Kronick Wino

Wine.com Valentine’s Day Wine Gifts for Anyone

Thursday, January 29th, 2009 | wine.com | No Comments

It’s getting closer and closer to that romantic holiday, Valentine’s Day. Why not get your sweetie a little something wine-liscious from Wine.com?

Here are some of their great gift ideas to entice whoever you’re out with that night for a great time and wine sampling.

Veuve Clicquot Demi-Sec & 19-pc Godiva Chocolates - Wine Collection Gift

only $79.99Veuve Clicquot Demi-Sec & 19-pc Godiva Chocolates - Wine Collection Gift
Wine Collection Gift by Wine.com. Demi-Sec, a slightly sweet style of Champagne, is at its best when served with desserts. Veuve Clicquot Demi-Sec, marked by fresh peach, nectarine and orange blossom, pairs beautifully with Godiva’s assorted deep dark chocolates, smooth milks, velvety ganaches, classic truffles and pralines. Truly irresistible! Each gift set contains: Veuve Clicquot Demi-Sec Champagne (750 ML) Godiva 19-piece Assorted Chocolates in a gold ballotin gift box Wine gift sets & baskets may be packaged with the bottles separately boxed for their protection during shipment Pursuant to state laws in New York and Connecticut, gifts that contain both food and wine will be sent in two separate packages.

Tour de France Wine Gift Pack - Wine Collection Gift

Only $39.99Tour de France Wine Gift Pack - Wine Collection Gift
Wine Collection Gift by Wine.com. Take a tour of France’s three most famous wine regions: Bordeaux, Burgundy, and the Rhone. Each wine is chosen to display the unique characteristics of the region it represents. Travel to Bordeaux with the bold Chateau Les Graves de Barrau, made by Dominique Hebrard of the Cheval Blanc family. Experience Bouchard’s silky Burgundy from the birthplace of Pinot Noir. Explore the Cotes-du-Rhone with a spicy Grenache and Syrah blend from Louis Bernard. Passport not required. Includes: Chateau Les Graves de Barrau The estate has been well-known for several centuries. This wine is medium-bodied with dark berry flavors, well-balanced tannins and a long, smooth finish. Bouchard Bourgogne Pinot Noir This wine exemplifies Bouchard’s mission: Always search for perfection in quality, authenticity in style and prestige in the name. A plump wine with a lot of fruit and a delicate note of wood, harmonious and well balanced. Louis Bernard Cotes-du-Rhone Ample and fruity with a gentle hint of oak. This wine is an excellent match for barbeque. Please note that due to the popularity of this product, we reserve the right to substitute like wines and vintages.

Zinfandel Romance Gift Basket

Only $59.99Zinfandel Romance Gift Basket Gourmet Gift Basket. Delight your sweetheart with this vine-patterned oval tin, brimming with a rich assortment of gourmet sweets such as chocolate covered cherries, cashew roca, English toffee with almonds, handmade vanilla pecan tea cookies and more. Cline Cellars California Zinfandel showcases dark berry fruits including black cherry and raspberry while spice notes and a lasting finish of vanilla from oak aging, add complexity to this wine. Share it with someone special this Valentine’s Day. This gift includes: Cline Cellar California Zinfandel Handmade vanilla pecan tea cookies English toffee with almonds Peppermint popcorn Raspberry chocolate biscotti Chocolate covered cherries Seasoned thin pretzel sticks Belgian dark chocolate bar Cashew roca Chocolate chip cookies Gift dimensions: 15 L x 8 W x 8.5 H Due to the popularity of this product, we reserve the right to substitute items of equal or greater quality. Wine gift sets & baskets may be packaged with the bottles separately boxed for their protection during shipment Pursuant to state laws in New York and Connecticut, gifts that contain both food and wine will be sent in two separate packages.

And even if you’re spending the day alone, don’t fret! Go get yourself a bottle of something you’d never splurge on for anyone, but yourself. Rent Sideways, sip that $60 Pinot and laugh your butt off! I plan on doing the same.

