HalloWine Party 2010

Sally and I had a few friends over for a "HalloWine" party last Saturday night. The wine theme was "favorites under $20" and Sally was able to pair each one with a finger food, a cheese, and even a Halloween candy! The tasting was blind, so our guests also got to decide whether each wine was a trick or a treat.

1st Place - 2008 Cycles Gladiator Pinot Noir (100% Treat)
This was the only wine to get 100% "Treat" votes. Cycles Gladiator makes an outstanding Pinot Noir, and it tastes even better when you know how inexpensive it is! It has a nice balance of earthiness with fruit and went very well with all our pairings.

• Finger food: mixed veggie tray, pigs in a blanket
• Cheese: smoked Gouda, Camembert
• Candy: Hot Tamales

2nd Place (tie) - 2009 Ferrari Carano Fume Blanc (78% Treat)
This is probably the wine we recommend to friends and family most often, so it was good to see it do well in our tasting. It's a dry Sauvignon Blanc (hence, "Fume Blanc") that is a very smooth drinker and goes well with a wide variety of food.

• Finger food: cranberry feta pinwheels with ham
• Cheese: lemon feta spread
• Candy: candy corn

2nd Place (tie) - 2007 Ravenswood Napa Valley Old Vine Zinfandel (78% Treat)
I've got nuthin' to say about this one because I voted "Trick". It wasn't my favorite, but many of our guests said the wine grew on you, especially with food.

• Finger food: pepperoni pizza bites
• Cheese: aged cheddar, Dubliner
• Candy: Skittles

4th Place - 2008 Blackstone Winemaker's Select Cabernet Sauvignon (75% Treat)
This wine was exactly what a good, inexpensive bottle of wine should be. An easy drinker that's light on flavors, tannins, and alcohol taste so it goes well with a wide variety of food.

• Finger food: open-face London broil sandwiches (mmmmm, soooo good!)
• Cheese: blue Stilton, brie
• Candy: Hershey's Miniatures

5th Place - 2008 Hess Chardonnay (56% Treat)
Hard to believe a Hess didn't fair well, but it drew mixed reviews from our guests. Some really enjoyed its neutral Chardonnay flavors - not too much butter and not too much tart fruit. Others felt the flavor was a little 'off' and they didn't like it with their food.

• Finger food: vegetable egg rolls
• Cheese: Monterey jack, double cream Gouda
• Candy: Reece's Peanut Butter Cups

2004 Hess Small Block Series Petite Sirah

Sally and I are huge fans of Hess wines. They seem to make everything really, really good. Perhaps our favorites are from the Small Block Series where the winemaker makes a limited quantity of very special wine.

We recently enjoyed a wonderful bottle of 2004 Hess Small Block Series Petite Syrah. This was a special occasion wine for us, so we brought it with us to Fleming's Prime Steakhouse to celebrate the five year anniversary of my company, Toister Performance Solutions. Fleming's always offers terrific food and service and this wine fit in perfectly.

The taste on this thing was incredible. It started very smooth and dark with lots of dark fruit (I'm thinking black cherry) and a hint of tobacco. In a great wine like this the flavors all stay together and it's almost dangerous because you aren't hit with a lot of alcohol, so you might not realize it's there. The finish was a blast of tannin that was perfect with a mouthful of steak. The wine was terrific by itself, with our mushroom ravioli appetizer, with our steaks, and even with the cheesecake for dessert. Yum!

The sad part about the Small Block Series is Hess doesn't make the same varietals from year to year. This one isn't on the market at the moment, so snag a bottle if you can find one!

Two Favorites

Tonight, we did something we've wanted to do for some time ~ have wine with an In-N-Out burger. It totally worked. Then again, when will In-N-Out or wine not work?

We made a pick from our 'random bottles' selection ~ D'Arenberg The Stump Jump, 2008 blend of Grenache, Shiraz and Mourvedre. The wine is from South Australia, and is quite unique, and went well with our burgers! The burgers took top bill (as always), but the wine held it's own. Very drinkable ~ a little fruity, a little spicy, and light on tannins. At a price point of about $10, it's a great mid-week wine.

