Out of the Box Sangiovese Umbria

Naming this wine "Out of the Box" is a bit misleading. Because it's a boxed wine!!! :-O
It occured to me the other day that when I started this blog I heartily insisted that you CAN, in fact, get good wine in a box (because you can!). And then I never told you about any. For shame! Well here's one for you...

Out of the Box (hereafter refered to as OotB) Sangiovese is, in all honesty, a surprisingly good wine. If you can get past the stigma of the box (honestly, boxes get a bad rap), you'll probably be pleasantly surprised and glad that you tried it! I know I was, so I'm going to tell you all about it...

But first, some compelling evidence why boxed wine is (subjectively) AWESOME:

1.) You get more bang for your buck. $25 for a box of wine might seem like a lot, but generally those boxes hold five liters of wine. FIVE LITERS! That's 6 and 2/3 regular-sized bottles of wine!*

2.) If you can't finish it shortly after opening (seriously, you can't. At least, I hope you can't), it stays good for practically EVER. That's because inside the box is an airtight bag, so when you get wine out, air doesn't get in and cause the wine to turn on you. A box of wine can last you for weeks, or even months.

this gives me heart palpitations...

3.) If you drop it, the worst that will happen is you will have a dented box. No shattered glass or wine stained carpets. Who couldn't get behind THAT?!?!
4.) It looks, smells, and tastes like bottled wine once its poured in the glass. Magic!

Overall, OotB Sangiovese Umbria is a pleasant and smooth table wine, with just the right amount of expressive fruits balanced against a light acidity. You'll notice the scent of berries right off, and detect them in the sip as well. No hint of bite, this one won't tweak your cheeks or make you pucker your lips if you choose to sip it unaccompanied.

OotB Sangiovse is also a great compliment to a meal. Not super dry or particularly sweet, this one's juuuuuuust right. Enjoy with a light pasta and breadsticks. Maybe one of those Barilla dinner for twos...or a loaf of Italian bread dipped in Ragu. You know, just to keep things classy.



Price: $$


Rating: B+

* some now come in a 3 liter size, and with some brands you can even go smaller than that. But come on folks, 3 liters is still a LOT of wine!

William Hill Cabernet Sauvignon

I know I am guilty of this...


FAIL.

Picture it: You go to a restauant, and order a glass of the house red with your dinner. It's (surprisingly) freaking delicious. You rave about it alllll night, and continuously exclaim that you WILL buy this wine next time you're at the store. Then, a few weeks later when you've forgotten the varietal, name of the winery, and design on the label, you wander around your local wine store, assaulting the assocites with your pleas to help you figure out what that one wine you had at that restaurant was, only able to provide them with the following description: "it was red, and had a goat on the label. Or a chicken. Or a bear. Or some kind of flower. It was a red wine with something on the label."

Guess what you probably don't walk out of that store with.

Well, if this sounds familiar to you, there is a good possibility that the wine in question was William Hill Cabernet. Popular in local restaurants, this wine was MADE for a good meal. With an earthy scent and deep red color, you're mouth is going to be watering before you even take a sip.

WH Cab is quite dry, and maybe it's just me, but William Hill Cabernet reminded me a little of drinking a Chainti-- a hearty (read: STRONG) wine to wash down your dinner with. The sip was tannic and herb-y, with hints of dark fruit (think blueberry) and spice (the pumpkin pie kind, not pepper).



Ok, this is just chicken stew, but for the
purposes of this review, let's pretend it's
game meat. YUM.

William Hill Cabernet was a welcome partner to my lasagna, but would also pair nicely with pesto, game meats (venison stew, perhaps), or red-sauced pasta of any kind. It's not great as a sipper, though. I found that when unoccompained I did not want to finish my glass.


