TeSoAria 2011 Pinot Noir

Happy Holidays! After a long weekend of Christmafying our house, I need a drink. B and I just decided to open our TeSoAria 2011 Pinot Noir :) I am writing this while watching Home Alone 2, so I will keep it short and sweet.

Beautiful garnet color, smells like tobacco and cherry.  Currant to start, blackberry middle with a hint of tannins, finishes creamy vanilla. 

So nice these grapes are from Umpqua Valley, this pinot packs a punch. Not light. Not delicate. Totally up my alley. If you're interested in this wine you can head to TeSoAria's Portland tasting room at 4003 N Williams, Portland, OR 97227.

Happy Holidays!

The Best Valentine's Day A Girl (Like Me) Could Ask For!

I am not your everyday woman.  I don't care for love ballads, romantic comedy movies/TV shows, roses or chocolate.  So of course when B asked me what I would like to do for Valentine's Day this year I said I didn't care.  It seems to me that Valentine's Day always ruins even the easiest of tasks.  Men flood grocery stores in order to purchase last minute cards, flowers and chocolates.  Everyone and their mother goes out to dinner to the point where every place is so packed you even need reservations to the Red Lobster. All the bars are filled with drunken singles trying to 'mingle'.  In my mind its a bad night to go out...everything is packed and it's just not worth it.  B came home one day before V-day to inform me he had purchased some wine from our favorite vineyard TeSoAria and that we were to enjoy at least a bottle for V-day.  He had called up Cody and asked to have a 2011 Old Vine Zinfandel as well as two bottles of Noir de Noir sent to us.  B then stated his intent to drink the Old Vine Zin on V-day and proceeded to asked me what our plans were.  I don't know how it happened, but the following words came flowing out of my mouth like a Spring runoff:  

"Let's go to see A Good Day to Die Hard. It comes out on Valentine's Day and I love me some Bruce Willis!  Plus maybe there won't be a ton of people going to see it..."  

B looked at me for a bit and then followed with, "If that's what my love wants, she gets."  Muahahahaa, not only was I going see a Bruce Willis flick in the theater but I was going to get to enjoy a REALLY nice bottle of Zin. Well, we left all the details to the last minute and decided to make a quick dinner at home before the movie.  I wasn't really paying attention (as I was making dinner) when all of the sudden I thought I heard the pop of a cork.  I sort of brushed it off as either I was hearing something or B was pouring some delicious Zin.  About two minutes later I hear an obnoxious glugging sound and realized B was pouring the bottle of wine into a sort of 'to go' container.  Needless to say, I got to see John McClane travel to Russia to beat some Commie ass and effortlessly deliver one-liners, while drinking some of the best Zinfandel I have ever had.  I did not take notes however, TeSoAria's 2011 Old Vine Zin is very well rounded.  The flavors are amazing and I could easily savor a bottle all by myself :)  I will post actual tasting notes of the '11 Old Vine Zin once B let's me open another one. 

Until next time...

xoxo,
KEGW

2009 TeSoAria Pinot Noir

B and I have gotten to the point where we've gone through our stock pile of 'cheaper' priced wine.  As usual, that makes me as happy as a clam in high tide because we can start uncorking the 'good stuff'. Tonight we had the pleasure of opening TeSoAria's '09 Pinot :-) For those of you who aren't familiar with my ravings of TeSoAria, the winery is located in the Umpqua Valley (Roseburg, OR).  WWW.tesoaria.com Now I'll be honest, B and I are TeSoAria wine club members, but its because we LOVE their wines. Okay, back to the Umpqua Valley... Pinots from this region tend to be bold sometimes spicy and anything but delicate. Here in the Willamette Valley pinots are prized for their subtle fruity flavors.  We are almost spoiled by the abundance of those types of pinots here (I know, life is hard).  When we first tasted pinot from the Umpqua Valley we were intrigued by the glaring differences between the two valleys. 