The grapes used for this Stump Jump are primarily from very old vine Grenache (42%), Shiraz (36%), and Mourvedre (22%) vines, fermented in traditional open tanks, and pressed in new oak barrells for 18 months prior to bottling.

A few weeks ago, the San Diego Wine Company had a bottle of The Stump Jump Shiraz. We chose to skip it at the time as we had not tasted this bottle. At a price of $8.99, I'd give it a go. I haven't found another bottle of the red blend, but will keep my eye out for it, and would enjoy with another In-N-Out double-double!

Vacation Wine Finds

We recently returned from a trip to Hawaii, visiting Oahu and Kauai. Leave it to us to find a local wine shop in the small town of Koloa, on the south shore of Kauai. The Wine Shop is a great little gem not far from the Sheraton Kauai, where we spent an amazing week. For being on a small island, they had quite the variety. We enjoyed exploring the shop and learning about a few local wines and guessing the island price on high-end wines.

Until a few years ago, we had a tradition of hosting a New Year's Eve Party with our friends, with the theme, "Coast to Coast Champagne Toast". It was a fun event in which we served sparkling wine from each US time zone, starting at 9pm with east coast and finalizing at 2am with Hawaii. Yes, we somehow found a pineapple based sparkling wine to serve ~Hula O Maui from Tedeschi Vineyards.

The wine shop carried a few of their other wines, so we decided to give the red blend a try. The Ulupalakua Red can best be described as a good 'third bottle'. Unfortunately, it was not our 3rd bottle. It seems their pineapple sparkling wine is a far better selection, especially at 2am on NYE!

While there, the owners shared with us they were having a free wine tasting event on Saturday night. They were showcasing four 'big wines' and the deli next door was providing an assortment of snacks. We worked it in our 'busy' schedule and attended the event on Saturday night. The place was hopping with locals and visitors. Although we wouldn't define them as big, but enjoyable all the same, we tasted all four wines being served: Buena Vista Carneros Chardonnay, Mobius Cabernet from Sonoma County, Four Vines, and Peltier Station Zinfandel from Lodi. All were good, solid wines with a price point of $25 or less. While tasting, we munched on meats and cheese provided by the local deli and chatted with the wine distributor.

In addition to learning about the wines, we also learned a little about local liquor laws. Turns out, at many of the restaurants you can bring your own bottle, with a corkage fee. A good tip for next time! We also learned Kauai is one of the few places where you can actually take an open bottle out with you. Think that is one law we may not have to take advantage of too frequently!

The Wine Shop has been in business for 4 years, and we look forward to visiting them again on our next trip to Kauai ~ Mahalo!

Vincent Arroyo 2006 Greenwood Ranch Petite Sirah

Vincent Arroyo is the only winery we have ever purchased futures from. (Buying futures means you buy the wine before it's actually bottled.) We tasted their Petite Syrah right out of the barrel when we visited for the first time in 2008 and were smitten enough to buy two bottles for future delivery. Those two bottles came in handy when Sally and I dined with both sets of parents last night at Las Brisas before attending the Pageant of the Masters in Laguna. An amazing night calls for an amazing wine and this did not disappoint!

Petite Syrah goes well with Mexican food, so it was a great pairing with the wide variety of dishes at our table, including seafood, chicken, and steak. It had a very concentrated dark fruit flavor at first taste with just a hint of tartness that blended well with the moderately spicy and flavorful food. The finish was smooth and full of tannin, just as you'd expect from a good Petite Syrah.

In hindsight, the wine tasted a little young, but it drew rave reviews from the table and got better as it aired out. We all had some pre-dinner drinks, so the wine carried us through to dessert where it had just enough sweetness to work well with our flan, creme brulee, chocolate covered strawberries, profitaroles, and cheesecake dessert plan. Yum!