Life is too short for boring wine…
Friday, August 14th, 2020 Posted in California, Central Coast, Not Red, Odds, Ends & Blends, Pinot Noir, The Spit Bucket | No Comments »Sometimes a bargain isn’t really a good deal. It’s been HOT recently. Really hot. Way hotter than I really can tolerate. I’m an autumn/winter sort of guy. Summer has never been my favorite season and in the times I ...
Early Peak. CH Lot 530
Friday, November 2nd, 2018 Posted in California, Central Coast, Cheap and Red, Grenache, Odds, Ends & Blends, Syrah, The Spit Bucket | No Comments »I don't drink a lot of Syrah these days. It seems to be at the same place where Merlot was in the late 90s. Overproduced. That said, I seem to have a lot in my cellar. Most via wine clubs I ...
Worth what I paid…
Sunday, April 29th, 2018 Posted in Odds, Ends & Blends, The Spit Bucket, Washington State | No Comments »This is a wine that I was served for "free" on a recent flight on a small, regional airline. The kind that uses propellers on its planes. It was worth exactly what I paid, which says a lot. I usually ...
Two dramatically different Carmeneres: Canepa 2014 & Arenal 2012
Wednesday, January 4th, 2017 Posted in Carmenère, Cheap and Red, Chile, The Spit Bucket | No Comments »The Bad: Canepa Reserva Famiglia 2014 Carmenere No idea what this costs, as it was given to Testa Rossa as a gift. Some online research points to around $8.00 a bottle. I'm glad we didn't pay anything for this because it ...
Cellar Dregs: 2006 Cameron Hughes Lot 102.
Saturday, February 25th, 2012 Posted in Cabernet Sauvignon, California, Cheap and Red, Napa, The Spit Bucket | No Comments »I love Cameron Hughes wines. In fact they represent likely 80% of our nightly consumption here at Chez Vinagoth. I buy several cases of mixed reds from CHwines per year to keep the cellar stocked. So by no means ...
Raucous? yes. Wrecked us? Certainly.
Sunday, January 17th, 2010 Posted in Cheap and Red, Odds, Ends & Blends, The Spit Bucket, Washington State | No Comments »When you think of great wine cultures your mind conjures up provinces of France, rugged struggling vines in Spain, fruit & nut Californians, enterprising Australians, and Carmenere-saving Chileans. Probably the last culture you would associate with viniculture are horn-helmeted raiders ...
Apologies dear reader*.
Thursday, January 22nd, 2009 Posted in The Spit Bucket | No Comments »I fell ill just after Christmas with a nasty head cold, which transformed into an even nastier case of Bronchitis, a malady I suffered with often in childhood. It hasn't bothered me in decades but came back to haunt me ...
Don’t Buy This Wine… unless you have a bird to cook.
Monday, October 13th, 2008 Posted in Cheap and Red, New Zealand, Pinot Noir, The Spit Bucket | No Comments »While dining at our favorite local bistro, I saw a Pinot on the wine list from New Zealand. Being a fearless barbarian I gave it a go. It was wonderful. Light, fruity, very different in character to a French, Oregon, ...
Don’t Buy This Wine: Oak Grove Petite Sirah
Monday, May 26th, 2008 Posted in California, Cheap and Red, Petite Sirah, The Spit Bucket | 1 Comment »Unless of course you need a good prison quality meat marinade. Blech. Until last night, I felt about Petite Sirah like Will Rogers about people: I never met a Petite Sirah I didn't like. Will Rogers never met Dick Cheney, but ...
