I'm making one of my now infrequent appearances just to wave at you and let you know I am still here and enjoying a glass of wine as always even though I am not writing to tell you about it.
But today I am.. I just feel like writing, and luckily it is about an enjoyable bottle I have been drinking over the past four nights. Tonight is the last 6 oz, sigh.
The wine is (was) the 2004 Murgatroyd from Twisted Oak Winery. I poured 1/4 of the bottle each into three splits for subsequent nights and sampled the remaining 1/4. That first quarter seemed rough and also on the high side alcohol-wise. Lots of fruit, but hot and with a good load of tannins.
On the remaining nights I drank it from a Riedel Sommelier Bordeaux glass (first night was from a Montrachet glass, which was probably a mistake) and gave it plenty of air time. That helped a lot because from then to the end, I had a nice, smooth wine. Lots of raspberry and black fruits that had a slightly tart cranberry edge to them to keep things interesting. The tannins were much more subdued and it had a nice balance of acidity.
Anyway, just wanted to do a bit of writing tonight and let you know about the Murgatroyd.
Now I will exit, stage left..
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Living Off My Rep'
As is obvious from a quick scan of my site, I hardly do any sort of updating here. I still have a glass of wine per night (which equates to 7/4 wine per week since each glass is 1/4 of a bottle) but I haven't felt particularly motivated to do any wine-related writing. In fact I have not felt motivated whatsoever to write about things wine-ish.
I haven't gone surfing around wine-related sites either. I don't even know if Gary V still looks the same or if he has branched out into reviewing books or whatever. But today I happened to glance at the Alltop page for wine reviews and noticed that I am still on their list of sites. Not only that, but I am sitting in a respectable 24th position!
I have no idea how they rank their sites but I do know there are plenty mo' better ones than mine that are down below yet there I am, in the top 25. I guess it must be due to my legendary reputation among the wine blog world. Who can forget such memorable posts as the ones I did before I flaked onto other things, such as.. well, I don't remember right now but they were pretty clever back in their day.
Seeing that Alltop page gave me a chuckle and inspired me to write a post for today. And also inspired me to post the YouTube below (I know it's a repeat but what the heck.. it suits the mood).
Those very few of you who subscribe to this blog - getting a notification of a new post from me must have been like a flickering signal from a ham radio.. could it be? Is it a real post or just interference caused by weather balloons? Zut alors! See you in another lengthy length of time!
I haven't gone surfing around wine-related sites either. I don't even know if Gary V still looks the same or if he has branched out into reviewing books or whatever. But today I happened to glance at the Alltop page for wine reviews and noticed that I am still on their list of sites. Not only that, but I am sitting in a respectable 24th position!
I have no idea how they rank their sites but I do know there are plenty mo' better ones than mine that are down below yet there I am, in the top 25. I guess it must be due to my legendary reputation among the wine blog world. Who can forget such memorable posts as the ones I did before I flaked onto other things, such as.. well, I don't remember right now but they were pretty clever back in their day.
Seeing that Alltop page gave me a chuckle and inspired me to write a post for today. And also inspired me to post the YouTube below (I know it's a repeat but what the heck.. it suits the mood).
Those very few of you who subscribe to this blog - getting a notification of a new post from me must have been like a flickering signal from a ham radio.. could it be? Is it a real post or just interference caused by weather balloons? Zut alors! See you in another lengthy length of time!
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Flu
Sorry that I haven't posted in a while, but I came down with a case of the Wine Flu.
Joe Biden didn't make things any better, flapping his jaws on national television telling everyone not to drink wine in any enclosed area, and that people shouldn't even take wine to school with them. Obama and his cohorts had to move quickly to do their damage control on him before the angry winemaker's lobby started blasting back at our gregarious number two man.
Now the expression on some of your faces indicates confusion. Monkuwino, you're talking about Wine Flu??? That's the first I've heard of that. I thought it was Swine Flu, not Wine Flu.
That's understandable but the confusion really comes from the White House, once again. The official announcement of this pandepidemicamonium came from an aide who had been listening to George Gershwin tunes on his Ipod right before he spoke to the public. So caught up in one of Gershwin's more popular recordings, "S'Wonderful," he started adding an "S" in front of other words and as you can now see, "Wine Flu" came out of his mouth as "S'Wine Flu."
