This week’s wine was another gift, thanks sis!

Did you know Adam Carolla does wine?  Neither did I, but apparently this one is from him.  He offers a Cabernet and a Zinfandel.

I thought the Sledgehammer Cabernet was excellent.  This is a California Cabernet that I supposed should be deemed a “Man’s Cabernet” with it’s big, bold flavor. 

Since this was a gift, I am not 100% certain how much it cost but at between $10-$15 a bottle I think this is actually a great selection.  And again, I recommend let this wine breath a little before drinking it because the flavors really even out as it sits.

I’m sorry, but I just can’t get passed the fact that Adam Carolla makes wine!  I want to make wine!  Guess I have to figure out how to become famous to make this happen!

This was my first time to knowingly try a Rioja wine.  I’m sure I’ve had one before, but I couldn’t tell you when or which one.  This one was a gift (thanks Gabby & Jeremy) which made it even more fun to try!

While full of flavor, this Rioja is surprisingly light with a hint of pepper.  Almost seems like it’d be a great summer time red because of it’s airy quality.  This reminds me of a Tempranillo.

In an effort to learn a little more about Riojas I looked it up on wikipedia and shocker….Rioja is a blended wine. . No wonder I liked it.

I opened this bottle up a good 30 minutes before trying it and by the time I had my 2nd glass it was perfect.  So I definitely recommend giving it some time to breath before drinking it.

Saturday night we had some people over for dinner, hence why we cooked that pot roast.  And everyone was required to bring a bottle of wine.  It was after all a “Wine Dinner.”

I probably should have branched out beyond my neighborhood Kroger to find a wine, but I didn’t.  Since I shop there all the time, I didn’t want to pick a wine I’d had before.  So, I brought this wine:

Not only had I never had it before but I’d also never noticed it before and figured, if it was a “Top Chef Selection” it had to be good right? And it actually wasn’t bad, not sure it’s a new favorite but I’d drink it again.

My favorite two wines of the night were the wines that Teal & Michael brought.  Teal went out to Sonoma last fall and found some EXCELLENT wines from wineries I’d never heard of before.

Hopefully on my next trip out there I can check them out.  Since she found these wines at the wineries I’m not sure if they are available around Dallas; if you’ve seen them let me know!

The first one was the 2007 Allure Meritage from Williamson Wines. It was delicious and full of flavor.  Though, as I’m sure it is becoming blantanly obvious, I’m obsessed with red blends.  If you can get your hands on this one, give it a try! 

She also brought this 2007 Topel Pinot Syrah.  I don’t know about you but I’d never heard of a Pinot Syrah varietal. I’ve heard of a Pinot Noir and a Syrah…but a marriage of the two…it was amazing.  I’ve got to try this one again!

That is not to say that I didn’t enjoy the other many wines that were brought to dinner, because I did!  I don’t think there were any wines I didn’t like.

Now on to a more important concern…when’s the next wine dinner?

This was my first blind tasting; that’s not to say I’ve always known what wine I am drinking. But I was really looking forward to this. We didn’t have much direction other than to bring a red wine and spend around $20 a bottle.  I think it’d be interesting if we’d all brought the same varietal to see how much they all differ; maybe next time?

For our venue, we needed a BYOB restaurant. Our ring leader, James set it up at Campania Pizza in Uptown. They also have a Southlake location. If you haven’t checked them out, you should it’s a great little restaurant and I love that they are BYOB. We waited for most everyone to arrive before we began opening the bottles and tasting the wines.

Here are the wines we tasted:

1. Cooper Invencio – 2008 Red Mountain Red Wine
2. Inwood Estates 2008 Cornelius 100% Texas Tempranillo
3. Petalos Bierzo
4. Cahors
5. Mollydooker The Boxer
6. Bodini Malbec – 2010
7. 2009 Toasted Head Cabernet Sauvingnon
8. Haven’s Meritage – 2009 Rutherford, Napa Valley
9. 2009 Domaine Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage Blanc, Rhone, France
10. Pagos del Moncejo Garnacha 2008
11. La Vierge

What I realize now in going back over my “tasting notes” is that I should probably have smaller tastes and I should probably take better, more descriptive notes.  I’m not even sure I have correct list of all the wines.

