The Naked Wine Try

Let's Get Naked!  I got to try out a group coupon deal couple of months ago.  A case of Naked Wines for $69.

What's Naked Wines?  I don't know why it's naked, but I see it as a support system in which customers pay forward monthly (like an investment) to help fund small wineries with their wine business.  In return, they get to buy wines at a good discount.  Naked Wines recognizes that small independent winemakers do not have the financial means to compete with wine conglomerates in marketing and distribution.  So, its goal is to provide support through collective efforts.

I wasn't too interested at first but I liked the concept and I figured that I would be doing a good thing. And heck, what's there to lose anyway?

I got the case within two days of ordering.  Wow!  Fastest delivery ever!  It came at 8am on a Saturday morning - kind of early for wine delivery (cough-cough).  It was like a mystery box because I didn't know what they sent.  When ordering this deal, you only get to choose red, white or mix.  International or US.  I chose All California and hoped for the best.

First Observation: Funky wine names and labels.  All screwed tops except a couple.  Most are from 2010 and 2011.  Hmmm.... not sure if I like this very much, but being a good sport, I shall not judge until I try.

See. Swirl. Smell and Sip.  So for the following four weeks, I did my tasting and dutifully jotted down my thoughts with each wine.  Naked Wines welcome comments on its site so I did my share.  I actually learned a lot from reading others' comments.  I also liked that the winemakers are active in the forums and they exchange dialogues with the customers enthusiastically.  Although I don't know how to express in proper wine lingo, I found my "experience" was on par with other folks'. So, does this mean my tasting skill is improving?  I sure hope so.  Hiccups!

Professional or not, cheap or not, good or not, I enjoyed my case of Naked Wines. But would I go back to order from them?  Probably not any time soon.  You see, I can pick up similar wines at the supermarket in the same price range so why should I go through ordering?  On the other hand, a part of me says I should - for equal value - because I'll do my share to support the independent winemakers.

While I ponder, here are pictures of the wines I tried.  I tried 11 out of the 12 bottles.  I'm just not into moscato so I'll leave that last bottle alone for now.

Ken Deis Napa Valley Cabernet/Merlot 2011

Interesting blend.  Nice dark ruby color and rich bouquet.  Don't think it as a cab.  It's not as dry or full bodied but well balanced.  Easy to drink on its own.

William Henry Sauvignon Blanc 2010
I like the grassy, "green" feel. I like the acidity in t his wine.  Not complicated but delightful.

Accord Santa Maria Chardonnay 2009 - I liked the rich color and the bouquet.  My only regret is that I used some to make cioppino.  Should have saved for drinking instead.

Stephen Millier Angels Reserve Shiraz 2011 - Easy to drink.  It's better on the nose than on the palate.  Perhaps it need some aging.

Credence Nectar California White NV - Fruity, structured.  Nice finish.  I knew it was going to be off-dry but still a little bit too sweet for me.

Sin Fronteras Tempranillo 2011 - Fruity.  Medium-bodied.  Beautiful color.  Drink well without food.  Best to finish it in one day.  Turned sweet on day 2.

William Henry Gewurztraminer 2011 - A little bit on the sweet side.  It had a subtle floral note and a nice pineapple finish.  It's a nice afternoon wine.  Goes well with a cobb salad or a light cheese plate.

Da Da Da Lodi Chardonnay 2011 

Crispy.  Light.  Not the chardonnay style I like. It reminds me more like a pinot grigio.  But I think this is the style that the chardonnay is trending to.

Bear & Crown Merlot Sonoma Valley 2011 

I have not had merlot in a long while so glad to give this a try.   I like it better on the palate than on the nose.  A wine to drink with something meaty.

Semilla Lake County Sauvignon Blanc 2011  - Fruity. Crisp. Balanced. Really enjoyed it.  This one I would order again.

Stephen Millier Angels Reserve Viognier 2011 

Refreshing and nice floral nose. I like the honey finish yet not overly sweet.  Better than TJ's Honey Moon in body.

Overall, the wines are young and off-dry.  I think the small wineries may not have the capacity to make more complex wines.  But, big kudos all around for passion and for having fun.

