Stags Leap Wine Cellars

Last night i got the usual thirst for a glass of wine but the only problem being i had nothing for a mid week drink. When i say this i mean nothing to special, i have three bottles of wine in the cupboard two of which are priceless and therefore saved for a special occasion. The other one is a bottle of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Artemis Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley) 2005, which i purchased in Napa and at a retail price of £30 and so i didn't want to pop the cork. For half an hour or so i walked form the living room to the kitchen each time looking at this bottle, should i or shouldn't i until finally Tenbellies got annoyed at my irritation and in the words of Withnail demanded i had some booze. So i popped the cork and sat back for what would be a memorable experience.

Artemis is a blend of Cab grapes from the FAY and SLV vineyards in the Napa Valley, despite this, the quality of wine is very good although i believe not as good as the Cask 23. There is a aroma of caramel that lingers around the rim of the glass, but more importantly it reminds me of Napa so i loved it already.

The colour is dark and inky but still young, it basically jumped into my mouth forcing me to drink it. The mouth feel was like silk and coated the whole mouth the tannins were pleasant and not harsh. With a nice earthy taste with the hint of spice, the finish was long with a topping of vanilla. I loved the wine from the get go, as soon as i could smell the wine it won me over and was well worth the opening. I brought this wine from Napa and for those several glasses it took me back at the fraction of the cost. This is why i love wine, Juice just quenches your thirst where wine creates memories. Ill definitely be heading over to Stags Leap the next time I'm in the Valley.

Organic Pt3

It seems this organic wine has taken a shine to my taste buds. While walking through Tesco this evening, a newly refurbished Tesco with a very much improved wine collection may i add, a bottle of wine wine caught my eye with the label that not only said Cono Sur but in the corner organic. Im not a convert but i do like the earthy taste that i get and although this is a Cab and very young at 2007, the colour is very deep and stains the glass this must be the Carmenere typical for Chile and blends perfectly with Cab.

Decantering

Last week we sampled a bottle of Cab Fran Chateau Liles with a rather interesting outcome, after much discussion and the scare that there may be no 2008 vintage Thud and i popped the cork on a 2005 to relieve the anxiety. But to shake things up we put to use Thud's antique decanter. There are many opinions about using a decanter but as my taste and interest for wine are really taking off in a big way i thought it would be an ideal time to test it out and on a wine i know well.

The idea for a decanter is to air the wine and to get the full potential and complexities hidden within, having really only ever let wine breath in a glass this would surely be a lot different and hopefully bring out more pleasure from this wine. Joining us on this little adventure was Lord Roby, who had dropped in from Europe to muse about all things including wine. We let the wine breath for around 20 minutes in the decanter before actually pouring, but when we did the bouquet jumped out of the glass before the liquid stained the rim. Unlike last week the he aroma was every thing i had expected but with length. The mouth feel was spaced instead of compact, it had layers of flavour that had a nice long finish and the alcohol was present in a cheek smacking way. The decanter definitely amplified the wine and not only was it an interesting way to drink but added elegance in a 101 ways. I use to think it was a pompus way to drink a wine and that the bottle said a lot about the wine, but take that away, take the labels and the blurb away and whats left is all that matters. The wine.

Chateau Monty

I caught the last part of a program called Chateau Monty, basically a middle class guy goes to France to produce his own wine with focus on all things Organic, blah blah blah. Anyway i would have loved to have seen the first two parts of the program as this Organic wine thing has been a good taste so far although what i found a little unrealistic was the fact that here was this guy who produced his own wine for the first time on mass scale using techniques not commonly used and the end result was reported to have been good. Not just good but so good that top restaurants and wine sellers in London bought cases of it.

I was under the impression that wine would take years of experience and nurturing before you get a decent bottle, if it was that easy to produce I'm sure plenty more would do it.

Maybe the success of his wine was more to do with the TV Crew, Daddy's friends at the Gentleman's Club and his own contacts in the trade rather than the wine itself.

Proof is in the Pudding, ill have to search for a bottle.

USB Wine

Technology today is amazing, i will be getting two of these one in red and the other in Rose for the missus.
I wonder if Chateau Liles has a website that i can purge from.

Organic Pt 2

Well its Wednesday and i have just polished off the .......... you guessed it, the Organic bottle. I don't know why but it just called out to me and the taste intrigued me changing and definitely growing on me. Well maybe organic is the way forward?, we buy the veg and the meat form the shops even more so nowadays for good reason. But dose this mean the same in regards to wine?

Now then where is that other bottle?

Organic Craze

Nothing for months and then two come write along.

A while back a reader wanted to know something about organic wine, i felt a little over whelmed to have someone ask me a question on wine not to mention the fact that i really had no answer for them. So i went out found an Organic wine, a Pnot Noir of sorts from Chile and tonight i thought i would compare this to a ordinary Pinot Noir also from Chile.

Now Tenbellies hates the red stuff and as its a school night Thud is at home so i get to have two bottles of wine open at the same time for drinking. Hmmm one must not get carried away Monkey.

Ok, the first wine is a Wild Ferment Pinot Noir 2006, Errazuriz Casablanca Valley Chile. Made from natural yeasts(screw top). The second wine is Ona Pinot Noir 2006, Anakena Casablanca Valley Chile (natural cork). Both wines are in the same kind of glass and have been left to breath for the same amount of time.

The colour of both wines show that they are still very young, but then we get that from the label and both are same for alcohol strength. The organic wine has more of an earthy old aroma whereas the other gives a more fresh smell like blackberry bushes at the bottom of a vine yard.

Taste, the organic is rich and long with a full mouth feel and the alcohol is present for some time. There is a slight Vanilla taste but this is over powered by the alcohol. There is red berries too but again it is slight. Bottle two is alot smoother and less aggressive in the mouth, the finish is long but fades nicely without the burn like the other. This has hints of spice that is pleasant as it gives it a fresh feel to the mouth.

Im not sure if this is the same for all organic wines but for me i preferred the normal bottle, it held alot more flavour and was overall less aggressive. The feel was fresh in the mouth and and there was no burn even though the two wines were the same strength. I wasn't fond of the earthy taste the organic wine gave but I'm sure after this glass is done ill be filling it back up. Its not undrinkable but it dose give the idea that its organic, made naturally.

Its weird i keep reaching for the organic, hmmmm whats that about?

Sweet Sweet Taste

This weekend to celebrate the fantastic news of a new addition, thud and I popped a bottle of the 2004 Cab Franc Chateau Liles. The excitement just of the thought of opening this excellent drink was almost at boiling point. The depression that had over shadowed many a glass the past month was lifted as thud poured. The first flavour to fill the air was Vanilla, but this was strong and sweet this was not just the oak. The taste came full and fast, as soon as the sweetness subsided the alcohol kicked in this was not the norm for this fine bottle as it warmed inside. I had tried the 2005 and 2006, they were great wines but this was more like a port. Needless to say that this was not undrinkable by any means Thud and i certainly devoured the bottle of this most unexpected sweet sweet taste. It surprises me how complex the making of wine can be and somewhere along the line something was different, too much water? frost? or over ripe fruit? ether way it made great conversation, home and over the water.