Single Vineyard Wine v Blended Wines
Lettie Teague in the WSJ had an interesting article last week https://www.wsj.com/articles/are-single-vineyard-wines-more-singular-1487261502comparing single vineyard wines with wines blended from many vineyards. I tend to agree with the article. My feeling is that many single vineyard wines are overrated. You still need good grapes to make good wine and good vineyards can produce exceptional wine. The more selective the winery is with the grapes used for a wine, the better a wine. But you still need a talented winemaker to make a good wine. A good winemaker knows how to blend grapes from a number of sources to make the wine that he/she wants to make. The single vineyard wine can really tie the hands of the winemaker.
However, many times but not always, the more info on a wine label the better chance that you can determine if a wine is good. For example, a wine that says California can have grapes from anywhere in California whereas a wine that say Napa Valley must have most of its grapes from Napa. So like many other things in life, single vineyard wines versus blended wines - it depends.
Portuguese Wines
I just want to remind everyone that Portuguese wines can be great values. Last time I mentioned the Planalto white wine for $10.99. Today I bought 2014 Dão Sul Dão Quinta de Cabriz Colheita Seleccionada for 7.99. It was #46 on the WS top 100 for 2016. Looking forward to trying it. When it comes to Portuguese wines, the newer and less expensive ,the better, especially white wines.
Phoenix/Scottsdale
If you are in the area The Parlor https://theparlor.us/ is a great place to eat. Prices are moderate with a reasonable and good wine list. They have good pizza and lots of other eclectic dishes on their menu, i.e. salads, pastas, a number of beers on tap and good wines by the glass. I had a tortellini special stuffed with lamb, roasted tomatoes, mushrooms in a pecorino cream sauce. It was quite good.
For breakfast try Butters Pancakes and Cafe. http://butterscafe.com/ They have great breakfast food. The menu is large, service very attentive and the food is yummy. I love the french toast but the pancakes and egg dishes look great. It is not cheap but the food is made the way it should be made. There is nothing like a good breakfast.
Recent Wines
2012 The Hess Collection Cabernet Sauvignon Mt. Veeder, This is medium bodied California cab packed with flavor, balanced with complexity but still a young wine, 14.6 alcohol but you don't taste it, It should develop nicely, about $50 retail and $112 in a restaurant which is not too bad for a Napa cab from a particular spot, Mt Veeder, a crowd pleaser. drank with steak, might drink again.
2012 Melville Pinot Noir Estate Sta. Rita Hills This wine was very good. I had not tasted it in a few years and it was better than the 2012 Domaine Drouhin Oregon Pinot Noir Laurène we recently drank, which surprised me. The Laurene is twice the price which again shows that price is not everything when it comes to wine. Both wines are favs but the Melville was restrained in 2012 and is drinking beautifully. The Laurene lacks acid and thus lacks the brightness to keep you interested in drinking it.
More Maui coming soon.
Enjoy.
Monday, February 20, 2017
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Tropicana OJ, Breyers Ice Cream, Uber tips, New wines
Tropicana Orange Juice
When I was growing up I loved Tropicana Orange Juice. I drank it for breakfast, lunch and snacks. Over the last 20 or so years I have not been able to drink it as it made me nauseous. Actually all store bought orange juice has made me sick even "fresh squeezed". Yet when I make fresh orange juice at home, I can drink it with no problem. I looked at the machines that make fresh orange juice and I noticed that they puncture the orange and press the entire orange. I cut my oranges in half and squeeze each half. The store machines squeeze the peel as well as the flesh. I figured out that the oils in the skin must be what bothers me.
Recently I was speaking with a friend and he explained to me that Tropicana OJ is not just fresh squeezed orange juice. I said "no way, that is heresy". He showed me their website http://www.tropicana.com/grove-to-glass which says
"Juice 365 Days a Year
Oranges have a limited growing season, and because consumers want our great-tasting juice all year round, some juice is then stored for future packaging in chilled tanks to preserve quality. These tanks protect the juice from oxygen and light and hold the liquid at optimal temperatures just above freezing to maintain the best nutrition and taste possible.
The Perfect Blend
The oranges Tropicana uses for its juices have different ripening seasons – so some stored juice is blended with fresh juice and a bit of the natural oils found in the orange peel and in the juice to deliver the most consistent and best-tasting juice. Pulp may be mixed in at this point, too, depending on the product. Our blend team and expert tasters manage the daily quality and regularly sample our juice to ensure consistent great taste."( Bold print added)
OMG there it is in black and white. Tropicana actually adds orange peel oil to it juice. I bet that they did not do this when I was growing up. Back then they were a small local company not owned by Pepsi. A mystery solved.
