We Have Been Hit By a Neutron Bomb...

....at least according to io9*. On a lighter note, I distinctly remember my sister's 5th birthday party in the the 3 little pig's brick house. Anyway a bunch of cool Mother Goose/Apocalypse pictures at the link.

*For those who need a little more context, our shopping center is built on the parking lot of the legendary (at least in Maryland) Enchanted Forest Amusement Park, that closed in 1989. Which, by the way, is why we are called Enchanted Forest Wine and Spirits (we aren't clever enough to come up with such a cool name on our own).

Oregon Chardonnay

An alert reader (yes I have readers did you think you were the only one?) points us to a New York Times wine tasting of 20 fantastic Oregon Chardonnay's ranging from under $20 to $85. Which reminds me I have to make friends with with the NYT wine critic and get invited to one of those tastings. At any rate, after some pretentious throat clearing, as in...

At the same time, we had the sense of a region in transition, still experimenting stylistically like a sculptor chipping away at a block of marble, waiting for the terroir of the Willamette to reveal itself. Right now, the wines seem to me more Mâconnais than Meursault.

...ahem, where were we? Oh yes, after some pretentious throat clearing they got down to justifiably praising Oregon's Chardonnays which currently very few people pay attention to. Though they should, they really should! Almost all of them are in the crisp refreshing 21rat century style rather than the unctuous buttery 20th century style. And since most people want the something that says California on the the label the price to value ratio can be fantastic. It's a great article but they forgot my favorite Oregon winery!

David Hill Vineyards and Winery is simply one of the best price to value ratios for a winery out there. And it not just me singing their praises, for instance check out the "Wine Enthusiast"

Chardonay....90 points

Riesling.........92 points

Pinot Gris ..... 93 points!

And all for under 20 bucks! You must try this wine.

Foie Gras Fluffernutter

Umm... I think I'm going to have put this in my definitely maybe file.

Friday Tasting

Today we've decided to go with two inexpensive wines from around the world. One red that's a tad obscure and one white that's very obscure.

The red is a Cotes-Du-Rhone a region you should be very familiar with and shouldn't be obscure at all since it is one of the great areas for cafe wine, inexpensive well balanced capable of going with any food imaginable. the reason it is a tad obscure is that, quite unfairly, no one has hear of the Charles Thomas winery. Well, that obscurity ends today with us because this is a fun little wine that is a great example of a Cotes-Du-Rhone and a fantastic deal at ten bucks and you get to taste it today.

The white we trying today is very obscure. No less deservedly, but much more understandably. you see, we are opening a bottle of Falernia, a Chilean wine made from--are you ready for it?--100% Pedro Ximenez. Shocked, aren't you? Aren't you? Okay...well, you'd probably be shocked if you knew what Pedro Ximenez was...which you probably don't. The reason you don't know what Pedro Ximenez is, is because almost no one around here drinks Sherry (don't lie to me I've seen the sales reports). Pedro Ximenez is grape varietal that show up in sherry, cream sherry. But, somebody in Chile decided to use it to create a dry, crisp, mineraly, white wine that is perfect for hot weather. And again it's only ten bucks. I have a feeling that we will sell out of this by closing time.

Wine and Politics...

...Apparently don't go well together. The White House decided to showcase great american wines at state dinners but then realized great american wines cost great american prices. So for instance they served the rated 100 point Cabernet by the"Wine Advocate" from Quilceda Creek to the Chinese leader the Hu Jintao and by the time they served it (I'm sure the whites got it at a good price before it was reviewed) it was going for about $400 a bottle. Since this kind of opulence is considered bad form in an election season they decided to not tell anyone which wines they are serving from now on, which of course defeats the whole purpose of "featuring" it. But that's politics. Oh and by the way if anyone out here in the internet has an open bottle of 2005 Quilceda Creek cabernet, let me know, I'd really like to taste it.

Hugues Beaulieu Picpoul de Pinet 2010 $10.99

Since I mentioned Picpoul in a previous post and the weather for a light refreshing drink outside on the deck kind of wine has come surprisingly early, I thought I might let you know what the heck a picpoul is. First thing, the name means "lip stinger" in french which obviously refers to to the acidic nature of the grape. Also, just as obviously since this is France we are talking about such a name must be applied to more than one grape. Yeah, that's right, there is more than one grape growing in France with the name Picpoul or Piquepoul or whatever. How can you tell the difference? Well, you can be French and if that doesn't work you can try being American. And why does being American help? Because the only Picpoul you are likely to come across in the U.S. is Picpoul De Pinet from the Coteaux Du Languedoc. The light-crisp-slightly-citrusy-reasonably-low-alcohol-so when-the-entire-bottle-disappears-in-fifteen-minutes-you-haven't-done-anything-stupid-warm-weather-wine that is one of my all time favorites. Anyway, here's fun game the winery of the Picpoul pictured is "Hugues Beaulieu" try and find the name of the winery on the label--good luck (I hate traditional French wine labels).

