Holidays

I love the holidays for many reasons; the food, the conversation, relaxing with friends and family, laughter, sharing gifts, but I also find I am excited about having an excuse to buy some decent wine to enjoy over the holidays. I bought my first Chilean syrah this holiday season, a bottle of Montes Alpha. I picked it up at Costco for 16 dollars. The wine I am most familiar with is Australian shiraz, so I was very surprised at how different Chilean syrah tasted compared to the massive, fruit forward wines of South Australia. The wine from Chile was earthy, with the fruit taking a very noticeable yet backstage role in this wine. I found that this placed the spiciness of syrah in a prominent role. Forgive me for the vagueness of impressions; Christmas was many days and many wines ago! I enjoyed this wine, but I think it will take me a little more exposure to come to a better understanding of Chilean syrah's. My brother-in-law shared a bottle of Reininger's Mr. Owl's 2002. A good drop of wine for sure.

Other wines I tried over the holiday season were: Beringer's Knight's Valley Cab Sav 2004 costing 27 dollars. I was pleasantly surprised by this wine, it was simple but not boring. My wife and I went out to dinner at friends house, and our job was the bring the wine; my favorite "chore." I found a bottle of Moon Mountain 2004 Estate reserve Cab Sav that was discounted from 50 dollars to 26 dollars. With the recommendation of the wine steward I bought this wine. My primary impression was that this was one of the driest wines I have ever had, yet there was an amazing balance of fruit that kept the wine from stripping all moisture from my mouth. I found that this wine grew on me as it got more air. I tried to find another bottle at the discounted price, but it just wasn't in the cards.

New Years Eve was a great night shared with a couple good friends, and several good bottles of wine. They brought over a bottle of Chateau St. Jean's 2004 Cab Sav Sonoma County, which retails for a little over 20 dollars. Yet again I was pleasantly surprised. I usually avoid buy the big name wines, because all too often I find that I pay for a name rather than a good wine, but this wine had good fruit and simple yet enjoyable integration. I would buy this one again. I also pulled out a bottle of Steppe Cellar's 2005 Semillion from the Yakima Valley. I really enjoyed this wine. The nose of solid yet unassuming melon, followed by a powerful and pleasant flavor and mouth feel. I will definitely pick this up again when I am in the Yakima Valley. Another highlight of the night was the DVX bubbly made by Mumm in California. This 1999 bottle was made with 50% chardonnay and 50% Pinot Noir grapes. This is the first good bubbly I have ever had the pleasure of trying. At 55 dollars a bottle I don't think I will be buying a case anytime soon though. Thanks to my friends John for selling his kidney to get me this bottle as a gift last Christmas. Here's a glass to you my friend.

My hope is that this blog will challenge me to be more intentional about writing down my impressions, so I can remember more of the details I experienced while trying a wine. Also, pictures will hopefully be a regular fixture in the near future.