Let me explain. We already know that not every Rosé is like sex.  I mean, after all, White Zinfandel is a Rosé. I mean, technically speaking.  But really. Ew.

So it’s not summer, and unless you’ve been under a rock, you already know that Rosé is my favorite summer wine.  I’ve recently discovered that it’s pretty close to being my favorite winter wine.  Or, more accurately, Rosé is my “go to” winter wine.  You know, kinda like George Clooney is my “go to” fantasy.  Don’t tell the Wineaux Guy.

I opened up a bottle of 2010 Hug Cellars xoxo Central Coast Rosé wine last week (just for this review) and was blown away.  Unfortunately, I pretty much drank it all and didn’t pay attention to the details.  So I was forced – forced! – to open up another bottle, and this time I took the time to really enjoy the nuances of  this Rosé.  I reviewed last year’s offering of this wine and loved it then, but it’s grown up a bit with this vintage.

First of all, “Rosé” is a misnomer.  It is darker than pink, certainly a lot different from the Rosés of Provence that are a light salmony peachy color.  It almost looks like a Gamay or a light Pinot Noir in the glass.  This is definitely a grown-up’s pink wine, mostly because there’s not much actual “pink” involved.

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I wrote a couple of weeks ago about how I won’t be tasting “new” wines any more and reviewing them; at least, I won’t be reviewing wines that aren’t ready for prime time.  The wines are good, but if it’s not ready to drink, how can anyone give a good judgment about the wine in its youth?

I had decided to drink a bottle of one of my “good,” relatively aged wines over the Labor Day weekend.  I found a 2004 Linne Calodo Outsider resting in my Haier wine cooler (the “I Can’t Believe I Spent That Much on Wine” cooler), and decided to enjoy it.

First, let me explain the concept of aging.  A really “good” wine from a classic wine area that’s known to improve with age can do so – up to 30 years, more for vintage Ports.  I’m going to be 60 my next birthday.  Do I want to spend a gazillion dollars for a wine that will be good enough to drink in ten or more years, possibly “peaking” in 25? Uh. No.

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The crazy members of the Vegas Wineaux Wine Club met last Saturday evening, and our own Kimberly was the host.  The theme was Safari and it proved to me once and for all that we are, indeed, creative. Even if nuts.

There were lizards, monkeys, apes (all toys, of course), backpacks, outback hats, leopard prints, khaki, and tiger stripes.  The wines were from Africa and Australia.  My favorite wine of the evening was a Tukulu Pinotage (2006? I didn’t take notes!) which was as smoky and luscious as any I’ve ever had.  I shamelessly stole the cork. … Continue Reading

The hardest thing about doing wine review tastings is that you usually have to taste pretty young wines.  These young wines are not bad – especially the ones I go out of my way to taste; life is too short for bad wine – but they’re not as good as they’re going to be.  And that can be a real problem, especially when you know that the wine that you’re drinking OUT OF YOUR OWN CELLAR is going to be sooo much better in just a couple of years.

One of the complaints I’ve received about my occasional tasting notes and/or videos is that I’m tasting wines that sometimes cannot be purchased anywhere any more.  I would like to say I’m sorry, but I’m really not.  At least not from my standpoint. I always enjoy doing tastings of wines that I like and that I know I’m going to be finishing once the tasting notes or video are done.

Let me explain.

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Okay, so it’s not entirely new. I’ve done beer tastings before, and for the most part, I’ve really liked them. I don’t do the typical commercial beers because I love big flavor!

With that being said, when Issa at Khoury’s Fine Wine and Spirits showed me the four-pack of CoCoNut Porter – that’s not a typo – I hesitated only a moment before I grabbed one. What the heck. I did look askance at Issa, and he grinned and said, “it’s not sweet.”

Really.

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