Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
The wine shop I run doesn’t have much of a mark up, but the new Wineberry boxes I just started stocking, are almost shockingly inexpensive. When it was packaged in individual bottles, the Moulin de la Roquille red Bordeaux had to be priced at roughly $17 for us to make our money back on it, but when you stop having to pay for heavy glass bottles and shipping for heavy glass bottles, you get a ridiculous deal. 
A box of Moulin de la Roquille is FOUR BOTTLES OF WINE! Four bottles of Roquille would have cost $68 (4×17=68), but because of savings on packing and shipping, these same four bottles put into a box cost only $39.99. A formerly $17 “weekend-only” wine becomes a $10/Tuesday night/drink however much you like wine.
The best part is that, since it’s vacuum-sealed, it stays fresh up to two months after opening.
I love that now everyone gets to drink top-notch French wine any time they like. This is very much how the wine world should work!
Bordeaux, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Old World, T.B. Ackerson Wines | No Comments
Friday, March 27th, 2009
Bordeaux Blend
Ugh… another new vintage of a wine I fell in love with three vintages ago. Imagine falling in love with a man and then, only six months into your relationship, being forced to date the youngest of his three brothers… Falling in love with a wine and then realizing you got the last of your favorite vintage is not often pretty.
With the Mulderbosch, I fell in love with the 2003. It was thick, earthy, chocolate-driven wine stew. Now, suddenly the distributor is shipping the 2005, and I’m supposed to drink up its juicy red currants and roasted green bell pepper flavors AND pay more?!
Well, if I’m having food with it, I will. The lighter consistency of the wine went perfectly with white meat (seared pork chops stuffed with red onions and minced garlic… and a side of butternut squash and peas in a fennel and clove butter). The Petit Verdot and Malbec in this classic full Bordeaux blend added a bit of shoe polish and rotten cherry. I kind of like it.
It’s not the same wine it was in the 2003 vintage though. Wine grows and ages, and every year it’s different… so WHEN YOU FIND SOMETHING YOU LIKE… you should BUY A BUNCH OF IT! I wish I had done that with the 2003 of this great South African wine even though the 2005 is pretty freaking fantastic, itself.
Bordeaux, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, T.B. Ackerson Wines, Wine Reviews | No Comments
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
Call it a ritual, but I almost never drink (or pour out to guests) more than 1/2 a bottle of Bordeaux in a night; I want the second half of the wine to sit in the bottle overnight with the cork jammed back in it to poorly simulate an extra few years aging.
Bordeaux Vineyard
It’s a good thing, too, because last night this bottle was an uneven mix of cassis and brown, woody dirt, and tonight, it is a pancake breakfast in the glass. Maple, red berries, and a burnt brown sugar dominate the nose. The finish has slight bacony notes. There’s also the tiniest sliver of green bell pepper on the nose, too, and a briny quality that’s only perceptible with a strong swirling.
It’s amazing to me that a $20, six-year old Bordeaux has more structure, tannin, and finesse than the $75, four-year old Cakebread Cabernet I had the other day. It’s final blend is 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot.
Bordeaux, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, France, Old World, Wine Reviews | No Comments
Friday, March 20th, 2009
Roasted Garlic and Thyme Chicken from The NY Times
Simple, classic dishes create opportunities for some of the most obvious but most overlooked pairings. The usual thought is “If I’m making simple food, then I probably shouldn’t waste any money on an overly fancy wine.”
It’s wrong though because simply prepared high quality ingredients though are exactly the thing that can give a complex wine the extra lift it really needs to shine.
Take this NY Times recipe for garlic and thyme roasted chicken. The bird’s natural juices along with the simple yet savory herbs are exactly what a well aged Bordeaux needs. Of course, finding a well aged Bordeaux that is affordable is quite hard unless you’re shopping from your own cellar.
Chateau Bellevue Premieres Cotes de Blaye 2001 actually fits the bill just fine though, and it comes in at just under $20. It had flavors for dried fennel, cinnamon, red berries, and just a hint of celery leaves left in the attic, and everything about it soared when it hugged itself into the buttery, roasted meat from the recipe.
It needed about a half an hour of decanting. After that, it was everything that I’d forgotten a Bordeaux could be. Treat it gently though, otherwise, the flavors will runaway before they hit your tongue.
Bordeaux, Merlot, Old World, T.B. Ackerson Wines, Wine Reviews | No Comments
