Thursday Betsy made a chicken recipe with caramelized onions, olives, and sage
from a magazine recipe. Andrea Immer suggested a big Zin, but what was sitting
on counter was the 2001 La Fleur de Jaugue (St-Emilion). Something a little
riper/herbier (Southern Rhone?) might have been a better match, but this wasn't
bad, and an excellent QPR at $12. Good raspberry and blackberry fruit, some new
oak, good finish. Some earth and leather after a while to hint at origins. B

Friday I spent most of the day preparing for my group's Christmas Party on the
Streets. Certainly the rest of the year we don't serve alcohol, but we've had a
tradition of carrying mulled wine on this Party (although the hot chocolate and
even coffee are usually more popular). The regular muller wasn't available this
year, so I took it on. I went to the store and picked up a load of cheapie
reds, supplemented by a couple bottles I didn't want, and 2 open bottles. Being
a complusive Tasting Note Taker, I poured a 1 oz pour of several to try (and
spit, hey it was 10 AM). Some notes on wines on a level seldom encountered
he
:
2001 Vendange Merlot (California)
*You know, for $7/1.5L, you could do worse. Not much in the way of structure or
finish, but there's a light touch of violets on the nose and on the palate
there's modest red fruit, with no "off" flavors. C+/B-

2002 Soldo Merlot (Veneto)
Here's one way to do worse. Yuck. Thin weedy fruit, low acidity (thin fruit yet
flabby, hard to imagine), *with a somewhat off (burnt?) aroma. C-/D+

2004 Concha y Toro Frontera Cabernet/Sauvignon (Vallee Central)
I had slightly higher expectations of this, after some decent C y T wines in
the past. But this wine is cleanly *made but rather dull, with little varietal
character. C+

These and some others (opened Cline Zin, Lafarge bourgogne, plus a magnum of
Concha yToro Shiraz I forgot to taste) simmered with some cider, cinnamon,
cloves, and orange zest all day.

That evening we went to my wife's sister for a post-Christmas pageant (rowdy
shepherds, confused angels) meal. Potluck, with a nice spread (the highlight
for me a savory gorgonzola cheesecake Betsy had made). I limited my
consumptionn as I'd be driving later, but managed sips of several wines:

2001 Columbia Crest Grand Estates Chardonnay
Good rich pear fruit, a bit softer and oakier than is my preference. Still, a
well-made value with nice presence. B

2001 Micante (Tuscany)
Not bad at all, a nice Chianti-lookalike with cherry fruit, good acidity, clean
finish. B

2001 Veramonte Merlot
Easy drinking Merlot with soft acidity, ripe strawberry/red plum fruit, and
lvery ight oak notes. B-

2003 Prieuré d'Amilhac Pinot-Chardonnay (VdP Côtes de Thongue)
This was a white opened previous day for Betsy's recipe. No TCA at the time,
but within a couple of hours something musty/funky was developing. Thin and
light, some wood notes overpowering what fruit there is. The musty thing
doesn't really smell like TCA, but not something I want to drink. Figure the
spices and heat will take care of that. If this is how it's supposed to taste,
C-

Went home, rested, then went to a local church where we loaded 5 vans & trucks
with supplies. Headed to Manhattan, where about 125 homeless friends awaited us
on a windswept plaza. About 50 more than we expected, but things mostly went
well- caroling around a live tree with portable lights, lots of food, presents
for the homeless. I told everyone that the rest of my crew were all playing
Santa Claus, while I was playing Scrooge (making sure no one jumped line,
keeping order). I was pretty busy, but several people made their way over to
comment on:
2004 Dale Williams Midnight Run Mulled Wine
All of the off flavors have disappeared in the long simmering, a warm
refreshing fun drink on a cold night. The allspice, cinnamon and clove provide
a lift to the nose, the light sweetness from the cider not cloying at all.
Everyone who tries seems to enjoy, except a couple of older guys, rather
dedicated alcoholics, who stick up their noses and say it's ok, they have some
vodka waiting on them. B+

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a
good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where
it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy,
and certainly not of consistency
Dale

Dale Williams
Drop "damnspam" to reply

On 2004-12-26, Dale Williams > wrote:
> These and some others (opened Cline Zin, Lafarge bourgogne, plus a magnum of
> Concha yToro Shiraz I forgot to taste) simmered with some cider, cinnamon,
> cloves, and orange zest all day.

Did you (or others) have the Cline zin at all? At my relatives' house, we had
a bottle of Clos du Bois zin with our Christmas Spaghetti and Meatballs (I got
stuck in Cleveland ,so Christmas was held on the 26th, and we weren't even
sure that that would happen), but I convinced mom to grab a bottle of the
Cline zin which was $1.50 less, and I thought would be a bit better. I think
it is, but only slightly. It tastes like it had been stored right next to the
exhaust of the beer coolers at the grocery store, but maybe that's partly
because I am so used to drinking my wine at 55 degrees to start and letting
them warm as the meal goes on.

Normally, I only drink the ancient vines versions of Cline wines, which I tend
to like quite a bit, and also tend to be pretty big hits with my crowd (law
students).

K

--
In vino veritas
http://openwine.net

Kevin wrote:
>Did you (or others) have the Cline zin at all?

Yeah, I had ;posted on it a few days ago:

2002 Cline California Zinfandel. This is an annual buy for me (the '99
of this was one of my all-time CA QPR favorites). This seems a little lighter
than the 2000 & 2001 which I felt were just a tad too much for me; this shows
ripe berry fruit with some vanillin. Nice enough, and good QPR at $10ish, but
not the steal the '99 was. B
Dale

Dale Williams
Drop "damnspam" to reply

Kevin wrote:
>Did you (or others) have the Cline zin at all?

Yeah, I had ;posted on it a few days ago:

2002 Cline California Zinfandel. This is an annual buy for me (the '99
of this was one of my all-time CA QPR favorites). This seems a little lighter
than the 2000 & 2001 which I felt were just a tad too much for me; this shows
ripe berry fruit with some vanillin. Nice enough, and good QPR at $10ish, but
not the steal the '99 was. B
Dale

Dale Williams
Drop "damnspam" to reply

On 2004-12-26, Dale Williams > wrote:
> These and some others (opened Cline Zin, Lafarge bourgogne, plus a magnum of
> Concha yToro Shiraz I forgot to taste) simmered with some cider, cinnamon,
> cloves, and orange zest all day.

Did you (or others) have the Cline zin at all? At my relatives' house, we had
a bottle of Clos du Bois zin with our Christmas Spaghetti and Meatballs (I got
stuck in Cleveland ,so Christmas was held on the 26th, and we weren't even
sure that that would happen), but I convinced mom to grab a bottle of the
Cline zin which was $1.50 less, and I thought would be a bit better. I think
it is, but only slightly. It tastes like it had been stored right next to the
exhaust of the beer coolers at the grocery store, but maybe that's partly
because I am so used to drinking my wine at 55 degrees to start and letting
them warm as the meal goes on.

Normally, I only drink the ancient vines versions of Cline wines, which I tend
to like quite a bit, and also tend to be pretty big hits with my crowd (law
students).

K

--
In vino veritas
http://openwine.net