Archives for July, 2007
2005 Zarafa Pinotage
Tastes too young and unripe. It’s close to good but instead just remains barely drinkable. Pinotage is a hybrid whose parents are Pinot Noir, as you might guess, and Cinsault, which you would only know if you knew. This one has some gamey, grapey, raspberry aromas and flavors from Dad (Pinot Noir, of course) and I don’t know what, if anything, from Mom. It’s got an anti-septic taste which comes from the high alcohol (14%).
When Trader Joe’s first threatened to open a block from my house I was excited. I had only shopped at one TJ’s (in LA) and remember getting some good inexpensive wines from them. Given that the closest grocery store to my house for the last few years has been Whole Foods I was thrilled to have an alternative to their over-priced (but decent) wine selection. When it finally opened 4 or 5 months ago I resisted buying the infamous Charles Shaw swill but I did walk out with a mixed case of inexpensive imports ranging from a $5 Albarino to a $17 “Amarone”. They all sucked enough not to say anything about any of them. I haven’t bought a bottle of wine from TJ’s since then — until tonight. The temptation is just too great. I’d love to find a really good, albeit modest, $5 every day drinking wine and so I broke down and bought three tonight. This was the first one opened. If I made it in my basement I’d be somewhat satisfied with it as a decent early effort but that’s the best I can say about it.
Wine Ratings Are For Suckers
Jonah Lehrer is a neuroscientist and editor of Seed magazine. I know it’s old news for many but it’s worth a link nonetheless.
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A wine blog has no new entries for a month. Does it really exist?