The unremarkables
I've been doing a piss-poor job lately of keeping tasting notes, and I'll tell you why.:
1. I am lazy.
2. (and this is the one I'm really banking on) I have had a week full of whites, against which I exhibit an unintentional bias. I am a red drinker by nature, by preference. When I imbibe whites, it just feels like fruit juice that gets ya drunk, and I am not diligent about paying attention to the scents and the colors and the tastes.
(This proves my undeniable amateur status, if ever there was a doubt.)
So let me try to recap the week in whites, which has really only amounted to a bottle of chardonnay plus a magnum of pinot grigio plus a bottle of Wrongo Dongo, which is a red table wine that I enjoyed but can't for the life of me describe now that I'm several days removed from it.
• Rock, Paper, Scissors chardonnay: I have been reading Oldman's Guide to Outsmarting Wine and I have learned that big Cali chardonnays are often unremarkable and boring and overbearing, and I'd say that this screw-top variety definitely falls under that category. Although, I do feel like I should note that this is a fine wine for sipping with low expectations. It's cheap, the label is fun, the wine itself is fine if you don't expect it to do tricks for you — I can't imagine a $12 chardonnay being any better, to be honest, despite its poor showing when paired with a lemon-pepper chicken and brown rice dish.
• Wrongo Dongo: This basic red was deep and rich yet fruity enough to keep my interest (I get put off if wines are too spicy and too rich). Its lack of outstandingness makes it cheap ($9!) and, therefore, makes it an excellent candidate for food-less quaffing. I wish I could remember more and ponitificate further, but, as you know, I suck.
• Fetzer pinot grigio: Fetzer makes my favorite guwurtz, but I've not yet latched onto a particular pinot grigio that I love, despite knowing that at least one of my pals (Amanda) has a perpetual hard-on for PG. This PG is adequate enough; it exhibits peachy and floral scents while having an off-dry body that can be quaffed at length without getting too puckery, if you know what I mean. I've been nursing a huge bottle of this all week. It's my goal to further explore the piniot grigio world, but so far, Fetzer's cheap-ass $14 magnum has kept me entertained and fully hydrated for the past couple of nights. Maybe some day I'll actually document the wine itself as opposed to its impression. I'm getting hints of peach, apricot, and — glory be! — grape as I sniff and taste. It's solid. It's relatively light and uncomplicated — what you sniff if what you get. And, despite the zeitgeist, which insists that wines have to keep on keepin' on long after they've been swallowed, the Fetzer PG works for me.
I've not yet paired it with any foods (besides a slice of trusty old Kraft American, with which it paired beautifully), so I can't speak to the foodie aspect.
Sigh. Before January's over I'm going to rediscover my prized routines. Gym, careful wineblogging, etc. Bear with me. :)
1. I am lazy.
2. (and this is the one I'm really banking on) I have had a week full of whites, against which I exhibit an unintentional bias. I am a red drinker by nature, by preference. When I imbibe whites, it just feels like fruit juice that gets ya drunk, and I am not diligent about paying attention to the scents and the colors and the tastes.
(This proves my undeniable amateur status, if ever there was a doubt.)
So let me try to recap the week in whites, which has really only amounted to a bottle of chardonnay plus a magnum of pinot grigio plus a bottle of Wrongo Dongo, which is a red table wine that I enjoyed but can't for the life of me describe now that I'm several days removed from it.
• Rock, Paper, Scissors chardonnay: I have been reading Oldman's Guide to Outsmarting Wine and I have learned that big Cali chardonnays are often unremarkable and boring and overbearing, and I'd say that this screw-top variety definitely falls under that category. Although, I do feel like I should note that this is a fine wine for sipping with low expectations. It's cheap, the label is fun, the wine itself is fine if you don't expect it to do tricks for you — I can't imagine a $12 chardonnay being any better, to be honest, despite its poor showing when paired with a lemon-pepper chicken and brown rice dish.
• Wrongo Dongo: This basic red was deep and rich yet fruity enough to keep my interest (I get put off if wines are too spicy and too rich). Its lack of outstandingness makes it cheap ($9!) and, therefore, makes it an excellent candidate for food-less quaffing. I wish I could remember more and ponitificate further, but, as you know, I suck.
• Fetzer pinot grigio: Fetzer makes my favorite guwurtz, but I've not yet latched onto a particular pinot grigio that I love, despite knowing that at least one of my pals (Amanda) has a perpetual hard-on for PG. This PG is adequate enough; it exhibits peachy and floral scents while having an off-dry body that can be quaffed at length without getting too puckery, if you know what I mean. I've been nursing a huge bottle of this all week. It's my goal to further explore the piniot grigio world, but so far, Fetzer's cheap-ass $14 magnum has kept me entertained and fully hydrated for the past couple of nights. Maybe some day I'll actually document the wine itself as opposed to its impression. I'm getting hints of peach, apricot, and — glory be! — grape as I sniff and taste. It's solid. It's relatively light and uncomplicated — what you sniff if what you get. And, despite the zeitgeist, which insists that wines have to keep on keepin' on long after they've been swallowed, the Fetzer PG works for me.
I've not yet paired it with any foods (besides a slice of trusty old Kraft American, with which it paired beautifully), so I can't speak to the foodie aspect.
Sigh. Before January's over I'm going to rediscover my prized routines. Gym, careful wineblogging, etc. Bear with me. :)
posted by theogeo at 1:42 AM
1 Comments:
I have never tasted any kind of chardonnay that wasn't incredibly boring.
James Clark turned me on to pinot grigio. I like it, but I haven't had any in a long, long time. Perhaps it's time it made a comeback.
I rarely ever drink reds. They tend to give me hangovers. That means I'm officially banned from wine-snob society. If I wasn't already. :)
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