tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27350664951906982632008-07-23T07:00:04.347-07:00MonkuWinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13750846389749495527noreply@blogger.comBlogger256125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735066495190698263.post-27879421283130511502008-07-23T07:00:00.000-07:002008-07-23T07:00:04.502-07:00

This one came from Jill over at Domaine 547 and what a great value for $14.99! Mainly dark berry aromas but there were also smoky, meaty components as well as a small trace of fertilizer. Lots of deep, ripe plum and berry fruit on the palate, underlain by spice, white pepper, cranberry and mineral components. I just wanted to keep taking in the aromas, then keep rolling the wine around in my

MonkuWinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13750846389749495527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735066495190698263.post-9951477332452118312008-07-21T07:00:00.000-07:002008-07-21T07:00:02.090-07:00

Sorry, no wine-related post today. It's break day. But it's food-related, the next best thing! I recently found a thread in Chowhound about a new restaurant called Merengue that had a Porto's-like menu. For those of you outside of Southern California, Porto's is a famous bakery and cafe in Glendale (with a more recently-opened branch in Burbank) that has many Cuban-type items on its menu.

MonkuWinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13750846389749495527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735066495190698263.post-74447625962349923752008-07-18T07:00:00.000-07:002008-07-18T07:00:02.232-07:00

I paid $28.00 for this wine directly from Tablas Creek. I had been impressed with all of their wines that I have tried so far and this one turned out to be no exception. Initially there was a really fresh aroma that I had trouble pinning down - it reminded me of barbecue sauce. That is, the molasses and citrus part of it (like a Hawaiian barbecue sauce). That toned down to more of citrusy,

MonkuWinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13750846389749495527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735066495190698263.post-76635280067150569812008-07-15T07:00:00.000-07:002008-07-15T07:00:00.700-07:00

This wine came from Garagiste and set me back $16.84. The aromas were really nice, mainly of flowers, plus raspberry and strawberry fruit. That continued on the palate, along with a smoky, minerally aspect that I really enjoyed. There was a long, lingering fruit and mineral aftertaste. No need to wait on this one, it's drinking very well right now. The wine had an excellent balance of fruit and

MonkuWinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13750846389749495527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735066495190698263.post-90791994691234622832008-07-11T07:00:00.000-07:002008-07-11T07:00:12.943-07:00

Gee, I didn't even realize it but this past Tuesday (July 8) marked the ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY for OneWinePerWeek! And it's been a blast doing this. Thank you, dear readers! I have had the fortune of drinking many excellent wines, a fortune made better by the fact that most of them were not real expensive. I was mulling this over the other day and it occurred to me that the factor that

MonkuWinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13750846389749495527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735066495190698263.post-46460173782211333482008-07-10T07:00:00.001-07:002008-07-10T07:00:00.314-07:00

This white Rhone blend of Grenache Blanc and Clairette was produced from organic, biodynamically farmed grapes. The aromas were initially closed but after some violent swirling I must have made the wine seasick so it coughed up some very nice flowery honeysuckle and pear aromas. On the palate the flavors were also initially tight but with some air time and swirling they turned really generous:

MonkuWinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13750846389749495527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735066495190698263.post-85543587754923739462008-07-09T07:00:00.000-07:002008-07-09T13:47:35.185-07:00

[Note: Aiyah, I completely forgot that this is another WBW - Wine Blogging Wednesday!!! Oh, well.. this month's theme is the letter "S" so thankfully that is broad enough to encompass the wine being reviewed today. "S"-wise, today's wine comes from Spain, and it had a certain unusual taste that you will see in the below description that starts with an "S" as well. So thank goodness for loose

MonkuWinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13750846389749495527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735066495190698263.post-15110327442411931112008-07-08T07:00:00.001-07:002008-07-08T07:00:00.672-07:00

Why is it that one day you try a wine and it is absolutely fantastic, yet the next time you eagerly imbibe the same one, it disappoints? Sometimes it may be due to bottle variation but most of the time it is because of bad timing. The wine you chose was, on the first sampling, in line with the stars but the second time around, it was not. It's as simple as that. J. Addison, the Hedonistic Wino

MonkuWinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13750846389749495527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735066495190698263.post-84849408047669415932008-07-07T07:00:00.000-07:002008-07-07T07:14:45.164-07:00

