And it is also Friday again.....best and worst wines of the week

Quickly, cause believe it or not I do have a job and a life. I just learned that Michael Scott (aka my boss) is coming back to town next week and bringing freaking Dwight (aka his kiss ass little buddy) with him so it should be an interesting week coming up.

This week's best wine: In honor of Ms Moreno's event last night I'm picking the wine they served at the VIP reception: Martin Codax Albarino from Spain. I've had this wine a few times and Albarino is a great alternative to Chardonnay. It is light, floral, crisp, aromatic like lemon and peach with great acidity. I thought it was a nice touch to have some wines from Spain for that event instead of the basic old Chard and Merlot. Refreshing to see someone actually thought it through for a change.

Where I drank it: Starlight VIP Room....Applause Club. The event was catered by Bonterra....cause the napkins said so.

How much: Well, gratis cause I was at this swanky reception but a little research told me it is about $10.99. Good albarino isn't that expensive.

Final Tip: Albarino is becoming a hot little grape. Mostly from Spain but in Portugal they call it Vino Verde....yep like green wine cause it almost has a green tint to it. Like Rose and most of the light, aromatic wines it doesn't age well. When shopping definitely be mindful of vintage....the younger the better. It loses its fruit very quickly which means it loses its charm. I wouldn't buy anything older than 2007 right now.

The Keith Olbermann (Worst wine of the week): Trinity Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon. This little California number brings out a little of snob in me. For the price I wasn't expecting much and got even less. It isn't bad wine meaning it isn't offensive but the fruit is ripe red cherry and I'd like to see black fruits in my Cabernet. It has a little vanilla bean and some green olive. Vanilla is okay with me....I'm not fond of the olive aroma. It is pretty straight forward stuff though. Medium bodied. I think the closer to $10 you get the more it we should expect varietal correctness.

Where I drank it: At home. Bought at Lukas.

How much: $8.49 a bottle.

Final thought: I basically said it earlier. Approaching $10 we should all expect a little more. I'm finding we have to be careful at this price point as slick packaging can make way against good valued wine and fool us. Wines that were formerly well regarded can easily slip down a notch in quality. I'm starting to think that $15 is the new $10 wine. I find that the wine at that price point is consistently so much better and $10 is a 'tweener like $6.99 wine with a better label and heavier bottle.

Vaya Con Dios and Cheers!!!

Friday's Best and Worst Wine of the Week

It is Friday.....so here is this week's wine of the week!

I wanted to write about the PIG flu but I'll see if it is still on my mind next week but since it is Friday I wanted to get back to my regular schedule of the week's best and worst wine.

First, a little insight into wine buying. While it isn't rocket science that due to the economy high end wines aren't selling as well these days. Timing is everything though and I've been saying for awhile that the proverbial shit will hit the fan this fall when new releases come out and new grapes come in. Why? well lots of reasons but wineries will be faced with a back up of last year's vintages still in the warehouse with new vintages ready to release and new fruit showing up. So, while most have resisted price cuts to try to maintain their image now they will no longer have a choice. IF.....you like those wines over $30 this Fall will be a great time to buy. Be patient and snoop around your local wine shop for deep price cuts in the coming months.

Here is the big thing though. Current grapes coming in are in huge oversupply. Some growers aren't even going to pick them. Pinot Noir that brought $3,000 per ton last year is bringing $1700 this year. What does that mean to us that I don't hear anybody discussing?

Cheaper wines across the board will be much better quality this time next year. Wineries don't throw out the best juice they throw out the worst. They sell it off as concentrate for grape juice or other non wine uses. But for the wine they do make and sell they follow a practice called declassification or as the French call it....replis. So, everything from the jug to the $6.99 bottle of Barefoot Merlot will get better because they push the quality down. It is also the initial reason Two Buck Chuck ever worked.....oversupply. So don't be surprised if that less expensive bottle you normally drink starts to taste a little better to you in the next year........it actually will better.

Cheers. Now onto the best and worst.

The Best (wine I enjoyed) this week: Crios Malbec Rose 2008, Argentina

Why I picked it: I know what you are thinking. Rose? Yes. I love Rose. Rose Rocks. Some people say Rose is the white wine for red wine drinkers....I wouldn't go that far but in the summer on a hot day Rose is awesome but don't forget about it once it gets cold. I love Rose for Thanksgiving. So with that in mind, I revisited some recently as we started thinking about the Thanksgiving menu.

It is dry with bright strawberry flavors with nice crisp acidity. Drink it a little chilled. I think it would be a great BBQ wine as well for white meats like Pork, Turkey, Chicken on a bun.

