Slightly Off-Balance

After my kids pushed me into the mommy wall this week, I could really use a glass of wine!  But, I am sticking with this Lent thing and actually doing pretty good.  As long you don’t count sniffing people’s wine glasses and trying to lick my daughter’s cookie crusted face.

This is a bottle that I selflessly drank on Fat Tuesday in order to have a wine review for today.  Yes, I am a giver. 

Insatiable Red Wine California

Alcohol Content: 13.5% 

Price: Purchased for $5.99

 Insatiable Red Wine (non-vintage)

Description per label: We have been insatiable in searching all of California’s premier growing regions to bring you this mesmerizing and exotic blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Barbera, Zinfandel and Syrah.  We invite you to be insatiable in your quest for incredible wine at a great price. 

Review:

Insatiable means always wanting more; always needing more and impossible to satisfy (thank you to the label for the handy definition). 

I want to squeeze life for every drop of enjoyment, excitement and experience.  I will always want more vacations, more career success and more… [edited to keep the blog clean].  Needless to say, I am insatiable.  I found this bottle on the night I was grocery shopping to host a Passion Party – coincidence, I think not.

This wine is a fraternity boy’s dream.  It has a catchy label and is cheap enough to buy enough to get enough out of his date.   In college my husband’s fraternity used to host wine and cheese parties- they would refill the bottles with boxes of wine in a back room.  College girls rarely have a well-developed palate (I didn’t back then) so the guys usually got away with their “refills”.  Insatiable is a great second bottle, once your palate is muddled, your sense of taste dulled and your sense of adventure heightened.  Just drinking a wine called Insatiable throws a particular mood in the room. And there’s no need to take the bottle in the back room to refill it.

It has a fruity nose with hints of blackberry and currant.  It is surprisingly smooth and balanced for the price point.  It presents as jammy and slightly spicy.  It has a reasonably smooth finish that blends tannins with a tartness.

On a scale of 1-10, I rate the Insatiable Red Wines a 5 for being a cheap way to set the mood. 

Suggested pairings: Tacos, skirt steak, chocolate and candlelight. 

Gosh, Wednesday comes up fast!  As promised here is a review of a bottle of wine for under $10.  I went in search of something new and cheap that I had never had to add to the fun of Wine Wednesday.  I admit it, the immature part of me (aka the real me) could not resist the “Naked” title.

I served this at my Book Club and they loved it and we went through several bottles!

The Naked Grape California Chardonnay

Description per label: Light bodied and smooth with aromas of pineapple and peach.

Review: My six-year old son recently took his pictures for the basketball team and then had to go straight to his basketball game.  As we went from the pictures to the game I told him to flip his jersey inside out to change the color from purple for pictures, to white for the game.  I didn’t think much of it, until another dad looked at us and chuckled.  I looked over to see my son standing in a public area with his shorts around his ankles. My perfectionist son didn’t simply take the jersey off and flip it inside out.  He took it off, flipped the jersey inside out and dropped his shorts in order to appropriately tuck in his jersey.  “Honey, we don’t get naked in public,” I had to remind him.

Went I went in search of an affordable, every day, Chardonnay, “The Naked Grape” seemed to understand my life and my need for wine.   

 This wine far surpassed my expectations!  It was smooth and buttery.  There was less fruit than I anticipated and the subtle blend of flavors was well balanced.  The finish was slightly sweet, with a hint of Riesling, but I tempered the sweetness by keeping it cold while I drank the whole bottle.  (I had four children in the house, the dosage seemed appropriate).  As I took sip after, deliciously smooth, sip, I realized that if one was not careful, this easy to drink wine could lead to one getting naked from consumption.  The name began to make more and more sense.

As a mother of two young children, wine is an everyday occurrence, and at $6.99 per bottle, I have just found a wine that I can drink as often as my kids get naked.

On a scale of 1-10, I rate the Naked Grape Chardonnay as an 8 for being smooth and affordable.

Suggested pairings: Salmon, chicken and every time your child strips down in public.

Alcohol Content: Not listed

Price: Purchased for $6.99 – What mom doesn’t need an affordable bottle case of wine?!

Yes, I can read your mind and I know you are looking for some wine recommendations.

My friend Eileen, started participating in Wine Wednesdays, the brain child of Alana at Life on the Mom List.  Each Wednesday they selflessly consume bottles of wine to review.  I want to be selfless too!  (Or I just want an excuse to drink wine every Wednesday).

Drink wine?  I am really good at that!  Write about the wine I drink, hmmm… sounds fun.  It also sounds dangerous if I write while consuming, so I may need to work on the logistics. 

You may be thinking, “Paige what qualifies you to review wine’.  My response to this is if experience leads to wisdom, I am very wise about wine.

I must add that I am not being compensated or encouraged to drink any particular wine.  I am going to drink whatever I feel like drinking.  But if someone wants to give me wine to write about… I would love it!  But, be warned – honesty is my best worst quality.

Without further ado, I present my first review:  Hunt Cellars “Rhapsody in Red” Reserve Red Wine (2001)

Description per label: Hunt Cellars is dedicated to producing “Memorable Wines”.  Here is our 2001 Rhapsody in Red Reserve, a meritage blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc from our estate.

Smooth delicious flavors will dance on your palate teasing you with wild cherries, red, black and Bing cherry flavors with overtones of jammy cassis, vanilla, chocolate, coffee beans and the perfect induction of layered oak.  This lush delicious wine has been hand crafted in small lots and barrel aged 28 months in French and American oak creating perfect balance and concentrated Bordeaux varietal flavors.

Review:  There are two types of days that call for a unique bottle of wine: a fabulous day and a horrible one.  On a great day, you mark the occasion with something special, you want to savor the memory of this day.  On my son’s first day of kindergarten, I drank a good bottle to celebrate not severely warping him… yet.  On a bad day you look for something amazing that has the power to erase the day.  When my daughter emptied my make-up drawer into the bath, it took an exceptional bottle to keep me from giving her away. 

When I sat down to enjoy this wine, it had been a day of highs and lows.  We had new furniture delivered and the sofa was perfect, better than expected; but the rug was an atrocity and the table was damaged.  With each sip, the negative aspects of the day dissipated and I was transported to a dreamy place of gourmet food, flattering lighting and soft music.  My first impression was smooth chocolate, but not sweet.  It is a big, chewy wine that has subtle tannins through the finish.  This deep wine did not smack me with fruit, but rather lulled me with accents of cherry and coffee.  I am confident that this bottle could suit the best or worst day.  Although, the current retail price demands this level of pleasure, so as not to disappoint (price appears at the bottom).

They say that when a person loses one of their five senses, it makes their other senses more acute.  This exceptional wine proves that true.  The winemaker, and owner, David Hunt is blind and it certainly has enhanced his sense of taste and smell. 

On a scale of 1-10, I rate this “memorable” meritage as a 9.

Suggested pairings: Steak, lamb, game and the day you lose your job or win the lottery.

Alcohol Content: 13.9%

Price: Purchased for $35.  Current retail price: $90 *A note about the price, I won’t always review something this expensive.  In fact, my next bottle will be under $10!