It's Friday? Shiraz hell is!

Aaaand just like that, March returned.   So I'm staring at a pile of undone paperwork (which keeps getting bigger, eek) in my fat-pants and Anthrax t-shirt from 1988.  I got no complaints.

Tonight's selection:
Wine:  Frisky Zebras Seductive Shiraz, year unknown
Origin:  South Africa  
Price:  $8.95
CC score:  4 of 5 = PFG

Welp... can't find a discernible vintage, and there are a lot of claims on the very adorable label (which, combined with the price,  made my purchasing decision for me).  I can tell you this:  it won a silver in an "international wine challenge" in Vienna in 2011;  it is a Fairtrade brokered product;  it comes from a "certified carbon neutral" company (I have hives forming);  there is some officious looking seal around the screw-top cap which assures me of certified "integrity & sustainability" from a wine and spirit board;  the screw-top cap itself says "100% earth friendly lightweight bottle."  It also depicts a cute cartoon of a someone petting a bunny, so I guess it was not tested on animals.

The zebra doth protest too much, methinks.

So the Zebra in the glass is one of the driest Shirazes I've ever tasted, but it loses zero dimension.  Peppery, yes, as all good Shiraz should be.  I think I can make out the chocolate described on the label, but not the yummy/menstrual kind - the bitter, powdered kind people used before cake-mixes were invented.  It's round, fills the mouth elegantly, and is fairly delightful.  

Jian Ghomeshi's memoir makes a nice coaster

This wine will make you affectionate toward rodents.

This wine is really, really, really, really, really, really earth friendly.  And overcompensatey.

Orange you glad I didn't say juniper?

A few stray DW wines at the bottom!
Sometimes it's not a wine night; sometimes it's a gin & tonic night.  Like last night.  Which is sometimes precipitated by a sale at the liquor store with 8 bonus air miles ($30.40, saved 3 bucks).  I described the flavor to my fellow gin-enjoyer, Loretty, as: "Imagine Tanqueray and Hendrick's had a baby." 
I was drawn to the bottle to be honest, and the sale price, of course.  It was also aged in Cognac casks, which is quasi-wine-related, so it's sort of permissible to be added to a budget wine blog.  I loathe HATE purchasing anything from France (Bikini atoll.... Americans also on this same shit-list.  It was the ramming and eventual sinking of the Rainbow Warrior in 1985 by a French boat which became my first campaign against motherfuckers and global injustice.  I was in 5th grade and wrote a letter to my MP.  I'm also partly Acadian, partly English, so there are genetic memories within all the proteins of my body that hate each other & France also), and didn't realize this was a French product.  It is a beautiful gin otherwise.  I went a-googling for details and found the Secret Gin Club:
http://secretginclub.wordpress.com/2012/11/23/citadelle-gin-review/
And I quote: "That may sound perverse, but there was just something about a French gin in a blue nautical bottle that made me want to hate it, but I just can’t. Citadelle has won me over."  I hear ya, brother.
Anyhoo, this gin is very smooth, one could drink it on the rocks.  In case you didn't know, though, it is very uncool to drink mainstream tonic water...  Hipsterism has invaded & polluted everything so the real, true booze snobs wouldn't dream of throwing some Schweppes on top of this gin.  But I did.  With cucumber slices, black pepper and mineral water.  My second (and final) cocktail of the evening was ice, gin, splash of 'mainstream' tonic (suck it, posers!), splash of water, orange and lime wedges smashed into the mix.  It was good, but almost too adorned.  This gin really stands alone.

My new #2 gin, after Hendrick's.

4.5! Great 2010 Cab from Mendoza, Argentina.  Cheap too: $10.95 - a most excellent Dignified Wino wine.  Discontinued, says the LCBO site, sadly. 

Yalumba Riesling, $11.95, is a 5 as far as Rieslings go - Australian (Yalumba makes one of my all time favourite Cabs, but it's never available), smooth as silk, it went perfectly with curry dishes.  Also discontinued, poo.  The Cupcake Red Velvet from Cali is good  $14.95, and a false 4 of 5.  It's too good...

Another Oz Ries.  Not awesome like the Yalumba.  $14.95, 3.5 of 5.  For that price I want my Aussie Riesling sweet, not tasting like it was diluted with a crappy sauv blanc, like this one.

Cupcake Cab, $14.95 - 3.5 of 5.  Good, but not as guzzleable as the Cupcake Red Velvet blend - THAT one is seriously, dangerously drinkable.  Like, if McDonald's made wine it would be that.  I see why it's so trendy.  Give it to someone who's not into wine, they will love it.

And for funsies, this is me at the hanging out at Jacob's Creek winery, '03.  Try the kangaroo tartare. 

Wolf Blass winery in Barossa region, South Australia 10 tears ago.  It no longer looks so rustic and has been replaced with an icky multi-million dollar visitor centre.

Wearing tan pants to work proves I'm an adult.

It's been awhile, but since my sole reader (MUNDY, TARA) may be looking for a post, I dedicate this one to her.

Tonight's selection:
Wine:  35° South, Cab Sauv, 2011
Origin:  Non-descript 'Central Valley', Chile 
Price:  $12.95
CC score:  4 of 5 = PFG

I poured an inch in my glass after work tonight with the intentions of finishing up my files, stuck my flared nostrils in the glass & inhaled.  I burst into spontaneous song: "Plum-plum-plum for your bum-bum-bum!"  This drew dubious glances from the dogs, but nobody really seemed to mind.
Smooth, mellow, silky, ruby, yum-yum aptly describes this medium-bodied-verging-on-full-bodied Cab.  My brief foray with the Malbecs should not lead anyone to think I have abandoned my original lover, Cabernet Sauvignon.  This grape has had my back in troubled times & watched me mature into the obnoxious giantess that inadvertently frightens children in the Superstore from time to time.  I am loyal if nothing else.

