Wine Witch – Fantastic, Affordable Wine Suggestions

Posts Tagged ‘Thanksgiving’

You know how the Wine Witch loves a pun, so I could not resist this one.  Zins, of course, stands for Zinfandel and the reference to 7 is the number of growers that contribued grapes to this effort.  This is an example of a Lodi styled Zinfandel which is usually on the spicier end of this varietal’s spectrum.  The Wine Wtich also loves her spice.

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Poor Merlot – it really has had its ups and downs. Back in the 90′s it was the go to red wine, once everyone got burned out with Cabernet Sauvignon. California wineries could not cultivate the vines fast enough. In this rush to market, a lot of really flacid, boring Merlot was produced. Perhaps the nadir was the movie, Sideways. The main character was willing to risk a date with a girl way out of his league if going out with her meant he had to drink Merlot.

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By now I am sure you are used to the Wine Witch whining (I know – cheap shot – couldn’t resist) about the quest to find value priced Pinot Noirs that are satisfying. There are a lot of budget priced PNs out there – they just tend to be thin and dull. Fortunately, at the private tasting of Robert Mondavi Private Selection wines at the recent Harvest in the Square event, I found one I could recommend.

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Most of us are in the frenzy of planning our Thanksgiving menu.  Since you have found and are reading this post, obviously wine will play a big part in your festivities.  What do you serve? 

Here is the Wine Witch’s take – there is no one fool proof wine to go with your turkey dinner.  Turkey itself is pretty neutral.  Almost any wine would go well.  It is all the other stuff on the table.  There are as many traditions of side dishes and recipes as there are families gathering on this day to share them.  There is the New England chestnut stuffing school of thought as compared to the Southwest jalapeno cornbead stuffing types and a million variations in between.  This is enough to give a seasoned sommelier fits.  So here are some basic guidelines and Wine Witch opinions:

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Today is the third Thursday in November and the Beaujolais Nouveau (BOE-zjoh-lay new-VOE) has arrived!!  So what you ask? Well, let the Wine Witch give you a little background here.

Beaujolais Nouveau (BN from now on to save my typing fingers) is made from the Gamay grape and comes from the Beaujolais region of France.  For the newer winos in the audience, the French name their wines from where they come from and not the grapes that go into them.  Nouveau is the French word for new, so what we have is new Gamay wine from the Beaujolais region of France.  How new?  This wine was grapes less than 4-6 weeks ago.

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Today is the third Thursday in November and the Beaujolais Nouveau (BOE-zjoh-lay new-VOE) has arrived!!  So what you ask? Well, let the Wine Witch give you a little background here.

Beaujolais Nouveau (BN from now on to save my typing fingers) is made from the Gamay grape and comes from the Beaujolais region of France.  For the newer winos in the audience, the French name their wines from where they come from and not the grapes that go into them.  Nouveau is the French word for new, so what we have is new Gamay wine from the Beaujolais region of France.  How new?  This wine was grapes less than 4-6 weeks ago.

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Malbec is a red wine native to Argentina.  The 2006 Alamos is a great resprentative of the varietal and at $10 a great choice for your house red.

Like most Malbecs the wine is a deep purple verging on violet in the glass.  It has the usual black fruit aromas with a hint of mocha.  There is not an edge on this wine with very round tannins – lovely mouth feel.  You get the expected black cherries, some sweet spice, and just a hint of leather.  The leather sounds weird, but trust me it is a good thing.

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