Author Archives: colonelgrape

2010 M. Chapoutier Cotes du Rhone

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After we had the Beaujolais Nouveau debacle we still wanted wine of course so I went back downstairs and came up with this bottle. A simple $12 CdR that probably wouldn’t blow us away but also wouldn’t leave us wondering why us.

colonelgrape: 71. Like I said previously this bottle was meant to be a filler of sorts. Not gonna wow you but not going to hurt you either. After working through the bottle I’ll say I wasn’t too pleased with it but I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt after sampling such awfulness with the Beaujolais Nouveau…I’ll say it was barely average.

MobyGrape: 72. Definitely not my favorite Rhone, but I was told not to expect much from this one anyways.  I’m not sure how accurately I can assess this one, after drinking something I disliked so much, I wasn’t going to give anything a fair shake.

2012 Beaujolais Nouveau

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It was late November and we were having a simple meal of bison meat hamburgers and tater tots  so we thought we’d sample this year’s Beaujolais Nouveau. Don’t buy it! All you’ll be doing is throwing $12 in the garbage. I’ll be the first to tell you I’m not a BN fan but this is really just awful. Remember from our previous post that it’s only aged for 6-8 weeks…and you can tell.

colonelgrape: 10. It’s a “wine” I’ll give it that much….barely. It tastes like a grape Juicy Juice box laced with alcohol. Super grape and alcohol flavors that taste completely separate and awful. Apparantly my Aunt and Cousin like it with a bit of cassis liquor but I can’t see that saving this disaster.

MobyGrape: 12.  I know I was complaining that wine never just tasted like grapes, but I never realized that wine grapes taste like ass.  One day I hope to actually try one (I may have and just can’t remember, but I understand why I would wipe that from my memory).  I seriously considered drinking some Drano as a step up.  Despite it all, I have big plans for this hot mess in a bottle.  I know of two ways that terrible wine can redeem itself.  Stay tuned, I’ll put this guy through the wringer.

2009 Groth Cabernet Sauvignon

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Last night we had grilled steak tips with red potatoes and an old standby, Groth Cabernet. You can find it on sale for $40 but it typically sells between $50-$60. Moby will tell you our Groth story:

MobyGrape: 88.  Drinking this wine is like getting a hug from an old friend.  It’s inviting, it’s solid, and it leaves you wanting another.  I guess it’s tanniny?  It does leave you a bit dry after the sip, but not in a bad way.  I find it makes me want more.  I’ve been having a hard time using my grown up wine words lately and differentiating between that and acidity, but I think acid is more like a bitter assault on your mouth.  Regardless, this is one of my favorite cabs that we’ve ever tried.  We found it by eavesdropping on a couple people that seemed well off who ordered it at one of our favorite restaurants.  Then we found it on the menu and it was stupid expensive and bought it at a store for a fraction of the price.  But anyways the wine – I find it pretty smooth, not winey (even though it’s young, so I’m told), we had it with steak and certainly holds its own but I don’t have a problem drinking it by itself, either.  The longer it sits out the more tang it gets.  It’s just a great all around wine, let’s leave it at that.

colonelgrape: 92. This is a traditional “cab n’ slab” wine…it screams “eat me with steak.” Everything you’d expect from a big California Cabernet: big tannis, big fruit flavor and good structure. Find the fattiest steak you can, crack open a bottle of Groth, and you are on your way. This wine is perfect for aging, I have a bottle of 07, 08, and 09 I intend to age for at least 10 years, but it’s good enough to drink now as well.

Bonus potato recipe: I think these potatoes are a great way to mix up the standard potato: using red potatoes, peel and slice them into 1/8 inch thick bite sized pieces, make an aluminum foil pouch for them, a few chunks of butter, salt and pepper. Seal up the pouch so it can be flipped (this is important) and throw it on the grill on medium heat. We make about 5 medium sized red potatoes for the two of us and they grill for about 15-20 mins on one side and 5-10 min on the other. I usually start these on the grill about 10-15 mins before the steak. When they are done they will be soft and delicious with one side being golden brown. They stick to the foil sometimes but don’t be afraid to work them off, those are the best bites!

Trivet Progress

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One good thing about having a wine “problem” is an abundance of cork! Here you can see me working on a glass of chianti before our wine dinner adding a layer to the trivet. Believe it or not there’s a method to our madness here. On the left I have a pile of corks from cheap/not so good wines we’ve drank and on the right our corks from very nice bottles. I started with a nice big champagne cork in the center and am surrounding it with our cheap wine corks. The outer layers will have the nice wine corks so we can see the labeling and make it look awesome. Basically I’m just taking standard wood glue and doing a layer at a time. I’m using 3 rubber bands to hold it together while the glue is drying. The secret is not using too much glue and having good tight rubber bands. Wood glue takes 12 hours to dry so it’s not a quick process but you can always add more layers before it’s completely dry. When you’re done you’ll have a durable trivet that has some character and should last forever! Stay tuned for the final product.

2009 Domaine Durieu Chateauneuf du Pape

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We were only planning on opening two bottles during our dinner but we were way ahead of schedule so I went downstairs and came up with a CdP. I was going to grab a Montepulciano d’Abruzzo to stick with our Italian theme but I wanted our guest to experience something different…but not this different. This was not a great CdP. This is the second and probably last 2009 I’m going to buy.

MobyGrape: 68. This smelled like a condom. I know I kid around a lot, but there were some serious eau de Trojan going on. And I really just couldn’t get past that. I was hoping it would go away after a while, or I wouldn’t notice it if I actually drank it instead of just sniffing at it, but that odor was still there and quite frankly ruined the whole thing for me. Fellas, if you’re trying to impress a special lady on a date by whipping this one out, she’ll pick up what you’re putting down, but don’t be surprised if she’s not into it. I feel like I’ve avoided so many obvious jokes in this review that I deserve some sort of prize.

colonelgrape: 65. How can I follow that? In all honesty when we were drinking it I was sitting there trying my best to defend it since I love CdP. However thinking about it more and more it just simply wasn’t a good example at all. I didn’t get the condom smell, yes we opened one up to compare, but everyone else did. I can’t give much useful tasting info after a long night but I do remember it being much more tart and just plain. Good CdP should be complex, structured, and exciting…this was not good CdP.

Guest Opinion: I was amazed at first wtih how accurate Mobygrape’s assessment of the condom smell was, but as I got more drunk, I started to question it, especially after smelling a real condom for comparison.  I wasn’t too fond of the flavor, but it definitely improved when drinking with the meal, although that might have also been me just enjoying the food.