Hollywood Moment

First stop Rite Aid on Sunset.  Second stop In & Out Burgers.  This Merlot made the 7-Up go down better. It was a long 2 mile walk.

Barefoot Refresh: The Battle of the Bottles

Noticed that my wine reserves were slowly depleting.  Time to stock up.  Also time to drink up.  The local store had Barefoot Refresh "wine based spritzer" on sale for $4.99 per bottle.  That's my price point!  I purchased two.  One was the "Summer Red" and the other "Moscato."  It should be noted that they were bottled by E. & J. Gallo Winery in Modesto, CA.  I've never noticed that before on Barefoot bottles.  Once home I immediately removed them from the bicycle and placed them in the refrigerator to chill.  A day later we drank them.

September 1st, 2017 was a lovely late summer evening.  Having ridden from the local high school football home opener we decided to sit outside on our deck to cool off from the ride.  I opened the red first.

First thought when the opening salvo hit my palate was that this stuff should be sold by the gallon. The 750 ml glass bottle does not hold enough.  I wanted more!  Then again, lesser volume is safer for me.  A sweet red with hints of berries.  Not a pure wine.  Ingredients listed are grape wine, carbonated water, cane sugar, natural flavors and less than 1% of potassium citrate, citric acid, potassium sorbate to protect flavor and sulfiting agents.  It clocks in at 6.5% alcohol by volume. Definitely will purchase more of this one.

One bottle down.  Time to rinse my glass and open the second.  Like the red, the Moscato has a screw top.  The first thing I noticed was the bouquet.  Wonderful aroma of pears.  However, that did not translate into wonderful flavor.  Although Wifey said she enjoyed it I found it to be a bit sour.  That sourness ruined the pleasant Moscato taste I was hoping for.  the ingredient list was the same as well as the alcohol level of 6.5%.  personally, I'll stick with their regular Moscato.

But the Summer Red Spritzer...I must have more!!!!

Roscato Bianco Dolce Italian

Finally got back to my favorite store.  Would not feel right leaving it without making a purchase or two of vino.  Nothing was catching my eye until I saw the discount booze cart full of discontinued items.  Inside were two bottles that interested me.

From the moment it hit my tongue I was almost upset.  How could I have only picked up one bottle? That was two weeks ago and I am sure they are all gone.  Maybe I can find another place that sells this at full retail.  It was that good.  Sweet green apples and peaches dancing on my tongue.  Moscato-like.  Not overly sweet.  Not tart either.  No boozey aftertaste like a cheap Riesling.  Damn good.  I could drink a gallon of this and I would have if I had a gallon.

Roscato Bianco Dolce, I highly recommend it if you like a delicious sweet white.  "Round, lush and refreshing."  It clocks in at 8%.  Online it was going for $11 to $14 per bottle.  From northern Italy, produced and bottled in Trento, Italy, from a blend of Chardonnay and Moscato grapes light and sweet without the super teeth rotting sweetness.

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Winter Blend from Barefoot

Used my large glass.  reduces my need to get up for refills.

We had a roller coaster of a week concerning the weather.  Monday was in the 50s, Wednesday dumped 3" of snow on us and temps dropped into the teens and single digits later on.  Friday it warmed up to near 60F and melted the snow.  I've noticed song birds returning to Iowa.  February that feels like March.  I like it!  What a better time to bust out a winter blend of vino!!

I stumbled upon this on Tuesday at my grocery store in Windsor Heights, Hy Vee.  Tuesday was the last nice day until Friday afternoon.  I had to stock up.  I thought it was a novel idea.  This is what breweries do but instead of a winter lager it it is wine.  The label had 2015 on it.  Not sure if that was the vintage of the first year it was available.  Given 2015 was in small print I suspect the latter.  Then I remember the two bottles of seasonal wine I purchased from Summerset Winery for Christmas.

Tuesday Stock Up:  One bag shown, two radlers, two bottles of Winter Blend, half and half for the weekend's coffee and Uncle Ben's long Grain & Wild Rice (Sunday dinner to go with the chicken in the other bag).  I've never lost a bottle or broke an egg shopping via bicycle.

Green bottle with a pale blue label.  "Notes of vanilla & blackberry jam."  A red blend of some sort.  "...pairs perfectly with gingerbread cookies and a cozy fire!"  We have neither.  I was hoping it would go well with Wifey, NetFlix and a leather couch.  What a long week until I could uncork!  It did go over well but she only had one sip and said nothing.  her preference is on semi sweets to sweet.  We watched an episode of Anthony Bourdain's A Cook's Tour (cookin' 'round the world!) an episode of The People v OJ Simpson and Caddy Shack.