Shop all Wine.com Pinot Noirs here

Cheers!

Tags: pinot noir gift, romantic gift ideas, Valentines Day, wine gift basket, wine gifts

A Tale Of Two Cities…er, Pinot Regions - Oregon vs. New Zealand

Monday, January 26th, 2009 | Tasting Room Stories, Wine Tasting Notes, wine | 1 Comment

A constant battle is going on in the wine world - the fight to be the BEST when it comes to who produces the greatest Pinot Noir. Currently, in the fight, I can think of two very well-known regions of the world. We’ve all known that France was the original contender in the ring. Some of the best wines are from the Burgundy region. (Shh… one word of caution, don’t call it pinot there). They’re classic, poetic, delightful, but part of the old world of wine.

I’m over the old; time to look to the new! So here we go, Round 2:

Willamette Valley, Oregon vs. Marlborough, New Zealand

Why did I pick these 2 regions? Apart from my personal taste, they are ramping up the sections at your favorite wine store, folks are not looking to Pinot out of California like they used to, and guess what? The French are even in on it! They are buying land plots in those areas to grow their own grapes. Why? Because they know how amazing the flavors and characters of the wines can become at full fruition. Take Domaine Drouhin, for example. What started out as one of the most well-known in their industry in France, now takes up a large plot of vineyard soil in Dundee Hills / Willamette Valley, Oregon. The clones of grapes they produce there continue to be some of the best in the world.

So, my wine pick from the pacific northwest (for the time being, because i can’t just leave it at that) would have to be 2006 Willamette Valley Vineyards Pinot Noir.

Tasting Notes:

At the heart of it all, there is one thing that separates these two regions clearly for me. It always come down to the soil; the terroir. Out of Oregon, my nose almost always picks up the earthy fruit of the soils: strawberries, elderberries, raspberry and blackberries, sometimes blueberries. But behind that lies an earthiness and musk that can only be compared to a rich and aged goat cheese. Usually the oak is there, but lightly balanced in the background with just subtle notes coming out from sip to sip. A delicate dance on my taste-buds. ($20-$23/btl)

On the other hand we have New Zealand. Not too many of my friends are drinking wine from that region, and neither was I. Until, one day, a gentleman walked into Hopkins and we started the conversation of where are favorite Pinots came from. I quickly said Oregon, but he had a look on his face of wonderment. I asked him about his, and he said New Zealand. Really? New Zealand? Don’t they only make Sauvignon Blancs and Chardonnays? Apparently not. I asked him what they were like and he told me just that they were amazing and that if I hadn’t tried one, that I need to find one. So I did.

My pick for New Zealand: 2005 Clos Henri Pinot Noir, Marlborough, New Zealand

Tasting Notes:

Unlike Oregon and its subtle fruit, New Zealand brings all of that forward on the palette. As soon as I took my first sip, there was only one thing that came to mind - Kim’s mothers’ strawberry jam. Now, oddly enough, her mother lived in Virginia and the land there is not so unlike Marlborough. Warm weather, wonderful floral aromas in the summertime, and bright, ripe, rich fruit! The body of the wine was quite smooth and a little more concentrated than the pinots I’ve had from Willamette Valley. The oak was a blend of French barrels, old and new. Some spice was indicative of Asian spice, like cloves, cinnamon and ginger. ($23-$25/btl.)

Well, the man was right. I am now in love with New Zealand Pinot Noirs, but I will never waiver from my beloved Oregon wine. I think they’ll live happily ever after together in my wine cellar. Cheers!

Tags: Domaine Drouhin, Lange Vineyards, new zealand wines, new-world wines, oregon pinot noir, Pinot Noir

The Tongues’ Double Edge Sword

Thursday, January 22nd, 2009 | Wine Stories, Wine Tasting Notes | No Comments

What do all of the images above have in common? My Palette.