Where I drank it: home but bought at Lukas

How much?.....Under $15 as I recall.

Final tip: When buying Rose age matters in that I always like to buy the younger vintage. When looking at the section I give strong bias to newer over producer. Rose is best when fresh.

The Keith Olbermann (worst wine I drank this week): Castle Rock Pinot Noir 2007.

Why I picked it: We all know about Sideways.......someone said cleverly, "it isn't a movie it is a manifesto". Castle Rock has cashed in big time. The problem is this really isn't very good Pinot anymore. It lacks what makes Pinot so awesome. Charm. Delicate but interesting flavors. This one has simple strawberry and raspberry flavors and finishes pretty short but strangely it is a little bitter. They are blending Syrah into this for sure, probably the max allowed by law, and as for the appellation well......doesn't it seem to change with every bottling? That always makes me suspicious they are buying finished wine on the spot market and blending to order. Not classy Castle Rock. I'm not impressed and I can't recommend this swill not even for the price. It is hard to find Pinot in this point that is good and this wine confirms the notion. Pinot is another really solid choice for Thanksgiving but we'll keep looking.

Where: Home.....bought it at Lukas.

How much: $10.

Final tip: Buying Pinot right now is unlike other wines. It truly is hard to find good, inexpensive examples. Like I said above in the intro prices will start to fall but you probably still won't see much at or below $10 that is worthy. For this variety, $15 is the jumping off point and $20 is realistic to really experience what it is all about.

Cheers and Vaya Con Dios!

Announcing a new Friday Feature.....Best and Worst Wine of the Week

I am an avid wine drinker and lover.........I have many leather bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany....... and people ask me all the time what I've had recently that I've enjoyed. I even have a friend that calls me from restaurants with wine list in hand asking for recommendations. We've affectionately named this the "dial a sommelier". In an effort to get your weekend off on the right foot and to further highlight that this blog is decidedly for Johnson County Elites and not Wyandotte County Hilljacks I'm going to start a regular Friday post highlighting the best AND worst wine I've had this week. The wine I didn't like we'll call the Olbermann Wine....as in Keith Olbermann as in he sucks and is a jackass and you should avoid him on MSNBC at all costs. The wine I liked we'll call for now the Ingraham wine....for conservative author and talk show host Laura Ingraham because I think she is smart and pretty. I hope you enjoy it. Hey, and if you don't like wine at all I've just freed up your Friday blog reading time and you'll be saying, "Jocoeveryman....you know I don't speak Spanish...translate!" But if you like wine soon you'll be saying, "Oh, Jocoeveryman....your wine recommendations cut right through to the core of me......."

Enjoy and stay classy Johnson County!

The Ingraham Wine:

This week's best wine that you should try: 2005 Louis M. Martini Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, California.

Where I drank it: JJ's on the Plaza.

Price: $10 a glass. Suggested retail at a wine shop $24.99

Thoughts: Funny how $10 has become the price at which you expect good but not incredible. This was actually pretty incredible especially for the price. Deep color and I smelled aromas full of black cherry and almost a mocha aroma followed by a nice whiff of oak or maybe cedar...okay some kind of wood. When I tasted it I enjoyed generous ripe fruit that was plum and black cherry and the mocha bean was confirmed and maybe with even a little tobacco like an unlit cigar. It finished with typical Napa cab tannins that were firm and a little dusty but not overpowering. This was a really satisfying glass of cab.

This week's Olbermann wine (you should avoid): 2006 Delta Pinot Noir, Marlborough, New Zealand.

Where I drank it: Trezo Vino at Park Place

Price: $14 a glass. Suggested Retail at a wine shop $22.99.

Thoughts: It had dark color not atypical of new world Pinot. At first smell I thought it might be pretty earthy which for me is a good thing in many Pinot Noirs but not typically found in New Zealand examples. I smelled it again and it just didn't have much fruit and I thought that perhaps the bottle was left over from the prior night.....which happens more than you know and most times it just doesn't hold up well overnight. My first taste confirmed what my nose was telling me that there wasn't much fruit let alone interesting fruit. I asked the the bartender if the bottle was left over from the prior night to give it one final chance but he told me that it wasn't. This wine at any price, not to mention the $14 a glass price tag, isn't very good. It simply didn't have much fruit character to it. The fruit is had exhibited characteristics of burnt fruit and wasn't bright at all. Drinking the Delta Pinot Noir is, well, like being forced to watch Keith Olbermann.

In Vino Veritas.