Monthly Archives: May 2019

by

Watergirl Rose

  • Producer: Longboard Vineyards
  • Location: Sonoma, CA (Northcoast)
  • Year: 2018
  • Type: Rose
  • Price estimate: $26
  • Tasting notes: Peachy- salmon in color with very subtle aromas of strawberry and peach. First sip is soft, but there is a tart tang that hits midway through the sip. Peach, apricot, golden raison and a little red plum. Good finish.
  • Conclusions: This is one of those easy drinking roses that I love. Light and crisp with just enough layers to keep it interesting while still being able to concentrate on other things as you drink – in my case knitting, a movie or conversation. It is a great own it’s own wine and I need those every now and then. This would get overpowered by most dishes I make since its subtle and I tend to go heavier on the seasoning in food, but on it’s own with a chick-flick on tv, it’s perfect.
  • Notes: When we did our rose tasting a few weeks ago, this one ended up being much lower than I expected in my ratings. That is not to say it isn’t a good bottle of wine, because it is. It’s very good, but head to head with the others, it didn’t rate at the top. I do wonder if this particular bottle would have faired better as it is crisper and has less watermelon taste than the one we had before. Just goes to show that wine is so very different bottle to bottle and you just never know when something will be perfect for the evening when you are drinking it. /Prost

 

by

Magical Mystery Garden

When I lived in Jersey I had beautiful gardens. Gardening was fun and I grew things. Beautiful (should have been on a magazine cover) gardens of flowers and a few tomatoes and peppers. One of the reasons I loved gardening so much in Jersey (in addition to growing the best tomatoes in the world – yes, I said it) was that I could spend one whole day, just one, and do everything. Weeding, mulching, trimming, picking, planting etc., it could all be accomplished in one productive Saturday.

img_20190525_091048Florida is a little different. We have such a large yard with so many bushes that it takes three our four weekends, working most of the day both days, to weed and trim. Add in the snakes that like to live in the bushes, the very high humidity and long months of hot and gardening isn’t as much of a joy. So for the last few years I’ve stuck with a small plot and a large pot. I pretty much ignore the rest of it, but my herb garden is my thing.

I gave up on planting much this year. With the new job, I just didn’t have time to plant vegetables. I have one kale plant left over from last year’s bumper crop and it is producing again, so I’m good with that. I have great herbs – mint, basil, oregano and thyme – in the pot and my rosemary plant continues to be a beast. Seriously, it’s huge. So imagine my surprise when I walked out last Sunday to get rosemary for my pot pie I was making and saw this …

 

 

That is a zucchini plant. A large, growing and producing zucchini plant. This would not be so odd, but I didn’t plant zucchini. I didn’t even toss a zucchini in the garden. I must have tried to compost some and missed, but I have a large, growing, healthy, producing zucchini plant next to my garden. Yes, next to – not in.

As of this morning, I have seven (7) baby zucchini. Seven baby zucchini from a plant I didn’t plant, didn’t water or check on, and didn’t know I had a week ago. If Arthas doesn’t eat them – he is usually very good about not eating things that are in the garden – then I will have a bumper crop of zucchini … that I didn’t intend to grow.

by

Rose Wine

Last week was Bob’s birthday and we did a little something different to celebrate. Rather than trying to buy him something (impossible – he always ends up buying what I think of before I can) or traveling somewhere (end of the school year for me and a bit hard to get away) we had a few friends over and did a blind rose tasting. Four wines, three we were familiar with, one new, blind. Could we determine which wines were which and would be still love our favorite wines without the labels?

We actually picked out five wines for this “tasting.”

