served: eggrolls, crab rangoon, orange chicken, cupcakes
Bonus bottle (from the host's personal inventory): 2008 Erbalucede di Caluso

Domaine de la Janasse Viognier 2010 (Principauté d'Orange, France) 14% alcohol,  $15 at Waterford

Andrea says (17.5): Temperature really made a difference with this wine. At first we drank it very chilled. I could smell green apple and minerals. I could hardly place any flavors at that temperature but it was definitely smooth, tart, good body and nice tannins. After the wine warmed up to room temperature I could smell honey, pear, and slate. Went well with the orange chicken and egg rolls. 

Christine says (15.5): Light pale lemon color. Subtle smell of minerals, slight honey and slight oak. Surprisingly full-bodied. Tasted minerals, toast and oddly enough, peanut butter. Longer finsh that tasted like popcorn. I think it would be good w/ peanut butter/Thai foods. And I liked it with the chocolate peanut butter cupcake.

Kim says (15): Alright... I am going to list off what I smelled and it probably sounds bad but it wasn't! I did not dislike the aroma of this wine that smelled of wet slate, sweet (but not floral or fruity sweet), undertone of B.O. funk and very faint blue-green bread mold. Maybe like Christine and Andrea, I just needed to give this wine a chance to warm up and relax a bit. But the predominant aroma was wet slate and I thought it would have gone extremely well with Andrea's orange chicken. It ended up being a fair match but not great.

Tisdale Cabernet Sauvignon NV (CA, USA) 12% alcohol, $4 at Otto's

Andrea says (14): Surprisingly clear for a Cab. Sauv. but a nice ruby color. The smell was fruity, smokey, alcohol, and bacon? The taste was very berry! Strawberry and jam flavors. Really didn't have any characteristics of a Cabernet Sauvignon, but I liked it. I enjoyed this one with the cupcakes. 

Christine says (8.5): Pale raspberry color, almost translucent. Black and red fruit, and violets in the nose. Smelled and tasted soft and fruity. Thin body. Streak of acid. It was just okay, not like a Cabernet Sauvignon. Though I preferred it with the yummy, slightly sweet orange chicken.

Kim says (15): I know, I know... pairing a big bad cab with chicken? Gasp! Oh, the horror! But seriously, nothing on the wine store shelves was calling to me until this one caught my eye. We'd had a Tisdale before and I thought I remembered liking it (although after 122 bottles of wine to date, they do blur a little bit... hence, this diary) and I figured sweet, salty, acidic oranges might just be able to hold their own with a cab... chicken or not! Well, this one hails from California (and I think CA does the big, bold, sassy reds particularly well) but was quite a shocker. Didn't look like a cab (fairly thin and translucent), didn't smell like a cab (vinegar and canned cranberries), didn't taste like a cab (very fruit forward) but I think the sharp departure made it unique- more drinkable, versatile. Plus... a big win with the chicken!
 

Andrea hosts her final wine club in the old apartment.

Chocolate Peanut Butter

Orange Cream

Champagne Pear

Cupcake trio... yum!





Wine Club 27: Blue Fin Viognier, Panilonco Carmenère Reserve

Date: October 31st, 2012
Host: Christine
Served: Beemster cheese, easy meatless manicotti, pear cranberry crisp


Blue Fin Viognier 2011 (CA, USA) 12.5% alcohol, $7 at Trader Joe's

Christine says (17): Pale honey with slate edges. Smelled of apricot, floral, honey, light must, lemon and honeydew: a light and clean smell. Pear taste with a honey finish. Medium body, not as bright-tasting as expected.

Andrea says (17): This wine was a pale, golden color. The smell was great, I gave it full points for aroma and bouquet. I had a long list of scents for this Viognier: pear, honeydew, bubble gum, honey, apricot, pineapple, and lemon. My first taste was of alcohol, then lemon and pear. This had a light, bright floral taste. Good buy for $7.00!

Kim says (18): Wow... great bouquet on this one! I picked up dust, citrusy melon, honeydew, roses, fresh-cut grass and if possible, it actually smelled rich and smooth. The taste was surprising... contrary to what it smelled like, this Viognier tasted of minerals and lemon, bright and clean.


