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Livermore Wine Tasting, Part Two

Ready for Wine Tasting at Eckert Estate

The Wine Tasting Room at Eckert Estate

Welcome to part two of our Livermore wine tasting blog.  It’s unusual for us to dedicate a blog post to a single winery but Eckert Estate Winery is doing something a little unusual, but we’ll get to that in a minute.  First, let’s talk about the wine.  They make three whites which is a little rare for Livermore.  I was utterly shocked to find that I liked the Semillon the best.  I find most Semillons, which Australia seems to have embraced as its national white wine, to be pretty tasteless and lacking character…kind of a Ben Stein of wine.  Don’t know who Ben Stein is?  Google him and listen to him talk and you’ll find the most boring speaking voice known to mankind.  He can actually be kind of funny but the juxtaposition is “interesting” to say the least.  Eckert’s was served just a little warmer than most and perhaps that was the difference, or theirs was just better.  It had layers of flavors that normally aren’t found in Semillon. 

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The Wine Bottle Rant

Wine Bottle Shapes and Sizes In A Wine Rack

Wine Bottles Shapes and Sizes…The Variations Are Almost Endless

For hundreds of years, wine bottle shapes have stayed the same. Shapes for Bordeaux wine bottles have straight sides. Burgundian wine bottle shapes are wider than Bordeaux bottles and have sloping shoulders. Just to really mess with us, those tricky French made the Rhone style wines come in bottles that are almost Burgundian in shape but are actually just a little thinner and taller. Most new world wineries use the same ones for Burgundy and Rhone but the French bottles are technically different. The Champagne bottle form matches function because there is a “sh**load” of pressure in there. A different shape or thinner glass would likely result in a dangerous incident when it breaks under pressure, causing an explosion complete with shrapnel. Then there is the Champagne cork that’s moving at roughly twice the speed of sound and is guaranteed to take out an eye, hit a guy in the crotch or a woman in the chest – possibly all three at once if you subscribe to the JFK single bullet theory. Read More→

Wine Tasting In Livermore, Part 1

Autumn in the Livermore Valley

Livermore Valley Wine Tasting View

Date:
December 15th, 2013

Wine Tasting in Livermore – Wineries Visited:
Cuda Ridge – production 1,600 cases
Thomas Coyne – production 3,000 cases

Details:
Some wine regions have lyrical names – Santa Lucia Highlands, Moon Mountain or the Santa Ynez Valley for instance, echo with the promise of adventure and romance. Then there are the ones that are playful. The Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara evokes a whimsical feel. And then – there’s Livermore. Liver – more. It doesn’t really sound any better backwards – more liver. Nope…no romance, no poetic overtones…just organ meat…lots of organ meat. However, as the saying goes, you should never judge a book by its cover and the quality of a wine region shouldn’t be judged by the romance of its name. Read More→

Tasting Tannat at Tobin James Winery – Paso Robles, California

Wine Tasting at Tobin James

Tobin James Wine Tasting Bar

On our way down to So Cal for Thanksgiving, we decided to try something different for a new series of posts on rare varietals. This particular excursion took us to Tobin James in Paso Robles, a convenient stop on the way from the Bay Area to LA if you are going down Highway 101. How to describe Tobin James to some one who hasn’t experienced it? Take an initial layer of wild west, throw in a bunch of eclectic colors, combine with an atmosphere that is one half serious wine and one half fraternity keg party and you are beginning to get the picture. Drinking at 10:00 in the morning (uh…I mean wine tasting..uh…I mean working if you are reading this and are from the IRS). sounds like a frat party to me! Read More→

Pairing Your Thanksgiving Meal with Wine

Thanksgiving with WIne

What Is Thanksgiving Without Turkey and Wine?

Ah…Thanksgiving – the one Holiday where cooks can actually give their guests the bird. Of course, on Thanksgiving, that bird is likely to be turkey. Thanksgiving wine pairings usually pose the biggest problems of any of the major holidays. Oh sure, turkey, mashed potatoes, even that green bean casserole or salad are usually pretty easy to pair with wine. It’s Aunt Agnes’s fruit and marshmallow salad or Grandma’s yams with loads of cinnamon and brown sugar that are problematic. Even that pre-fab cranberry jelly is a wine pairing nightmare (and doesn’t it look appealing lying on a plate with the dents from the can still pressed into it). It’s those doggone side dishes.  Do away with them and you do away with your wine paring issues.  Possible…yes.  Practical…hardly. Read More→

Rose Wine Tasting Challenge

Fantastetic4

The FanTASTEtic4, Ready For Another Hard Day At The Office – The Hosts Of The Santa Clara Valley Rose Challenge

If there’s a Rodney Dangerfield of wine, it’s got to be Rose. It just gets no respect and unfortunately, the US wine industry has given the public plenty of reasons why, but two big ones overshadow the rest. Read More→