Bottle-Cork-Open-Drink

I'm glad that I got this LivingSocial deal for a visit to La Nebbia Winery!  It offered a chance to bottle and cork your own wine plus a tasting of its wines.  Heck, all these for $25?  I especially like that I will get to see how wine is bottled.  It's like "you drink milk but do you know how it's milked?"

La Nebbia Winery.  A winery in our backyard.  Actually, it's about 25 minutes away in Half Moon Bay on Highway 92 but close enough to call it my backyard.   I have driven by it quite a few times, but I finally had a chance to visit last Sunday.

It's little family-style winery.   It has a little wine tasting room, a wine bottling warehouse for the general public and a beautiful garden for picnics.  Note to self: make this a point of interests when I have visitors.

OK, the wine bottling part isn't quite that romantic.  A big warehouse with giant industrial tanks and a metallic equipment to fill and cork the bottles with one push of a button.  That's it?  We did get to attach the wine labels by hand though.

Since Jean and I were the first to arrive and there were only two of us, we got to spend some quality time with Kendyl, the winery owner.  She poured us each a glass of wine to start off (very nice), and gave us a a more detailed look of the bottling process including how she sourced her wine.  She let us visited her office which had boxes of wine samples from all over California. Her job is to sample them all and decide what to buy.  These wholesale wines are for the "Bottle and Cork Your Wine" days.  Those are the days where people can bring their own wine bottles to fill the wines with at $5/750ml bottle.  Note to self again: start saving wine bottles.

After Jean and I each bottled and corked our own wine, we headed to the tasting room.  La Nebbia actually produces their own wine with sourced grapes.  We got to try 12 wines from white to sparkling to red to dessert wines.  Hiccups!

Jean and I left the winery all happy.  What a nice little outing for a different experience so close to home.  Try a little, live a little.  Appreciate the small things that make up each of our days.  Cheers!

Happy Moon Festival

Chinese Moon Festival is just around the corner, but that wasn't what we were celebrating today (Oops, yesterday, since it's already past midnight).

Trader Joe's has a series of "moon" wines. Love the names and the pretty wine labels. I suggested to the girls that we should get together to sample the moons. Yap, easier said than done. It took 6 months to make this happen.

Nonetheless, we did, and boy did we had fun. We gathered around the "moons" and dutifully studied the type of grapes, the intensity and the order we should try them. I even had a wine note typed up. The idea was for everyone to write down her own experience on the appearance, the aromas and the taste but I forgot to bring the printout with me. Oh well, so much for a formal wine tasting.

Of course, cannot wine taste without food and, in our usual tradition, lots of food for 7 bottles of wines. I think we ate more than we drank because each of us brought home a "full moon".

Many thanks to Yvonne for hosting the moon festival. We miss Sandy and Julie who couldn't be there but they know: "月亮代表我的心".

Who Speaks Wine III

Un Toast! It's a joy to share a bottle of good wine with those who enjoy and appreciate it.

Cousins came over for our crawfish party on Saturday (5/29/10). My boy cousins enjoy drinking wines -- not that we know anything about them -- so I opened a 1981 French red along with two Californian so we can sample. The old French stole the show of course.

Can't remember how I ended up with it but it has been on the rack for a while. A quick google search revealed nothing. But what the heck, it's a 1981, pretty impressive enough for sake of conversation. Just think I haven't even graduated from high school in 1981. It was a life time ago.

How does it smell? How does it taste? The first pop released Gennie from the bottle after a long 30 years.... The aroma was wonderful but it tasted a little sour and bland at first. Let it breathe, I said, trying to sound like I knew what I was saying. And yes, the flavor did develop later. It became fuller and more layered. Like all good things, it takes time... Heck! how would you feel after being cooped up for almost 30 years?

Of course, we did the woos and ahhs as usual.

Talk about woos and ahhs... I have this bias about California wine. Somehow it has more wows and the ahhs than any other wines. To me, California wine is exciting and powerful from the first pop. (Is that speaking wine?) Who has time to wait it out???

Regardless where the wine is from, the important thing is sharing the moment with the ones you cherish. That's what it counts. Cheers to all!

