Tag Archives: food

Vinny No Neck Wine, Spicy and Flowery

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This week I decided to try something new, so I pulled the first wine that caught my eye, Vinny No Neck by Bonacquisti Wine Company. I was then excited to find that it’s a Denver produced wine, which means we can visit the tasting room.

Here’s what they say about their wine.

In honor of our son Vincent (who will be a foot taller once he grows a neck). This Italian style red is a blend of 80% Sangiovese and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. Violets and cherries, sweet spice box aromas and a smooth easy finish that’s perfect with the 3 P’s, pizza, pasta and pomodori.

What I say about their wine… The description alone made my mouth water. Still, I have a bad attitude about wines with fun names and labels despite the fact that I’m drawn to their bottles and buy them repeatedly. I don’t know why because they suck at an equal rate as wines with boring labels and names. Anyways, on to the verdict.

Just like it says, this wine is flowery and spicy when you cover your entire tongue and I have no complaints about that. The cherry flavor is nice…very nice! It also has no sour after-taste like some red wines, which is greatly appreciated. Wendy LIKE!

Only my dinner selection didn’t include any of the 3 P’s. I had been jonesin’ for a bacon cheeseburgers all day, in a really bad way. I went even further and cooked the burgers in bacon fat. A little out of my mind I guess. Anyways, the wine spiced up nicely and I enjoyed a sip with nearly every bite.

Would I buy this wine again? Absolutely. I give it a 3.75 out of 5

Twitt

W. J. Howard Says, Try d’Arenberg Wines

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This week I’m highlighting an Australian vineyard and winemaker rather than an individual wine. We drink more D’Arenberg wine in our house than any other. Check out this page and you’ll see all the labels, making them quite a prolific wine producer. Prices are mainly affordable, and a few higher but well worth it!

The first wine we tried was the Dead Arm Shiraz and and fell so in love with it we had to look into their other wines. Oh, and we were fortunate to share a bottle of the 2007 Dead Arm on Valentine’s Day. The year was limited and absolutely amazing. We managed to find one other bottle and are saving it for a special occasion. I’ve mentioned this wine on some blog, somewhere in the past, and here’s a reminder of where the Dead Arm name originated.

Dead Arm is a vine disease caused by the fungus Eutypa Lata that randomly affects vineyards all over the world. Often vines affected are severely pruned or replanted. One half, or an ‘arm’ of the vine slowly becomes reduced to dead wood. That side may be lifeless and brittle, but the grapes on the other side, while low yielding, display amazing intensity.

Tonight we’ll enjoy The Hermit Crab, pictured upper-left, with Tilapia and a peach salsa over rice. It’ll go well considering, “The characteristic stone fruits of apricot, peach and nectarine are ever present with sweet spice nuances.” It’s a 2009, and I just noticed Wine and Spectator gave it 90 points.

Happy wine sipping to you all tonight!

Twitt

Liked Voss Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc

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Tonight’s wine is a 2009 Voss Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc, and we liked it just fine and would buy it again. Didn’t blow us away thought.

“The Voss Sauvignon Blanc developed beautifully during the warm summer days and typically cool evenings. We harvested for maturation over two nights in early September with the various vineyard blocks giving us a breadth of fruit profile. Our pre dawn harvesting, when the fruit is at its coldest, helps to retain the vibrant Sauvignon Blanc aromas and flavors. Coupling this with holding the fruit on the skins for 24 hours before pressing results in very intense fruit flavors from our Rutherford vineyard. The juice was fermented at cool temperatures in stainless steel tanks over three weeks with selected yeasts that further enhanced the flavors. As in 2010, in 2011 we again experimented with a small portion of the wine fermented in neutral oak barrels (a two new oak barrels), about 10% of the total volume, to add additional mouth feel and texture to the wine. The wine was bottled on March 3rd 2012, using the ‘Stelvin’ closure.”

The description tells me we’ll try the 2010 & 2011 too. Still, we did enjoy this wine and it keeps well in the refrigerator for a few days. The label also says it, “…exhibits classic varietal characteristics of lemon and grapefruit with a hint of pineapple.” I didn’t taste the lemon, but the rest is dead on. Also, this wine is not acidic, a plus.

This is a good one to just sip on the deck in between cooking dinner. It also went well with a light dinner of smoked sausage, corn on the cob and cantaloupe. You gotta give credit to a wine you can drink with that combo.

My hubby and I both give it a 3 out of 5.

Twitt

W. J. Howard Says, Try Unchained Naked Chardonnay

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I’ve decided to restart my wine reviews because there has been more and more talk in our house about starting a vineyard in Estes Park, Colorado. Huge dream that will come true for us. And anyone who knows my hubby and I knows that we have tried over 500 wines, so we already have a few people who think we know something about wine. Or, you could just call us winos.

This week I’m expressing my love for Unchained Naked Chardonnay a wine by Big House Wine Company. They say on their website:

“We veered off the California standard by using steel tank and neutral oak barrels; thereby preserving the true fruit characteristics of the Chardonnay grape.”

Is this why this wine blowed us away? Hell, I don’t know.

“Picked at night or early in the morning, these grapes underwent fermentation in stainless steel tanks and were freed from the common secondary malolactic fermentation, which is a frequent sentence for Californian Chardonnay. The result is a fresh and bright unoaked Chardonnay that is more reminiscent of an aromatic white than its namesake.”

Wow, this interests me, but why did I choose this wine at the liquor store? Combo of the wine’s rating, the name and the label. What else do you expect from a woman. Anyways, when we tried it, we had no idea how the wine was produced, we just loved it. Definitely, give this one a try. We had it tonight with chicken breasts and mushrooms, sauteed in a peach balsamic vinaigrette and this very wine, so cook with it too. YUM!

Twitt