I can't believe that came from your mouth!
Posts tagged wine
Idaho Has Good Wine- Snake River Winery
May 1st
It has been a while since I wrote about visiting a winery, and honestly, I havent had the chance to visit the Snake River Winery in Idaho, but they have a tasting room in downtown Boise with friendly staff and free tastings. You know, once upon a time you could get free tastings at Virginia wineries, but that is becoming very rare. And rarest of all when you encounter free tastings for wines that are this good.
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.
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Autumn Ivy at Silverado Vineyard
Oct 15th
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.
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Awesome Zombie Wedding Photos
Aug 22nd
The part about weddings I hate the most is the photography session that seems to last a couple of hours between the couple saying “I do” and when you can start to eat at the reception. Finally, here’s a couple that took good advantage of those hours to do something memorable and fun. Below is just a single photo of the epic photo album. Click here to see the rest. Also, notice how the groom fights the zombie without spilling his wine? Skills, baby. Skills.
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Awesome Wine Cellar
May 13th
Maybe if my wife lets me rent a jackhammer I can begin construction through my basement concrete floor to install one of these-
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.
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Wine Tasting in the Canberra Region of Australia
Apr 10th
Rather than write about individual wineries, I thought I’d switch this up just a bit and talk about the entire region of Canberra- Well, mostly the Murrumbateman village region, where I spent most of Sunday Morning. Many wine aficionados like to preach that its not about the wine, but the winemakers who give character to their wine that makes a good wine truly good. So in a region of great wines, how do you pick a winner among four wineries? Simply, the four winemakers who best help you experience their wine.
I visited several wineries, but four stand out in quality. Yass Valley Winery, McKellar Ridge Winery, Dionysus Winery and Clonakilla Winery.
Clonakilla winery is hailed by experts as one of the best wineries in the region. In fact, it was based on this recommendation that I went to the Murrembateman village to begin my winery tour. But the first winery I encountered was the Dionysus Winery. Like many wineries in the region, they specialized in Rieslings and Sauvignon Blancs, but to me what really stood out was their fantastic Shiraz, a bright purple wine with smells of smoke, harvest berries and spice. It was aged in oak, helping to provide a complex, smooth, yet bold flavor to a familiar grape. I took a bottle of their Shiraz back to the hotel to enjoy it during the upcoming week.
Clonakilla, was sadly, lacking in any kind of personal touch, and upon tasting their wines, I honestly had to ask what all the hubbub was about. It was staffed by a young, indifferent man who offered tastings of overpriced wines. His best wine was a Shiraz made from another estate’s grape. While that is not anything to hold against any vineyard, considering some of the local competition who grew local varietals, and grew them better, this caused me to bypass his offering for other regional bottles.
Next on my visit trail was the fantastic Yass Valley Winery, up the street from Clonakilla. This winery was spectacular, mostly because of the winemaker who ran the place. I was welcomed into their bright roomy tasting room, where I helped to remove the reds that were warming(!) over the floor heater because they were too chilly. The winemaker was Mick Withers, a retiree who sank his last years of his life into a beautiful winery making fantastic wines. He playfully guided me through their varieties. Most of their whites were to die for. The Traminer was great, as was the Verdelho, but I ended up settling on the Barbera, a red wine originally from Italy that has a fantastic flavor. I enjoyed a glass of the wine while Withers’ retiree wife made me a beautiful plate of bruscetta with local tomatos and fresh feta cheese. Maybe it was seeing this older couple run their business with pride that made this wine taste so well, but it is most likely the fact that the opposite is true: good wine comes from good, hardworking folk, and this is the clear winner of the wines I enjoyed today.
Last but not least, I stopped by McKellar Ridge Winery, run by Brian Johnston and his talented artist wife, Janet. Janet’s great watercolors, what were left after last week’s wine festival, adorn the tasting room’s walls. The Johnstons are trying to corner the local market on Bordeaux style wines by combining local varieties of Cab Franc, Merlot and Cab Sav together. The wines I tasted that they had to offer were exquisite. And they have won many local awards too. I think they will be successful with their blends. But the Bordeaux style wines were nothing fantastically new to me, coming from Northern Virginia where so many similar blends also tried to capture that French essence. Their whites, however, were what stood out to me. A crisp Sav Blanc and an equally tasty Riesling made for a great sipping wine on a warm rainy Sunday morning as I enjoyed the Johnston’s company.
It really is true. The best wines are not about the chemical makeup of the vintage. Its about the winemakers and their passions- and in my case, their ability to suffer a visiting Yank touring a wet region of outstanding wines.
Oh an that last photo of Kangaroo Prosciutto? I had to try Roo meat while I was here. It goes great with the Barbera!
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Zombie Zin
Oct 16th
This Zinfandel is described as blood red in color and with a finish that never dies. I love living in a country that has holiday themed wines. BRAINNSZ!