This is just a minor example of how companies tamper with our food. What does "squeezed from fresh oranges" on a label mean to you?
Breyers Ice Cream
Breyers Ice Cream owned by Unilever is another example of a product that started out good and has deteriorated over the years as big companies fooled around with it. Recently I noticed that they had new packaging on some flavors that suggested that the ice cream was made with ingredients that you expect in ice cream- cream, milk, sugar and flavoring. I tried the vanilla, chocolate and strawberry with the new formulas and they were great. However I noticed that now most of the other Breyers ice cream flavors are labeled "frozen diary dessert" not ice cream. If you check their website, you will see upon close inspection that they do not even call their stuff "ice cream". For example there is "Peach Frozen Dairy Dessert 48 oz." http://www.breyers.com/product/detail/113868/peach
For the technical minded folks out there check out the FDA rules http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/cfrsearch.cfm?fr=135.110
For a really great explanation of the ice cream mess in plain English read http://mobile.businessinsider.com/these-are-the-fdas-regulations-on-labeling-ice-cream-2015-7
The article states "So now we know what constitutes ice cream. Anything with less than 10% milkfat and/or more than 100% overrun cannot use the term "ice cream" officially, hence the designation of "frozen dairy dessert." Check out the article, it is an eyeopener.
Uber Tips
I used Uber from the airport the other day. The driver called me and asked my destination. I told her and she said she would pick me up in 6 minutes. This seemed strange as I get airport service in about a minute usually. She called back in 5 minutes and said she had to cancel because her current passenger forgot something and she had to drive him home. This sounded strange. I told her to cancel; she said that she did not know how so would I cancel. I cancelled and was charged $5. I complained via the app and a category for "driver told me to cancel"came up. I marked it and was instantly given a refund.
I ordered another car and was picked up in a minute and was driven home. I chatted with the driver and discovered the following. 1. Never give your destination when the driver calls you. Uber does not give destinations to drivers to prevent discrimination. In my case I live near the airport so the charge is small. The driver did not want my ride. She waited a short time to make the charade more real.
2. Don't cancel, the driver should do it. The driver gets a negative rating if they cancel on you. You will also get charged if you cancel after I believe 5 minutes. Live and learn!
Wines
I finally found a bottle of 2015 Casa Ferreirinha Douro Reserva PLANALTO for $10.98. A white wine blend of many grapes.I discovered this wine in Portugal and it has gotten raves in the Wine Spectator and the Wine Advocate. It was $5 in Portugal. Try it and let me know,
2014 Bordeaux's are coming in to stores. I have not tried them yet but the prices and quality seem attractive according to what I have read.
Domaine Drouhin Oregon http://store.domainedrouhin.com/All_Wines?orderby=PXPC.DisplayOrder%20Asc%2C%20P.ProductName%20ASC&startrow=19 has been having special packages of wine that include free shipping. Check out these deals as I think they are very good deals on some great wines. Recently the Wine Spectator has really loved their Chardonnays.
When we were in Santa Barbara, California this summer we tasted wine at the Municipal Winemkers . http://www.municipalwinemakers.com/We did not bring any wine home but we thought the wines were very good. My wife ordered 3 bottles for me over Christmas. We just tried the Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir 2014 and it was great. Light but packed with flavor and balanced with tannin. I just ordered 3 more bottles but they were out of it. They are shipping me the 2015 Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir instead. They ship to most places. I will let you know how this new wine tastes.
Enjoy.
When I was growing up I loved Tropicana Orange Juice. I drank it for breakfast, lunch and snacks. Over the last 20 or so years I have not been able to drink it as it made me nauseous. Actually all store bought orange juice has made me sick even "fresh squeezed". Yet when I make fresh orange juice at home, I can drink it with no problem. I looked at the machines that make fresh orange juice and I noticed that they puncture the orange and press the entire orange. I cut my oranges in half and squeeze each half. The store machines squeeze the peel as well as the flesh. I figured out that the oils in the skin must be what bothers me.
