Category Archives: EMPTIED BOTTLES

Here reside my bottle breakdowns. These reviews provide information about each wine’s context: history, geography, value, etc., and composition: from appearance and aromas, to sweetness, acidity, tannin, body, length, flavors and quality within its type. Each review features a chart where I rank the wine’s qualities (e.g. light, medium, or full bodied) according to the Wine and Spirit Education Trust’s tasting guide. These are snapshots of a wine and reviewer. Don’t be surprised if the wine and your perception of it change. Use this data to buy and taste wine with purpose.

Stop worrying if a wine is bad or good. Judgment only describes the judge. Instead, treat each wine, each bottle, even each sip as a meeting unique unto itself. Find new wines here to stretch your mind and palate.

Open bottle. Open mind.

DEPOSSESSED DRINK: WINE ON LOAN #MWWC3

Posted on September 23, 2013 by waywardwine

“Possession” provides the theme for September’s Monthly Wine Writing Challenge begun by The Drunken Cyclist.

Already, possession has revealed many astounding collections online: from old bottles, to 173 glasses, to German vineyard land laws.

For as many reasons as people, wine often leads to obsessive hoarding. We wine geeks splurge on rare, interesting, and expensive bottles. But when to open them? When will the window of drinkability close? Should we keep the experience to ourselves or share (and show off) to friends? Does one even “own”, let alone remember, a wine after drinking it? Continue reading →

Posted in EMPTIED BOTTLES | Tagged #MWWC3, Australia, Bordeaux, Brunello di Montalcino, Château Camensac, Château du Tertre, Château Smith-Haut-Lafite, Chianti, Deposessed Drink, Edward Sellers, Finger Lakes, Lake Ontario, Margaux, Monthly Wine Writers Challenge, Monthly Wine Writing Challenge, Peninsula Ridge, possession, Produttori, Ridge Winery, Selvapiana, Sheldrake Point, Torbreck, Wayne Gretzky, wine, Wine & Spirit Education Trust, Woodcutters Shiraz | 16 Comments

ENTRÉE PARIS 1: Mondeuse, Jean Perrier Et Fils Cuvée Prestige, Savoie, France 2011: EU Austerity Drinking Tour #40

Posted on September 16, 2013 by waywardwine

74 days deep into our EU Austerity Drinking Tour, we leave Cork, Ireland for Paris, France. Au revoir beer and whisk(e)y. Bonjour France: glorious crucible of wine: where most grape varieties and wine styles took root.

An airport bus takes us from Cork at 9:50 am. Landed at Charles de Gaule airport, we starve our way to our home-stay near Place des Fêtes in the 19th Arrondissement. Continue reading →

Posted in EMPTIED BOTTLES, Mondeuse, Paris, Red, WINERIES WANDERED | Tagged Aroma of wine, cork, France, Ireland, Mondeuse, Mondeuse Noire, Paris, Savoie | Leave a comment

Marcato, “iPrandi” Brut, Lessini Durello DOC, Italy NV $10-14.5

Posted on September 12, 2013 by waywardwine

Think of Italian bubbly and we probably think of Prosecco, maybe Moscato or Lambrusco.

However, hidden in North Eastern Italy, smack dab between Venice and Verona, lay the Lessini hills. Here an ancient grape called Durello thrives. The name may come from its thick skins, or high acid. It may be native. Either way, it loves the volcanic soil. basalt. Elevations are high. Thus Lessini Durello has its own DOC. Continue reading →

Posted in Durello, EMPTIED BOTTLES, Sparkling | Tagged Anxiety, Blind experiment, Chamomile, Cooking, durello, Durello grape, Home, iPod, iPrandi, italy, Lambrusco, Lessini Durello, Marcato, Matricaria chamomilla, Perelman School of Medicine, pinot noir, Placebo-controlled study, Prosecco, Relaxation technique, Shopping, Sotheby, Sparkling wine, Veneto, Venice, wine, Xarel·lo | Leave a comment

Cruz de Alba, Tempranillo, Crianza, Ribera del Duero, Spain 2008

Posted on September 5, 2013 by waywardwine

APPEARANCE: Inky purple, paper thin clear rim, noticeable legs. AROMAS: Bold aromas of candied violet, black berry jam on burnt toast, orange zest, equal parts French and American oak lend a cigar and coconut face off. PALATE: Dry and dusty, … Continue reading →

Posted in EMPTIED BOTTLES, Red, Tempranillo | Tagged 2008, Aroma of wine, Crianza, Cruz de Alba, Oak, Ribera del Duero, Spain, Spanish wine, Tempranillo, wine, Wine tasting descriptors | Leave a comment

CORK (IRELAND) PART 2: THE FRANCISCAN WELL BREWERY: EU Austerity Drinking Tour #38

Posted on September 2, 2013 by waywardwine

Last Monday sampled beer from the Franciscan Well Brewery in Cork, Ireland. We return to test their cask ale.

A week ago in Dublin, we tried their Purgatory Pale Ale from cask at the Bull and Castle. I got a touch romantic: “Franciscan Well’s ‘Purgatory’ is hardly hell: it is beguiling, a bit sarcastic, and very good (4 of 5): like a first date who clearly is over you by the end. I suppose we should stop by Cork after all.”

Oh, how naive.

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