OK, these are great products, and I like the recycled/sustainable angle. I think I'll have to buy the barrel stave platter, it will make a great piece to serve cheese and such on. http://www.rosehillwinecellars.com/3rsV2/access_products.php?manufacturer=barrel_products&category=wine_access
May 2009 Archives
I'll just post this blurb from Ramey's website as it was pretty on target:
2005 Ramey Syrah Rodgers Creek Sonoma Valley
($65) Deep ruby. Intensely aromatic nose offers potent cassis, blackberry, licorice and floral notes. Sexy and impressively pure, with bright red and dark berry flavors underscored by zesty mineral and pepper notes. There's more than a suggestion of the Northern Rhone here. Shows great energy and punch on the finish, which boasts outstanding persistence and a very sexy combination of fruits and spices. Ramey says that this is a particularly cool site.I found the wine to be quite good, and definitely typical of a dark, intense Syrah from the Rhone. It was quite good, though not a great match for the pasta with marinara sauce I had with it for dinner on Sunday. I don't know if I'd spring for it at that price again, but I did enjoy trying it, and will keep experimenting with California Rhone varietals when the opportunity comes up.
The 2005 Domini de la Cartoixa "Clos Galena" from Priorat, Spain is a beautiful deep purple, bordering on opaque. The nose is big, black fruit, with spice and minerality also present. It's a blend of 40% Garnacha Negra, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Syrah, and 15% Carinena. The Garnacha, or Grenache, and Syrah gives it some spice. The Cab lends some structure and black fruit. Jay Miller gave it 95 points, but I'm letting it evolve a bit in the glass before I agree, and it is definitely evolving over an hour so far. It certainly has various layers in the taste, and is fairly intensely concentrated. The mouth weight is medium, and it has a reasonable length of finish, maybe 20 to 30 seconds. Their web site says it was aged 12 months in 90% French oak and 10% American oak. It also calls it powerful, which in this case is a synonym for 15% alcohol. Tannins are definitely present, but not over-powering. The wine is featured at http://www.closgalena.com/eng/pdfs/fitxa_clos_05_eng.pdf
I'd buy this again, which I found for $29. Not bad for a 95 point wine, with Spain showing it's value again and again. Great stuff!
I'd buy this again, which I found for $29. Not bad for a 95 point wine, with Spain showing it's value again and again. Great stuff!
I wonder if Spring is the death of many web sites as new authors get
distracted and go outside to plant gardens, do landscaping, or do the
hard work of painting? I know it was the distraction that kept me from
writing. Well, that and catching up with friends on Facebook. I often
note that when authors start to explain why they haven't been posting,
that they end up posting even less! Hopefully that won't be the case here. I still have lots of wine to to taste and write about, but I've also given some thought to new things that could be useful.
First, I'm interested in cataloging local resource for food and wine, as well as travel related to these. So, sites that talk about the Finger Lakes wineries, restaurants on the wine trails, great places to visit while out in the area, and food, local markets, and points of interest in upstate are all going to be featured here as I come across them. I'm also going to make a concerted effort to gather information on wine tasting events in the upstate area that are open to the public - having opportunities to taste wine are is the key to learning to appreciate the breadth and depth of what's available and finding what you really enjoy.
So, on that note, one that I found that I thought worth posting was Cookin' in the 'Cuse. Her photography lends interest to the site, and possibly what hooked me was the photos of food and landscapes in Israel. When I was there in 2007 on three separate trips I found some of the local food to be incredible, including things like freshly squeezed pomegranate juice. Anyway, her writing is great, she covers a lot of things that I enjoy locally, and I recommend the site to you.
First, I'm interested in cataloging local resource for food and wine, as well as travel related to these. So, sites that talk about the Finger Lakes wineries, restaurants on the wine trails, great places to visit while out in the area, and food, local markets, and points of interest in upstate are all going to be featured here as I come across them. I'm also going to make a concerted effort to gather information on wine tasting events in the upstate area that are open to the public - having opportunities to taste wine are is the key to learning to appreciate the breadth and depth of what's available and finding what you really enjoy.
So, on that note, one that I found that I thought worth posting was Cookin' in the 'Cuse. Her photography lends interest to the site, and possibly what hooked me was the photos of food and landscapes in Israel. When I was there in 2007 on three separate trips I found some of the local food to be incredible, including things like freshly squeezed pomegranate juice. Anyway, her writing is great, she covers a lot of things that I enjoy locally, and I recommend the site to you.
