I’ve been neglecting the Vino, vino page. Not in the not drinking bit, since we’ve been drinking a bit, but in the writing and reporting back. My page stats show that some are actually reading about what we’ve been drinking.
So count this as catchup day.
First off, Angove’s Red Belly Black. A shiraz from south Australia (“where I come from, heave away, haul away…”). Under $15 hereabouts.
This is one yummy bottle of plonk (plonk classified as anything under $15). Big, bold, and typically shiraz, meaning that it gets it background notes largely from terroir and aging in oak.
Terroir. I love that word.
The Red Belly is one of Australia’s deadly beauties. This puppy (the wine) will bite back as well with huge black berry notes, especially currant, and spice. In fact, if you want something with pretty typical spice and espresso notes, this one is it. Maybe even chocolate, if someone were to mention that word while sipping.
I bought two bottles, and even after one, I can tell it’s going to be my Shiraz of choice to show off to people. Might even have some tonight with chorizo sausage off the barbie.
We sampled the 2003 vintage, and it was very very good. On the regular rotation.
Embarassing
An embarrassing thing happened to us while gallery hopping today.
First, the backstory. Ti was bored, and asked “what would we normally do if we didn’t have a baby”. I piped in “go gallery hoping”. Problem was, it was already mid afternoon on a Saturday, so we were getting a bit tight with time. But up we bundled Elliotte, and off we trudged tot he gallery district on the old Electric Avenue, on 11th St.
Most of the stores on the strip close on 5:30 on Saturday, which is a wise move (in the vein of “if you build it, they will come”). There are eight or twleve galleries along the strip, and we got three fo them, stopping at and spending an extended visit at the Paul Kuhn Gallery and talking with Paul.
He’s a nice guy.
Anyhow, on the way we decided to drop into MetroVino, an upscale, if small, wine outlet, and do some browsing.
La Fille ™ reminded me of my own words: when in a wine store, always buy two bottles.
“Hey” yells I to the clerk. “How much for the Allegrini Amarone?” The price tag was missing. The first clue.
“Nine dollars” comes the response, and we were instantly disappointed. It looked like the bottle of excellent Amarone della Valpolicella that we had had at Teatro’s back in the winter, and which we wee hoping to find. But at nine bucks, it definitely wasn’t the one (having spent $ in the restaurant for it). Definitely not the one.
But good enough to grab two bottles of, in accordance with Teddy’s rules of the (wine) bottle.
When we get to the counter to pay, an embarrassing moment. Not nine dollars, but ninety. Apparantly, the mistake is made by a few people.
We only bought one bottle. We shall open in it in celebration of the sale of my condo (if and when that happens).
And no, it wasn’t the bottle we had at Teatro’s. But we assume it will be just as good.
We also bought the Saint Véran Chardonnay. Un-oaked, of course. So we have two bottles to sample and report back on.
And we also sampled the Gray Monk Pinot Blanc, from the Kelowna area (pure plonk at $12).
And so… ignored no longer. Wine wrocks.