Monday, May 29, 2017

2012 Turley Old Vines Zin

I think five proper storage years is about perfect for this wine! The bouquet is rich, jammy. On the palate, there is succulent fruit, mostly plummy and quite forward.  The body's a little unctuous, but fresh and crisp. Young.  Spectator gave it 91 points; I'd say 92.

Four days later: Update: The leftover wine was finished tonight. Sadly, this wine didn't survive four days in the refrigerator. Perhaps a four-day survival of a half bottle is too much to ask, but for $50 one might be excused for hoping so. Tonight, the four-day-old Turley Old Vines Zin was gone to prunes and hardly drinkable. The wine wasn't that old, so I view this as a serious flaw. As Baby Boomers age, a bottle of wine that's not very old (and which is quite spendy) should be able to survive a mere four days in the fridge without falling apart.

There are more good Zins coming out of Lodi now. Lodi CA used to be a place where no true wine lover would dare to tread, but now many wineries are making very good, lower-priced Zins from there. Sure, maybe they harvest in July and that is weird, but what the hay! Give them a try--you can buy four or five of them for the price of one bottle of Turley Old Vines Zin!  (P.S. - And in my opinion, they're just as good) Give up on this Turley wine. There are many better Zins out there for far less money.

Here's a general rule: Once a wine has achieved cult status, be very cautious about buying it. I've learned that the number of wineries who can sustain truly high quality after achieving acclaim, is rather small.

For those of you in CA, please check out the better wines from Walla Walla WA. Many of them are FAR superior to CA wines of higher price. What are you waiting for? At what point will you finally admit you are wasting money, and will have to retire two years later than you'd like, just because of the money you spent on so-called great CA wines, when you could spend half as much for far better wines from WA? Wake up! Open your mninds! You are good people. You lead the nation in Progressive political thinking. So, get just as smart on wine!


Thursday, May 18, 2017

2011 No Girls Grenache: Tasting Notes

I'm feeling chuffed tonight--I manned a table at the Woodland Chamber of Commerce, and got quite a few new wine customers, including the mayor and the rising Chamber President! So I pulled out a 2011 No Girls Grenache (this is by Christophe Baron of Cayuse):

- Bouquet: Hits initially of a heavy barnyard note, coexisting nicely with cherries.
- Palate: This is a BIG wine. Those cherries are dark dark dark, and heavy. There is much acid here; will go great with lamp chops being grilled with olive oil, mint, and rosemary (and S&P and garlic).
- Finish: Light. The wine is still very young. Oh, there's a finish-a bitter note, like citrus peel.

This wine isn't as popular in places like California as their Syrahs are, but I'm glad to have it, and to have opened it!


Wine and Your Health: Getting Real

 Here are two articles on wine and our health: 1. First article : Grapes are a superfood that lower bad chloresterol. Many of their healthy ...