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Kids, got'em. Books, read'em. Bacon, Om Nom Nom.
Kirsten and I made some pasta for dinner last night. We added some ground sausage and wine to some La Rossa's pasta sauce and set it to simmer while we boiled the water for pasta. For the wine, we opened a bottle of 2004 Valley of the Moon Zinfandel. Kirsten and I had toured this winery during a trip to Sonoma a couple years ago, and while we enjoyed the wine, we definitely enjoyed some other wines even more. This was the only bottle we purchased from this winery on that trip; and after the first couple sips the memories of mediocrity came flooding back. While certainly not a bad wine, it wasn't a great wine either. It was better than the Northern Vines, but not as good as the Doobie Red. In fact, the more time that goes by, the more I wish I had bought more of that particular wine.
Tragity struck the Walters house on Thursday when I ran out of coffee. So, a trip to may favorite new (and some would say inconveniently located) coffee shop, J & S Bean Factory. Don't let the silly name fool you, they are serious bean heads. They purchase the raw beans from co-ops, farmers, or ethical resellers and roast the beans on site. K stopped by on the way home, and picked up a pound of Tanzanian Peaberry. I brewed my first pot this morning, and let me tell you, those are some delicious beans. LIght, fruity and strongly caffeinated. Makes a great start to a saturday, or any morning really.
Over the weekend, Kirsten and I took the kids to Stillwater, MN. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and they have a nice park for Will (and maybe Ella) to play in and lots of interesting shops downtown. Instead, the park had not yet opened for the season (a gated park?! WTF!). So we took a walk through the town and along the sandbag dike by the river; it's flood season in MN. We stopped by Northern Vines and decided to split a quick tasting (a normal tasting is 10 samples). Kirsten tasted the Whites and I took on the Reds. To be honest, I wanted to like the wines, I did. But even after 5 samples, they seemed shallow. Good color, nice legs, but tasted like water. It tasting was a good expereince, but I don't know if it's the grapes, or the steel barrel aging process, but these wines had no depth of flavor, at all, period. We did end up taking home an Octoberfest White and a dessert wine. But not much to write home about.
As a stark contrast to the shallow wines, we opened a bottle of 2004 Doobie Red from the B.R. Cohn Winery . Wow, now THIS is a wine with depth. Perhaps it was just the contrast of this wine compared to the other's I'd just tasted, but wow. In all likelyhood, it's not fair to compare a California wine and a Minnesota wine. But considering you can buy either off the shelf in the grocery store, both are easily accessible, and thus worthy of comparison. In case you were wondering about the name, B.R. Cohn was a member of the Doobie Brothers. And the bottle we opened was signed by Mr. Cohn.
We received our quarterly shipment of wine from Moon Mountain. With this shipment we recieved a 2007 Malbec and a 2007 Merlot. While these bottles are sure to be enjoyed, they may be enjoyed before they get the chance to age for very long in our 'cellar'. And by 'cellar' I mean the bottom of our pantry. And in case you were looking for one, Moon Mountain has one of the best Port wines I've ever tasted. A case of that would not last long in our house.
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- April 2010 [2]
- March 2010 [12]
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- January 2010 [6]
- December 2009 [12]
- November 2009 [3]
- October 2009 [7]
