Tuesday, August 30, 2005
And a couple more white wines
It's hot and muggy. One of the good things about hot, muggy days is cold, sweet white wines. And so I have two more "cheap" white wine recommendations:
Pepi Sauvignon Blanc (Napa, 2004) is a great find! A California screwtop for $9 - it's crisp, fruity, refreshing, slightly sweet, uncomplicated. But flawless for what it is. That's exactly what I look for in a cheap wine - nothing great but nothing disagreeable. Pepi delivers.
Kreuznacher Kronenberg kabinett (Nahe, 2003) is a nice introduction to German Mosel wines. For Kabinetts, it's medium dry, but it's still a "sweet" wine to me. And it's only $8 - quite a find for the money.
Pepi Sauvignon Blanc (Napa, 2004) is a great find! A California screwtop for $9 - it's crisp, fruity, refreshing, slightly sweet, uncomplicated. But flawless for what it is. That's exactly what I look for in a cheap wine - nothing great but nothing disagreeable. Pepi delivers.
Kreuznacher Kronenberg kabinett (Nahe, 2003) is a nice introduction to German Mosel wines. For Kabinetts, it's medium dry, but it's still a "sweet" wine to me. And it's only $8 - quite a find for the money.
Outrage of the day
Isn't someone paying attention to homeland security?
"It appears that the money has been moved in the president’s budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that’s the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can’t be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us."
-- Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 8, 2004.
"It appears that the money has been moved in the president’s budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that’s the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can’t be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us."
-- Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 8, 2004.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Cool day - red wine
Hey, I got me a reader! On wine, so let's build on that.
It was a cool day today, and I discovered I was without a "cheap" red wine to drink. I have a few more expensive reds around, but this wasn't a celebration, this was just a day. So I went to my wine store and bought a few $10 reds. I know, $10 shouldn't be "cheap" - I remember when these wines were $6 or so - but they're $10 now. Sigh.
An aside - there's still a couple of <$10 wines I know of that are worth trying once to see if you like them. There's Charles Shaw's red at Trader Joe's, affectionately known as "3 buck Chuck". The first couple of swallows of this wine were bearable, but after that, I just didn't want to drink it. ("This is not a wine for drinking - this is a wine for laying down and avoiding!" - Monty Python) There's Yellow Tail Shiraz. Not bad, but I don't like Shiraz in general. So for me, that's out. Remember, your mileage may vary, and these bottles are cheap enough to buy and try.
So, back to my old stand-by "cheap" reds. I really like the wines of the Rhone valley, and 2 of my favorite everyday wines are Cotes du Rhone. Parallele "45" from Paul Jaboulet Aine, and Perrin Reserve Cotes du Rhone Rouge have been consistently my favorite everyday reds for about 6 years now (vintages 1998-2003), and the first good "cheap" wines I tried after my "Merlot" phase. (In the late 90s, even half-decent Merlots doubled in price, and were no longer "cheap".) The Cotes du Rhone wines are bright and young, and are light enough to go with most dinners, even chicken and strongly-flavored fish. There's a hint of the complexity you'll find in the finer wines of the Rhone region.
Each of these wines come from producers of much more famous, much finer and dignified offerings. Paul Jaboulet Aine produces Hermitage la Chappelle, which in good years can be the best wine in the world. Perrin also owns Chateau de Beaucastel, which makes a Chateauneuf de Pape which will change your whole appreciation of wine. (I've got one more bottle of the 1998 - I bought 3 and had 2 of them young, which made me a wine fan forever. I'm told I shouldn't open the last one for a few years yet, so I won't. But it's tempting.)
When it warms up a bit, I'll go back to whites. More next week.
It was a cool day today, and I discovered I was without a "cheap" red wine to drink. I have a few more expensive reds around, but this wasn't a celebration, this was just a day. So I went to my wine store and bought a few $10 reds. I know, $10 shouldn't be "cheap" - I remember when these wines were $6 or so - but they're $10 now. Sigh.
An aside - there's still a couple of <$10 wines I know of that are worth trying once to see if you like them. There's Charles Shaw's red at Trader Joe's, affectionately known as "3 buck Chuck". The first couple of swallows of this wine were bearable, but after that, I just didn't want to drink it. ("This is not a wine for drinking - this is a wine for laying down and avoiding!" - Monty Python) There's Yellow Tail Shiraz. Not bad, but I don't like Shiraz in general. So for me, that's out. Remember, your mileage may vary, and these bottles are cheap enough to buy and try.
So, back to my old stand-by "cheap" reds. I really like the wines of the Rhone valley, and 2 of my favorite everyday wines are Cotes du Rhone. Parallele "45" from Paul Jaboulet Aine, and Perrin Reserve Cotes du Rhone Rouge have been consistently my favorite everyday reds for about 6 years now (vintages 1998-2003), and the first good "cheap" wines I tried after my "Merlot" phase. (In the late 90s, even half-decent Merlots doubled in price, and were no longer "cheap".) The Cotes du Rhone wines are bright and young, and are light enough to go with most dinners, even chicken and strongly-flavored fish. There's a hint of the complexity you'll find in the finer wines of the Rhone region.
Each of these wines come from producers of much more famous, much finer and dignified offerings. Paul Jaboulet Aine produces Hermitage la Chappelle, which in good years can be the best wine in the world. Perrin also owns Chateau de Beaucastel, which makes a Chateauneuf de Pape which will change your whole appreciation of wine. (I've got one more bottle of the 1998 - I bought 3 and had 2 of them young, which made me a wine fan forever. I'm told I shouldn't open the last one for a few years yet, so I won't. But it's tempting.)
When it warms up a bit, I'll go back to whites. More next week.
Sunday, August 14, 2005
Wine
Time out from politics. It's hot, it's the weekend, and I'm drinking wine.
The best thing about being a wine snob is knowing how to find quality at fairly low price points. If your price point is around $10, it's pretty easy to find good wines, as long as you don't expect too much complexity.
The wine that inspired this post is a white Burgundy - a 2003 Macon-Lugny Les Genievres ($10). Funny thing about this wine - when I drank it right after I opened the bottle, I hated it! Nice bouquet, very fruity, but very bitter aftertaste. So I put the cork back in and tried it the next day and the aftertaste had disappeared, and it was a very nice wine. The fruity fragrance was still there, and the taste was pear, a bit sweet and syrupy and very refreshing. A good match for grilled chicken.
More wines later in the week.
The best thing about being a wine snob is knowing how to find quality at fairly low price points. If your price point is around $10, it's pretty easy to find good wines, as long as you don't expect too much complexity.
The wine that inspired this post is a white Burgundy - a 2003 Macon-Lugny Les Genievres ($10). Funny thing about this wine - when I drank it right after I opened the bottle, I hated it! Nice bouquet, very fruity, but very bitter aftertaste. So I put the cork back in and tried it the next day and the aftertaste had disappeared, and it was a very nice wine. The fruity fragrance was still there, and the taste was pear, a bit sweet and syrupy and very refreshing. A good match for grilled chicken.
More wines later in the week.
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
Will this be on the test?
So I have a question - this Intelligent Design, will it be on the test?
As part of No Child Left Behind, the Bush administration has instituted a wave of testing across the nation. Will ID be part of a national science curriculum?
BTW, I think there is a very valid use for ID in a national science curriculum - as an example of what science is NOT.
As part of No Child Left Behind, the Bush administration has instituted a wave of testing across the nation. Will ID be part of a national science curriculum?
BTW, I think there is a very valid use for ID in a national science curriculum - as an example of what science is NOT.
