Cabernet Sauvignon

MVP Wine from Charles Woodson!

I make no secret of my love of wine AND football! My friends, family and colleagues know that I’m pretty much obsessed with both! So when I discovered that one of my favorite players of all time, who also happens to have a wine, was going to be in Orlando ON MY BIRTHDAY … well guess what happened! I went!

Charles Woodson is a defensive back that played for Michigan, the Oakland Raiders and my beloved Green Bay Packers. His football stats are amazing. He won a National Championship with the Michigan Wolverines as well as the 1997 Heisman. He was the 4th overall pick in the 1998 NFL Draft by the Oakland Raiders, where he won the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. He won the 2009 NFL Defensive Player of the year and Super Bowl XLV with the Green Bay Packers. These are just a few of this Hall of Fame lock’s gazillion awards and accomplishments during his football-playing career.

He now uses his knowledge, good looks and eloquence on ESPN’s NFL Countdown show!

But where am I really going with this???? HIS WINE!!!!!!! And boy oh boy has Woodson scored again! Charles has had a lot of picks in his career, but this may be his best pick yet!

The 2012 TwentyFour by Charles Woodson has bright cherry and vanilla on the nose. The palate has chocolate covered cherry, ripe dark fruit, tomato, some nice earthiness and a touch of oak! This well-balanced wine has velvety tannins and ends with chocolate on the long finish.

I was truly impressed with this lovely wine. It’s not overdone like some Napa Cabs. It is approachable now, but can lie down for another ten plus years.

Charles’ wines should definitely be included on your wine “fantasy team”!!!  The wine is fabulous, and the NFL great behind it is a really nice guy. What a nice bonus!

 

Check out Charles Woodson Wines here: http://www.charleswoodsonwines.com

With What Wine do YOU Decorate?

I’m a little crazy about Christmas. My husband and I absolutely love the holidays and we decorate our house from top to bottom. We love to relish in the festivities of December and the holiday season.

After bringing up all of the boxes of decorations, we pick out a gem of a wine to enjoy while beginning the long (but fun!) process of turning our Florida home into a winter wonderland.

This year we chose a bottle of 2007 L’Ecole No. 41 Perigee, which we bought at the winery almost six years ago.

Just outside of Walla Walla, Washington is a small town called Lowden, and this is where L’Ecole No. 41 is located. The winery is housed in an adorable French schoolhouse, with the tasting room in a former classroom. The wines being offered for tasting each day are cleverly displayed on an old-fashioned chalkboard.

The ’07 Perigee consists of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc … and it’s drinking beautifully right now. The nose has raspberry, mocha and violets. The palate is very complex and well balanced, with both red and black fruit, a touch of vanilla and clove, some baking spices and lush, soft tannins. The finish goes on and on and on. I’m in love with this wine!!!

The 2007 L’Ecole No. 41 Perigee was a great way to START our holidays! I’m looking forward to what the rest of the season has in store for us!

 http://www.lecole.com

It’s Not Only About Shiraz in the Land Down Under!

When most people think of Australian wines, they think of Shiraz! There’s obviously a reason for that. Syrah, or Shiraz as the Aussies like to call it, is the most widely grown grape “down under”. Cabernet Sauvignon, however, is now number two, and there are producers making some wonderful wines utilizing this number 2 grape!

In the 1960s, Australia was a lot better known as the land of kangaroos and surfing. Fast-forward to the 21st Century and things have changed! From 1988 to 2008 Australian wine exports increased over 98% and today Australia has become known for quality wine. They still, of course, have kangaroos and surfing! In fact, my husband and I had a wonderful Australian vacation a few years ago where we golfed amongst the kangaroos in Geelong!

I recently had the opportunity to taste wines from Bordeaux side by side with four Bordeaux blends from Australia, and I honestly was surprised at the results on my tasting sheet. Now I’ve had great respect for Australian wines for years, even traveling there to further my knowledge, but I have to admit that I thought that I’d prefer the wines from France. I was wrong!

Here are the Australian wines I tasted:

Balnaves The Blend 2012

51% Cabernet Sauvignon, 43% Merlot and 6% Cabernet Franc

This Bordeaux blend is from the Coonawarra region, known for its bright red soil called terra rossa over a limestone base. This soil combination is known for killer Cabernet Sauvignon!  The nose has a touch of mint and cedar, with lots of dark fruit. The palate has the fruit along with some licorice, and has a velvety mouth-feel. What a great wine for about $25 retail!

Yalumba The Menzies 2012

100% Cabernet Sauvignon

Also from the Coonawarra region, this wine takes its name from Sir Robert Menzies, former Australian Prime Minster and lover of wine! With cedar, mint and black currant on the nose, this purple colored wine has juicy blackberry, black currant, some tobacco and a bit of olive on the palate. It needs some time, but this wine is going to be lovely. The tannins are nicely structured and balanced with the dark fruit.

Woodlands Estate “Margaret” 2011

100% Cabernet Sauvignon

This wine is from Margaret River, Western Australia’s premier wine region known for its wonderful examples of Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2011 “Margaret” is very fragrant with dark fruit, dark chocolate, tobacco and pencil shavings on the nose. The palate is ripe, but well balanced with cigar box and a lovely earthiness. This wine will be absolutely dynamite after some time in the cellar!