Price: $$

My Rating: B+

Silver Palm Cabernet

Well it's official...I no longer have the time and wherewithal to plan out what I'm tasting ahead of time. My days are consumed by work, and my evenings by playing games like "super baby" and "got yer nose". I mean, with a schedule like that, who has time to sit around and drink wine?
God, THAT'S sort of depressing...
OKAY...New Year's Resolution time: In 2014, I resolve to take one night a week, sip a glass of something-or-other, and then faithfully write about it here, along with whatever other silliness enters my head whilst I'm in front of the computer. Starting...now!



I'm also a fan of THESE
California reds...

This week at PWC we're tasting some California reds (that's tonight from 4-7 if you want to stop by). And while that's sort of vague, it does make me reminisce about many of my favorite wines from days gone by...two immediately came to mind, but in the interest of your pocket book I'm going to write about the least expensive of the two: Silver Palm Cabernet Sauvignon.

California reds, and Cabernets in particular, are-- at least in my opinion-- sturdy and reliable. You can count on the "nicer*" ones to provide a robust complexity, and a dryness that doesn't obliterate the flavor.

the best kind of shiny.

What drew me at first to the Silver Palm was my habit of judging a book by it's cover. The label is unique, and well, really just gorgeous. I mean, look at it!

The wine itself is pretty, too. It's a deep ruby in color, and has that stick-to-the-glass quality that makes it really fun to swish around-- this also helps open it up.

Unlike some Cabs, Silver Palm isn't a dry, punch-you-in-the-face sort of wine. Rather it has a pretty strong smack of cherry and vanilla flavors, with a hint of menthol-y smoke hiding in there too. While this isn't what you'd necessarily expect when you go in for the sip, it's a pleasant effect. Smooth and satiny, the Silver Palm Cab is superb for sipping, and really nice with a meal. My choice? Steak gorgonzola, garlic mashed potatoes, and grilled asparagus. If you decide to make this, you better save me a seat!

Price: $$

My Rating: A+


*not to be confused with "more expensive"...the two aren't mutually exclusive.
 

And Where the Bleep Have YOU Been?!?!?!

Well hello there! Good lord, it's closing in on a year since my last post. Perhaps you're wondering what happened to me, your friend and confidante the Casual Wine Taster. Well...I got caught up in some stuff...and came out the other side with this adorable baby!

 

Behold: cuteness.

So, as you can imagine, my foray into wine tasting had to be put on hold for a while. But I'm back (!!) with a delicious red to tell you about...

and there was much rejoicing...YAY!

Named after me, this fantabulous blend is known as Troublemaker (kidding...that's just a coincidence). Now, regular readers (if you're still out there) might recollect that I am generally a fan of red blends. Most are heavy on the Zin, and tend to embody everything that I think makes a red wine delish: they're juicy, layered, rich, and great with food. 

Troublemaker is no different. A blend of Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre,and Zinfandel, it has a slightly earthy scent, and tastes fruity and floral with perhaps the slightest hint of smoked vanilla (that's a thing, right?). Hope Family Wines (the wonderful folks who brought Troublemaker to life) craft each batch from a variety of vintages and varietals. Each version of the blend is a little different, so the flavors and aromas can vary, but in a "delightful surprise" kind of way. 

It's good to drink just as soon as you pop the cork, but I say give it just a few minutes to breathe. You won't be sorry. Troublemaker is great as a sipper, or to go with your Burger or Pizza Night.

Price: $$

My Rating: A

MacMurray Pinot Noir 2009

Wow, it's Tuesday already. The past few weeks have felt like minutes...you know, the kind of minutes that drag on forever and ever...okay, let me rephrase: the past few weeks have felt like minutes that feel like weeks. I don't know how else to explain it. Looking back it's like a blur of "meh" stippled with some of what makes life great. In between the mundane in and outs of everyday life I've gotten to play some good music, spend time with good friends and (as always) drink some good wine.

This week was a throwback to one of my standbys: MacMurray Pinot Noir. This wine is seriously good. It embodies all of what I love about reds. It's dry yet fruity, rich and soft (like a mouth full of satin, which, by the by, I do not recommend tasting for comparison), a little bit spicy and great with food.

a little on the dark side... sooo many
reasons why this image is funny...

