Venta Morales Tempranillo

I don't know what it is about this wine that reminds me of drinking out of a juice box of cherry juice, but it is strangely both nostalgic and slightly disgusting. On the up side, if you let it breathe for a good half hour it mellows out and has a nice, spicy aftertaste. But on the whole, not worth the $6.99 at International. You might as well just buy the juicebox.


67

Chateau Diana Pinot Grigio (vintage unknown)

So Betsy stomps in with her rubber snow boots on and has a West Side bag and is all smiles as she pulls out this Chateau Diana Pinot Grigio and is like, Hey, let's drink this.

Utter shit. What did this cost, like 3 dollars?

55. 

("$9.99 at the mini mart on Chambers St.")

2007 Cloudline Pinot Noir

I spent last semester in France. I spent roughly as much time drinking wine as I did in class (and I think the French would be proud of me for that fact). During all that time with a glass in my hand, it was never from a bottle costing more than 10 Euro, and it was usually from a bottle less than 5. But two Euro gets you a pretty decent bottle of wine in France. Perhaps not so much here in the U.S.

Without completely breaking the bank, I developed a taste for red wine, ideal for drinking on the banks of the Seine since it doesn't need to be chilled (I also developed a taste for open containers in public places). Since getting back, I've stuck with the reds, but have also developed a taste for all things New World. Though cheap, well-made wine is available anywhere at almost any time in France, you have to stick to terroir français. I am not even sure if the French know that other countries make wine.

I got really excited when one of my friends showed up to my birthday party last weekend with a 2007 Cloudline pinot noir for me from Oregon. Free is the best kind of cheap wine (it's in the $15 range when not a gift). It's a wine from the Willamette Valley, the northwest part of Oregon which produces about 2/3 of Oregon's wines and is home to 200 wineries. The cooler climate is perfect for producing pinot noir grapes.

Last night I finally got the opportunity to pop the cork. After letting it sit, I took a sip and found it to my taste. There are strong fruity notes of cherry and raspberry, and the nose is very minerally (is that a word?). I love the mineral, earthy smell that you get from a wine grown in a cooler, wetter climate. The body is medium-heavy, and I had the sense that I would have enjoyed it even more with some sort of heavy food: steak, salmon, something creamy. Kraft macaroni and cheese, perhaps. But even by itself it wasn't a disappointment.

81

We're baaaaaaaaaaaaack.

Time for wining and dining...if you can call V&T's and a vending machine Milky Way dining.

2006 Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon

A book I have—it's got a stock image of a wine glass on the cover—says that Robert Mondavi is a dependably good winery. That book is so right. This is a good glass of wine.

When you're writing a paper—or pretending to write a paper—or dicking around online and maybe opening a few tabs related to your paper—you want something strong, something that will distract you, something you can savor and let your mind linger over for a few minutes. So you're listening to music (I'm listening to Phoenix right now), and you're sipping your glass of wine, and you're thinking, "Yeah, I'm working on a paper. Hey, this wine is pretty good."

Pretty good? So good. 93.

1999 Chateau Mondotte-Bellisle Saint-Emilion

Ok so Neel hosted a "French Bread Party" (FBP) tonight in the office, and Dino—Dino's been buying a lot of our wine lately—brought this old bottle of French wine with a fancy chateau on the label and all that. We thought it would be good. It looked good.

But oh my god this wine was awful, you guys. So. Awful. It tasted spoiled and disgusting and like rotted, mushy, icky, sour, wormy grapes. But people kept drinking it.

People kept drinking it.

26.

I think we bought the wrong wine glasses

These beauties hold an entire bottle. [Jezebel]