A Guide to the Best Wine Lists in Jacksonville.
December 9, 2012
Another little thing that’s been consuming some of my time…
When it comes to restaurants, food menus get all the attention and promoting their wine list always seems to be an after thought…and I’m not sure why. Maybe I’m all on my lonesome on this one, but if I’m going to a restaurant, I deem the wine list to be equally as important as the food menu.
I decided it was time for a change!
If you take a look up at the top menu on this website, you’ll notice I added a new tab entitled Jacksonville Wine Lists. The dropdown menu contains all the wine lists in Jacksonville (and one or two in St. Augustine) that I deem “worthy” to be included in the list.
Within each restaurant’s/wine bar’s page, I’ve:
- Given the address, contact info, and link to the UrbanSpoon page for that restaurant.
- Highlighted the wine list strengths,
- Added my own recommendations on which wine I would personally choose from the list (and have in fact chosen in the past) within various price points.
- Attached a downloadable/printable PDF of the wine list.
Questions? I’m sure you have a few, so let me help answer two of the main ones:
Why are there only X number of wine lists on there?
That’s an easy one to answer! Because that’s how many restaurants/wine bars have outstanding wine lists in Jacksonville. Where there are more, I’ll add more.
Why isn’t the wine list from “Restaurant X” on your list?
Let me put it to you like this. There are four potential reasons why you don’t see a particular restaurant’s wine list on this list:
- The wine list probably sucks and I don’t deem it worthy (a couple of these wine lists only barely squeaked by).
- I overlooked the restaurant, and if so, you need to send me an email at: kris@blogyourwine.com.
- I’ve tried, where possible, to stay away from chain restaurants.
- And last but not least and my personal favorite: The restaurant declined to give me a copy of their wine list because they have such a high opinion of themselves they think that “people will start ripping off my ideas” : Words from the Sommelier of one of these particular restaurants. That deserves a blog post in itself.
In actuality, there are wine lists from three other Jacksonville restaurants whom I’d like to add to the list, but they either declined to give me a copy or didn’t answer my email.
Give it a look through, and I’d love to get your thoughts. I spent quite a bit of time working on it, so I hope you find it useful. It’s definitely a work in progress and I certainly hope to add more lists in the future.
Wine Myths…Busted: Should you Complain if Wine is Served from Two Separate Bottles?
December 9, 2012
Click here for the rest of my Wine Myths Busted series.
Posted in Facts | Tagged Serving wine from two bottles, Wine Etiquette, Wine Myths Busted, wine service, wine standards | Leave a comment //What Does the Personal Wine Cellar of a Wine Cellar Builder Look Like?
December 7, 2012
Another short Q & A with my good friend Curtis Dahl, owner of wine cellar builders Joseph & Curtis.
So I see you have a new wine cellar! Care to tell me a little bit about it…?
My main floor cellar was a conversion from an office to an “adult playroom.” It sits between my family and living room. It’s pretty visible from the entire 1st floor which is pretty cool. Anytime we have visitors over its the first thing they usually want to see, it also a great place for the adults to sit and chat (and of course taste wine)
Is this the only wine cellar in your house?
This is the 2nd wine cellar in my home. We preach values in the Dahl residence! The first wine cellar kinda launched J&C waaaaaaay back. It is a rustic cellar with stone and slate, and its in my basement. Both cellars have decent storage..total comes to about 4k bottles (which I have nowhere near YET).
How long did this project (pictured) take?
The project took about a month as we worked around the clock and it was a two day install. Everything was built in our warehouse including the door, cabinets, and of course wine racks.
It features our J&C ductless split cooling system with the ultra quiet blower and outside compressor.
What’s your cellar made of?
The cellar; both the outside facade, wine racks, door and cabinets, are made of Sapele Mahogany with a clear finish.
This cellar doesn’t look to be very deep.
The cellar is about 32″ deep (which helps me stay skinny) and the wine racks are 13″.
The great part about this type of cellar is we were able to create a tasting room just outside of the wine room because of the small footprint of the cellar. The tasting room features a table, countertop, coffer ceiling, with a distressed plaster finish.
14 of the Best DIY Wine Christmas Decoration Projects.
December 7, 2012Once again we have an odd-number to begin this post with! Why 14 of the Best DIY Wine Christmas Decoration Projects, you ask? The answer is very simple: I need limit myself to a certain amount of time on Pinterest each week. The reason for that is: You know how Australian Aborigines believe that every time your photo is taken, you lose a small piece of your soul? Well, I have a similar theory about Pinterest and masculinity.
As much as I love Pinterest, I have it in my head that each minute I scrolling through their virtual pin board, I slowly start to become a woman. A wedding-planning-scrapbooking-cat-loving-recipe-making-“OMG!!! LOOK AT THESE SHOES!!” screaming-hairstyling-Pinterest-loving woman.
What’s even more interesting is that at least half of those attributes already apply to me…..oh well.
On to the post!!!
DIY Christmas Wine Bottles Centerpiece
Click here for instructions on how to make this project.
DIY Vintage Inspired Bell Jar Ornaments
Click here for instructions on how to make this project.
Christmas Wine Label Gift Tags
Click here for instructions on how to make this project.
DIY Snowman Wine Glass Votive Holders
Click here for instructions on how to make this project.
Posted in Funny, News | Tagged christmas wine crafts, DIY Wine Bottle Christmas, Wine Botlle Crafts, wine christmas, Wine cork art, Wine Cork Crafts, Wine Crafts | Leave a comment //Happy Prohibition Repeal Day!
December 5, 2012
Edmeades Late Harvest Zinfandel, Mendocino, California.
December 4, 2012
Grapes
100% Zinfandel
Facts
- I don’t feature dessert wines enough. It’s a shame really. The problem is that the majority of wine drinkers (at least the ones I encounter) just don’t understand dessert wines!
I shouldn’t have to religiously state that “…dessert wines are generally meant to accompany (or even be served as) dessert…” but it seems that is continuously the case.
Sure, you can’t get home from a long day at work and rip into a bottle of late harvest dessert wine…but you’re also not supposed to!
- Dr. Donald Edmeades was known to beat to his own drum. A cardiologist from Pasadena, and whilst everyone else in the 1960’s in Mendocino was looking for gold, the doctor decided wine was more his flavor, so he started planting vines. It was of course Dr. Edmeades who got the last laugh, after very few of the miners in Mendocino ever struck gold.
- In 1972, the Edmeades family founded the winery and launched its own brand. Unfortunately Dr Donald Edmeades and his wife died of cancer within three months of each other that very same year. Their son Deron took over and was responsible for the first Edmeades vintage.
- The Edmeades winery was acquired by Jess Jackson in 1988. Instead of continuing to focus mainly on Cabernet (as was the case back then), Jackson changed the direction of Edmeades towards Zinfandel, and started sourcing grapes from the Mendocino Ridge.
- The Edmeades was aged for 16 months in oak, with a combination of 90% French (57% new), 10% American oak.
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