My Father's Day Presents

I got this cool new wine fridge from my wife & kids for Father's Day, plus some new LSU Shirts & a Cap. How cool is that? My old cooler went out after a year and was small. This sucker olds 28 bottles! Salute!

Small Block White

2006 Timbuktu Small Block White, Austrailia

I picked up this wine with several others on a clearance table recently. It seemed like an interesting table wine with a curious blend. It didn't disappoint. It's a blend of Verdehlo 62%, Viognier 15%, Chardonnay 10%, Semillon 8%, and Riesling 5%. It's a smooth refreshing wine, similar to Sauvignon Blanc but milder with a soft sweetness. It has interesting unfamiliar flavors with the Viognier and Semillon. It's just a very easy to drink enjoyable white that goes well with many dishes. I read that Austrailia wines emphasize the end product rather than tradition and process. From the curious blend to high tech process to packaging, this is an example of a focus on taste. I liked it so much I went back and got several more bottles while still on clearance. For $5 you can't go wrong with this one.

Alice White Lexia

What the heck is Lexia? I had no idea what it was other than a white wine, which was enough to get me to try this 2006 Alice White Lexia since I enjoyed their Chardonnay so much recently. I expected some kind of Sauvignon Blanc but was surprised to find a tangy sweet flavor. It seemed most like a Riesling to me, but it had just a little lime kick to it. Once I looked at their website, I learned that Lexia was made from Muscat grapes grown in Austrailia. No wonder I liked it. I love Piedmont Moscato. While the Lexia is nowhere near the quality, it's a great easy to drink refreshing wine for hot weather like this. Salute!

Alice White Chardonnay

I was impressed by a 2006 Alice White Chardonnay I tried at a restaurant. Although my experience with Austrailian wine has been limited to the $10 and under bottles, and I am not a fan of Yellow Tail, this Aussie delivered. This Chardonnay is very smooth and easy drinking. It's very simple, not too heavily oaked and just dry enough. The fruit is mild and not overpowering. It lacks the wierd tanginess I get in Yellow Tail. For $6.50 a bottle how can you go wrong. I have no doubt there are higher quality Aussie Chardonnays, but I can't imagine a better one for under $10. I noticed on the company website that they've recently overhauled the image and marketing of their wines. It will probably be showing up in more restaurants as a result. This will definately be my everyday white wine of the summer. Salute!

Secco-Bertani Valpolicella

I had committed to merge my wine blog with this one but have been lax in posting tasting notes lately. I recently tried a new Italian wine, Secco-Bertani Valpolicella. I readily confess to being new to Italian and French wine. Varietal names have spoiled American wine newbies with their simplicity, and though I am a Cajun, my French is lacking and my Italian is worse. I'm familiar with Piedmont Moscato, Barbera d'Asti, and Barolo. Valpolicella is a new one for me, and I'm not even sure how to categorize it appropriately other than to say it's good stuff. It is reminiscent of a Chianti's lingering smoky finish but softer. It is mildly fruity and dry, which I like, with a rich spicy aroma. Overall, it's not a heavy wine, like Syrah, but somewhere between Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. I had it with stuffed chicken marsala, and it paired well. For red meat I would still lean toward Cabernet Sauvignon or Chianti. Salute!

Wine & Spirits Blog

For a time I kept a separate blog to journal my wine discoveries. It was mostly a personal journal to help me discern what I liked most about different wines that I tried, and I thought it would be nice to share it with others. It soon fell under neglect mostly because I was trying so many wines so frequently I couldn't keep up with journaling. This blog has also been my priority. Since the handy new labels feature that blogger added, it's become simplest to merge them into one and label my posts accordingly, so this blog will also feature my tasting notes. I can't imagine how many people actually come here to read my posts, but, no matter what brought you here, you'll be seeing more posts about wine & spirits. I'm also adding a "What's Uncorked" item to note what I have uncorked at the moment.

The bottle I'm finishing now is a 2005 Sutter Home Moscato from Napa Valley. I first tried a Moscato d'Asti from the Piedmont region in northern Italy, famous for their Moscato d'Asti and recently famous for the 2006 Olympic Winter games held in Torino. There is a little gift shop in Covington, LA called the Grape Vine. The owners personally import cases of Italian wine to sell in their shop and gladly offered a friend and I a taste test last summer while passing through. My favorite wine of theirs was a Barbera d'Asti, a dryer red wine. After tasting the heavier cousin, the Moscato d'Asti tasted like liquid candy. I found this American Moscato several months ago and saved it until recently, because I don't drink much white wine in the winter. With the spring-like weather my passion for red wines has subsided for a time and the only white I had to open was this Sutter Home Moscato.

Moscato is one of the lighter white wines you'll find, known mostly as an after dinner wine. It's even lighter than Sauvignon Blanc. It's very delicate, mild, and very sweet. I found the Sutter Home to be slightly less sweet than the Piedmont. It has the aroma and slight twang of grapefruit, similar to Sauvignon Blanc. When you can't find a good Piedmont Moscato d'Asti for less than $20, the Sutter Home is the way to go for under $8. Cheers!