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I'm OK with it, if it helps participation, etc. Croatia makes some excellent wine.
We have just scheduled our International Wine Night event for 17 May 2022. If you have a bottle from Croatia, that would be a good date to open it.
For this Deep Thoughts event coming up on 03 May 2022 (next week), I am making a command decision that we open a white blend (yes, they exist). You heard me - white blend wine. We all should do a bit of research on our bottle / winery and post that during this event, along with a picture of the wine bottle of course.
I have one. Yippee.
Actually, I just realized that if I considered dessert wines, I have more than one.
There is no limitation to the number of bottles you open in one night.
White blend = Bordeaux white for me.
The email reminder for this event has been sent out today.
I am good with Croatia Wine night May 17
Nice to hear. What will you be opening for this event tomorrow night Kathleen?
As to opening bottles in one evening, as V(opening bottles) ==> ∞, you might end have t ==> 0 and still manage infinite drunkenness. You may have stumbled onto something @BigAl
If our membership continued to increase at an exponential rate, then infinite drunkenness could be achieved (assuming that the number of wine bottles in your wine cellar remained at a near constant) in approximately 123 more wine night events. Heck, it's something to strive for.
That's part of our problem... we are told we are great from infancy, and find out that all is mostly mediocrity, a few persons excepted (and before you might speculate on the matter, I do not have any such delusions of personal grandeur, just plain curiosity about life).
BTW, you can attempt infinite drunkenness in the infinitesimal (one person) though this is just a remark on the math (however ridiculous and possibly unsound).
My wine tonight, if I can get round to it (some business to attend to, but should not interfere overly) is the 2018 Chateau Brown from Pessac-Léognan, this time the white (blanc) edition, which is often the best edition, as is true for many Graves wines (southern Bordeaux). Typical blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon... usually about 70/30 split respectively.
Price of the Ch. Brown Blanc '18 runs between 40 and 50 dollars US funds, but can be found on sale for about 38 US$ currently. We paid about 55 US here in Canada, so taxes loom large in our calculations here. The good news is that it is always a fine wine, and the '18 should come in with a good score, but we'll have to see. You can look up the critics and see what they said; I'll wait and taste before I make that comparison, but I already know the range will be in the low 90's from some data I saw last September.
That sounds a bit pricey but I'm sure it's going to taste fine. What will your food pairing be?
Food pairing will depend on what Lynn is thinking of. I will drink the wine as an aperitif in any case, should the pairing be, say, Mexican backfire.
My white blend for tonight.
My wine for tonight is a Côtes du Rhône 2020 from Domaine de la Bastide.
I bought this wine by accident because I confused the estate with Domaine La Bastide Saint Dominique in Courthézon, Châteauneuf du Pape, which I have visited and know well.
A very good entry level Côtes du Rhône Banc.
Viognier 60%, Roussanne 25%, Clairette 10%, Bourboulenc 5%.
Some delicious wines are on tap! Here is our bottle for tonight. Details to follow.
Here are the details: First, an assessment from a Cellartracker posting of this White Rhone Blend:
Lovely tropical aromas of white peach, pineapple, and limes. Graham crackers and white flowers too. It’s not very oily (as Rhone blends can be) and the palate is crisp and refreshing. A solid white wine that exceeded expectations.
Second, from the Repris tasting notes: Unknown to many California wine drinkers, Marsanne, Viognier, Roussanne and Grenache Blanc are staples in the Rhône Valley. Our version is harvested from vines nestled on an eastern facing slope just above our winery that is exposed to soft morning sunshine before easing into afternoon shade. The resulting wine boasts brisk acidity as well as full-bodied fruit, with a luscious mouthfeel and mineral character indicative of the rocky volcanic soil at Moon Mountain Vineyard. Rich and round without yielding crispness, this blend offers a New World interpretation of timeless French winemaking. 10 months in 100% neutral French oak and cellaring 5-7 years.
Our food pairing will be homemade chicken soup. Sandra cooked the chicken last night.
This is our Italian white blend for tonight. It is 2019 Chardonay and Trebbiano (50%-50%) from Pontedera which is in the Tuscany region.
So, @SallieBob, are you serving grilled shrimp tonight? Layered with garlic perhaps?
My wine tonight is Domaine Chanzy Bouzeron 'Clos de la Fortune Monopole' 2017. The varietal blend is 100% Aligote and nothing else. Hey, it was in my basement, it's was an easy pick.
Winemaker notes:
Upon tasting, Bouzeron reveals a wine that is delicate and nuanced. It is characterised by fruity notes with a beautiful mineral quality on the palate. Ageing on lees gives it body and volume. The Domaine Chanzy Bouzeron wines are bottled at the Domaine before the summer in order to preserve freshness and splendour.Perfect as an aperitif, Bouzeron is also sublime with seafood, grilled fish, fish with sauce and sushi.