Yesterday we had a lunch gathering at my sister's place, and one of her friends brought this wine. It certainly has a distinctive label! Since it is easily peeled off, it can be put to other uses, as well. I didn't know from where it was purchased or for how much, and given the label, I didn't expect that it was very expensive. The wine didn't have much in the way of aromas, and it had a

MonkuWinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13750846389749495527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735066495190698263.post-79363053888062757812008-07-04T07:00:00.000-07:002008-07-04T07:00:00.996-07:00

We've all heard about the famous revolt by American colonists that took place in 1773 known as the Boston Tea Party. You can read more about what led up to this event here; what most people recall is that a huge amount of tea was dumped into the sea by the protesters. Not many are aware of a similar incident that occurred in that same port with not tea, but wine. Angered by overly complex and

MonkuWinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13750846389749495527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735066495190698263.post-64062833568154122562008-07-03T07:00:00.000-07:002008-07-03T07:00:55.606-07:00

This is the last of my three-part blog about our recent weekend cruise to Ensenada via Royal Caribbean's Monarch of the Sea vessel. One of the day's activities was a wine course. For an extra $9.95 I felt it was my blogger duty to enroll and report back to my faithful three or four readers on what took place. There were about 60-70 of us placed at various tables in one of the dining halls. In

MonkuWinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13750846389749495527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735066495190698263.post-5630468005712032712008-07-02T07:00:00.000-07:002008-07-02T07:00:38.436-07:00

I had this wine during our Ensenada cruise last weekend. The waiter was nice enough to save the remainder each night, so this was consumed over the course of three evenings, Friday through Sunday. It was $26 from the wine list (plus 15% automatic gratuity plus tax). Retail price? I did some searching on the internet and came up with a range of $10-$12. On to the wine: initially it was pretty

MonkuWinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13750846389749495527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735066495190698263.post-62002430114117439112008-07-01T07:00:00.000-07:002008-07-01T07:00:37.804-07:00

My wife and I had the pleasure of taking a weekend cruise down to Ensenada, B.C., sailing on the Royal Carribean Cruise's Monarch of the Seas ocean liner. This is the first of three blog posts about our journey. One evening we ventured up to the karaoke lounge to check out the brave (or drunk, or both) souls who took up the microphone to share their singing abilities with the audience. One

MonkuWinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13750846389749495527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735066495190698263.post-31944646308082978862008-06-30T07:00:00.000-07:002008-06-30T07:00:02.311-07:00

$17.55 direct from Tablas Creek and worth every penny and then some! Roasted nut, chocolate/caramel and peach aromas started things off nicely. This carried over onto the palate, along with butter, ripe pear, melon, and citrus fruit combined with lots of minerals that filled the mouth, everything balanced out by good acidity. The finish lasted a long time. This was one flavorful and complex

MonkuWinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13750846389749495527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735066495190698263.post-10705730022495227282008-06-27T07:00:00.000-07:002008-06-27T07:00:03.023-07:00

Do you remember a Dallas Cowboy defensive end who played for them in the 70's and 80's named Ed "Too Tall" Jones? Well this review is about Brooks "Too Tall" Riesling, the 2006 vintage from the Willamette Valley, to be precise. I purchased this bottle from Domaine 547 (wonderful delivery service, Jill!) and hadn't planned on drinking it that soon, but the darn bottle wouldn't fit in my wine

MonkuWinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13750846389749495527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735066495190698263.post-10099982638349695172008-06-26T07:00:00.000-07:002008-06-26T07:09:08.858-07:00

As I had warned people in my Monday post, Twitter is going to have to make some changes if it is going to handle the huge traffic that flows through its servers. Above is a screen print taken around 7:00 in the morning, a time when people should either be sleeping (lucky folks!), getting ready for work, or driving to work! Does this mean people are already Twittering on their Blackberries and

MonkuWinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13750846389749495527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735066495190698263.post-35558308003778674642008-06-25T07:00:00.000-07:002008-06-25T07:00:02.038-07:00

