Destination Unknown

Wine: Barton & Guestier Beaujolais 2006

nobody@vox.com(Paxton) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 21:23:54 -0600

Strix brought this home from the store the other day. She had gotten some smoked salmon in the mail from her brother as a graduation present, so she bought this to drink while we ate salmon on crackers with chevre cheese and capers (nom nom nom).

The beaujolais was good for this purpose. It was not very complex, but it had a nice smoky flavor that complemented the salmon.

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Wine: Azzurra Chardonnay and Acting

nobody@vox.com(Paxton) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 00:09:40 -0600

I don't know that I've ever had an Italian Chardonnay. Now I have. That's about all I can say. I'm not particularly fond of chardonnay, anymore - it all tastes the same to me, and this didn't stick out. Still, it was very drinkable, and that's good considering it came in a 1.5 L bottle.

I'm behind in blogging my wine tasting, so you can expect more over the next couple of days. In other news, I injured myself at rehearsal tonight. There's a scene in the play where I'm supposed to be edging my way across a ledge outside the apartment window, then fall off backwards. While I was wheeling my arms around to keep from falling off, I hit a pole behind the set in the scene shop, and now I have a large, painful knot on my arm.

Also, I'm feeling a little self-conscious. There are two actresses in this play that I'm supposed to kiss at various points. Both of them have seemed really unwilling to do so, and have had to "psych" themselves up to it. To me, it's just part of the role - it's what the script calls for. The fact that they approach the task like they're getting ready to clean a litterbox seems insulting to me. Oh, well.

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Wine: Rosemount Traminer Riesling

nobody@vox.com(Paxton) — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 21:01:02 -0700

Yet another Australian wine, this riesling is crisp, clean, citrusy, and pleasant to drink. Thanks, my Aussie friends, for making such good wine.

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Wine: Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, 2006

nobody@vox.com(Paxton) — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 18:47:38 -0700

This New Zealand white was very nice. It was crisp, almost effervescent, and fruity, with strong oak tones and a floral tone.

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Wine: Greg Norman Estates Limestone Coast Shiraz, 2003

nobody@vox.com(Paxton) — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 22:45:35 -0700

Thank god for the mediocre wines, because it is only by those that we can tell the exceptional ones, right?

This was an $8 sale item from a California vineyard, and it was a thoroughly drinkable shiraz with no distinguishing characteristics whatsoever. No plum notes, no dark cherry, no blackberry, no turpentine - nothing but red wine.

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Wine Review: Black Opal, 2005

nobody@vox.com(Paxton) — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 20:38:48 -0600

This is an Australian Shiraz, and it was wonderful. Like the woods of Robert Frost's poem, I like my red wines lovely, dark, and deep, and this meets that criteria. It was subtly sweet with strong flavors of black cherry and dark plum.

[This post cross-posted to NaBloPoMo, for National Blog Posting Month.]

Nablo07_seal

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Wine: Wines of the San Juan Manzanares Red

nobody@vox.com(Paxton) — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 21:24:21 -0600

Wines of the San Juan is the only vineyard in San Juan County. They have a number of blended table wines, as well as some straight varietals like this one. Frankly, most of their wines are too sweet for me, but I do like their Manzanares Red and the Blue Winged Olive.

The Manzanares Red is their red zinfandel, and while it is not very complex, it is very drinkable and a lovely wine to relax with and enjoy the evening with. Manzanares is an "area" in the eastern end of San Juan County, New Mexico.

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Harvest Fest

nobody@vox.com(Paxton) — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 11:49:53 -0600

Yesterday, Strix and I went to the Harvest Fest at the Wines of the San Juan Vineyard, which is on the Easterly side of the County.

The vineyard is in a beautiful location near a little unincorporated village called Turley. We've been here before, near a shear bluff and in a copse of huge trees, enjoying good music, good wine, and a nice breeze. Yesterday, the breeze wasn't so much a breeze as a gail. The wind was terrible, and kept kicking up little sandstorms, and yet everyone stayed and enjoyed themselves anyway.

Oil Well and Vineyard

On the way in, looking back to the highway. Yes, it's an oil well in a vineyard.

Stillwater Steel Drum Band

We got there just in time to hear the last couple of sets from the Stillwater Steel Drum band, which is made up mostly of children, but they were really good. Unfortunately, we missed the grape stomping contest.

A Shotgun Christmas

Christmas lights made out of shotgun shells adorned one of the artist vender boothes.

Tasting Table

I couldn't get a clear shot of the tasting bar, because of how many people were there.

Outdoor Tasting Area

The outdoor tasting area. You can see how sandy the soil is here, which you would think would be difficult to grow anything in, but it's actually not a bad kind of soil to grow wine.

Little House

There are several tiny little houses on the property, presumably where the proprietors live.

Walkway

A little walkway leading back to the pond. Strix is on the left side of the frame taking a pic of the house above.

House and Vines

A pic of another house, with vines out front, and the gorgeous bluff in the background. The picture doesn't do it justice, that bluff rises up out of flat ground just on the other side of the highway about six hundred feet straight up.

Little Garden

The worst thing about this garden would be going out and picking the peacock feathers out from between the plants every morning. Yes, they have peacocks on the property, too, but they had them all locked up and out of the way for the festivities.

Outhouse and Horses

Okay, there are drawbacks to living the rustic life, like having to use outhouses. But, hey, horses!

Hey You, Got an Apple?

A couple more views of the bluffs, near sunset.

Jazz Treo

This Way

I've said it before about New Mexico: we do "dramatically dead trees" better than anyone else.

If you find yourself at Wines of the San Juan someday, I suggest the following wines: Girls are Meaner (their Gewurztraminer) or the Manzanaras Red (red Zinfandel). Strix really likes the Blue Winged Olive, their Muscat, but only get that if you like your wine really sweet.

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Wine: Coastal Estates Pinot Noir, 2006

nobody@vox.com(Paxton) — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 20:52:38 -0600

So what can you say about a $5 bottle of pinot noir? How about, "Hey, that's actually not bad." This isn't a wine to write home about, with little complexity to it. There are some undertones of black cherry or blackberry, which I expect in a pinot noir, but beyond that it's just a flat table wine. The fact that it's actually drinkable and recognizable as a pinot at $5 per bottle is amazing enough, so let's just say it did it's job.

And drank this and used it on a homemade marinara over rotini. The marinara was delicious, and would be a good base for any variation I wanted to make on pasta sauces. I'll definitely be keeping this recipe.

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Wine: Frei Brothers Reserve Chardonnay, 2005

nobody@vox.com(Paxton) — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 18:23:19 -0600

We drank this today with snapper à la Caribbean, made by yours truly. This is a Californian Chardonnay from the Russian River Valley (note: not actually in Russia). It was very oaky, as Chardonnay tends to be, with tones of caramel apple. I'm not an enormous fan of Chardonnay, but this was very good, and it went very well with the seafood dish.

The dish itself was interesting. We couldn't actually get snapper (the store was out), so we used tilapia, which was very good but I think it would have been better with snapper. The recipe called for grapeseed oil, which I'd never used before. I mean, really, how many grapeseeds do you have to squeez to get a can of grapeseed oil? My guess is a lot. Info I found online about grapeseed oil is that it has a very high flash point (485° F), so it's good for frying foods at high temperature. The fish was also coated in semolina flour before frying, which made for a very light breading. All in all, this was an excellent meal, and I have the marinade left over, which I can cook down and use to season rice, later.

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