Jamie Lee Reacts to Wine Description

From Schillerwine here:

Virginia wineries continue to gain national and international national recognition. 10 of them recently won awards at the 2012 San Francisco International Wine Competition. The competition, held in June 2012, is the largest international wine competition in America, with more than 4,500 wines from 26 U.S. States and 29 countries competing.

“Just as last year, a number of Virginia wines scored highly against more than 4500 other wines and were awarded double gold, gold, silver, and bronze medals,” said Governor Bob McDonnell in a press release. “The First Lady and I congratulate all of our wineries and wine makers for their accomplishments and for helping raise the Virginia wine industry to higher levels.”

Some of my favorite vineyards were winners, including Barboursville, Gray Ghost and Paradise Springs. So if you are interested in a wine tasting vacation, forget California. Virginia is where it’s at.

From WTOP here:

The University of Tennessee is investigating allegations that fraternity members took alcohol enemas, leading one student to be hospitalized, and a national fraternity has suspended its chapter in Knoxville.

The Knoxville News Sentinel ( http://bit.ly/Pndf7d) reports the practice came to light Saturday when a student was brought to a local hospital with alcohol poisoning. Police said his blood alcohol was measured at above 0.40, a level that can be fatal.

After questioning the young people who brought him to the emergency room, officers determined that he had consumed the alcohol rectally, Knoxville police said Monday. Authorities said the technique is supposed to enhance the effects of alcohol.

Police said he had received a wine enema at the Pi Kappa Alpha chapter house. Eleven students and a visitor there were cited for underage consumption of alcohol.

I wouldn’t be so mad at my kid for getting bombed at school, but I’d kick his ass for being so gay and wasting wine.

The Snake River Winery has a huge selection of wines, and it seems that it would be hard to do a lot of different wines well. But Snake River manages it okay. Their Chardonnays are good, and their Merlots are good too, but neither are spectacular. Wonderful wines for the prices, however. But they have 21 blends or bottles to choose from. I only had the chance to tast 5 of the wines.

I settled on the Zweigelt, an Austrian grape that seems to grow quite well in the higher elevations of Idaho. It is a dry wine, but very light bodied with soft tannins, and it is quite drinkable alone or paired with- in my case- Idaho Barbecue Spareribs. Absolutely delicious!

The vintner at the tasting room told me that Snake River sells a Spanish grape, the Barbera. The last time I had one of those, I was in Australia. He mentioned that the gift shop at the Boise airport still has a few bottles of the Barbera and I’m planning on taking that one home with me as I fly out.

All of the vineyards in Napa are decorated for Halloween. This was taken inside the tasting room at Trefethen-

In addition to the 15 dollar tasting, I went home with a 30 dollar bottle of Chardonnay. Yeah, its better than the Chardonnay I get at home in Virginia, but perhaps not worth the 45 bucks for the bottle.

Who says California doesn’t experience seasons? In Napa Valley, the seasons express themselves with color changes on the vineyard tasting rooms.

This was taken at Silverado Vineyard, where I picked out a great Sangiovese.

Funny- when I was here last in May, it was so cold you needed a coat. Now the weather is warm and the leaves are changing.

Poizin Zinfandel wine is from the awesome Armida Winery. The bottle is awesome, but you might want to get your Zin from another winery. Just Sayin’. Their Pinot Noir here is fantastic and a good price too.

I am between jobs out here in the Bay Area and I brought the family along for the three day weekend. Today we are touring some vineyards and wineries tasting wines we don’t get much of in our own backyard. This is my generous pour of oak fermented Zinfandel

And when the zombies come, you can lock yourself in and survive happily on wine and cheese and crackers. You can see more details over at mad4red here.