Amazon.com's marketing causes me problems. Viewing one product always leads to viewing another and that's how I ran across this book and couldn't resist adding it to my cart. This is a followup to author Máté's The Hills of Tuscany, which I haven't yet read but am now going to have to. A Vineyard In Tuscany traces the Máté family - Ferenc, wife Candace and son Buster - as they search for their

MonkuWinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13750846389749495527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735066495190698263.post-27612334651901962652008-06-24T07:00:00.000-07:002008-06-24T07:00:00.693-07:00

Here's some words of wisdom for you: never lock yourself in with a title because you never know when it's going to need changing. Haha, this is OneWinePerWeek yet, why so many wine reviews lately? Well, I still only have one 187.50 ml glass of wine per night, thus taking four nights to drink one bottle, but I have a glass of wine six or seven nights per week. So do the math: that means the

MonkuWinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13750846389749495527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735066495190698263.post-29275553335366730042008-06-23T07:00:00.000-07:002008-06-23T07:37:38.244-07:00

It had to happen sooner or later and that sooner (or later) has finally arrived. Twitter, the online social networking phenomenon that allows people to broadcast short messages that answer the simple question, "What are you doing?" has, as many of you know, been malfunctioning as of late. "Our robust system of servers was simply overwhelmed, and overwhelmed by one group in particular," was the

MonkuWinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13750846389749495527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735066495190698263.post-62239991475096886292008-06-20T07:00:00.000-07:002008-06-20T07:00:00.413-07:00

I'm a bit miffed at my own stupidity. The wine reviewed today isn't the one I thought I was reviewing and I didn't even notice until I started writing the review. I purchased two different bottles produced by Chateau Courtnant, both from the Saint-Pourcain region of the Loire and careless me just looked at those two identifying features on the label to confirm my choice, and not the vintage or

MonkuWinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13750846389749495527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735066495190698263.post-12438837900019683942008-06-19T07:00:00.000-07:002008-06-19T07:09:12.798-07:00

Yes, this week is contradictory to the title of this blog - one wine per week is actually four wines this week. But I had some extra tasting notes I wanted to share with you so I put them all together into one week. This is another wine that came from Garagiste. For $11.99, it represents a terrific value. Very nice aromas of a subtle grassy/herbal character that said it was Sauvignon Blanc,

MonkuWinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13750846389749495527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735066495190698263.post-49730277111936893352008-06-18T07:00:00.001-07:002008-06-18T07:22:44.489-07:00

I had already scheduled a blog post for today, but after reading this article in the L.A. Times, as well as a few comments from wine bloggers (comment a, comment b, comment c), I thought I would throw in my two cents, aka comment d. I'm not gonna summarize the article; please read it then mosey on back here. Comment a and comment b both took umbrage at Joel Stein's article; comment c was more

MonkuWinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13750846389749495527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735066495190698263.post-42998097912524091112008-06-17T07:00:00.000-07:002008-06-17T22:10:04.497-07:00

Normally there's just one wine review per week except when it is Wine Blogging Wednesday, but I have a couple that I need to post to catch up on things. Plus it gives me something to post, haha. Principally Grenache with a portion of Syrah (I think the mix is either 80/20 or 84/16 but unfortunately I discarded the bottle without writing it down), this Rhone blend was $13.99 from Garagiste.

MonkuWinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13750846389749495527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735066495190698263.post-156054666218969552008-06-16T07:00:00.000-07:002008-06-16T07:00:01.655-07:00

Question: If we did not know exactly what bottle of wine we were drinking, would it enhance or detract from our enjoyment of it? Do we set ceilings on how good a wine can be based on our knowledge of which wine it is? So in other words, can a bottle of Two Buck Chuck only aspire to be only so good, whereas with a bottle of Screaming Eagle, the sky is the limit? To a certain extent that is true

MonkuWinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13750846389749495527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735066495190698263.post-13656818324356535392008-06-13T07:00:00.000-07:002008-06-17T22:15:18.406-07:00

From what I understand, there are just 900 acres in the world planted with the Moristel grape (according to Jon Rimmerman of Garagiste, where I purchased this bottle for $9.99). This particular bottling comes from the Somontano region of Spain, specifically the town of Alquezar. It's the result of a collaboration between Classical Wines and the local grower's co-op. In the aromas I sensed earth

MonkuWinohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13750846389749495527noreply@blogger.com