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.

Holiday Wine Geek Gift: COS, Pithos, Nero d’Avola Frappato, Sicilia IGT, Italy 2010

Posted on December 5, 2013 by waywardwine

Stumped on what to get your wine geek this holiday? Unsure how to shock and awe a wine-centric holiday party. Wayward Wine has the answer.

Fly their wine glasses to Italy’s southernmost corner: Vittoria (represented by the massive, pink, plastic, lawn flamingo…of course).

The town of Vittoria is one of Sicily’s youngest. Founded in 1607. But this trading post has been gang-rushed by Sicans, Sikels, Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Goths, Visigoths, Vandals, Arabs, Normans, French Angevins, Spaniards, Chiaramontes, Sicilians, Savoys, Austrians, and most recently, Italians. Even the Americans conquered it, replete with a resplendent donkey-carted-procession:

But through these countless colonizers, wine has made Vittoria tick. Continue reading →

Posted in EMPTIED BOTTLES, Nero D'Avola, Red | Tagged biodynamic, Cerasuolo di Vittoria, DOCG, Etna, Frappato, italy, Nero, Nero D'Avola, pompeii, Ragusa, Sicily, Spain, Visigoths, Vittoria, wine | 4 Comments

Night Cap: Eola Hills, Port Style Wine, Cabernet Sauvignon, Oregon 2007 LBV

Posted on November 28, 2013 by waywardwine

With Turkey Day winding down, the family leaving, and dirty dishes at bay: you only have room for this.

Last Thursday’s Dry Riesling kicked winter in the ear. Today, Wayward Wine turns once more to that stalwart of winter-bound, fireside drinks: Port.

Years ago, we featured Warre’s Late Bottle Vintage 2000 Port (here). Neither a cheap, young Ruby, nor an expensive, age-able Vintage: their LBV forged a middle path into Portuguese fortified wine. Its sultry balance of spice, fruit, alcohol, and readiness reminded us of a belly dancer.

But can Oregon pull off the same trick? Continue reading →

Posted in Dessert, Port | Tagged Applegate Valley, Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley, Eola Hills, Eola Hills Wine Cellars, Indiana Jones, Oregon, pinot noir, Portugal, Thanksgiving, Vintage Port, Warre, Willamette Valley Vineyards | Leave a comment

Winter White Wine: Dry Riesling, Canoe Ridge, Snipes Vineyard, Columbia Valley, Washington 2007

Posted on November 21, 2013 by waywardwine

Frost paints the earth silver. Thermostats shrink. Chill seeps through windows.

Instead of turning to robust reds for comfort, Wayward Wine will steer you from conformity. A huge Cabernet would crush your Thanksgiving turkey or Christmans goose. Instead, share the season’s cold snap and turn to a rich winter white.

This Thursday, our palates race to the highest elevations in Washington State. The grapes in question grew an average of 1,300 feet above sea level. They come from wine’s newest fringes: Horse Heaven Hills and Rattlesnake Hills, regions certified only in 2005 and 2006 respectively. Continue reading →

Posted in EMPTIED BOTTLES, Riesling, White | Tagged Alsace, bread pudding, Canoe Ridge, Canoe Ridge Vineyard, Canoe Ridge Vineyards, Cascade Mountain, Christmas, Germany, Horse Heaven Hills, Jean Claude Van Damme, Matzo ball soup, Paul Gregutt, Rattlesnake Hills, riesling, Stag's Leap, Thanksgiving, Volvo, Vosges Mountains, Washington, Wine Enthusiast | 4 Comments

A FOODLESS WINE FEAST OF PENFOLDS #MWWC5

Posted on November 14, 2013 by waywardwine

No greater feast of wine befits this Monthly Wine Writing Challenge (MWWC5):

It is 7:48 am. I should be in bed. Instead, work has me walking into a conference room. No one told me why. My waxen eyes fall on some bottles:

“Hmm, eight Penfolds for breakfast. Nothing like big, Australian reds instead of waffles. Sorry liver.”

But beyond this glass regiment, at the table’s end, sits a decanter and a bottle.

Grange. Bin 95. 2008.

Oh yes.

But before Penfolds’ big turkey, an hour of lecture drags on like the NFL Pre-Game Show: informative but missing the point of turkey day. Finally, the feast begins with “appetizers”: Continue reading →

Posted in EMPTIED BOTTLES, Red, Syrah | Tagged 2008, Australia, Bin 407, Bin 707, Bin 95, Cabernet Sauvignon, Corn Bread, cranberry sauce, gluhwein, Grange, NFL, NFL pregame show, Oak, Penfold, Penfolds, rwt, Shiraz, South Australia, St Henri, Syrah, Thanksgiving, turkey, wine, Wine Advocate, Wine Spectator | 13 Comments

VELO VOUVRAY 3: Maison Darragon: EU Austerity Drinking Tour #48

Posted on November 11, 2013 by waywardwine

For this Monday’s EU AUSTERITY DRINKING ADVENTURE, we trade a château for a maison.

Underwhelmed and starving, we leave the lofty Château Moncontour of last week’s post. Our rent-o-bikes take us to lunch of quiches, bread, and fabulous pastries. We eat on a cliff square. Mossy shingles span below us, Vouvray’s crumbling, cream church looms above us.

Full, we follow signs up a tortuous slope. We pass a villa hewn into Vouvray’s famed tuffeau cliffs: Continue reading →