Recent Posts

GSM Wines From Around the World

GSM wines were the subject of our Thursday night tasting this week. GSM stands for Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre, the blend used in many southern Rhone wines. Our tasks for the evening were to choose our favorite wine and see if we could pick-out the predominant grape (G,S or M) in each wine. Alan presented the tasting and gave us […]

2004 Domaine Serene Pinot Noir Jerusalem Hill Vineyard

This wine from Oregon’s Domaine Serene’s Jerusalem Hill Vineyard was a light ruby color. There was a minimal nose of blackberries and smoke, decanting would probably bring out the nose more. There was a lot of fruit, fairly big wine with some smokiness, very flavorful. The tannins were smooth with good acid and a medium length finish.

2007 L’Ecolle No. 41 Columbia Valley Merlot

The 2007 L’Ecolle No. 41 Merlot from Walla Walla in eastern Washington has a dark ruby color has aromas of dark fruit and tobacco. The flavors are dark fruit, light vanilla and some spiciness, maybe black pepper. The tannins are light and well integrated with good acid. It has a medium length finish. While the wine was nice drinking on […]

Food and Wine on Thursday Night

Our Thursday night wine tasting was a food and wine pairing. Gail invited Marianne McCarroll of Marianne’s Pantry to make three dishes to compare with the wines. We tasted two different wines with each of the three appetizers Marianne prepared. Our mission for the evening was to decide which wine paired better with each appetizer. Each wine was tasted blind, […]

Monday Sangiovese and Stroganoff

This Monday night Nancy made a great Beef Stroganoff from her own recipe to go with our wine of the evening. She used a chuck roast (grass fed) that was finely diced with a small amount of Italian sausage. She used crème fraiche instead of sour cream. Nancy served it with rice and peas mixed with sauteed mushrooms and shallots. […]

Back In The Saddle Again!

Well, we are back to the Thursday night wine tastings at Fine Wines of Stockton. George and Gail have started us out with a complicated topic. This week the tasting was titled Italian Super Tuscan wines…what the heck?

2008 Clos De La Chapelle Muscadet

We had the 2008 Clos De La Chapelle Muscadet Sevre & Maine Sur Lie with some Dover Sole. The color is a very pale yellow, almost clear. We tasted the wine before eating and it had some floral notes and also a smell that reminded me of the ocean. In the mouth you first notice the high acid content and […]

Tawny Port Comparison

I was drinking a Taylor Fladgate 10 year old Tawny Porto and saw in the local wine shop an Australian “Tawny” and decided to see how they compared. I did expect a difference since the Taylor Fladgate is a true port while the Seppeltsfield is a Grenache, Syrah blend aged like a tawny port. The Taylor Fladgate was a dark […]

First Monday of Food and Wine with Dave

We’ve started our regular Monday night food and wine routine for 2011 and we are off to a good start. I prepared hachis Parmentier from our new French cookbook. Hachis Parmentier is described by Dorie Greenspan in her cookbook “Around My French Table” as a really good French version of shepherd’s pie. You can look up the details in her […]

Happy New Year from PullThatCork!

We had a pretty quiet new years eve. Just the two of us. Sometimes we throw a small dinner party, or attend one, but this year we just felt like taking it easy. Nancy made Marie-Helene’s apple cake from the our new French cookbook. It was so good we decided to just have it for dinner. Also, we had made […]