The winery:
Maison Chanzy was founded by Daniel Chanzy in 1974 in Bouzeron, located in the northern part of the Côte Chalonnaise region of Burgundy. The winery itself is in the village of Bouzeron where it owns 16 hectares, including the monopole Clos de la Fortune which serves as the flagship wine.
Vineyards are farmed without the use of herbicides and pesticides, instead opting for organic fertilizers and occasional plowing between rows. Chanzy is in the process of obtaining Haute Valeur Environnementale (HVE) certification. All vinification takes place in Bouzeron, where whites go immediately to press and reds are sorted on the table de tri, mostly destemmed before undergoing a cold pre-fermentation maceration for six to eight days. The long, cold maceration allows for less aggressive remontage and pigéage later in the vinification process. Fermentation occurs with selected yeast or spontaneous via pied-de-cuve, depending on the wine and vintage. Élevage varies for each wine. Wines from the basic appellations settle and ferment in tank while the crus are transferred to barrel for fermentation. Chanzy uses very little new wood and barrels range in size from the traditional 228-liter pièce mostly for our Premiers Crus and 450, 500-liter barrels to 2,500-liter foudre for our Village appellation wines. The wines receive a light fining and filtration before bottling with low amounts of sulfur oxide.
I agree 100%
From the Sandlands website
Sandlands is the personal project of Tegan and Olivia Passalacqua. The line-up encompasses the forgotten classic California varieties, primarily grown in decomposed granite (sand), from regions and vineyards that have been farmed for many generations but have remained the outliers of California viticulture.
Primarily head-trained, dry-farmed and own rooted, the vineyards we work with harken back to California’s roots of exploration, wonder, and hard work.
Tegan, a Napa Valley native, got his start in the wine industry working in winery labs in Napa. He has worked in the cellars of Craggy Range in New Zealand with Doug Wisor, with Eben Sadie in the Swartland of South Africa, and with Alain and Maxime Graillot in the Northern Rhone Valley of France. For the past eleven years, he has worked for Turley Wine Cellars, working his way up from harvest intern to Winemaker/Vineyard Manager.
2020 Napa Valley White Table Wine – 3.5 barrels produced. 64% Napa Valley Semillon 36% Napa Valley Chenin blanc, . This wine showcases everything I love about Mediterranean white wines. Gravel dust, pear, lemon rind, sturdy, energetic finish. 12.5% alc.
Oh, we’ll perhaps a white blend is just a figure of speech anyway.
Our dinner is shaping up nicely.
The soup looks dee-lish
The soup was very tasty.
Now we are moving on to a lovely 2018 Pinot Noir from Kosta Browne.
Lynn - As Pink Floyd said, “Wish You Were Here”.
We are having our Subaru Forester serviced a few miles away from home today, and while awaiting a call to come and collect it (it is now 3:51 local time), I have opened the Chateau Brown for a peek and a small sample (I have to drive Lynn to pick up the SUV, so must hold back for now).
I note that on the back label, in French there is the following caption:
Issu d'une exploitation de haute valeur environnementale.
which you can probably guess (without high school French) means "from an environmentally friendly (high value) production." I did not know that, but it is the new fashion and that cannot be a bad thing.
Other information of note is that the property has 31 hectares under vine (76.6 acres) with 5 devoted to white grapes (12.4 acres). Jean-Christophe Mau is the current owner and his family has owned Chateau Brown since 1897.
The 2018 white is a fairly pronounced yellow in the glass, perhaps showing some aging. The nose is smoky lemon with an element of cut grass. Some musk and honeysuckle perfume present. Entry is smooth and generally pleasing, with a nice viscosity. There is a musky lemon on the palate which is fairly typical, in my experience, with 3-5 year old better Graves whites with some pedigree. Finish is elegant and full of rich gooseberry-peach flavors. A superior wine. 14% ABV, with 60%/40% split between Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon for this vintage. 92/93 points or 4.5 Glasses.
Noshing on Salami, Provolone and Olives, right now.
I had to refill the propane bottle, this afternoon, so that we could grill some Corn on the Cob and Sea Bass for tonight's dinner.
The Bouzeron. Green apple and citrus notes, maybe pineapple, some minerality, medium acidity. It would be refreshing on a hot summer day.
Allen caught our teaser! We are pairing our wine with Garlic, Lemon, Ginger and Buttered Shrimp (type 1) and Soy, Brown Sugar & Buttered Shrimp (type 2) on the barbe! Also having Asparagus with a Dejion Mustard & Dill sauce and Vermicelli with rice in a cheddar sauce. It's really amazing that the whole meal is only 225 calories and no carbs! I wonder why I gain weight! Must be the wine.
I think we all are eating too well on these wine nights and should cut back on, a, never mind, ain't cutting back on anything! 