Unlike many Pinots, which can be bright and nearly translucent in color, the MacMurray Pinot is a little on the dark side. If you're familiar with wine, you might notice a distinctly Zin scent when you smell it. Myself being a fan of Zinfandel, this just adds to the appeal.

A lesser Pinot can be watery and taste mostly like spice. Pepper in particular. This one's more layered, with a punch of dark fruit and vanilla and some of the sweeter spices-- like the kind you'd put in an apple pie (note to self: make an apple pie). Reading some online reviews, others have detected cola, smoke and crushed rocks. Yeah, I don't get that last one.

I paired the MacMurray Pinot Noir with chicken tikka masala and garlic naan from my favorite Indian restaurant. While probably not an ideal match, I won't tell you that it wasn't delicious. Really, the MacMurray Pinot Noir is, in what has become a catch phrase for me, a "Raisin Bran" wine: it tastes good with pretty much anything. Enjoy it folks; this one is as good as they get.


Price: $$

My Rating: A

Jorge Ordonez & Co. Bontani Moscatel Seco 2010

I've discovered a bit of a milestone today at CWT: I crossed the 1100 views threshold since starting this blog. Neat-o! It doesn't sound like much, but I am thrilled that more people than my husband and my mom are reading. So thanks!!

Anyway, to celebrate I decided to DRINK SOME WINE. Even though it's not super warm out I went with a light white that is perfect for "Haf Bach Mihangel" -- you know, when you get summer-like weather in the fall. In case you're wondering, "haf bach Mihangel" is the PC, less offensive, Welsh term for this phenomenon. But I digress.

Looks like water and tastes
like wine:
a great party trick.

With dinner I had a glass (okay, okay, two glasses) of Jorge Ordonez & Co. Botani Moscatel Seco. Boy is that a mouthful! You might think because of the grape varietal (Moscatel and Moscato are essentially the same grape, just grown in different places) that this would be a sweet wine. It's really not.

Sadly, my kitchen is not a
"super clean" one...

When poured into your glass you'll notice first off that it is very light in color. It ALMOST looks like a glass of water. But don't be fooled. Give it a whiff and you'll smell a refreshing, albeit misleading sweetness. It's also a clean smell-- crisp and citrus-y, like something you'd scrub your kitchen with. There's nothing like a super clean kitchen.

An interesting thing to note: the
cork has the vintage printed on
the top-- 2010.

The flavor was a bit difficult to nail down, as the Botani is the sort of wine that changes depending on what you're ingesting with it. It's all around acidic, with some mineral qualities and a cheek tweak at the end, courtesy of that citrus-y acid. For dinner we had seasoned pork chops and saffron rice, and while I ate I kept tasting butter in the sip. Without the saffron rice accompaniment I tasted grass, dry and tangy minerality. And might I recommend, stop drinking it by the time you get to eating your pumpkin pie. This wine does NOT go well with pumpkin pie.

The bottle suggests pairing the Botani Moscatel with seafood, sushi (aka seafood) or company. This wine would be great with a spider roll (flash-fried soft shell crab with spicy mayo). Yummy! But Reader, please, don't chow down on your dinner guests.

The Jorge Ordonez & Co. Botani Moscatel is best served cool, not cold. So throw a bottle in the fridge but be sure to give the temp a little time to come up before drinking.

Price: $$

My Rating: B

Casajus Vendimia Seleccionada 2006

So today, to make things easier, I have a slight CWT adjustment I'd like to announce. Starting with this post, each wine I blog about will be PWC's selection for Thirsty Thursdays. That means on Thursdays from 5:30-9, you can come in to Personal Wine Cellar and try whatever wine I reviewed on the previous Tuesday. How do I know this? Because I'll be the one pouring the samples. Boo-yeah!

