Niner July 2013

When picking up a shipment it’s always good to taste the wines that you are taking home just in case you want to take an extra bottle home to share with someone that you know or have an extra bottle that you know you will enjoy again. Luckily we are able to taste from the light through the dark wines.

The only thing negative that I have to say about the experience picking up this shipment was the fact that we needed to find a time that was much more quiet as the winery was super busy, being a July 4th weekend and all I’m sure didn’t help. Niner was hosting live music, which was great for background but

This shipment opened with Albarino. Turned out to be a very citrusy wine full of tropical notes with a very pinapple type taste. From one of their local vinyards in __ It is a white with a very white type taste, more notes of taste than the sauvigon blanc read for any light fish meal accented with tomatos or other subtle spices.

Second was Grenache Rose, with some good rose color to it very taste forward wine with dry taste and very taste forward. Finish is nice and light this would be best with a good strong fish rather than a fish with subtile fravor. Might also be good with

2010 Super Paso, Primarily Sangiovese and Malbec. Good thick smell full of good sweet notes, however on taste you a greated with a very nice taste full of oak and tannen that continues to finish as great as it starts, without any after taste that leeds you to either want to stop drinking it or follow it up with another swollow for any reason other than it’s great taste. Great for any lean meet that has been cooked with bellpepers and squash.

2010 Syrah, should have some notes of smoked cloves in it, was what I was told on the opening of the bottle and poor into my glass. The build of the tastes always does well for the winery, wanting to build the taste to something more really than it usually is. The boquet in the glass was very enjoyable however the finish on the wine was more than I wanted to  taste, this will be a great wine for a good meat served with sauted mushrooms and some sort of cheese. It’s pepper type finish is subtile but there.

Remembering how great the Twisted Spur was in the fall shipment last year we asked if we could taste the 2009 Twisted Spur, we were not at all dissapointed with the taste. Being much more enjoyable than the 2010 Syrah in our opinion. Though the finish was a lot more taste than the Syrah it was much more enjoyable.

So far as other good food pairings have a look here, a list of items and recipes Niner has had published over the last number of Years.

Dog friendliness and wine

It’s hard to mix people’s want for dog friendliness and wine. Some would want to keep their best friend with them as the are actually at the bar tasting the wine. Yet others would want to drink their wine in a completely sterile invironment free of distractions of other people’s pets.

Where does the line truely get drawn? What would you prefer? comment below

An Unfortunate Recomendation

Perhaps I will check next time before making a recommendation. I was asked recently to recommend a wine to someone who really doesn’t like wine and with recent experience my first thought was of Chumeia Winery, a weird name for a great and friendly winery, unfortunately this review is going to come to late to save the winery. Best red wine, if you had asked before their closing, in the Paso Robles area according to me was the Barbera both 2006 and 2007 years from Chumia Winery.

The person who I gave the recommendation to proceeded to drive the 2+ hours from their home to the winery in hopes of getting a bottle of this wine to share with a friend of theirs who is somewhat a wine snob. That didn’t work out due to their unfortunate closing, I don’t know what bottle or where they ended up going but info hope that it worked out and that good times were had around the dinner table.

There’s no real way to tell if a place will close before you are able to get backs high is one of the reasons that I taste the wine while I’m there that way I can take home a bottle or two of my favorites to enjoy while it lasts. If I have the opportunity to get back all the better but don’t ever count on having more of a specific year without having that specific wine and year on hand, something that a casual drinker would never really do since even opening a bottle of wine is a rarity.

Bottles opened this weekend 4/27/2013

 

When you can’t decide which wines you want to open, open two instead. This would only apply if you are in a group of people that may accept more than one wine as a rule. For just me it’s one bottle of wine at a time due to the fact that it takes me nearly a week of half a glass at a time to finish a bottle of wine and the last thing that I want is wine going sour while trying to enjoy it.