My favorites were the Cooper Invencio and Haven’s Meritage.  It doesn’t surprise me that those two were my favorites.  I have discovered lately that I really am a big fan of  red blends.  The Meritage reminded me of a Pinot Noir it was very smooth.  And the Invencio was a nice blend of spice, sweet and smoke.  The close runner ups for me were the Petalos Bierzo and the Toasted Head Cab.

Though to be honest I didn’t really dislike any of them…well other than the “secret” extra bottle that James brought as an experiment.  It was the Inwood Estates Tempranillo.  From the start I was thrown off because to me the wine had smell that reminded me of paint chips and it never really got any better.

Here is the aftermath:

To the rest of the Brown Bag Wine Night people, what were your favorites? And if you have better notes on what exactly each wine is feel free to leave them below!

Technically I didn’t drink this wine on Wednesday, but there’s a good reason. Actually 2! I started a 10 day herbal cleanse, and no it’s not one of those crazy juice cleanses (otherwise you better believe wine would be included for me!), so I can’t have alcohol. I just can’t eat anything other than fruit, veggies or lean proteins. No real reason for doing it other than I’ve just never done one before and figured I might as well give it a try. Reason number 2 I didn’t drink this wine on Wedsnesday was I hung out with my friend Meredith on Sunday. So I thought Sunday was the perfect opportunity to finally crack open this wine.

Since I’ve been a bit MIA on this blog lately, you may not know my little sis got engaged back in October. You can read about her engagement here. And Meredith got engaged on the 23rd on her way to Vail, CO. When I say on the way…I literally mean on the way…her super creative fiance, Tate, popped the question on their flight. Big props to American Airlines for helping make it extra special (maybe I can blog about for her since she is blogless).

(that’s me with Tate & Meredith)

Meredith is one of my oldest friends, the way I like to tell it, our parents made us become friends in 2nd grade (please don’t do any math…let’s not count how many years ago that was) and we’ve been friends ever since!

Even though it has been months, I hadn’t had a chance to pop (well technically it’s a screw cap) this bottle with Beth yet…I thought why not celebrate with Beth and Meredith? Sounded like the perfect excuse to open the Mollydooker Carnival of Love. 2 birds, one stone or rather 3 girls, one bottle.

I got this bottle for Christmas last year from my dad with the help of my sister. Needless to say, I was pretty anxious to open it up.

Here are the technical stats: it’s a 2009 Shiraz and Syrah

I may be an avid wine drinker but that by no means makes me a professional wine critic, in case you forget in my absence. I enjoyed this wine, it was very dense and had a lot of body to it. Because I knew we were going to be drinking it I poured it into my fun wine decanter (above), from my sister in law (did you know I have one of those now or did I leave that off the blog too?). Due to the density of this wine it almost reminded me of syrup which then made me wonder if that’s where the name Syrah came from. But I could not find anything online to back up my theory. Anyone, anyone?

Lately I have been on a bit of a Pinot Noir kick so this was quite a change, but I would still recommend it if you can get your hands on it. Locally I have been able to find quite a few Mollydooker wines and many different stores but have never seen this one. So if you find it, let me know!

Cheers

I can’t believe how long it’s been since I blogged, but I have a legit excuse! My laptop is dying a very slow and for me painful death so I bit the bullet and bought a brand new computer I’ve been dreaming about for months. But enough about that for now, I’m here to talk about wine.

A little over a month ago my cousin Todd got married down in Corpus Christi. The rehearsal dinner was at an amazing restaurant called Vietnam Restaurant. At dinner his (now) wife, Lindsey picked out a few different wines. (Side not so glad he married a wino!) I had never tried the 2008 Hess Cabernet, but I fell in love.

Luckily for me, my local grocery store has had it on sale for the last few weeks and it has become the wine I like to keep around the house for whenever I get…thirsty. It has been hovering right around the $15 a bottle mark, a little more than I used to spend on an everyday bottle but this one is worth it.

Usually I blow off the suggestion to let a bottle of wine breath before drinking it, but with this one it really does get better the longer it is open.

Give it a try and like always be sure to let me know what you think!

Cheers!