  • 2018 Bedrock Ode to Lulu
  • 2018 Domaine Guy Mousset Cote du Rhone
  • 2018 Longboard Watergirl
  • 2018 Domaine Loubejac
  • 2017 Cosado Morales

Bob picked four of these five – the Bedrock, the Guy Mousset, the Longboard and the Loubejac. I knew the first three were going in, but did not know which of the last two he picked. He uncorked them, took off the foil from the neck and wrapped each in a paper bag. When the time came to pour, I picked from the fridge, numbered the bag and poured without him looking; this way we both were tasting blind.

img_20190512_092914-1I am embarrassed to say, I did not correctly identify a single rose – a much worse result that the Sauvignon Blanc tasting we did a few months ago. Bob got one correct. the surprise winner was the 2018 Domaine Loubejae from the Willamette Valley. This Total Wine pick up was less than $15 and the unanimous favorite among all of us drinking. Lulu came in second for three of us and the last two split for third and fourth. I was very surprised I could not identify the Lulu or Guy Mousset since they are my “go-to” rose wines, but that is okay. There were no bad wines in this line up, nothing that we didn’t like. Let me repeat that – we liked every wine we tasted, even the ones that came in “last.”

It was a fun evening and I think we may have to try this with Pinot Noir or Zinfandel in the fall.

by

Desire Lines Cole Ranch Riesling

  • Producer: Desire Line Wine Company
  • Location: Mendocino County, CA
  • Year: 2017
  • Type: White
  • Price estimate: $22
  • Tasting notes: Medium yellow in color with an aroma of apples, white grape and honeysuckle on the nose. Some of the traditional petrol aroma present, but not prominent. Apple is the dominant flavor in this wine this year, followed by white peach, apricot, and (oddly) a bit of cherry. Nice acidity but not overly harsh. Good finish with some white pepper and tart apple.
  • Conclusions: While not as good as the 2016, this is still a winner in my book. Very apple-y in taste (but I like that) and just a really pleasant wine to drink.
  • Notes: Last year was the first release for this winery and I felt pretty lucky to get some of the first release after I tasted the first bottle. Bob and I liked it so much, we held one bottle of the 2016 to see what it would do in a few years. I’m kind of excited to hold a bottle of the 2017 and do a vertical tasting in a few years. This is assuming that A. I have the space to just store wine that I’m not going to drink and B. I can keep myself from opening the bottle before 2020. Neither is a given.

 

by

Well Hello Again

I’ve been slacking in the post department. I have excuses – good excuses – for this but the result remains the same … I’ve been slacking in the post department.

February was super busy between projects at work and Mom’s birthday celebration. I managed to stave off the cold I felt threatening for most of February until that was over, but once the end of February hit, I got sick and stayed sick for a while. At first it was just enough to make me not want a drink and to really tire me out. Then over spring break, it got worse, but then better until the beginning of April where it turned into what I can only assume was the flu. Fever, chills, dizziness, lack of appetite and just general everything hurts.

So … between super busy stuff at work and being sick for a few month I’ve slacked on the posting. I haven’t been very creative in the kitchen, we haven’t traveled anywhere and I drank far less than normal since it’s just not a good idea to combine illness and drinking.

 

The pets are doing really well. They have all come to an accord and have realized that no one is going anywhere, no one is going to hurt anyone else, and they will all get food, love and attention. The girls still run around the house every day, chasing each other and playing. It is really nice to see and a little surprising at how active they still are. Tigger is doing better – he seems to have gained some weight back although he still can’t meow. He can hiss just fine and when the girls get to be too much for him, he lets them know, but he does play some with them and seems to be okay with their company. Arthas is awesome. He does really well with the cats and now I can walk him without him going nuts when he sees another dog. He still doesn’t like them, but he is so much better. We are working on the weight – he went up to 53.5 pounds and we are slowly getting him back under 50. He will never be skinny, and that’s fine, but at least he is dog shaped now and not sausage shaped.

I took advantage of being sick and not able to be terribly active to do some knitting. I finished (finally) the blanket for the spare room – it is about a mile of yarn and really heavy, but I think it looks great. Needing a smaller project, I also started making some cat toys. The fish and the heart are probably my favorites, but the octopus come out pretty cool too. I’ve alternated between giving them to my cats and saving them to donate to a local shelter. Recently I started on a cardigan and if it turns out that I can do it, I’m going to make one for Val too. Bob has requested another scarf, so my queue of projects is growing.

Hopefully I’ll be better about posting now that the school year is winding down and I feel better. It may be a bit before I get wine posts up, but I should have plenty to post in June since Bob and I are heading to Sonoma for a little vacation. I’m super excited.