Recently I was speaking with a friend and he explained to me that Tropicana OJ is not just fresh squeezed orange juice. I said "no way, that is heresy". He showed me their website http://www.tropicana.com/grove-to-glass which says
"Juice 365 Days a Year
Oranges have a limited growing season, and because consumers want our great-tasting juice all year round, some juice is then stored for future packaging in chilled tanks to preserve quality. These tanks protect the juice from oxygen and light and hold the liquid at optimal temperatures just above freezing to maintain the best nutrition and taste possible.
The Perfect Blend
The oranges Tropicana uses for its juices have different ripening seasons – so some stored juice is blended with fresh juice and a bit of the natural oils found in the orange peel and in the juice to deliver the most consistent and best-tasting juice. Pulp may be mixed in at this point, too, depending on the product. Our blend team and expert tasters manage the daily quality and regularly sample our juice to ensure consistent great taste."( Bold print added)
OMG there it is in black and white. Tropicana actually adds orange peel oil to it juice. I bet that they did not do this when I was growing up. Back then they were a small local company not owned by Pepsi. A mystery solved.
This is just a minor example of how companies tamper with our food. What does "squeezed from fresh oranges" on a label mean to you?
Breyers Ice Cream
Breyers Ice Cream owned by Unilever is another example of a product that started out good and has deteriorated over the years as big companies fooled around with it. Recently I noticed that they had new packaging on some flavors that suggested that the ice cream was made with ingredients that you expect in ice cream- cream, milk, sugar and flavoring. I tried the vanilla, chocolate and strawberry with the new formulas and they were great. However I noticed that now most of the other Breyers ice cream flavors are labeled "frozen diary dessert" not ice cream. If you check their website, you will see upon close inspection that they do not even call their stuff "ice cream". For example there is "Peach Frozen Dairy Dessert 48 oz." http://www.breyers.com/product/detail/113868/peach
For the technical minded folks out there check out the FDA rules http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/cfrsearch.cfm?fr=135.110
For a really great explanation of the ice cream mess in plain English read http://mobile.businessinsider.com/these-are-the-fdas-regulations-on-labeling-ice-cream-2015-7
The article states "So now we know what constitutes ice cream. Anything with less than 10% milkfat and/or more than 100% overrun cannot use the term "ice cream" officially, hence the designation of "frozen dairy dessert." Check out the article, it is an eyeopener.
Uber Tips
I used Uber from the airport the other day. The driver called me and asked my destination. I told her and she said she would pick me up in 6 minutes. This seemed strange as I get airport service in about a minute usually. She called back in 5 minutes and said she had to cancel because her current passenger forgot something and she had to drive him home. This sounded strange. I told her to cancel; she said that she did not know how so would I cancel. I cancelled and was charged $5. I complained via the app and a category for "driver told me to cancel"came up. I marked it and was instantly given a refund.
I ordered another car and was picked up in a minute and was driven home. I chatted with the driver and discovered the following. 1. Never give your destination when the driver calls you. Uber does not give destinations to drivers to prevent discrimination. In my case I live near the airport so the charge is small. The driver did not want my ride. She waited a short time to make the charade more real.
2. Don't cancel, the driver should do it. The driver gets a negative rating if they cancel on you. You will also get charged if you cancel after I believe 5 minutes. Live and learn!
Wines
I finally found a bottle of 2015 Casa Ferreirinha Douro Reserva PLANALTO for $10.98. A white wine blend of many grapes.I discovered this wine in Portugal and it has gotten raves in the Wine Spectator and the Wine Advocate. It was $5 in Portugal. Try it and let me know,
2014 Bordeaux's are coming in to stores. I have not tried them yet but the prices and quality seem attractive according to what I have read.
Domaine Drouhin Oregon http://store.domainedrouhin.com/All_Wines?orderby=PXPC.DisplayOrder%20Asc%2C%20P.ProductName%20ASC&startrow=19 has been having special packages of wine that include free shipping. Check out these deals as I think they are very good deals on some great wines. Recently the Wine Spectator has really loved their Chardonnays.
When we were in Santa Barbara, California this summer we tasted wine at the Municipal Winemkers . http://www.municipalwinemakers.com/We did not bring any wine home but we thought the wines were very good. My wife ordered 3 bottles for me over Christmas. We just tried the Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir 2014 and it was great. Light but packed with flavor and balanced with tannin. I just ordered 3 more bottles but they were out of it. They are shipping me the 2015 Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir instead. They ship to most places. I will let you know how this new wine tastes.
Enjoy.
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