Who Speaks "Wine" - Part II

CHEERS TO ME. I decided to try a white wine that was on my wine rack for a while. A 2005 Summerland Bien Nacido Vineyard, Block U, Chardonnay. Thinking that it's already 5 years old, I better drink up and make room for new wine. So, bottom up!

It was a refreshing white with lots of fruitiness to it. It was a little unimpressive when I first tried it yesterday. Of course I WOULD NOT have drunk the whole bottle by myself in one night so half was saved for today. After some airing, the flavor really popped and it became a very easy wine that perked up all senses. Very fragrant with a good tropical fruit note - almost like pineapple if I must say. A hint of honey and went down smoothly. I polished the remaining bottle as I was cooking dinner.

After dinner, I decided to check out the official rating of this wine. NOW, WHY DIDN'T I THOUGHT OF DOING THAT FIRST??? What do you mean it was a $30 bottle of wine? UGH!! I wouldn't have drunk it all by my lonesome self if I knew it was that expensive!! What a waste! And the main thing is, IT'S OUT OF STOCK NOW!!! There were only 900 cases produced. Boy, if I have just checked it out first, I would have saved it for my wine drinking buddies. Sorry guys.... Hiccups!

For you who may be interested, here's one official review but for a 2004 Chardonnay. But, heck, check out the wine talk anyway...

"SUMMERLAND WINERY 2004 Chardonnay, Bien Nacido Vineyard (Block U) Shows soft and pleasant aromas of honeysuckle, apple and pear, along with a dusting of talcum powder/baby powder (and I mean that in a good, soothing way). Baked apple and pear flavors are built on a moderately structured frame and are in sync with its weight in the mouth. It’s not a big, boisterous Chardonnay but it was not meant to be, all the better to pair with a wider variety of food. The ripe fruit does a slow fade on the back palate, leaving a very harmonious impression." (http://www.summerlandwine.com/)

I still can't figure out how in the world did these experts come up with these descriptions (talcum powder??), but YES it was as good as it was said!! Enjoy, people, if you can find it!!

Who Speaks "Wine"?

The girls met up this past Sunday to have lunch and to collect our wine order from Sandra. Total of 5 cases to be shared by 6 boozer wannabes. Not that we know anything about wines but we think we know a good wine when we have one. We agreed that we should take notes so we will know if we want to order more of the same next time.

With excitement, I opened up a bottle of 2005 COYAM from Chile last night. It was a very pretty wine: dark red in color, rich aroma of berries, full bodied, dry yet velvety. It was very satisfying. Ahhh...

OK, that was my notes. I decided to check out the real reviews just to see if my take was right. Hey, what do you know, my first impression was right on! This is a beautiful wine and it has received pretty good reviews. Kuddo for me! But, what the heck is this wine talk??? Here's an example of a review of this wine...

"Ruby-red. Spicy red-and blackcurrant aromas offer very good precision and are complicated by licorice and cocoa powder. Silky in texture, with concentrated red fruit preserve flavors, tangy minerality and slow-building tannins on the close. Offers a very suave blend of depth and vivacity." -- 90 Points. International Wine Cellar (www.wine.com)

Huh? Where can I learn to talk wine like that? Do I have to? Wouldn't it be nice to talk like a true wine expert? But I bet you if I give the girls wine notes like this, they will probably tell me to go fly a kite and JUST DRINK IT, Suts! Shish!

Pinot: Flat or Sideway?

"You Drink, We Flatten" says this sign above a booth at the Justin Herman Plaza. People stopped by to check out the flat wine bottles with the wine labels still intact. The bottles were quite unique and they made little wind-chime sound in the soft breeze. I think they make good a conversation piece especially if you're the one who drank the wine beforehand.

I asked the lady how she made them. She said the process required high heat but also had to be taken slowly -- about 24 hours to flatten the bottles.

So What Do You Do With Flat Bottles? Besides showing them off, you can use it as cheese trays, small plates or spoon rest. Cool. I better hurry up and bottom-up.

So I'm thinking that I can flatten the double magnum Wente wine that Nancy gave me. It will be pretty impressive, but I'll have to drink it first. I think it's 4 750ML equivalent.

Wine and cheese, anyone?

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