2005 Bogle Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon

February 22, 2008 | by Jason Bordley | Tasting Notes

bogle_cab05.jpgI recently tasted the 2005 Bogle Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon and must say I would recommend it to anyone. Well, at least someone looking for a good California Cabernet Sauvignon that won’t break the bank.

It has nice a bouquet of black berries and currants. A sip revealed fruit forward flavors consisting of black berries, currants, and plums along with a hint of chocolate.

WS’s Bordeaux Review

February 21, 2008 | by Jason Bordley | Reads

ws_05bor.gifIf you haven’t already done so, I suggest picking up the latest issue of Wine Spectator. It’s a must have for all of you Bordeaux lovers out (including myself). They have a large and fantastic review of 2005 Bordeaux wines.

On side note, they rated the Concha y Toro Carmenere I mentioned in the last post 88pts and was listed as a best value wine. [Wine Spectator]

2006 Casillero del Diablos Carmènère

February 19, 2008 | by Jason Bordley | Tasting Notes

carmenere2006.jpg I recently picked up a bottle of 2006 Concha y Toro Casillero del Diablos Carmènère to try with a venison dinner that I was preparing. I wasn’t quite sure how it would pair with the meal since I never had it before. But I like the other Casillero del Diablo wines, and quite honestly, for $7 (it was on sale $1 off) it was worth a try.

This is definitely a worthy value wine. In the glass it was a dark, deep-purple color. It’s nose and taste were bursting with notes of black fruits, oak, and spices which paired nicely with the venison with blackberry compote that I had prepared. It’s well balanced, medium-body was able to hold it’s own against the slight game flavor of the meat. And as I sipped it, all I could think about were the other countless meals that it would pair well with. Especially when it began to open up after sitting out for about an hour. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a great value.

Home Brew

February 18, 2008 | by Jason Bordley | Wine Making

I’m excited to say that yesterday marked my entry into the world of wine making. Well, at least actually making the wine myself. The reason I say that is because my actual first experience was about a year ago. My wife had purchased me a wine making package at a nearby wine school that allowed you to go through the process of wine making (de-stemming, crushing, racking, bottling, etc.) at their facility. However, they handled all the technical stuff. Which in my opinion is where all the fun and gratification is at. This was still a cool gift though because the owners were knowledgeable and were able to answer all the questions that I had about the wine making process. Not to mention they had plenty of wine for us to “experience” while we were there. But still, I wanted that hands on experience. I wanted to be able to monitor the fermentation process, say when it was ready to rack, make the decision on how sweet or dry it should be. Continue…

The WS Top 100

November 17, 2007 | by Jason Bordley | Top Wines

Wine Spectator has revealed their top 10 wines of the year (wines 11-100 will be listed on November 19th). Their number 1 choice was Clos desPapes Châteauneuf du Pape 2005 scoring 98 points and priced at only $80. [Wine Spectator]

American Vineyards

November 11, 2007 | by Jason Bordley | Regions

vineyard.jpg Its a known fact that wine in America is rapidly growing. In 2006 Americans consumed 256 million cases of wine. Another interesting fact, currently wineries all 50 states that are producing and selling their own commercially released wines. In fact, the last state to start producing wines for commercial purposes was North Dakota in 2002. In 2005, Pennsylvania’s wineries brought in $661 million to the states economy. Portfolio.com has an article about the growth in wineries and vineyards the US. In the article they discuss some of the challenges with the terroirs of the states and different varietals being used to overcome these challenges. They also make mention of several states and what varietals are successful there. [Portfolio]

More Champagne Anyone?

November 8, 2007 | by Jason Bordley | Champagne

chamglas.jpg Decanter.com has a small article about the French appellations body looking to expand the Champagne region by 40 villages/communes, giving more vineyards the right to call their sparkling wines Champagne. The article goes on to state that with this expansion, they are hoping Champagne’s annual production will increase from last years 333m bottles per year to 430m bottles per year by 2011 (which is about a 97m bottle increase). Now thats a lot of champagne. [decanter]

Couples Match

November 6, 2007 | by Jason Bordley | Pairings

bspn04.jpg Tonight I had a great pairing where the food and wine complimented the other perfectly, creating a balanced heavenly ying-yang effect in your mouth.

So what was this pairing? I found a recipe for Pork Au Poivre on epicurious.com. A very simple meal consisting of pork chops served with a creamy sherry and pepper sauce. For a side dish we prepared baked potato slices brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with kosher salt.

Now for the wine…I was not sure what to pair the this pork dish with being I had never had it before. I knew it had to be something strong enough to hold up to the peppery flavor that I imagined it would have. Also, the recipe called for a heavy cream, so I knew it needed to have a good weight to it. And of the course the other question…red or white? When I entered the wine store I saw a display for Blackstone Pinot Noir 2004. It had good reviews (at least on the sign), and was going for only $10. Sold. I grabbed a bottle. Continue…

Store In Style

November 5, 2007 | by Jason Bordley | Storage

gevault.jpg The New York Time’s Winter 2007 edition of T Magazine has two slide show presentations featuring some very stylish and elegant wine racks and cellars - like the GE Monogram series wine vault pictured above. [NY Times]

$71,000 To Remove a Cork

November 1, 2007 | by Jason Bordley | Gadgets

corkscrew.jpg

This little gadget caught my eye today as I was visiting some of my daily web stops. What is it you say? Well, its a cork screw. A $71,000 cork screw to be exact. Oh don’t worry, as you expected it’s a foil cutter too. [Bong Bong Gadgets]

« newer posts — older posts »