Yarra Yering Dry Red No. 1 2010

Blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot

Yarra Yering Vineyards is located in the Yarra Valley, a short 28 miles from the beautiful and bustling city of Melbourne. Although mostly known for producing lovely examples of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, the Yarra Valley also does wonderful things with Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz.

The 2010 Yarra Yering Dry Red No. 1 is from estate Cabernet Sauvignon vines planted in 1969. This wine is very different from the others. The herbaceous nose has lots of earth, clove and pencil shaving, along with dried black fruit. The palate has violet, some nice dark fruit and some barnyard funk. This reminds me most of a Bordeaux, with great acidity and longevity!

By the way, the “No. 1” stands for their Bordeaux Blend, while the “No. 2” is their Northern Rhone blend!

While visiting Australia a few years ago, my husband and I had only two days to taste in Yarra Valley. I had my heart set on tasting at Yarra Yering, but unfortunately they were closed BOTH of those days due to the horrific bushfires that overtook the region the month before. Instead we went next door to Warramate Vineyards where we had a lovely tasting. Warramate also makes some beautiful wines, and we counted our blessings that they were open. We no longer have any of Warramate’s wines in our cellar, but we do have fabulous memories of their wine and the lovely young lady who hosted our tasting! I’m including a photo of us sitting on their deck overlooking their vineyards.

Back to my Bordeaux vs. Australia tasting, there obviously wasn’t a dud in the bunch! I of course still LOVE the wines of Bordeaux, but this tasting reminded me of the high quality of wine coming out of Australia and the fact that they can totally compete with the finest wines of the world!

If you every have the chance to visit Australia, jump on that plane. Not only is it a beautiful country, they have great wine and beer and some of the nicest people in the world!

 

Are You Waiting to Arise??? Meet Blackbird Vineyard’s Arise!

I’ve always been a Right Bank kind of girl. Now don’t get me wrong, I love wines from the Left Bank as well. How the heck could anyone not????  But for me there is just something about the smooth, easy to drink wines from Pomerol, St. Emilion, etc.

Blackbird Vineyards has a great example of a Right Bank Bordeaux blend from Napa. Made of mostly Merlot (which means blackbird in French patois), founder Michael Polenske named this particular blend Arise, taken from the Beatles’ song Blackbird. In fact, the label is fabulous! It features nine blackbirds (as the notes) sitting on a telephone wire (as the music staff) representing the beginning notes of the Beatles’ song. Check it out! It’s true!

Please excuse the sloppy wine stain dribbled down the label. That was a bad pouring job on my behalf and was not intended on the label. I’ve therefore included an example of the label from their website as well. I wanted to be sure to include my tarnished example too, however, because I absolutely love the feathers on the bottle above the label. I’m not sure what they represent, but I like to think that it’s a symbol of the flock of people it takes to make a great wine.  And this is a great wine!

The 2012 Blackbird Arise is a blend of 58% Merlot, 32% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. The garnet colored wine has licorice, blueberry, blackberry and black cherry on the nose. The well-balanced palate has lush black cherry, blueberry, cocoa powder, tobacco and a long smooth finish.

It’s hard not to sing the Beatle’s song while drinking this lovely wine. “All your life … you were only waiting for this moment to be free”! It’s like a bottle of wine, isn’t it? Opening the bottle on a specific day determines the experience the wine will become. The wine is waiting for the moment to become free from the bottle and to arise. The 2012 Blackbird Arise is drinkable now, but it will truly “Arise” with some time in the bottle. I’m going to stock my cellar with a few more and try one again in a year or two, and then another a year later. I have a feeling that I’ll then be singing “All your life … you were only waiting for this moment to arise”!

If you’d like to learn more about Arise and Blackbird Vineyards other wines, check them out here: https://www.blackbirdvineyards.com

My New Favorite Party Wine!

I recently strolled into my favorite local wine store asking for some “every day” wines! I needed some decent bottles that come in at (or under) the $20 price range. I grabbed two bottles each of the six suggested to me.

My husband and I looked at the group and decided to crack open a California Cab for tonight. We chose the 2012 Matthew Joseph Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa. Comprised of 95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Merlot and 2% Malbec, this wine is dark garnet in color, the nose has delightful currant, ripe cherry, baking spices, and coffee, perhaps even mocha. The well-balanced palate confirms the fruit and spices, along with some wonderful flavors of chocolate shavings. The substantial finish brings lovely cassis flavors.

This “MJ” really fit the bill for a tasty wine that I won’t feel guilty about opening on a random Tuesday night. I’m going to be sure to stock up on some more for those nights when I’m home alone and don’t want my hubby feeling jealous, although he still may!!! It’s also going to be a great Cab to pour for an upcoming party we’re having.

This is definitely a fruit driven wine, with soft tannins and sweet vanilla. Now don’t go expecting a Bordeaux style wine. For a nice sipper and a great wine for entertaining, however, this 2012 Matthew Joseph Napa Cab can’t be beat. And it comes in at under twenty bucks! What’s not to like?

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