Panilonco Carmenère Reserve 2011 (Colchagua Valley, Chile) 13.5% alcohol, $7 at Trader Joe's

Christine says (18): Very dark intense red; a lot of legs. Bouquet was of vanilla, raspberries and cherries. Tobacco and berry flavor, smooth, with a long finish from the alcohol. Slightly tart and bitter mid-palate, like plum skins. Super for the price.

Andrea says (18.5): I really loved this wine! I thought it went great with Christine's manicotti. Yum! A nice ruby, cherry color that was rich and thick. The smell was musty and smokey, but then smelled like spices, blackberry, raspberry, vanilla and grape. The taste was fruity and jammy, blackberry flavor. Delicious! I would get this again to have with tomato based Italian food, very good together.

Kim says (12): Hmm... well, my comments were kind of all over the place on this one. Apparently, the overriding aroma was berries (I wrote "cranberry-raspberry-cherry-blueberry some berry that's juicy with a skin that says POP")! Also smelled a bit of must and overall, felt this wine was a bit anti-climactic and tame.

I used fresh spinach and regular reduced-fat cheese in the manicotti. I used dried cranberries in the crisp. Otherwise, no changes!

Wine Club 10: J.W. Morris Gewürztraminer, Honey Moon Viognier

Date: May 2nd, 2012
Host: Kim
Served: Stuffed Cheese Bread, Quinoa Salad


J.W. Morris Gewürztraminer 2011 (CA, USA), 12.5% alcohol, $4.99 at Trader Joe's

Kim says (20): Well, we drank our way through nine wine clubs before finally coming across a bottle that I felt deserved a perfect score. It hit every single category exactly right, and it would be four months before another perfect 20 landed on my score sheet... loved this one! If Beaujolais was my gateway red, than Gewürztraminer was definitely my gateway white and though I had recently been moving away (unintentionally) from this wonderfully aromatic wine, I am more than pleased to rediscover it.

Andrea says (18): This is a great wine for a great price! Sweet and tart, very tasty. I remember us comparing the taste to the juice in a can of fruit cocktail. I only docked it for having a shorter finish and milder bouquet. I revisit this wine often. I think it goes well with everything.

Christine says (15): I really liked this wine, especially when you factor in the $5 price tag. Very pale blond straw color with clear edges. Pleasing, but subtle, bouquet of peaches. Sweet taste, with a nice tartness mid-palate that kept it from being cloying. Tasted like peaches, fruit cocktail and petroleum. Short finish. Would be super for parties.

image

Honey Moon Viognier 2010, (CA, USA), 13.5% alcohol, $7.99 at Trader Joe's

Kim says (11): Maybe this one suffered in the shadow of the Gewürtztraminer, or maybe it was the hype... I am a fan of Viognier (Cono Sur makes an excellent one hailing from Chile and it is hands down my favorite every day white). Whatever the reason, I rarely give out this many zeros but Body and Balance both suffered and most telling... Appeal (dislike) and Overall Opinion (lacking). So this was no honeymoon and took hard hits in both objective and subjective categories.

Andrea says (11): I didn't write many comments for this wine. Only that it smelled better than it tasted. I docked it in most categories and was pretty disappointed in it. For a date this early an 11 is really low. I may even score it lower if I tried it now.

Christine says (8): Pale greenish yellow, with some gold. Smelled mostly of cat urine, with some floral. Surprisingly round! Still, it had only slight flavor, and I could only detect minerals. The worst score I have given a wine (so far).


Quinoa  and Mushroom Salad

1 C dry quinoa                                                 8 1/2 oz artichoke hearts
2 t olive oil                                                      1 carton cherry tomatoes, halved
8 oz sliced mushrooms                                   1 bunch green onions, chopped
1/8 t salt                                                        1/4 C chopped fresh basil (or more to taste)
1/8 t black pepper                                           2 T lime juice
1 avocado, sliced                                            4 oz green chili peppers

1. Cook quinoa according to package directions. Set aside.
2. Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat.
3. Add mushrooms, salt and pepper. Cook until mushrooms are tender.
4. Combine the remaining ingredients in a large bowl.
5. Stir in mushrooms and quinoa.
6. Serve.