This pinot was one of the first bottles we purchased from TeSoAria :-)   We cellared* this bottle for a little while and are pleased we gave it just a bit more time.  We paired this Umpqua Valley pinot with BBQ chicken, homemade macaroni and salad. The following are my tasting notes from tonight...

AbV - 12.8%
Price - Not currently available for sale, but they do have their 2011 Pinot Noir available for sale
Color - Nice n light... Almost a light plum red/purple
Swirl - Fast forming (and running) long skinny legs
Smell - Leather, raspberries

Initial Tastes - burst of berry... Blueberry, raspberry
Mid Pallet - creamy raspberry, a whisper of spice
Finish - smokey with hints of vanilla

Overall, this pinot is very tasty and I am thankful we have one more bottle to enjoy. For those of you who might never get your hands on this pinot, I urge you to go out and try a varietal you enjoy, but from a different area/valley/region...  You might just discover something you like ;-)

Cheers and Good Night.

xoxo,

wine-o

* I use the term 'cellared' loosely. I do not have any fancy way to store my wine.  I just have a wooden wine rack and a moderately heated home.

2011 Paripaso Cabernet Sauvignon

2011 Paripaso Cabernet Sauvignon ... Another gem of a find from John's Market in Multnomah Village, Portland, OR. This Cab Sauv by Paripaso was bottled and cellared by Sweet Berry Wines www.sweetberrywines.com in Paso Robles, CA.  I just want to say really quickly that Paso Robles, CA makes my all time favorite Cabernet Sauvignons.  To this date I have not had a Cab Sauv from Paso Robles, CA that I haven't thought was the BEST Cab Sauv ever ... okay there is my two cents :)

For those of you who don't know, I LOVE LOVE Cab Sauvs. When I started seriously drinking red wine, I was drinking any and every Cab Sauv I could get my hands on.  I mean I drank $3.99 bottles form Trader Joe's, I drank $7.99 bottles from 7-11 and I even would splurge and drink $11.99 bottles from Fred Meyer. The more I drank the more I wanted to explore different regions and better bottles.  All this 'discovery' certainly snow balled my love and interest in all wines.  I attribute my Cab Sauv guzzling days to my current passion for wine. Anyhow, back to this delightful bottle...

I opened and let the bottle sit for about 15 minutes before we poured our glasses.  I will say that the cork smelled like Heaven and I knew the bottle was going to be right up my alley just from smelling the cork.

The 2011 Paripaso Cabernet Sauvignon is a very dark garnet color almost black in some light.  The wine in the glass smells of tobacco, leather and black cherry.  I swear there is a faint hint of vanilla, but B doesn't think so.  The swirl test produces lethargic forming, long, skinny legs with large bauble like droplets. First taste is hard to pin down, its really just a subtle sweet melange of a different berries. All of the sudden the berry flavors peel away to reveal velvety boysenberry mid pallet, and then BOOM a bold leathery currant flavor followed by a subtle dry finish.

I immediately wanted to open a second bottle of this stuff just so that I could continue to enjoy all of the flavors (I didn't drink the whole bottle to myself, I only had two glasses; B helped me finish the bottle). Needless to say I thoroughly enjoyed this bottle. I fully plan on raiding John's Market for as many bottles I can get my digits on :)

Peace, Love & Wine,
KEGW

2010 Behemoth Red Wine

I tried the 2010 Behemoth Red from Portland Wine Company (bottled in McMinville, OR) the day after B opened it.  This was another bottle from John's Market (in Multnomah Village) and at $12.99 a bottle, seems to be a great deal.  This bottle is 13.9% AbV and is a blend of grapes from both Oregon and Washington...which is why there are so many bold flavors in this 750mL carafe of red wine heaven.