First impression was how velvety smooth this blend was.  Felt light yet heavy like a tasty dessert. Definitely a dry red yet extremely smooth and soft.  Since our thermostat is set for 63F I felt no need to pre-chill this in the refrigerator beforehand.  Clocking in at 13.5% it is rather strong but the alcohol does not overwhelm the experience.  By the time Caddy Shack ended the bottle was finished.

Looking forward to the second bottle.  Possibly next weekend.  Also looking forward to next winter's seasonal offering.  If you like a rich and smooth red that is not sweet, try this one while it is available even if Spring is here according to the birds.

Williamette Valley Vineyards Riesling

For some reason my wine consumption has been down for about 6 months.  Don't know why. Perhaps beer consumption increased a bit then subsided.  Maybe winter has me wanting to shower, eat, and go to bed early.  Health issues, too.  But last night, despite a major gout flare up and a major change in meds I decided it was time to pull this bottle out of the fridge and uncork it.  It was after 8 pm, my leg was killing me like a mofo and the Aleve was finally kicking in.  That and Russell Crowe was on the screen fightin' 'round the world, Robin Hood.  It felt like time to enjoy an adult bevie.  Long week, long day.

Quality cork as well.  I did not murder it!

This bottle had been been chilling since October.  It missed our Thanksgiving Feast and Christmas dinner and Chill.  Not that I was avoiding it, just waiting for the right time.  According to the bottle, the best time to drink this is between 2015 and 2017, "peak drinkability."  The pressure, the pressure.

First taste and I knew I made the right decision, new meds be damned!  Cool and crisp with  almost pear taste.  Even Wife liked it.  Unlike most Rieslings I have consumed, the strong boozey taste was lacking, which is a plus.  Clocking in at 8% it should not overwhelm the palate with alcohol taste.  Definitely a medium on the sweetness scale which even the most bitter sweet hating people could tolerate.  Smooth, cool, delicious and not overly sweet.  A wonderful gift from 2014 Oregon.  I will look for this one again.

Life is precious when one can hoist their glass when Friar Tuck hoists his mead on the screen knowing that the vino in my glass is excellent!  Do yourself a favor and find this Riesling.  2014 was a good year!

Thanksgiving Left Overs

Almost came as a surprise.  We were leaving on a bicycle ride like we have done countless times since November 24, 2016.  In fact, my wife and daughter and myself walk on our back deck several times a day yet we have missed this.  In a blue tub that I used to keep booze chilled for our Thanksgiving Feast we discovered one bottle left behind.  A bottle of Cook's champagne, Brut, sitting at the bottom of the tub.  A small layer of ice floating on top.

Seeing that it was still sealed I grabbed it.  Tiny bubbles floated to the top.  "Still good, maybe.  Most likely temperatured abused but still sealed."  Almost a month after the bottle was placed into the tub the winter's first cold snap hit with temperatures dropping to -4F, -12F and a warm up to -1F.  We had another cold stretch at the first of the year that had lows at 5F, 4F, -3F and such for a few days.  On the other end of the spectrum, we have had several days in the 50s, upper 40s and one day it was 62F. Yet the bottle survived.

Aged in aplastic bucket with natural cooling and leaves.

I placed the bottle on the table to wait until we returned before testing it.  Since it was 40F outside it would be alright.  The cork was rather wet.  The foil did little to keep the elements away.  In fact, it appeared that there was some leakage.  The lack of floaties other than bubbles made my decision to taste it.

It was an effort to uncork the bottle because the cork was wet.  No spectacular pop off, just a hand  tug.  As the video shows, not my best effort.  No gushing champagne supernova.

The taste.  A little off, a little flat tasting.  yet plenty of bubbles in the flutes.  I poured three.  One for my daughter who filmed the proceedings, my wife and myself.  My other adult children, who happened to drop in, declined.  No one refilled and later that afternoon Mary poured it down the drain.  She does not care for Brut.  Should have purchased orange juice while we were away.  Another funny thing is that at a party we were at someone brought a bottle of bubbly, Brut!  No one liked it either.  Me, I was drinking Founder's All Day IPA.

Documentation in process.  NOTE Katie, the auxiliary documentarian can be seen in the reflection of the the mirror in the china cabinet.

That bottle was an interesting part of our day.  Shame we did not find it on Black Friday.  On black Friday we took all the partial bottles of booze for bicycle ride and drank them on a bridge over the Raccoon River.  I would have put the Cook's in the fridge.

I really wanted to launch it!