Monte Oton Garnacha (2009)

YOU CAN NEGOTIATE ANYTHING

Warm bouquet. Proper tanins, but a pretty quick finish. Dan disagrees on this last point. I get cherry, and Dan gets cherry and plum. I can neither confirm nor deny that label, since it's been forever since I've eaten a plum. It's an interesting enough wine, I suppose. Not as one-note as the Dad's Day Off. Rougher than a pinot. Slightly spicy? It's the strangest thing: there was something we couldn't really pinpoint in this wine, and so we looked up a review. Do you know what it was? Tangerine. Weird. Primarily on the finish. I would not have expected that but I'm excited to know that that flavor exists in reds.

Ranking: 8.5/10 -- would investigate further

Willm Blanc de Blancs -- brut ~$10 (pesticide free)

Drink with James.  Get it?  'Cause he engaged.

We bought this in celebration of our friends' engagement (to each other). But it was far too sweet for me. Like, it wasn't really brut. Dan says it was full of sharp peach and honey. We drank a reasonable amount of it and vacuum corked it, but the next day it was already totally flat. Dan says it would be good in mimosas, and he's probably right. That's the only other occasion I would buy it for. Also, it turns out (and we would have known this had we looked harder) that it's from Alsace, which explains the high sugar content. Bleugh. But for mimosas, ok.

Ranking: Dan says 7, I say 4. Officially, 5.5.

Venta Morales Tempranillo (2009)

Drink with writers?

This was a gift, but I think Dan and I have bought this on our own before. We both thought this was really good. Proper tanins, well-balanced, garnet-colored, full-bodied, fruity. We like Spanish wines.

Ranking: 9/10 -- would definitely buy again.

Dad's Day Off Pinot Noir (2007)

Drink with Indian musical instruments.

This is technically an Italian wine, though I didn't know that there were a whole bunch of pinots from Italy. Medium bodied, very smooth. Dan thought it was very chocolate-y, and I thought it was caramel-y. But other than that, I didn't taste much else. It was good, but sort of one-note, in my opinion. But pleasant enough.

Ranking: 7.5/10 -- would probably buy again.

Casa Lapostolle Sauvignon Blanc (2009)~$11

The bouquet on this boded well -- mostly citrus but with a savory undernote. However, on the palate it tastes more like a Chardonnay, sort of buttery and oak-y (even though it's fermented in stainless steel). Unfortunately, neither of us likes Chardonnay. It has sort of a bitter finish, too. Dan describes it as "grassy," which I can't really identify. I would say that it tastes like overripe strawberries -- sort of sour and bitter? It's also sort of one-note. I wouldn't buy this again. We probably won't even drink the rest of the bottle. We'll probably use it for cooking.

Rating: 3/10 -- not a success

San Elias Carménère (2009) ~$6

Drink with Victorian statuettes.

Savory bouquet, medium-full bodied, proper tanins. Mostly oak, blackberry, and cherry. Pretty strong malic acid, but also earthy, which makes it smoother. It was hella cheap and so we thought we might as well give this one and the San Elias Cabernet Sauvignon a try. It seems like good bang for your buck -- definitely worth twice what you pay. Would be delicious in cooking as well, particularly if you're using mushrooms or some sort of heavy meat.

Rating: 7.5/10 (Dan likes it more than I do)

Crios Torrontes (2009) ~$13

Oh my goodness gracious, this is the wine I have been waiting for all summer. I had "some" at my sister-in-law's wedding and have been searching for it ever since. THE SEARCH IS OVER, MY DEAREST FRIENDS. Ok, I don't know if it was exactly this label, but it was Torrontes. Less dramatic perhaps. Anyway, this is properly dry and has a bouquet of flowers and white peach. Lemon, peach, roses, and a little bit of pineapple on the palate. You would think that it wouldn't be a dry wine, but it is. Most people seem to compare it to Sauv. Blanc, which I completely agree with. We will definitely be drinking more of this this summer.

Rating: 10/10 -- definitely worth the money

Domaine Pichot Vouvray, Domaine le Peu de la Moriette, (2009) ~$11

Enjoy with David Tennant staring at you.

We were originally trying to track down a Vouvray Sec that we'd had several years ago and, naturally, can't remember the name of, and we decided to try this instead. Medium-bodied, mostly peach and strawberry. More mellow than I personally like, but that's Chenin Blanc for you I suppose. Pretty floral bouquet. The back of the bottle says it's "intense." It isn't. But it is delicious, and (probably) a little too easy to drink. So watch out.

Rating: 8.5/10

Gin Gimlet

Damn fine.  Damn.  Fine.

• 1.5 oz gin
• 1 oz lime juice (we recommend half Rose's and half squeeze-bottle variety (or freshly-squeezed lime juice, IF YOU MUST))
• lime garnish

Thoughts: We first tried making this with all Rose's, but it was pretty sweet. Mixing it in with unsweetened lime juice had better results for us. If you like sweet drinks, on the other hand, then feel free to use 100% Rose's. This is fine, damn fine. And strong.

Rating: 10/10

Amaretto Rose

Well my my my.

• 1.5-2 oz amaretto, depending on your taste (I used closer to 2)
  
• .5 oz lime juice (I used 50% Rose's and 50% the kind that comes in a little lime-shaped squeeze bottle)
  
• club soda, to top it off.

I suggest using a low glass for this one.
Add ice, if you'd like.

Thoughts: I will be drinking these every day from 5PM onward thank you very much. My my.

Rating: 10/10

G.D. Vajra Barolo "Albe" (2005) ~$30.00

Who's Marcus?

We won this in a gift basket. Mostly chocolate and cherries on this one. Moderately spicy. Proper tannins; leaves the tongue fairly dry. Medium-bodied.

Best drunk at an outdoor FUNK rock concert.

[Note from Dan]: No, it was funk ROCK.

[Note from Claire]: Dan, we go to FUNK rock concerts, and you KNOW that.
Rating: 9/10 -- really quite good, but not sure if I'd spend $30 on it.

Rigol Cava Brut, (2009) ~?

Claire liked it? (?)

We drank this a while ago, but forgot to blog it.  Claire doesn't remember much about it (does that mean it's bad or really good?), but I recall it being really good for the price.  I think it had some darker notes, like a blanc de noirs?  I am not entirely sure, though.  We'll have to get it again, but I remember liking it a lot.

Rating: 8/10

Bumbo

• 2 oz dark rum
• 1 oz lemon juice (or lime, if you like it tart)
  
• .5 oz pomegranate syrup (or grenadine, if you have it)
• grated nutmeg (no)

Shake it together and grate the nutmeg on top.

Thoughts: An interesting mix of sweet and sour. Dan isn't completely convinced of it, but I thought it was pretty great. I think we would modify this a little bit. My thought was to mitigate some of the sourness by adding a turbinado sugar rim to it. Dan says he would also switch it to lime juice rather than lemon juice (he thinks limes are sweeter than lemons. HE COULD NOT BE MORE WRONG). We would also skip the nutmeg next time. It only added weird things.

Addendum: Adding tonic to top it off is a good idea. Also, limes are not sweeter than lemons. We have confirmed this. Dan still disagrees but he's wrong. So. We have yet to add a sugar rim to this, but we will. And it will be awesome.

Further addendum: We've tried the sugar rim, and it's PRETTY good. Dan likes it the way it is, but I think the sugar could be blended a little to reduce the grain size. It's a little too crunchy for me, and it's harder to get into the sweetness. So NEXT time I would try chopping the sugar. But this is getting better and better.
Disaster Index: 3/10