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Gov’t Interference Stifles Wine Innovation in France
Dec 14th
A great analysis on how the California Wines closed the gap with French wines in just a couple of decades. Thanks to HotAir for this clip from ReasonTV
HotAir said:
Reason explores the stultifying effect of French government control over winemaking, including the use of government tasters to approve and reject wines for sale and its diktats on crop choices and methods that keep France’s winemakers straitjacketed. In America, and increasingly around the world, winemakers have the opportunity to take risks, change crops, try new methods, and let the consumer choose what works best.
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The French Surrender to Their Passion for Wine
Sep 4th
Wow, this is something everyone that loves fine wines should get! Thanks to Chris for the video!
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Go See Bottle Shock
Jul 30th
This looks like it is going to be a great American movie about the wine tasting in 1976 that shocked the world by naming a California Chardonnay superior to it French counterparts. Wow, I am predicting Oscar. The movie’s official site is here.
Click to see the trailer. Thanks to Debbie Schlussel for the story, with more backstory here.
I would love to know how Virginia’s wines stack up.
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Torturing and Eating Critters for Fun and Profit
Jan 23rd
For any of you going to the Olympics in China, be sure to pop over to the zoo for some really fun times. There you can dine on tiger meat and dangle live chickens over the lion’s pit. And if you are quick with your camera, you can catch a great shot of a live goat being tossed 35 feet onto packed dirt, where injured, it is torn limb from limb by lions.

This post is dedicated to Nancy Zhang, an LA paralegal who wrote to remind me that a 3000 year old culture like the one in China is obviously so much better than our own, since it is old and all. And Chinese.
From the DailyMail here:
The smiling children giggled as they patted the young goat on its head and tickled it behind the ears. Some of the more boisterous ones tried to clamber onto the animal’s back but were soon shaken off with a quick wiggle of its bottom.
It could have been a happy scene from a family zoo anywhere in the world but for what happened next.
A man hoisted up the goat and nonchalantly threw it over a wall into a pit full of hungry lions. The poor goat tried to run for its life, but it didn’t stand a chance. The lions quickly surrounded it and started tearing at its flesh.
“Oohs” and “aahs” filled the air as the children watched the goat being ripped limb from limb. Some started to clap silently with a look of wonder in their eyes.
Just an hour’s drive from the main Olympic attractions in Beijing, Badaling is in many ways a typical Chinese zoo.
Next to the main slaughter arena is a restaurant where families can dine on braised dog while watching cows and goats being disemboweled by lions.
The zoo also encourages visitors to “fish” for lions using live chickens as bait. For just £2, giggling visitors tie terrified chickens onto bamboo rods and dangle them in front of the lions, just as a cat owner might tease their pet with a toy.
You can also visit other zoo animals like the following:
A pair of endangered moon bears with rusting steel nose rings are chained up in cages so small that they cannot even turn around. One has clearly gone mad and spends most of its time shaking its head and bashing into the walls of its prison.
There are numerous other creatures, including tigers, which also appear to have been driven insane by captivity. Predictably, they are kept in cramped, filthy conditions.
Zoos like this make me want to boycott everything Chinese,” says Emma Milne, star of the BBC’s Vets In Practice.
“I’d like to rip out everything in my house that’s made in China. I have big problems with their culture.
“Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised by their behaviour towards animals, as the value of human life is so low in China.”
And wait, there’s more! Nancy Zhang loves what they do to tortoises in the Chinese zoos. What is it about the Chinese obsession with finding good luck?

And what would hurting tortoises have to do with it?
Simply put, Chinese families now gather in zoos to hurl coins at tortoises.
Legend has it that if you hit a tortoise on the head with a coin and make a wish, then your heart’s desire will come true. It’s the Chinese equivalent of a village wishing well.
To feed this craze, tortoises are kept in barbaric conditions inside small bare rooms. When giggling tourists begin hurling coins at them, they desperately try to protect themselves by withdrawing into their shells.
But Chinese zoo keepers have discovered a way round this: they wrap elastic bands around the animals’ necks to stop them retracting their heads.
You know, dangling chickens, throwing goats and pelting tortoises with coins sure can be thirsty work. If only there was some type of drink that was made by abusing animals that could slake your dual thirst for fluids and animal cruelty- wait! The Chinese have thought of everything! How about taking a tiger, grinding its bones down, and sprinkling it into wine? Would that be a delicious beverage for Red Commies? You Betcha!
Astonishingly, the zoo also sells tiger meat and wine produced from big cats kept in battery-style cages. Tiger meat is eaten widely in China and the wine, made from the crushed bones of the animals, is a popular drink.
Although it is illegal, the zoo is quite open about its activities. In fact, it boasts of having 140 dead tigers in freezers ready for the plate.
The wine is made from the 1,300 or so Siberian tigers reared on the premises. The restaurant is a favorite with Chinese Communist Party officials who often pop down from Beijing for the weekend.
I have been writing about the cruelty of the Chinese for a while now. See here, here, here and here.
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