I've added some delinquents that were DW test-driven over the past couple of months, but not internetted.  I can't recall the details, but instagram is fun.

This was a catalyst for shenanigans.

I bought this because it is my nephew's and overseer's names combined.  The Marcus half was awesome; the James half bitched about the hydro bill the whole night.

Naked Grape box of Self Explanatory. Avoid at all costs.

This warranted a home-made trophy!  So So Good!  Buy this!

Oh, the finish... like oxycontin

Tonight's selection:
Wine:  Tilia Malbec, 2011
Origin:  Mendoza, Argentina 
Price:  $12.95
CC score:  5 of 5 =TDF

My darling James bought me this Friday-night companion, and it's another 5/5, and my new fave!  It is really, really lovely.  I think I'm becoming fixated on these gorgeous Malbecs.  And, hey!  I found this guy when I searched this wine!  He's a kindred Wino!  I Liked him!

I was looking for a word to capture the experience and Jon Thorsen beat me to the punch: Velvet.  This is a perfect DW bottle, so smooth!  Very plummy, gentle finish, practically gulpable, I'm not kidding.  The sexual chemistry between this wine and my tastebuds, frankly, is embarrassing.  I don't even have any curse-words to add. 

"Wine comes in at the mouth
And love comes in at the eye;
That's all we shall know for truth
Before we grow old and die.
I lift the glass to my mouth,
I look at you, and I sigh."
-- William Butler Yeats.

If you're Googling porn use a respectable browser fer Christsakes!

Originally titled "Another Andean Sex-Pot" as a nod to the sexual voluptuousness of this gorgeous Malbec, the perverts of the world looking for after-hours, adult satisfaction (most of whom use Explorer, gross) get re-directed to precisely this wino post.  Are ya fucking kidding me?  I'm picturing dudes carrying an extra 40lbs or so, with plaid, department store, elasticized waistband, flannel, cheap, jammy bottoms....  and you wonder why I drink...

The original wino review:

I'm talking major bombshell here.   I'm temped to take away half a point from the perfect-scoring Trivento and give it to this beauty based solely on the parent companies - Trivento being a subsidiary of a frighteningly large wine-giant; and this lovely, ruby, award-winning slut made from organic grapes from a small vinyard.  Still, the Trivento is a shade more delicious.

Tonight's selection:
Wine:  Domaine Jean Bousquet Organic Malbec, 2011
Origin:  Mendoza, Argentina (Tupungato valley, to be precise) 
Price:  $12.95
CC score:  4.5 of 5 = PFG+

It's immediately plummy and velvety, a lovely mouthful with dark, fruity/berry-ness.  I really, really want a smoked gouda or a hunk of pecorino with this glass!  Or sliced avocado, unsalted cashews, peanut butter on a cracker... something with beautiful fatness.  It almost finishes smooth, but then - eek - there's an almost too acrid afterbite.  Almost sullies the experience, but doesn't.  Organic, yet contains sulphites.... hmmm, yeah, one more argument against the exploding "organic" propaganda machine.  Anyhoo, I think it's time I fessed up and came out of the Argentinian closet as a full-blown Malbec lez.  I'm warm for your form if you come from Mendoza, baby.

I want to instagram you forever.

In-store instagram.  I was asked what I thought I was doing.

High Altitude Grapes, High Spirited Sipper

Yesterday's selection:
Wine:  Trivento Fair Trade Malbec, 2011
Origin:  Mendoza region, Argentina
Price:  $12.95
CC score:  5 of 5 =TDF

Welp, I think I found my new fave red, and possibly the ultimate Wino wine.  It strikes the perfect blend of flavour vs. price, and it's a fairly traded product!  Ya...  I gave her a 5.

I looked up the winery, as I do, and read that it's part of the Walmarty Concha y Toro group.  Dismayed by this fact as, "Concha y Toro aims to be a leading global branded wine company" says their website (which brings up ethical questions for me....  but I'm gonna let it slide today, and swallow that FairTrade designation as truth and move on).

This wine is young, true, but it is smooth, silky, fruity, dry and just slides right down.  So drinkable, so affordable, it is a perfect easy-to-drink, everyday wine.  Good with a grilled mammal, sharp cheese, pringles or alone.  A+, Trivento, you're a legend.

Damn, you fine.

Million dollar ideas

Tonight's selection:
Wine:  Caliterra Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva, 2011
Origin:  Colchagua Valley, Chile
Price:  $9.95
CC score:  4 of 5 = PFG
Jack's score:  4 of 5 = PFG
 
Before we even opened this lovely bottle of wine, Jess (now known as Jack) and I had consumed the following:  pint of beer each (I, a German blonde; she, Keith's) with a Glenfiddich side, neat; Hendrick's gin-n-tonics; vodka tonics; and cognacs...  Apparently we morphed into affluent European gadabouts who got funnier and more intelligent as the night went on.  We finished the evening with this lovely Cab for a night-cap (or coffin-nail) as we discussed rape..  and ukeleles. 

I wish I could opine about the body and complexity of this red.  I wish I could describe the prominent flavours and obvious notes on the nose.  I wish I could tell you I remember specifics about experiencing this wine other than "This is really fucking nice."  "Yeah, it is."
But I can at least share the one thing that made us laugh the most by the time the wine was opened:

Smudge the Judge