Halloween Party Wines!

We all went to a Halloween party hosted by the people I babysit for and had a fantastic time! There were costumes, lots of snacks, pumpkin carving, ghost stories, etc. There were a bunch of kids there (ours included) but it was also very relaxing and chill for the adults. They really decorated their house well and like I said, there were TONS of snacks, which in my opinion, makes for a good party! We were offered drinks, so of course I went straight to the wine. I was the driver, so only had 2 smaller glasses.

My first was...

This was a J. Lohr Cabernet and was just ok. Pretty standard cab. However, my second wine was fantastic.

I have never heard of Hamilton Estates, but this merlot was top notch. I just wrote about how that Cameron Hughes merlot didn't wow me, but this wine was so packed with flavors! Fruity, tannic, possibly herby and chocolaty. So much going on! Like I said, I was the driver so I had to take it easy, but if I see this wine around, I may just have to pick up a bottle and investigate it further.

Chisholm Trail Dessert Wine

I can't believe I forgot to write about this wine! I actually had this delicious wine the very end of February at a "Death by Chocolate" event at Cafe Monet. Cafe Monet is a place where you can go and paint your own pottery and then pick it up a few days later after they glaze it. There are a few places like this in Austin, and they're really cool. Well they were holding an event where for $10 a person you could eat unlimited chocolate while you paint! They allow drinks and food to be brought in, so we thought it would be a fun way to spend the evening.

They had tons of chocolate cake, cookies, brownies, chocolate covered fruit, and just plain chocolates! It was all amazing, and I had brought a sweeter wine that I thought would pair well and it DID. I have had the Chisholm Trail Dessert Wine for some time now, I think I bought it when Grapevine was closing. Its actually a cabernet, 18.5% alcohol, and yet sweet and delicious. This reminded me a bit of a port and was very smooth and VERY drinkable. Its a 2/3 size bottle and about $19 and well worth it... it is SO delicious.

It was so much fun to paint and relax while eating tons of chocolate and enjoying such a delicious wine. There are lots of things to paint at Cafe Monet, but most are kinda large and a bit expensive. I decided to paint a small dinosaur, since these were super cute, only $15 each, and there were 3 different ones to choose from.

After they were glazed they came out a lot darker and very shiny and are such a cute way to remember the night!

Drinks at the Mohawk

I went to the Mohawk a few nights ago for a concert and while perusing their bar area was surprised to find Sake2Me drinks for $1! I don't really like sake, and have never heard of that brand, but figured what the heck for a dollar. What I got was a wine cooler bottle full of delicious flavored cold sake, asian pear to be exact. It was pretty good! Unfortunately, it must have been a short lived special because when I went back less than an hour later, they were all out. So I figured I would give their wine selection a try, even though wine is WAY overpriced almost everywhere.

They only had one wine and it was Robert Mondavi Cabernet. Having no other drink options (I hate most mixed drinks), I gave it a try. It was a tragic $6 for half a plastic cups worth. I later saw the bottle at a Walgreens for only $9. Ugh. Anyway, the wine was not bad. It was drinkable, and had a very strong dried cherry flavor on the finish which I loved. Overall, it was pretty decent.

Chalone Vineyard Cabernet and Goat Brie

I have so many bottles of wine on my wine rack and buy wine so frequently that I sometime forget about bottles for long periods of time. I thought it was about time I try one of my oldest bottles, and that was this Chalone Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon.

I bought this bottle at HEB once when they were having a half off sale, and it was originally $16 and I have just seemed to forget about it until now. I've probably had it for about 2 years now, and Im pretty sure its not the type of wine that needs to be aged.

One thing I immediately noticed about this wine that was it was not as dry and tannic as I would have expected. It was very smooth, fruity, and drinkable.

To go with the wine, I had a goat brie that I picked up at Whole Foods. As is pretty obvious, Im really into goat cheese lately and at the cheese festival I found that I really do like bries, which surprised me. I used to not like them at all, but maybe they are growing on me.