Wine

Wine Review: Domaine La Hitaire, 2006 Les Tours

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Domaine La Hitaire, 2006 Les Tours, 10.5 % Alc./Vol., 750 ml
White Gascogne wine: 65% Ugni Blanc, 30% Colombard and 5% Gros Manseng.

You might think, ah, another CHEAP ($10 here in Philly) French wine. But don’t be so quick to judge, b/c this one’s a definite keeper.

Pale yellow color with a subtle aroma. Well balanced, with low acidity and very little aftertaste. Smooth and understated, with hints of citrus, peach and apple.

Domaine La Hitaire would make a great choice for people who don’t normally care for whites like Chardonnay because of their intensity.

Overall, a light, crisp and super easy-drinking wine.  YUM-YUM.

A-/B+

Wine Review: Chateau La Grange de Grenet, 2005 Bordeaux

~ thedailydish ~ 3 Comments

You’ll be pleased to hear that my 2008 resolution is going well, and I have been steadily gathering a whole boatload of information about my most-favorite of subjects: WINE.

For my first recommendation, I’d like to present a very moderately-priced ($10 here in Philly) red wine from France.

Chateau La Grange de Grenet, 2005 Bordeaux, 12.5 % Alc./Vol., 750 ml

For such an inexpensive wine, this one is a real treasure. Dark cherry color, bouquet hints of cherry, raspberry and plum. Well balanced. Good acidity, light clean finish with a subtle aftertaste of oak and ripe berries. All-in-all, a very lovely, highly drinkable wine. AND CHEAP.

Highly recommended!

A-

I AM your own PERSONAL CUPID. I am serious.

~ thedailydish ~ 9 Comments

A couple days ago I posted about finding a bunch of vintage valentines at the thrift shop, and how I’d been struck by the sweetness of it all. Well – when I bought the whole big whopping sack of them, I suspected there were probably more than I could use, but I hadn’t realized precisely how many until I actually counted them last night. 65. WOW. That’s a lot of valentines. If I use one per year for the next 65 years, I’ll be dead before they are gone.

So I started thinking about My poor dead self – dead. and all those unsent valentines. Sitting unused in some dusty desk – or thrown out in the trash. Or recycled into new 2073 Valentines. And all those choice 1980s sentiments gone.

SO I thought about that for a while last night, while drinking my wine and watching Arrested Development. and noticing how unbelievably adorable Jason Bateman is and how young he looks, like he cannot possibly be 39 because he looks so great and so YOUNG and , and. wow. 65 valentines that is a lot. I could send them all out this year – you know carpe diem, SEIZE THE DAY and all that. It is Valentine’s Day after all and I am ALL ABOUT LOVE. But somehow I think it might be a bad idea for me to send 65 people suggestive cards suggesting that we get it on. What if they all showed up at the same time? That’s a lot of chex mix. Not to mention the fact that my husband is a very jealous man. Just look at him in this year’s Christmas photo.

There aren’t a lot of opportunities for a man to swing an axe living in the city.

So when my blog buddy Hayden commented yesterday asking where she could sign up for some cards – I thought hey, maybe I should do it. Maybe I SHOULD make some Valentine’s Day dreams come true -or at least make somebody’s V-day a whole lot funnier. We need more laughter these days.

Therefore I am officially making the offer to be YOUR OWN PERSONAL CUPID this Valentine’s season. I have 65 “new” (really vintage 1980s) Recycled Paper Products Inc. valentine cards up for grabs. Most of them involve risque humor, not ideal for grandma, kids, or your boss (unless of course you are sleeping with your boss), but some are okay for them too. You can click through and actually view the entire selection HERE. With the help of my husband above, who helped me ever-so-kindly scan them. If you find a card (or cards) that speaks to you, email and let me know. I will be happy to personalize it as instructed by you and mail it to the UNBELIEVABLY LUCKY recipient of your choice, or you can of course opt for poetic license and have me create my own imaginative greeting FOR YOU. Now we’re talking real FUN.