Too embarrassed to admit his mistake, the aide just left it alone and let the press run with it.
Public service announcement: to protect yourself from this disease, just wear a gauze mask over your nose and mouth when you drink any wine until you get a signal from the government that the coast is clear. This also has the added benefit that you will not need to decant your wine beforehand.
Joe Biden didn't make things any better, flapping his jaws on national television telling everyone not to drink wine in any enclosed area, and that people shouldn't even take wine to school with them. Obama and his cohorts had to move quickly to do their damage control on him before the angry winemaker's lobby started blasting back at our gregarious number two man.
Now the expression on some of your faces indicates confusion. Monkuwino, you're talking about Wine Flu??? That's the first I've heard of that. I thought it was Swine Flu, not Wine Flu.
That's understandable but the confusion really comes from the White House, once again. The official announcement of this pandepidemicamonium came from an aide who had been listening to George Gershwin tunes on his Ipod right before he spoke to the public. So caught up in one of Gershwin's more popular recordings, "S'Wonderful," he started adding an "S" in front of other words and as you can now see, "Wine Flu" came out of his mouth as "S'Wine Flu."
Too embarrassed to admit his mistake, the aide just left it alone and let the press run with it.
Public service announcement: to protect yourself from this disease, just wear a gauze mask over your nose and mouth when you drink any wine until you get a signal from the government that the coast is clear. This also has the added benefit that you will not need to decant your wine beforehand.
Monday, April 6, 2009
The MONSTA ® Wine Glass is Here!
I am very pleased to introduce my new line of MONSTA ® brand wine glasses to my faithful One Wine Per Week readers and allow you first crack at the first ones off the conveyor belt!
"There's already so many different wine glasses on the market, so what makes yours even worth looking at?" You might well ask.
You hit the nail on the head. My new glasses are worth LOOKING at.
Wine is not only a delight for the nose and palate, but for the eyes as well. Wine needs to be served in a glass that enables it to look its best, to look the way the winemaker intended. My MONSTA ® brand wine glasses present the wine with minimal interference of appearance from one side of the glass to the other, so the color of the wine is the color you actually see.
Did you know that different colors of wine have different chromospectromatographic properties? That is, white wines have a different color than red wines and they both look different from sparkling wines.
In order for the wine drinker to have the ultimate experience, he or she should be able to tell what color of wine is in the glass. That is why I have designed three separate wine glasses, one each for white, red and sparkling, respectively. Each has been manufactured to allow the true color of the wine to shine through.
Here is my red wine glass. Do you see how the color red shines through? There is no lack of brilliance.
Now compare it to wine served in a different glass. See the difference? That is why YOU need to buy my MONSTA ® wine glasses and buy them right now!
The same holds true for white wines. Compare white wine served in my MONSTA ® glass (top) versus in a regular glass (bottom). No comparison, is there..
And of course sparkling wine gets its due, as well. Form and function, beautifully integrated into the perfect shape for enhancing bubbles and the perfect glass for enhancing appearance. Notice how the bubbles are much more well defined with a more accurate soundstage and separation in the top MONSTA ® glass versus the ordinary regular glass shown below it?
It's quality you can see. For a limited time I am pricing my new MONSTA ® glasses at a special introductory price of $295.00 per stem, while initial supplies last. After that, the price will go up so I urge you to leave me a comment with your purchasing information today because it is first come first served.
Oh and also, remember that MONSTA ® glass is a registered trademark. I will sue the pants off anyone who tries to use a name that even remotely resembles that name.. even if your name has six letters in it that is or isn't an anagram of MONSTA ®, I advise you now, you've been warned.
"There's already so many different wine glasses on the market, so what makes yours even worth looking at?" You might well ask.
You hit the nail on the head. My new glasses are worth LOOKING at.
Wine is not only a delight for the nose and palate, but for the eyes as well. Wine needs to be served in a glass that enables it to look its best, to look the way the winemaker intended. My MONSTA ® brand wine glasses present the wine with minimal interference of appearance from one side of the glass to the other, so the color of the wine is the color you actually see.