Or otherwise known as the flavors found in wine that I really don’t enjoy.

I know, I always write about things that I LOVE: Wines, food, places, flavors. But this is one time where I thought some of you might want to know what I don’t like. Mostly because I am human. Generally, I love all things when it comes to wine and food, but these are the smells and flavors that creep up once in a while when you’ll see me wiggle my nose and say, “…… um, it’s ok…….”.

Let’s break it down:

BANANAS: While i love to eat the fruit after a crazy kickboxing workout, I don’t generally enjoy it in my wine. I tend to find this flavor in some of the Chardonnays out of California. The fruit aromas there tend to get really tropical and luscious. While I can enjoy the aromas/tastes of mango, pineapple, passion fruit and melon, banana is one that turns me off. I think it’s the mustiness associated with this starchy-potassium-rich food.

PLUMS: Only one thing come to my mind whenever I smell plums in the wine: CHEAP. I don’t know why, but all those Yellowtail cabs, $6 Spanish reds, Magnum-sized LIttle Penguin Merlot bring up that fruit smell and I have to pass. Sorry folks, it’s not for me. I think it has something to do with the sugar in the wine…. tooo much. I also tend to have a similar issue with cherries, but it really depends on how badly ‘cherry’ the wine is tasting.

LICORICE: I’m pretty sure some of you are saying, ‘well, yeah, licorice? Who would like that??’. The truth is, I do like licorice, but there are times when I’ll be having a bottle of Amarone from Italy and it’s just too much. It is a very overwhelming scent to the nose; clears you right up! But I’m not always looking for a sinus douche. But alas, it is in the soil of most Italian wines. So if you’re like me, just proceed with caution.

MINT: I get lots of giggles when I mention that there is mint in my wine. It’s not something most will pinpoint, but it’s there. I find it mostly when drinking cabernet sauvignon. Just talking about it makes me laugh as well, as I recall a time when I went wine-tasting in Long Island, NY.  Sitting down at Pellegrini Vineyards one sunny afternoon, I began sipping my various wines. I got to the Cabernet Sauvignon on the tasting list for the day. Well, all I could taste was some sort of cleaning solution. Was this wine bad? Sip after sip after sip, trying to figure out why it tasted that way. Then it came - it’s MINT! Turns out, that’s a flavor that comes out of the soil quite a bit in that region, including strawberries and rhubarb, but that’s another story….

CUT GRASS: It may not need a lot of explanation. In the real world, this can be a nice smell to some. I’m pretty sure that Yankee Candle Company even made a votive to match that aroma. Typically, I find these ‘grassy’ nose tickles in my lighter whites, especially some sauvignon blancs. Not so much out of California, but mostly out of some of my Rueda wines from Spain or some New Zealand varieties.

NEW AMERICAN OAK: No, I don’t hate oak, but what I don’t love is when the wine is aged in only new American oak. The flavor that comes out of the wine is kind of like me smelling the beginning of my impending headache from hangover. Plus, some wines just completely overdue it with the oak in general. It’s a reason why I don’t generally have some Chardonnays at the top of my wine list. I am very particular when it comes to wine that’s only aged in new oak. I always expect an overwhelming waft of WOOD. Not toasty vanilla flavors or light spice or hazelnut, just the thought of someone shoving a piece of plywood under my nose while I sip my wine. Not good. Can anyone relate to this with me? I’m just looking for a little balance, hence I truly favor a nice mix of American / Hungarian or French oak. Much more subtle and delicate.

So, maybe you’ve learned a little something extra about me today. Me and my wine-peeves. What about you? What do you tend to find unpleasant when you’re sipping with friends? It’s okay to share. Maybe I pin-pointed something for you today that you always questioned.

Anyhow, keep those taste-buds alive and kickin’! Cheers!

Tags: bananas, descriptors, flavors, food, grassiness, licorice, mint, new american oak, plums, taste, wine flavors, wine palette, wine tasting