As I said, B opened the 2010 Behemoth a day before I actually tried it.  He said it was a great bottle overall with big and bold flavors, and it did not have to be aerated. He tried some with me (day 2) and said it opened well and would be a great one to keep around the house.  The following are my second day tasting notes:

Super thin, very fast legs
Dark burgundy in color
Smell - cocoa, black cherry, vanilla with a hint of cinnamon 
Initial taste - smooth creamy blackberry 
Mid pallet - juicy berry 
Finish - vanilla and tobacco

I can see how (without letting this sit for 24 hours) this would be a drier finishing wine.  I will say, that day two, this wine is a great red blend. The 2010 Behemoth Red Wine would be a perfect bottle to open for a casual dinner party. I will be buying a couple of more bottles to enjoy.  I am excited to try it on the day it is opened, and will make a quick post about my tasting notes on the day of :)

Until next time...

xoxo,
KEGW

Ecosse Wine's Rouge

I picked up a mixed case of dry red wines from Mike the wine guy at John's Marketplace (http://www.yelp.com/biz/johns-marketplace-portland) last weekend, and found this gem in the lot.  I have not heard of Ecosse Wine before and found there is essentially nothing about the winery on the internet.  Their website (http://ecossewine.com/home.htm) is terrible and doesn't even have a completed 'About Us' section.  Also their Rouge is listed under the 'Coming Soon' section of the website... oh and there is no vintage year on the bottle.  Okay enough ranting, B and I decided to open this Columbia Valley red blend this evening and give her a whirl.  

B opened and directly poured two glasses, we let them sit for about 15 minutes and began to enjoy them.  Generally I aerate red blends like this, but surprisingly this red blend did not need it.  Eccose's Rouge is garnet in color and smells like a cab merlot blend might.  The swirl test produces very few light, thin legs.  Rouge starts strong with an almost airy yet dry finish.  Initial tastes include cherry, tobacco, spice and leather.  This wine rounds out mid pallet with buttery bursts of berry and finishes delightfully dry.  I found myself making little awkward slurping sounds after each swill to savor the dry finish... I then found B making fun of me for it :)

We drank this with our chili dinner and it went really well.  I think this is a very drinkable wine which would go well with most foods.  Ecosse's Rouge would be a great inexpensive option to serve at a dinner party.  Overall, I will purchase this bottle again.  I am not sure where else to purchase this bottle, but if you're in Portland, just stop by John's Market and try a bottle.

If anyone knows anything about Ecosse, I would love to learn more about the winery, so please write me.

Until next time...

xoxoxox
KEGW

TeSoAria 2010 Eponyme

B and I had our TeSoAria pick up party last Saturday at Ford Food + Drink (http://goo.gl/maps/xDOHK).  It was such an amazing evening... great people, a lot of fun, Christmas sweaters, delicious food and DELECTABLE wines!!  We purchased several bottles (of course!) three of which were TeSoAria's 2010 Eponyme...one of our all time favorite wines!  

The color is a sultry jeweled burgundy with a delicious reddish tint.  My swirl test produces slow, very skinny, long legs with gorgeous droplet shaped starts.  On the nose, the 2010 Eponyme smells like leather, cherry and a bit of tobacco.  One of the things I love the most about this wine is that you can literally open it and enjoy.  I don't have to let it sit, I don't have to aerate the Eponyme, its just straight up amazingly drinkable.  I have even re-corked a bottle, and completely enjoyed it the next day.  Now, on to how it tastes :) To start the initial taste on my pallet is buttery smooth blackberry.  Mid pallet this wine opens boldly with leather and complex tannins. The 2010 Eponyme finishes with a layered spice flavor like I have never experienced.  This wine is subtly complex and wonderful.  We have shared it with friends who prefer delicate pinot noirs and they have even appreciated this wine.  

Hands down, this is the number one wine B and I can agree on.  Our main issue with the 2010 Eponyme is keeping it in our wine cellar.  It seems like I am always begging to open a bottle, and B is always the voice of reason, "No Korin, this is really good.  We need to save it at least for a special occasion."  

TeSoAria's 2010 Eponyme is now libraried, so we are going to try really hard to keep some in our cellar.  I know this review kinda sucks, cause its not like you can go out and buy this amazingly tantalizing wine, but I will consider bribes :)

Cheers!!

xoxo,
KEGW