Did you know that different colors of wine have different chromospectromatographic properties? That is, white wines have a different color than red wines and they both look different from sparkling wines.
In order for the wine drinker to have the ultimate experience, he or she should be able to tell what color of wine is in the glass. That is why I have designed three separate wine glasses, one each for white, red and sparkling, respectively. Each has been manufactured to allow the true color of the wine to shine through.
Here is my red wine glass. Do you see how the color red shines through? There is no lack of brilliance.
Now compare it to wine served in a different glass. See the difference? That is why YOU need to buy my MONSTA ® wine glasses and buy them right now!
The same holds true for white wines. Compare white wine served in my MONSTA ® glass (top) versus in a regular glass (bottom). No comparison, is there..
And of course sparkling wine gets its due, as well. Form and function, beautifully integrated into the perfect shape for enhancing bubbles and the perfect glass for enhancing appearance. Notice how the bubbles are much more well defined with a more accurate soundstage and separation in the top MONSTA ® glass versus the ordinary regular glass shown below it?
It's quality you can see. For a limited time I am pricing my new MONSTA ® glasses at a special introductory price of $295.00 per stem, while initial supplies last. After that, the price will go up so I urge you to leave me a comment with your purchasing information today because it is first come first served.
Oh and also, remember that MONSTA ® glass is a registered trademark. I will sue the pants off anyone who tries to use a name that even remotely resembles that name.. even if your name has six letters in it that is or isn't an anagram of MONSTA ®, I advise you now, you've been warned.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Special Edition
Folks, today's post has nothing to do with wine, but it is something that makes me so very angry (and while I know this blog has a lot of leg-pulling, this time I am serious) that I had to write about it.
Are you familiar with Monster brand cables? They are those overpriced ripoff cables sold by overpriced ripoff places like Best Buy, cables that perform no better than ones that cost 1/10 or even less of the price.
Today's Wall Street Journal featured an article on the front page about how Monster likes to sue other businesses that have the word "Monster" in their name. The example they used was of a couple who created a company called "Monster Mini-Golf." The evil, bullying Monster Cable company sued them in court demanding they surrender their name and pay Monster Cable $80,000 for the right to use it. To read the article, click here.
Then the article goes on to list other examples, such as their suit against Disney for using the title "Monsters, Inc." for one of their movies, as well as other ridiculous examples.
I am totally disgusted. To me, the other companies should be suing Monster Cable for degrading the word and giving it a negative connotation as something that lacks value, and is snake oil. Soon they will find that Monster will take on a generic meaning, as have Kleenex and Xerox; Monster will be a generic term for "overpriced ripoff garbage."
Like I said, I know this blog is supposed to be about wine but I got so incensed reading this article that for the few readers I have, I wanted to encourage all of you to please, please never buy a shoddy, snake oil ripoff Monster Cable product again, and please urge your friends to do the same.
There is no room for unethical bullies like that in our world.
Are you familiar with Monster brand cables? They are those overpriced ripoff cables sold by overpriced ripoff places like Best Buy, cables that perform no better than ones that cost 1/10 or even less of the price.
Today's Wall Street Journal featured an article on the front page about how Monster likes to sue other businesses that have the word "Monster" in their name. The example they used was of a couple who created a company called "Monster Mini-Golf." The evil, bullying Monster Cable company sued them in court demanding they surrender their name and pay Monster Cable $80,000 for the right to use it. To read the article, click here.
Then the article goes on to list other examples, such as their suit against Disney for using the title "Monsters, Inc." for one of their movies, as well as other ridiculous examples.
I am totally disgusted. To me, the other companies should be suing Monster Cable for degrading the word and giving it a negative connotation as something that lacks value, and is snake oil. Soon they will find that Monster will take on a generic meaning, as have Kleenex and Xerox; Monster will be a generic term for "overpriced ripoff garbage."
Like I said, I know this blog is supposed to be about wine but I got so incensed reading this article that for the few readers I have, I wanted to encourage all of you to please, please never buy a shoddy, snake oil ripoff Monster Cable product again, and please urge your friends to do the same.
There is no room for unethical bullies like that in our world.
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