Random Oenophile

All hail the power of Twitter and Hubby’s new FourSquare addiction! In the week since we returned from the Pacific Northwest, the question has not been, “How was your trip?” but rather, “Sounds like y’all had a great trip!” It was, and this journey got off to a great start with the Wine Bloggers’ Conference …

Tasting Notes: Pink Stuff at JavaMonkey

July 9, 2010 Cecilia

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I was going to put this post off until after I covered some of the Wine Bloggers’ Conference material as well as the post-conference adventures. However, Dave Kell of inDecatur made a cameo appearance tonight to sample some wine, so I thought I’d go ahead and get the notes up for the full lineup. Conference …

Tasting Notes: State-Specific Drinking at JavaMonkey

July 7, 2010 Cecilia

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I’ve gotten behind on my JavaMonkey wine tasting notes, probably due to that little jaunt to Texas at the beginning of the month and another to the Pacific-Northwest after the Wine Bloggers’ conference. I do have thoughts to post on the WBC excursion on Saturday and then our subsequent adventures. I’ll get to those this …

Random Thoughts: On the Wine Bloggers’ Conference

June 27, 2010 Cecilia

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When I told my friends I was going to a wine bloggers’ conference, they looked at me skeptically and then asked, “What are you going to do there?” No doubt they pictured a lot of intense people sitting through seminars with intriguing titles like, “Distinguishing funkiness: forest floor vs. barnyard” or “101 ways to describe …

Live Blogging at 2010 Wine Conference: Speed-Drinking, Part Two — Reds

June 27, 2010 Cecilia

Here’s how this works: each winemaker or rep has 5 minutes to pour and talk about the wine, and we have the same amount of time to drink and write about it. 12 rounds. Here we go… Monthaven Winery2007 Cabernet Sauvignon (Central Coast)Octavin technology — an eight-sided “box” guaranteed to be good 6 weeks after …

Live Blogging at 2010 Wine Conference: Speed-Drinking

June 25, 2010 Cecilia

Charles Smith WinesKung Fu Girl 2009 Riesling — 1.5% Residual Sugar“The Modernist Project” = drink it nowRetail $12Notes: Crisp and refreshing, off dry and tart with nice citrus notes, smooth stone fruit undertones K Vintners 2009 ViognierBiodynamicRetail: $22Notes: A little vanilla on nose, again crisp with good finish, more floral Jordan Winery2008 ChardonnayRetail: $25Oak & …

Tasting Notes from the West Coast:

June 23, 2010 Cecilia

In honor of the upcoming wine bloggers’ conference this weekend in Walla Walla, Washington, here are some recent notes from the Random Oenophile’s West Coast correspondent James Bassett. All the content below is his. We’re looking forward to visiting with him in Seattle next week. As you can see, he finds good stuff, both wine …

Learnin’ Oenophile: Tasting Class at Total Wine

June 19, 2010 Cecilia

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Last Tuesday evening, my colleagues and I attended a wine class at Total Wine & More, Perimeter location. No, these weren’t wine-tasting colleagues. The range of wine knowledge was vast, which made it fun. The classes are given in the large room in the back corner of the store. It doesn’t have any windows, and …

Confessions of a Fallen Oenophile: Desperate Times Near the Alamo

June 12, 2010 Cecilia

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Okay, so I gotta say that I was not impressed with the wine scene in San Antonio. Duh, right? It’s not that they didn’t have nice wine lists, it’s that the glass selection is really limited, like maybe four or five options per list. You see my quandary. On Friday evening, we had a generally …

Texas Wine Trip: Days Five through Seven

June 5, 2010 Cecilia