Housekeeping...

I have been informed that the weird highlighting of text that shows up when I copy and paste is less than ideal. I am aware of the problem and as soon as I figure out %*#&$#ing Blogger I will %*#&$#ing fix it.

UPDATE:Fixed it! I am a genius, or at least I know how to google a question.

Must ...Have...Flower Power....Eggs...

...yesss...with a green salad and a nice Picpoul.

In Which I (sorta) Apologize to NPR...(as if I were wrong or something)

Now of course I wasn't actually wrong. But I do think that since I criticized NPR (albeit somewhat ironically) I should take a moment and say something nice about NPR. Because frankly, they are one of the best news organizations on the planet, and they do it all all on a shoestring budget--Katie Couric's 2010 salary was more than the budgets of "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered" combined (sadly this is not an exaggeration). And one of the reasons the that I wasn't offended by Allison Aubrey's article, was she was obviously trying to give enough context about the issue at hand, (i.e. are wine professionals genetically different from everyone else in a way that makes expensive wine not worth it for everyone else?) to make it more than a he-said-she-said exercise in frustration. Which naturally reminded me of a blog post by the indispensable Jay Rosen where he congragulates NPR on their new handbook on journalistic standards. He says NPR...

...commits itself to avoiding the worst excesses of “he said, she said” journalism. It says to itself that a report characterized by false balance is a false report. It introduces a new and potentially powerful concept of fairness: being “fair to the truth.” My verdict: Bravo, NPR.

Now granted, an article about wine that is only a few paragraphs long is not exactly the most difficult test for the new policy. But I think it is actually a decent illustration of how good journalism works. The commentators on the other hand are really trying my patience, anyone who brings up "Two Buck Chuck" should be made to taste Alto Moncayo Granacha 2003 and condemned to a desert island for the rest of their lives with nothing but "Two Buck Chuck" to drink.*

*I'm sure this is probably a violation of human rights of some sort...but still if you mess with the bull you get the horns.

Un-Ironic Olive Garden Reviews and the Internet

If you don't travel in the same regions of the internet that I do you might have not have noticed that 86-year old Marilyn Hagerty has a review of the new Olive Garden in Grand Forks Herald and the internet finds it hilarious. Actually I find it hilarious also or at least endearing. Her review is exactly what I would expect from an 86-year old restaurant reviewer from Grand Forks were I would expect acceptable (if highly Americanized) Italian food is kind of a big deal. In any case Gawker in order to protect it's reputation as a smart-ass website rounded up a bunch of un-ironic reviews of the Olive Garden.

Obviously the World is Ending.

And if iced tea flavored Coors light comes to pass it will be none too soon.

NPR Is Trying To Get Me Angry...

...and they are over shooting the mark, I am enraged. Okay fine, it's not quite that bad. NPR has a report about a study that shows that most people aren't as good at tasting bitter as wine professionals. They then go on to speculate that the difference is caused by biology; that wine professionals are supertasters--people who are able to taste compounds that most people can't. Bleh. Wine professional are better at tasting because they have more practice.Wine, like all great art forms is an acquired taste. In defense of NPR I should mention that they they do consult wine experts who have the same reaction I do (meaning, of course, they are correct). The point is, learning to appreciate the nuances in wine is WORTH IT PEOPLE! the scary thing is that there does seem to be a movement on the internet to convince everyone that because some people can't tell the difference between all wines under all conditions, anyone who cares about which wine they are drinking is a fool. I am definitely going to have to put a stop to this. Stay tuned, it will be me versus the internet. The poor internet doesn't have a chance.

Interview With a Part time Sommelier

The Awl has great interview with a part time sommelier*. Whose wine philosophy is quite sharp (i.e. I mostly agree with her). But what I like most is knowing that i'm not the only on who gets questions like:

"My husband and I went to this little restaurant in Emilia-Romagna and it was so beautiful and we tried this wine that went so well with the meal. I think it had like a picture of the winery on the label and the label was in Italian. Do you have it?" I always ask whether the wine was red or white, and ofter they answer, "I don't remember. But it was so good!"

*This is getting ridiculous, spell check doesn't recognize sommelier.

.....And we're back...again

Family health emergency...months of drama...couldn't find time and emotional energy to blog...yada yada yada*. Everything is okay now.

*By the way did you know yada yada yada is not in spell check? Haven't any of these programmers seen Seinfeld?