So, in summary, if you would like me to be YOUR OWN PERSONAL CUPID, simply CLICK HERE to select a card, email me with the Title, recipient info, etc. and I will be happy to make your Valentine’s day dreams come true. BUT HURRY – ONLY WHILE LIMITED SUPPLIES LAST!

My 2008 wine challenge

~ thedailydish ~ 4 Comments

As some of you know, I like wine, a lot. I like drinking it. I like sampling it. I like buying it. I like stockpiling it for the future. All-in-all, I am one wine-loving gal.
So last year when we did our shoestring-budget kitchen remodel, one of the things my husband surprised me with was a small 12-bottle Haier wine cellar. It looks super fancy, but really is just a freestanding dorm fridge with glass door and inner wine rack. I love the thing, but frankly it does the worst job – if any at all – of either chilling or refrigerating the wine. It looks a lot like this one:

haier

Only a lot less high-tech. No do-hickies on the top to regulate the temperature. Instead it has a turn-knob on the back that has two labeled settings, “white” and “red” with gradations in between. Turn it to red, and I think the thing goes off completely. Turn it to white, it gets just cool enough to tease. A bare whisper of cool. but enough to keep you from throwing the thing in the trash, especially since it wasn’t THAT cheap, and it looks so good in the kitchen. I guess what I am getting at is the thing is just a glorified wine rack, we store our bottles in it and they look so pretty and tempting, but if I am going to be drinking white wine, I have to remember to put it into the REAL fridge. I like my white wine chilled – actually COLD – and anytime I forget to put it into the REAL fridge for a cool-down (and have to pull it directly out of the Haier), I have to drink it with ice cubes in it. It makes me feel slightly less classy. Long story short – if you are going to invest in one of these Haier wine fridges, make sure it works. REALLY works.

One of my New Year’s resolutions for 2008 is to be more disciplined when it comes to my wine drinking. Less unrefined knock-back swilling this year. And now that the Target Brand Box Riesling is finally gone, I can commit to that. This year, I will be taking a more considered approach to my indulgence. Although my husband and I have made a point over the past couple years of selecting new wines each time we stock up, this year I will go farther. I have set myself a new and worthy goal. This year I will concentrate on moderately priced to dirt-cheap wines ($15 and under), which I have not yet tried (or at least not in my new disciplined manner). I have even begun a **WINE DIARY!** to meticulously document all of my accumulated wine knowledge – all those nuances and bouquets, the fast-forgotten facts one inevitably sheds once the bliss is gone. Never before have I been so enthusiastic about a task. I have done research the past three nights and have been been ASTOUNDED not only by my findings, but by the amount of wine I can drink without feeling guilty! Yes, I know most wine tasters spit out their wine between sips – but NOT ME! I am UP TO THE CHALLENGE.

ATLANTA, or why I love Target Brand Box Riesling.

~ thedailydish ~ 11 Comments

When my sister moved to Atlanta for graduate school, I was happy for her. The separation was sad, but she was making a success of her life, and it wasn’t forever. I understood.

But when my parents decided to join her down south in Atlanta, well…..
that was just a bit too much. I felt slightly.. abandoned. Hey I know I’m way out of diapers, but I STILL WANT MY MOMMY. Atlanta is far. Far enough to make a one-day drive with 2 kids nearly intolerable, and other than freshman year of college I’d never lived more than an hour away from my folks my whole life. So when they made the move – to ATLANTA of all places, I was more than peeved. I was hurt. And angry. And not a little bit PISSED OFF, especially AT ATLANTA. What was so freaking great about Atlanta?

Man, I really hated that town. They did it right, burning it down like that. What did Atlanta think it was, luring my family away from me?

And so, for many months, I resented Atlanta like no other place in the world. It didn’t help that my family were constantly singing the praises of their new and glamorous city like fevered zealots. “ATLANTA this, and ATLANTA that.” “Wait till you see blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.”

