Battle of the Blancs

So I decided to do a side by side tasting and open 2 bottles of sauvignon blancs at the same time and compare them. We decided on 2 random bottles we had, a Kato New Zealand one and a Cameron Hughes wine from the Russian River Valley. Stephen poured us each a small glass of both and we tasted them. The interesting part is that I didn't know which glass was which. Here were my thoughts:

Wine #1:

• pale yellow
• bad smell
• watery flavor, not very good on first taste
• more of an alcoholic burn
• more drinkable though, like a watered down lemonade
• could possibly be confused with a pinot grigio
• after drinking it a bit, I prefer this one since it's simpler

Wine #2:

• dark, bright yellow
• green pepper smell
• very strong taste - maybe too strong with food
• very distinct sauvignon blanc
• smells like a pickle, vinegary

Wine #1 turned out to be the Cameron Hughes wine, and Wine # 2 was the Kato. I definitely liked #2 a lot better, which just goes to show that not all Cameron Hughes wines are terrific. I must say though, that we both tried these wine a day or two later and I thought the CH one was better than it was on the first day. 

Joh. Jos. Christoffel Erben Riesling

I'm not even sure if that is the official name of this wine, there are so many things on the label! We originally opened this wine to use a little bit in some cooking, but it turned out to be sweet and not dry like we thought. We didn't know that much about it, and just got it at the Grapevine sale a year or so ago. It turned out to be very yummy! It seems a bit heavy and sweet, which is not how I'm used to rieslings tasting. It has a very honey like flavor, and is very rich. It is only 9.5% alcohol and very drinkable. I believe this was a bit pricey although I have no idea this long after we bought it. When I looked it up online, the only place I found said it was $40 which means we prob bought it for $25 or so. Although it is pretty good, I definitely would not buy it for that again.

Cambiata Tannat

My best friend in the whole world has moved back to Austin! I am beyond excited, and so I went over to his place to hang out. We are both big wine lovers so we decided to share a bottle. He showed me his collection and we decided on a wine I had never heard of before - a tannat. Apparently this wine is pretty hard to find, and only a few places carry it. He warned me that it would be intense and I almost wanted to wait and try it with food sometime, but we decided to forge ahead and try it. This wine was very good! I am writing this review after the fact, so unfortunately I don't remember specific flavors. However, I remember it being very bold and rich definitely a new type of wine I would like to try again!

Nautilus Sauvignon Blanc

Now THIS is a wine. I have had this wine a few times before, once at McCormicks and Schmidt, and another at a wine bar. Perhaps even a third time at House Wine, I don't remember though. I finally bought Stephen a bottle for his birthday last May and we just got around to drinking it. To me, it is the perfect sauvignon blanc. Sauv blancs are tricky, because sometimes they taste like the infamous cat pee, or green peppers, or water, or occassionally a wonderful blend of citrus. This wine has wonderfully balanced fruit flavors and goes well either with food or completely on it's own. For $17, I will definitely be getting this wine again.

Texas Hills 2005 Syrah

Stephen and I have had this wine for probably 3 years or so and decided we really needed to go ahead and drink it. Texas Hills is quickly becoming one of our favorite Texas wineries, since almost all of their stuff is so delicious.

My thoughts on this wine are that it is VERY good. I thought it was highly acidic, which I like, and has a bit of a tomatoey flavor. Almost a little V8 like, and I don't actually like V8 but I loved this wine. It was also a bit herby. Overall it was just so so good, and Im pretty sure they don't sell the 05 anymore, but I've tasted the more recent syrahs also and they are very good as well.

Cork Cage

Here is a picture of my new cork cage! I was dropping in the cork from the almond sparkler on New Year's Eve.

New Year's Eve Wines

Stephen and I decided to keep it pretty low key this New Year's, so decided to just spend the evening with Maddie and family. We invited our parents over as well and while my parents were sick, Stephen's parents could make it over. We bought hats, glasses, and noisemakers and had snacks, wine, and played the new game I got Stephen for Christmas, Hedbanz. This game is FUN! It's basically kind of like 20 questions, but you are wearing a headband with a card on it and you are trying to guess what is on your card.

The night was really fun and while we played the game, we gave Stephen's parents a choice of a few wines. They chose one they actually have had before, the Becker Prairie Rotie. This wine is always a crowd pleaser and is very soft and not very tannic so fits well with people who don't usually drink wine. We celebrated the new year a little before midnight so Maddie wouldn't have to stay up so late, and toasted with an almond sparkler.

Everyone agreed the sparkler was great and better than real champagne! I always love almond sparklers, as they are sweet and super delicious.

The night was very fun!