20130429-083315.jpg The first a 2009 Niner Wine Estates Petite Sarah was made to go with a lean piece of meat, in this instance a Santa Maria Tri-tip from a local market near Pioneer, Ca. As a side note I will at some point be exploring the wines near Pioneer, Ca as I hear there are a number of really great white wines available in the area. If you are looking to make a trip to someplace outside of the Central California Coast and would like to visit the Pioneer area I would suggest a stay in Volcano at St. George Hotel, it’s a great place and really isn’t to far from Lake Tahoe if you’re just passing through on your way to ski Lake Tahoe or enjoy the Casino’s there.

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The Sauvignon Blanc was equally impressive with a very fruity dry taste. It was almost sweet enough to be enjoyed as a desert wine, in fact I didn’t have any of this wine until I was into my fresh Central California Strawberries that were served as a side to the tri-tip mentioned before. I can’t wait to see what else Niner has to offer with their spring shipment of wine for the club members.

Wine Taste Awards

Awards mean a lot in the wine world, if you are into looking at awards and the person who did the tasting, maybe your tastes have been taught to be a snob, that’s okay however beyond that what do awards mean. Though there are certain criteria with wines made in different categories there is really no solid scientific way to grade wine so the award the wine won only means something on that day, time and place for that specific set of tasters.

Awards are displayed proudly by vineyards and their wine makers however is there a point at which you can make since on what you should really be tasting? Some of the awards may have been from prestigious tasting galleries and some may have been from the local county fair which I don’t have a problem with however you may not know the tasters and the tasters may not have the best pallet. I’m not saying that I have developed the correct pallet for wines, but I do know what I like and it’s not what the next person may like.

Awards, great as they may be, should be talked about in reference to the wines that you’re tasting and the wines that you can buy or get by being a club member, if your interested in history this should be offered by the vineyard or maker as a history book, but it’s not likely that you are going to find any of those wines still for sale, unless you are a collector with a highly developed pallet with money to spend on wine that has long since disappeared from the casual wine connoisseur electric cellar.

There are vineyards that wine a lot of awards, but how many compared to the one down the street? Which winemakers won them? How many years in a row?

Awards establish vineyard reputation but really what you want to know is about the maker and their pallet.

First Taste of Paso Robles Wine

My first taste of Paso Robles wine was at a wedding held at Vina Robles, what a great location to host a wedding at.

After the ceremony was a dinner catered by Vina Robles, with dinner came a great wine that I couldn’t place and couldn’t remember when I left, not because I had so much, just due to the fact that I have a hard time remembering details like this when I’m not in the situation writing it down like I do now when I’m tasting at a vineyard. Since the wedding I had been thinking about the wine and returned almost 1 year later and asked if they would be able to tell me which wines were served at the wedding, they explained they could look it up and I soon discovered one of my favorite white wines.

Since that wedding I have visited Vina Robles a couple of times, to taste their wine and take a couple of bottles home. While I usually find myself a proponent of Red wines, Vina Robles has started to turn me towards whites. Their “White 4” is the way to go and there Sauvignon Blanc, which is an estate wine, is also amazing and I usually end up taking one of each when I return.

Next time I’m there I’ll have to try another one of their whites perhaps the Viognier, which I have recently come to like from other vineyards.

Always a Joy to Taste

It’s always a joy to step into the tasting room at Vina Robles the host there is always a joy to chat with and the wine is always top notch. I am always willing to try the newest flight of the newest wines that have been release but I always come back to one of their staples. White 4 is always an enjoyable wine for me, a smooth taste ready to enjoy from the moment that the bottle is opened.

White 4 is not an expensive wine and since it is one of the Vina Robles staples you can almost count on the consistency of the wine even from year to year you can almost stop by and pick up their newest bottle without having a quick taste, however if you decide that you want to taste the wine before buying it the hoste will be glad to oblige, though a full tasting does have cost associated with it unless you take a couple of bottles home with you.