Conquista Malbec

Happy thanksgiving! We are having a wonderful time with our family! Bill and Linda from Wisconsin brought several bottles of wine including this Malbec from Argentina. Smoky chocolate taste with a silky finish. I thought it was the perfect complement to our traditional thanksgiving dinner.

Alambrado Gran Seleccion Cabernet Sauvignon (2010)

It is Tuesday before Thanksgiving and I took the day off from work to do some pre-Thanksgiving cooking. It was a fun day for me. I also went for a run but waited too long to go, so when I finally got out there is was pouring rain and about 40- degrees and windy. The hot shower when I was done was my reward.

For dinner, I needed to use some fresh mushrooms from my food co-op . . .and, some beef that had been in the freezer for awhile, so I put together a beef stroganoff. Rich and delicious flavor. The wine I chose for our dinner is excellent. This Argentinian red is bursting with fruit, chocolate and oak with very smooth tannins. Luscious. We love it. Cheers!

Silver Palm Cabernet Sauvignon

It is Monday of Thanksgiving week and we are enjoying a spicy bowl of chili with whole grain bread and some white cheddar cheese. It really warms us up. Tom chose this California Cabernet Sauvignon for our chili dinner, which I happily thought to be a bit extravagant for a Monday night (but did not complain). I like extravagance! This is a very nice Cab in a beautiful bottle, decorated with a Platinum palm leaf. This would make a good gift wine to give as a housewarming gift or to give to the host when you are invited to someone’s house for dinner because it is a good wine with a very attractive presentation. The wine is deep purple in the glass, light to medium bodied, a taste of blackberries with a tobacco finish. This is a nice, smoky wine that held up very well with my spicy chili.

Martinis

It is a Sunday evening and we had a delicious martini for our cocktail hour. For us that means gin and vermouth shaken in ice and poured into delicate glasses that have been keeping cold in the freezer. We watched football and simultaneously worked on the Wall Street Journal Crossword puzzle. Very relaxing and fun. For dinner I made oatmeal, buttermilk pancakes with blueberries, applesauce and sausage. There just wasn’t an appropriate wine for this meal so we had none. But the martini was sumptuous and the pancake dinner filling and delicious.

R Collection Lot No. 7

We are having this California blend of Cabernet, Merlot, Syrah, Petite Sirah, and Zinfandel tonight after a nice Saturday in which I went for a nice run, did laundry and watched football. This is a delicious quaff with tangy fruit and spice, which we had with our dinner of spicy chili and a crusty whole wheat bread. The wine is full bodied and smooth. We love it.

Valoroso Cabernet Sauvignon Touriga Nacional Syrah (2010)

We are having this delicious, silky Portuguese wine with our dinner. I made a beef and potato casserole, fresh spinach, salad and garlic toast. The wine is a bright red in the glass with a strong aroma of licorice and cassis, tastes of dark cherries and cedar. Delicious after a long day that started with a 10k race, a football game and Saturday-night Mass.

R Collection by Raymond Lot No. 7 Field Blend 2000

We’re having steak stir fry with this nice, dry red blend. Very pleasant with a red fruit, cherry taste.
Eastern Michigan lost a close football game today but they played hard and lost in the last seconds.

Ultima de Farnese

It is Friday night and we are kicking back, reading the paper, kinda sorta watching a football game, and enjoying this luscious Italian wine. Very smooth with round tannins, this wine is rich with blackberries, spice and black pepper. It is unfiltered so there is a bit of sludge at the bottom of the bottle which we could easily eliminate by decanting (but we didn’t).

We had this wine with spaghetti and something really dark green from the food coop. It might have been kale but I can’t be sure. It certainly made us feel health conscious, whatever it was.

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Domaine du Vallon Cotes du Rhone Villages (2010)

It is Wednesday night so we are celebrating midweek! It doesn’t take much to initiate a celebration in our house. I had a short night and a long day so I was eager for a comforting meal and a good wine. We had both. For comfort food, I made a skillet chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, steamed spinach and salad. Tom chose this French wine for our meal. Dark chocolate is the predominant word on this one. Dark. Chocolate. Pretty much sums it up. I really like it and it got better as it breathed.

Wente Cabernet (2009)

We are having a late supper tonight at our local favorite restaurant “The Common Grill.” The wine is spicy with flavors of cherries and red berries. The Chef chose a great wine to complement our smoked chicken and pancetta capellini pasta with plum tomato sauce, calabrese peppers and fresh basil.