SCREW COKE WORLD, I thought. At least here we have drinking water and can flush our toilets. I am NEVER going to set foot in effing Atlanta. NEVER!
That’ll show ’em!

But like sands through the hour glass….after a few months of not seeing my parents, and speaking to them less and less frequently, I caved like a sinkhole. Time apart from my loved ones had made me think differently. If Atlanta had taken them, I would just have to see why.

And so, this summer, we visited twice. And Hey Mikey! I liked it. Sure it wasn’t dirty dangerous Philly, but it had appeal. It wasn’t interesting in that old historic way, but it was BLING!BLING! like a newly-minted penny. My parents have a gorgeous home. They are happy there, except for missing us. So.. it’s different than we’re used to, but things down there are nice. AND CLEAN. And the People are pleasant. They let you in in traffic. They don’t try to run you over when you’re crossing the street. You can walk the hell out in front of their cars in a parking lot, and they STOP AND SMILE and wave you on. WOW. I DO still hate the fact that you have to drive absolutely everywhere in Atlanta, and it is hot as b*lls in the summer, but summers here in Philly are humid and disgusting too. And my parents have central air and A POOL.

So, yes, I have officially come around. And being the way I am, when I “come around” I REALLY come around. The place I once hated, now I can’t wait to visit again. And not just for my family. But for the STUFF. Atlanta has stuff we don’t have here. STUFF THAT I LIKE. On our visit during the holidays, I came to appreciate even more the charm of the place – or maybe just the charm of the shopping. It’s everywhere. Miles and miles of stores. Sure, they’re mostly the same stores we have here, but they’re like our stores on STEROIDS. The brand new Target here is like their SUPER TARGET’S shrimpy homely cousin. Their Trader Joe’s is awesome and it SELLS WINE AND BEER!!! No wonder people there are so nice. CAN YOU IMAGINE THAT SORT OF CHEAP CONVENIENCE?!

I must have gone to the Super Target by my parents house 3 times in 4 days. I just never wanted to leave. I wanted to LIVE THERE. And I am not joking. I felt like some poor deprived third-worlder having stumbled upon paradise. AND I AM NOT THAT INTO SHOPPING, PEOPLE! It’s just THAT GOOD. During one of the Target shopping trips, I came upon something which stopped me in my tracks. You know how great Target is? How every single thing they make is just so irresistably cute/cool/hip and unbelievably inexpensive, that you think surely this corporation has sold its soul to the devil? Well, you will then understand what I have to say. You see, I like wine. I love wine. If I didn’t have kids, I would probably be a full-fledged wino. Well. ATLANTA TARGETS SELL THEIR OWN BRAND OF BOX WINE – but they are CUTE!! AND COLORFUL!! AND FILLED WITH WINE!! AND WHY AM I STILL LIVING HERE IN PHILLY???!! I don’t even like box wine, but now I do because it’s like everything else at Target. IRRESISTIBLE.

I bought the above box of Riesling as a souvenir to bring home, and I don’t even like Riesling. Not even a little. But I thought I WILL LIKE TARGET BRAND BOX RIESLING, I just know it! So we stuck it in the fridge when we got home, and didn’t open it all last week b/c I was so sick, but night before last we each poured a glass and I thought YES! TARGET BRAND BOX RIESLING! DELICIOUSNESS ITSELF!! But then I drank it and thought NO! DEAR LORD, NO!!!

You see, Target branding cannot make up for the fact that I hate the cloying sweetness of Riesling wine. HOWEVER, just because I hate the taste of this wine, DOES NOT MEAN I HATE TARGET BRAND BOX RIESLING> oh Contraire! SIMPLY BECAUSE I hate its taste, it means I will drink less of it. And that’s a good thing, right? After the first glass, the second goes down easy. And who can bear wasting wine, after all?