Archive for the Tasting Notes from the Underground Category

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Here at Gang Central, we celebrate the year-end holidays mainly through the sharing of good food and wine with friends and family. We tend not to participate in the commercial rat race that so dominates Christmas, though we do indulge in gleefully viewing two opposite extremes in Yuletide movies; Polar Express (they still don’t have 3-D quite down for home viewing yet, but that’s a minor complaint), where a boy’s doubts about the existence of Santa Claus are happily resolved with a dazzling, sometimes harrowing train ride to the North Pole, and the very different Badder Santa, in which a vulgar, drunken, safe cracking department store Santa is ultimately redeemed, if not necessarily entirely reformed. (Remember, Gang of Pour has often been described as “irreverent,” and we do nothing to discourage that descriptor.)

Then, of course, there’s New Years Eve, when bubbly rules, and that’s where we’ll begin our rundown of the Gang’s 2009 holiday cheer. Please note that not all of the sparkling wines listed here were enjoyed on December 31st, but rather, are grouped together for a more cohesive report. All were enjoyed during the holidays, however, and I’m happy to report that Kim continues to show progress in becoming a true bubblehead. Read the rest of this entry »

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Being a “glass is half full” kinda guy, I like to look at my “unsigned free agent” status as an opportunity, rather than a handicap. Why an opportunity? Because I am more or less obliged to focus on QPR wines to fit our budget, and there are always plenty of those available from a variety of sources.

I stopped by Western Market in Ferndale a few days ago and was intrigued by a stack of this wine at a price that was just too good to pass up. We’re fans of Bonny Doon Vineyard, and we very much liked the 2007 version, which was priced at $22. So why is the 2004 available for half the price? My buddy Jarred Gild, manager of Western’s wine department, wasn’t around to answer that question, but these are usually the result of distributor close-outs, sometimes in conjunction with the winery. Whatever the case, I had a good feeling about this one, so I grabbed a bottle, brought it home and liked what I found. Read the rest of this entry »

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While perusing the wine shelves at Royal Oak’s Holiday Market recently, I was pleased to note that some of the places we visited in our recent Tasting Leelanau adventures were well represented, including the likes of Shady Lane, Chateau Fontaine and Black Star Farms. It’s good to see retailers who recognize the fact that our wines continue to improve and have achieved a quality level that no longer needs the caveat “It’s pretty good for Michigan,” and Brian Croze and Jeff Mar do a great job in that regard. Read the rest of this entry »

We have Gang of Pour charter member Scott “The Geek” Tobias pretty well trained these days. He knows that when he comes to visit and hang out on a night when there’s a Detroit Red Wings game on the tube, he should bring an appropriate wine to observe the traditional “Red Wings and Red Rhônes” theme. He did just that a few days ago, when he showed up with a bottle from one of our favorite value orientated appellations from the south of France. Read the rest of this entry »

Wineries covered in this report:  Tawse, Coyote’s Run, Ravine, Organized Crime, Foreign Affair & Alvento. The last three may be found here

Following on the heels of our adventures in the Leelanau, we decided to eschew American Thanksgiving and revisit the Niagara Peninsula to see what was new in the other exciting up-and-coming cool climate wine region within a four hour drive from Day-twah. Read the rest of this entry »

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As has been previously reported on more than one occasion, we’re big fans of Tablas Creek Vineyard, and we finally got our first taste of this wine last week. The folks at Tablas Creek think that it’s flat out the best red they’ve ever made, which is really saying something, and all the big name critical publications gave it big numbers (95-97 RP, 94 WS and 94 Tanzer). We don’t do numbers at our house, but we did give it half an hour or so in a decanter and then we enjoyed it with home made saffron pasta noodles with a pork ragu. Read the rest of this entry »

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“More bigger bottles,” as the nefarious Ju-ju-be from Joisey used to say back in the day, and that’s just what I uttered when I saw a bin of these at one of our local Costcos about a month ago. It’s been a while since we’ve had anything from Schramsberg, but our experiences with their bubblies have always been quite good, so I did some quick calculation in my brain and figured that this was a pretty decent price and worth a try. (Winery SRP for 750 ml is $36.) I finally found the opportunity to pull the cork, and happily, both we and our guests that we poured it for were quite pleased with what we tasted, as it paired quite well with hors d’ oeuvres, pumpkin truffle oil soup and an arugula and blue cheese salad. Read the rest of this entry »

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I’d never heard of this wine before tasting it a few days ago, and neither have many other people, I’ll warrant.  The South African winery Boekenhoutskloof is hardly a household name in the US (even among wine geeks who can pronounce it), this was the first vintage of this bottling produced, and only five barrels were made.  The wine is not for sale from the winery, per se, but is shipped off to  their best accounts with the directive to put it on their lists  (obviously, most of said accounts are restaurants) and sell it for what they think it’s worth.  I’m told that some establishments in South Africa price it as high as $500 per bottle; restaurateur Gary Danko mistakenly lists it as a Cabernet Sauvignon on his web site and sells it for $175.  Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve never been one of those wine lovers who worships at the shrine of Napa Cabernet, but that doesn’t mean that I summarily dismiss them either. While too many can be ultra-ripe, over-oaked monstrosities that may show well in blind tastings and score big points with critics (just don’t try to have one with food), there are exceptions, such as the 2 from Cornerstone Cellars we tried not long ago. I happened upon another one last weekend, and liked it so well, I brought one home.

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