Betsy's blog

Well, I’ll have to say once again, how glad I am we visited Sonoma last fall, and how glad I am we joined the Sonoma Wine Shop Wine Club.  We signed up to have 4 bottles shipped 3 times per year – 3 reds and 1 white in each shipment.  So far we’ve tried 3 of the 4 from our spring 2012 shipment.

First  we tried the Seabiscuit Ranch Chardonnay.  I’m sure it’s a good quality wine, but FAR too “oaky” for me.  I actually didn’t know what the term “oaky” meant until I tasted this stuff.  It defines oak flavor.  Nothing BUT oak.  In fact, I think I’d have to consider this the IPA of Chardonnays.  Not on my list of favorites.

Next we tried the Wild Hog Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon  It was good.  Not stellar, but good.  I have a fairly high bar when it comes to cabs, though, and I will guess most people would like this wine.

Haywood Estate Zinfandel.  My oh my.  It reminds me of why I love red wine, and makes me wonder why I’m not alcoholic.  So smooth, so rich, I just want to keep rolling it around in my mouth until I realize that if I swallow I can do it all over again.  John might have to take me down if he’s thinking about having that last two tablespoons left in the bottle.

Coming up… Sparrow Hawk Pinot Noir 2009.  The SWS does a great job at selecting wines for the club, so my hopes are high for this one.  I’ll keep you updated.

The next wine is from our most recent Sonoma Wine Shop wine club shipment. Hard to believe it was also the least expensive, because it was SO YUMMY!  Very smooth, and the flavor was just perfect.

The next one brings memories of an interesting evening.  Our friends, Bubba and Vicky, (are you beginning to notice that Bubba and Vicky and us and wine usually all go together?) were supposed to come over for dinner, but were delayed by BREAKING NEWS.  Bubba is the owner of the Carrboro Citizen newspaper, and (while buying the Auka Malbec?) just happened to stumble upon the Occupy Carrboro movement had to stop to take video and tweet the event.  Big excitement for a sleepy town like Carrboro, but when the Citizen staff reporters arrived, Bubba left coverage in their capable hands and brought the news (and the Malbec) to our place.

I’ve taken pictures had hoped to log all the lovely wines I taste, so I can remember the names and recognize the labels later on.  As I browsed back through all the pictures I found that most had some sort of memory or story associated with them, so here is the story of my wines…or the beginning of the story, at least.

Kelley & Young Sauvignon Blanc

We visited Sonoma Wine Shop in September 2011 while visiting the San Francisco area on vacation. This stop on our trip proved to be especially enjoyable. Our host for a wine tasting was a fellow who lived for a while in Asheville, NC, and we immediately bonded with him. He was very chatty, and made sure each wine passed his taste test before we tasted it too. By the end of the tasting, we’d purchased only one bottle of wine, due to luggage limitations, enrolled in the SWS wine club, and left a host who surely must have been even more tipsy than we were. This fine Kelley & Young sauvignon blanc was part of our first wine club shipment. We saved it for Sarah’s and George’s visit at Christmas time, and we all enjoyed it very much. It’s perhaps one of the best white wines I’ve had.

Chateau de Luc Corbieres

This Corbieres (red) came from the Weaver Street Market in Carrboro, via our good friends Bubba and Vicky. It was part of the “Six for Sixty” gift for John’s 60th birthday in November 2010. Not knowing much about French wine, and really liking the look of the bottle in our wine rack, we didn’t pop the cork until about a year later. What a wonderful surprise! Very smooth, with a pleasing flavor. I wish I had a gift for describing the nuances of what a wine tastes like, but unfortunately I cannot. I just know what I like.

Should I be separating reds from whites?