Good Vaule

2010 Shoofly Shiraz South Australia

"Australians are an unpretentious mob and shooing flies is about as complicated as it gets when dealing with life's distractions.  Work hard but take time to savor each day is the national ethos."  Shoofly winery

Winemaker Ben Riggs's vision:  No flabby wines, no raisins and leave the oak for the trees!

I stumbled on this real good value at Co-op liquor store.  $15 a bottle.  Polished and supple with red berry, black cherry and spice through to the finish.

Good Value

2009 Bodega Zapata Catena Malbec Mendoza

A rich red.  Tannis add weight to the long, vibrant finish.

This wine is a good value at around $20 at the Superstore liquor store.  We have enjoyed a couple bottle of this wine.  It is a good wine for when you want something good but not special at a good price.  

This wine rank #58 of Wine Spectator top 100 list of 2011

Wine Friday

November 16, 2012

2006 Prevail Back Forty Ferrari-Carano
Cabernet Sauvignon


Thinking a bit about the connection I have with my wine as I often do when I chose a wine to drink.  I thought I would like to have a special wine for this wine Friday.  After a trip downstairs I brought up this wine.  I decided this 2006 was ready to drink.  After deciding to have steak for dinner I thought this was the perfect choice for tonight.

We visited Ferrari-Carano on our October 2010 trip to Sonoma for my second half marathon.  The half took place in Healdburg.  After the half this was the first winery we visited.  Drinking this wine transformed me back to our tasing.  The memory of the gorgeous grounds, the sit sown tasting and holding this special wine while standing by the gorgeous ground.  Feeling so proud of my earlier accomplish of my half and enjoying my rewards.

This wine was our first surge at $85 a bottle.  Certainly one will we remember.  A very nice full bodied complex wine with excellent length.

We also bought
2004 Tresor  Blenad of Cab sav, malbec, petit verdot, cab franc and Merlot
2007 Syrah

We drank the Syrah December 19, 2010 on a ski trip to Vernon.  The boys skied Silver Star and Steve and I enjoyed this bottle while staying warm in the room.
We drank the Tresor at home on New Years Eve 2010.

Drinking all the wines from Ferrari-Carano connected different places, times and memories for me. 

Wine is food and food is life, and life is about the connections we make

For me wine is not all about drinking it.  It is so much more.  It's about the experience and the connections made.  The memories.  It is one of the good things in life that connects us to the Small moments in life.  The moments we spend with the people that matter.   With each special bottle I bring back and drink it brings me back to the moments of seeking out wineries, taking in the beauty of the vineyards, tasting the wine, the people I am with and the reason why I am there.  It connects those moments to the new memories I create when I drink the wine.  As the saying goes wine is food and food is life and life is about the connections we make.  It's about people connecting with people and small the moments in life.  The more connected we become the stronger society can become.

Wine Wisdom

Compromises are for relationships, not wine
Sir Robert Scott Claywood

Wine Friday

October 26, 2012

Oh my favorite day.  This Friday being a bit better as the Boys did not have school.  Tonight I am in the mood for a special wine.  So after consulting with my notes I have decided on a Washington wine.

2009 Mark Ryan The Dissident
41% Merlot, 24% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Syrah, 8%Malbec and 8% Petit Verdot.
This was a great choice.  Rich, round and lusciously-filled.  S and I enjoyed this wine while watching a movie with our boys.

We visited Mark Ryan's tasting room in June 2011 after I ran my marathon in Seattle.  After the run we headed out to Woodinville for my reward.  Wine tasting.  Mark Ryan was the first tasting we did. They have a great fun tasting room in Woodinville.  This was a great little town.  The hotel(Willow Lodge) we stayed in was on of my favorite places we have stayed.  Sense of calm and relaxation.  It was such a great place to stay as it was within walking distance of many tasting rooms. The room were beautiful and we really loved it there.

Drinking this wine bought back good memories of some of the good things we enjoyed on the this trip. We also bought a couple more bottles of their wine.  I think I will keep them laid down for a bit before drinking.

Wine Wisdom

Wine has been a part of civilized life for some seven thousand years.  It is the only beverage that feeds the body soul and spirit of men at the same time stimulates the mind.
Robert Mondavi