Eat Up Downtown Jacksonville!
July 23, 2011
Eat Up Downtown is Back!
August 15 – August 28, 2011
Save the date and your appetite! Downtown Vision, Inc. is dishing out exquisite cuisine at an affordable price during the fifth annual Eat Up Downtown, Downtown Jacksonville’s dining promotion, which runs for two weeks, from August 15 – August 28.
Each participating restaurant offers specially selected, three-course dinner menus for $25 per person. There are no coupons to clip or tickets to buy, simply view the menus online, select your favorite and call the restaurant for reservations.
List of Participating Restaurants
Posted in Events | Tagged Jacksonville | Leave a comment //Gran Sasso Montepulciano d’Abruzzo
July 23, 2011
Grape
100% Montepulciano [Mawn-teh-pool-CHA-noh] It’s a fun grape to say, especially if you do so with a really bad Italian accent. Say it with me: “Montepulciano!!!”
Facts
I hope you’re paying attention, because this is going to get tricky for a second! This wine is made from the Montepulciano grape; however there is ALSO a town called Montepulciano in Tuscany, which as it happens is nowhere near the Abruzzo region where this wine hails from.
European wine is never easy to understand!!!!
The Italians do help you a little with their wine labeling, and here’s a nice little rule to remember that is 99% effective….
A number of Italian wines tend to be labeled with the name of the grape 1st, and the place where the wine comes from 2nd. Therefore this wine is a Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, so the Montepulciano grape from the Abruzzo region. Here are a few more examples, Moscato d’Asti, Barbera d’Asti, Brachetto d’Acqui, Fiano d’Avellino and Dolcetto d’Alba. Grape 1st, Region 2nd.
Virginia is for (Wine) Lovers!
July 21, 2011
Probably about the same time that you are reading this, I will have started my short journey from Jacksonville up to Charlottesville, Virginia; the destination for this years Wine Bloggers Conference. This is the first time the conference has been held on the East Coast, and I’m psyched that I can finally manage to make it! I’ve attended countless wine tastings in my time “in the industry” but never anything on the scale of this. Needless to say I do have a few butterflies in my stomach!
A number of the attendees are people that I already know through either their wine blogs, Facebook and/or Twitter accounts; however not one of them have I actually ever met in-person.
I was hoping that I would be the only English accent at the WBC (it’s always a good ice-breaker at networking events); then I heard that Jancis Robinson OBE MW will be stealing my thunder as the keynote speaker this year! Dammit Jancis!
Just kidding…I’m a huge fan, and will probably go into weak-at-the-knees-wine-nerd-mode once I meet her/see her speak!
Meeker Handprint Merlot
July 20, 2011
Grapes
83% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Syrah, 3% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot
Facts
Good God I love this stuff! Probably my favorite all time Merlot, and not just due to the cool bottle! It’s also probably my most recommended wine for someone looking to give a bottle as a gift.
The Handprint Merlot can really be considered the signature wine out of the whole Meeker lineup. Each bottle is touched by a handful of people (no pun intended) , and is usually Charlie Meeker (owner & co-winemaker), Lucas Meeker or Matt Blankenheim (winemaker). Each leave "handprints" on each bottle ensuring that each Meeker Merlot is a unique work of art.
In 2001, the Meeker tasting room was cited by The Wall Street Journal as one of the most enjoyable wine tasting experiences in all of Napa and Sonoma Counties. As Molly Meeker says, "If you enjoyed tasting in a tipi, try it in a vault!"
Posted in Reviews | Tagged Alexander Valley, Dry Creek, Meeker Merlot, Meeker wine, Merlot, Russian River Valley, Sonoma | Leave a comment //Virginia Viognier – A Tasting. Part Two Of Two
July 18, 2011Following on from my previous post, this is the second part of my Virginia Viognier tasting.
Barboursville Vineyards Viognier
General Tasting Notes:
No oak, but they leave this one in contact with the lees (dead yeast cells) in order to give the wine added complexity. Medium in body, the standard Viognier notes of peach and apricot are certainly there, backed a little sourdough and a decent amount of acidity; to give the Barboursville Viognier a mellow roundness, which according to the winery will improve with 3-5 years of bottle age.
Recommended Food Pairing: The winery recommends a scaloppini of Venison in a butter-lemon-thyme sauce.
Case Production: 1,350
Retail: $22
Winemaker Bio: Luca Paschina is the third generation winemaker from Piedmont, Italy. She graduated from the Winemaking Institute in Alba in 1982, and has been involved in winemaking and grape growing in Italy, Switzerland, Spain, West Germany (1989), Napa Valley, and the Finger Lakes. She finally settled in Virginia in 1990.
Posted in Reviews | Tagged Barboursville Vineyards, Cooper Vineyards, Delaplane Cellars, Viognier, Virginia | Leave a comment //This Week in Wine – 7/17/11
July 17, 2011
Gallo’s Growing Barefoot Brand Is No. 1
Sutter Home is No. 2, while total domestic retail wine sales increased 7% in June.
E. & J. Gallo Winery’s fast-growing Barefoot brand remained No. 1 in retail sales for the 52 weeks ending June 13, with $255 million in sales. With Carlo Rossi ranking seventh in sales and Gallo Family Vineyards ninth, the Gallo company owns three of the top 10 brands. Two other Gallo products, Livingston Cellars and Peter Vella box wines, also made the top 20.
Trinchero Family Estates’ Ménage à Trois brand was the only wine in the top 20 to grow faster—33%—than Barefoot. Fetzer dropped fastest, with 14% negative growth.
My Thoughts
It’s so easy to turn your nose up at wines like Barefoot, but I actually have a lot of respect for them. How many Sommelier’s will you hear say THAT!?!?!
My first car was a £250 ($400) Ford Fiesta. Needless to say it was a piece of crap, but I loved it! Hopefully, in the not too distant future when I buy my first Aston Martin, I’m going to have so much more respect for it, than if my first car was, let’s say, a BMW.
Everyone needs to start somewhere on their wine journey, and it’s much easier to appreciate what you have in your glass when you start out drinking wines such as Barefoot.
Click here for the full article
Australian drinks to carry health warnings
So it seems that the Australian powerhouse wine brands of Hardys, Jacob’s Creek and Banrock Station, will soon carry health warnings on the label.
The move has supposedly comes after a survey showing that ‘Two thirds (61%) of Australian consumers said they would support the idea of information messages on alcohol labels and one third (32%) said they would be likely to seek more information about responsible drinking as a result of seeing a label.’
Many health experts see the move as a step in the right direction. ‘Australia has one of the highest rates of alcohol abuse in the world,’ Michael Farrell at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre said.
My Thoughts
I just don’t think that labeling in this way will help curb excessive drinking. Obviously I’m not an expert in the matter of alcoholism, but I have worked in restaurants, bars and hotels my whole life, and I know what I’ve seen. Wine very rarely is the issue, at least from my experience. If anything I think attention needs to be diverted toward liquor, alcopops and beer; as well as government funding toward educating people from a young age.
Personally, if it was up to me, I think all wine should carry the following message:
WARNING!: Consumption of wine may lead to sophistication, cultural awareness, worldly concerns, youthful ambiance and possibly severe happiness.
Click here to read the full story.
Posted in News | Tagged Andrea Robinson, Australia, Barefoot, Gallo, Sommelier, Wine News | Leave a comment //
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