This week I have a really nice wine for you. It's a Tempranillo with a great rating (The Wine Advocate gives it 91 points) and some fun facts to boot: Casajus Vendimia Seleccionada 2006.

unless you want this guy
 spitting in your food, I
 would recommend NOT
calling him "Garcon"

Looking at the label, I came up with this whole story (in my head of course) based on a loose translation of what I think "Casajus" would mean in English. That would be either "house juice," as in: "Excuse me, Garcon, but what is your house juice this evening?"
-OR-
"juice house," as in: "Here is the house where we make our juice." (ta-da!)

Neither, surprisingly enough, is the case. Upon doing a little research I discovered that the wine is named for Jose Alberto Casajus, the owner of the Bodega Casajus vineyards where the wine is produced. What's more, Jose Alberto is the only employee of Bodega Casajus AND the town's baker! So he bakes bread until 9:00am, then heads across the street to the Bodega and makes some wines. You cannot make this stuff up.

Ghost approves.

And, as it turns out, Casajus Vendimia Seleccionada is an excellent wine. When you pour a glass, the first thing you'll notice is the heavy color-- deep red, bordering on purple (as Tempranillo tends to be). The scent is very juicy with strong aromas of grape and cherry. The taste is not nearly as fruity as the smell though. There is a pretty high mineral concentration and you can taste and feel it as it travels in your mouth. You can definitely detect the soil where the grapes are grown in the wine (which I think is very cool). There is an earthy quality in the finish that some tasters might be on the fence about, depending on if you like that sort of thing...I do.

I paired the wine with homemade baked mac n' cheese and ham. It wasn't a great match, and I didn't go for a second glass with my meal. I'd recommend pairing the Casajus with something more complex and/or spicy, like jambalaya.

This wine's a little more expensive than many I review here, so all the better if you come in and try it (for free, of course) before you buy it.

Price: $$

Rating: B+

Mt. Beautiful Pinot Gris 2011

Hooray!

I said it in my first post and I meant it: you CAN get really great wine with a screw top!

For the bottle-opener impaired, I bring you the Mt Beautiful Pinot Gris—a fantastic New Zealand white. Now, since all seven of you have committed my previous blog posts to memory, I don’t need to remind you that I’m a bit picky about white wines. I don’t, as a rule (or a guideline, I suppose), enjoy the drier ones. This wine is different.  It surprised me from start to finish.

I hope none of the anonymous people
in this photo are angry that I used it here...

First the smell: New Year’s Eve, before midnight. That is to say, the Mt Beautiful Pinot smelled like champagne. I also smelled the alcohol; to me, it brought back images of wiping the excess polish off of my hastily painted fingernails with a Sally-Hansen-covered Q-tip. A little nail polish remover never hurt anyone, right?

Thankfully, the Mt Beautiful doesn’t taste like nail polish remover, although the alcohol smell does translate into its flavor, and no wonder—it’s 14.5%.  If you’re strictly a wine drinker, you’ll notice right away; if you generally prefer liquor, this won’t be a quality that'll much impress you. However be aware that this one could pack a punch.

Drunk-texters beware!

Besides being able to easily taste the alcohol content, this wine dealt a few other surprises—depending on what I ate, the flavors changed. After a bite of salad with ranch dressing, it was smooth and fruit-salad flavored. Maybe that sounds generic, but I detected many fruits in there: apple, pear, peach, perhaps some grapefruit and pineapple. After a bite of lemon-pepper chicken it was like drinking an entirely different wine. Much spicier and a little bitter, much of the fruit flavors were no longer detectable. As fun as it was to try and guess what flavors would present themselves depending on what I ate, I eventually went back to my salad; it paired best with the wine.

Hands down the best part of drinking the Mt Beautiful Pinot Gris was how varied it was; besides the chameleon-like flavors, it reads on your tongue like an EKG—there’s a definite spike toward the middle of the sip, where the flavor hits hardest before fading again.

So kids, today’s takeaways for the Mt. Beautiful Pinot Gris:

Tastes like desert animals AND electrocardiograms

Avoid lemon pepper marinade

Screwcaps= YAY!!

Don’t forget you can try it yourself on Friday 7/6 at Personal Wine Cellar. See you there?

Price: $$

My Rating: B+

Drunken Text Picture Credit