Pull That Cork

Saturday Night Dinner and Wine

November 10, 2010 by Peter Comments are Disabled

We have been pretty busy this week so I’m going to write an abbreviated version of our Saturday night dinner. We had some interesting wines that I primarily want to mention. We started out with 2008 New Harbor Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand (Marlborough) and a 2005 Domaine Chantermerle Chablis. The New Harbor is a crisp high acid white with […]

Friday Night Wine Tasting

November 9, 2010 by Peter Comments are Disabled

We had a very busy wine tasting weekend. It’s hard to figure out where to start. We started at our usual Thursday night tasting with Grenache, then on Friday we were invited to a wine tasting by some friends and Saturday we had them and another couple over for dinner. We tasted a lot of wine!

If it’s Thursday, it must be Grenache!

November 9, 2010 by Nancy (CSW) Comments are Disabled

Our Thursday night tasting featured Grenache. George gave us some background on the origin of the grape which may have originated on a Greek Isle. It was probably taken to Spain by the Moors and from there to France and eventually to the area of Provence along the Rhone river where it has arguably reached it’s highest and best use. […]

Dinner with Acacia

November 3, 2010 by Peter Comments are Disabled

We had our weekly dinner with Dave on Tuesday this week. Nancy made spaetzle with some sausage on the side. She also roasted some beets and cooked the greens. I don’t care for the beets but I will eat the greens while both Nancy and Dave like the beets, too. To accompany the meal I chose an 2006 Acacia Pinot […]

2005 Sodaro Private Reserve Estate Blend

November 1, 2010 by Peter Comments are Disabled

The 2005 Sodaro Private Reserve is a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Cabernet Franc, 20%Petit Verdot and 5% Malbec. The color was a dark garnet. There was ripe dark fruit, green pepper and a little vanilla in the nose. The flavor had dark ripe fruit with a burst of cedar. There was a light round body with smooth tannins […]

White Burgundy

October 30, 2010 by Peter Comments are Disabled

White Burgundy was the theme for this Thursday night’s tasting. We had a pretty good turnout this week, about 15 people showed up. White Burgundy is interesting because it is the Chardonnay grape but in an entirely different style than we are used to in this country. So many American Chardonnays go through a malolactic fermentation and then are so […]

Birthday Wines

October 25, 2010 by Peter 5 comments

Saturday night we celebrated my birthday with some great wine. Nancy’s mom and a couple of our friends came over for dinner. We decided to make pulled pork for dinner. We bought a pork shoulder roast, mixed-up a dry rub and “rubbed” the roast Friday night. It sat in the refrigerator all night with the rub on it, and then […]

Thursday Night Riesling

October 25, 2010 by Nancy (CSW) 2 comments

The wine tasting this week at Fine Wines of Stockton was presented by Brad Alderson, winemaker and wine consultant. Brad was the founding winemaker for the Robert Mondavi Woodbridge Winery. He has a particular affinity for and broad knowledge of German Rieslings. He has spent a lot of time in the German wine growing areas and has many friends in […]

Napa Valley Wine Trip Part 2

October 22, 2010 by Peter Comments are Disabled

After Tasting all the wines at Provenance we decided we wanted to get some food before tackling any more wine. Also, having spent 2 hours at Provenance it was past lunch time so we went down the road a mile or two and stopped at the Rutherford Grill. They said it would be an hour wait and it had started […]

Napa Valley Wine Trip

October 20, 2010 by Nancy (CSW) Comments are Disabled

We decided on a whim to take a drive to Napa last Sunday. The weather forecast was for overcast, showery weather, so no working in the yard. The weather became drizzly as we passed Rio Vista. The smell of the first rain was earthy and wonderful. By the time we got to Napa it was raining very hard. The grape […]