What We (and Others) Have Been Drinking

Cheers!
from Vintage Connections and PointerPack, our Guest Blogger (PointerPack is their geocaching handle, but that's another story)!

What We've Been Drinking - with Friends

OK, we admit it.  Sometimes we drink with friends.  But only sometimes, and only with very good friends.  We never know if ALL of the wines we're going to sample will be goodies, and we never know what we might say (or do) after sampling 5-6 wines.  We certainly wouldn't want to subject strangers to unknown wines (or unexpected outbursts about what we're really thinking).  And, when really good friends invite us to a tasting, who's to say "no" to wine and good friends?  

So last Saturday night, we went wine tasting (Ok, wine drinking), eating, and playing (Guitar Hero, Beatles edition) with our good friends, PointerPack.   So, THANKS to PointerPack for the wine, the food, the friendship, and this week's wine blog  (go ahead, ask us about geocaching).

All of the comments below are PointerPack's - and we absolutely agree.  

The first wine was an aperitif (we drank it first and didn't compare it to the others).  

Then, we blind tasted four other wines including three Malbecs from Mendoza, Argentina, plus one "ringer" we brought to see if any of us could tell a Malbec from a completely different wine.  So, here's what we tasted, and what we thought along the way.

The Aperitif

Hunt Country Semi-Dry Reisling, 2009, Penn Yang, New York 

PLCB 506305 (special order) $17.89 ($13.99 at the winery plus 8% tax, plus gas, motel, meals, etc.  But it's a great trip).   Hunt Country is at least a two-case visit!

The Blind Tasting - The Great Malbec Sip-off

PointerPack wrapped the bottles in beautiful, used PLCB brown bags, and numbered each with the infamous thick black magic marker.

In order of preference - The four of us were not quite unanimous, but the first two were almost a toss-up.

Our first choice was the #1 labeled wine, a Bodega Tamari Reserva Malbec 2009, Argentina (Mendoza) PLCB 7055,  $10.99 (on sale)

Our second choice was the #3 labeled wine, the "ringer," not a Malbec but instead a wine grape we never tried before, Monastrell from Spain -  Tarima Monastrell, NV, Jumilla Spain, 

PLCB 3507,  $9.99 (on sale).  SO, no, we all couldn't distinquish this Monastrell from the three Malbecs.  We'll do some research on Monastrell.

Our third choice was the #2 labeled wine, Bodega Septima, Malbec 2009, Argentina (Mendoza) PLCB 6895, $12.95

Our fourth choice was the #4 labeled wine, Red Rock Winery Reserve Malbec, 2009 from California.  After we got past the soapy taste, it rivaled the first choice.  Soapy, yes.  The glasses we used for this wine had not been rinsed as well as the others and so the wine had a faint soapy aroma and flavor.  After rinsing the glasses, we tasted this wine again and think it would have moved up in the ratings.  So, we still recommend it, especially at the price.  PLCB 3406, $10.99

Later in the week, PointerPack sampled other wines without us!  The nerve.  Other wines sampled by by PointerPack, with their comments were:

Red Rock Merlot (same vintner as the Malbec above).  Not as good as the Malbec.  They gave it a C to C-. Not too bad, but a little too sweet, lacking finish, and a shade too light for our tastes. Will not be purchased again.

Murphy Good, 2007 Merlot was better than the Red Rock, a solid B and a good purchase at $12.49, PLCB 15899.  A wine to buy again.

Lastly, and in PointerPack's hands (and mouth) as they wrote to us, was Hunt Country Chardonnay.  This wine is solidly oaked and was quite tasty with the chicken they paired with it.  PointerPack didn't remember the cost (how much wine were you drinking?), but we checked on-line and this Chard lists for $12.99 (plus 8% NY tax) at the winery.  And, there was a note that Hunt Country ships its wines to PLCB stores by special order  We didn't check the extra cost for shipping and the PLCB mark-up, but it's worth checking!!

OK, enough wines for this post.

PLEASE scroll down to the previous post and check-out our up-coming wine classes, a suggestion about a wine book, and more!

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Happy (and responsible) drinking!