Wait… This wine is how much?  $12! (at winelibrary.com).  Value, value, value and that is all because costieres de nimes is an up and coming unproven French region which lies between the Rhone Valley and Langeudoc-Roussillon.  Sweet cherry stewed in herb stems.  I also get the classic dusty Rhone nose as well.  This wine falls into the all deisred silk mouthfeel category with mild welcoming tannins.  I get classic old world charecteristics with back end new world fruit, which in my opinion is the new definition of balance.  I know i havent updated this site in a while but this deserved a post!  Seek this out!

Lindsay received a bit of great news from work, so naturally we popped open wine in celebration. The choice was the series m by Vilafonte.  41% Merlot, 39% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Malbec and 4% Cabernet Franc.  The nose was a marriage of old world/new world,  sweet red berries with leather and hints of tobacco.  There is no hiding this wine in a blind tasting as it screams South African terroir.  The finish is creamy milk chocolate.  In my opinion the oak masked the natural beautiful terroir this wine exhibits.  With that said I would still drink this again.  I am curious to see what else this winery offers.

We decided to hit the road for dinner tonight on a mission to find a restaurant with A/C to combat this heatwave. It’s a little out of character for us to go out on a Monday night but desperate times… We decided to check out River Cat Grill which Lindsay (my Wife) stumbled upon during a detour around traffic. Located in the middle of Rowayton Village, River Cat Grill is set on a corner lot with spacious outdoor seating as well as a roomy elegant but cozy dining room. There is also a small bar area which serves a full bar menu and has live entertainment Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. The service from start to finish was superb. Each waiter, busboy and hostess services every table on an as need basis. For a Monday the restaurant was 80 percent occupied which is always a great sign. Onto the food, we both started with a Harpoon Summer brew to cool us off and the Prince Edward Island Mussels & Frites appetizer which consisted of petite bay muscles simmered in a light cream style broth with chorizo sausage, roma tomatoes and herbs along with a side of Frites or French fries. For dinner we both chose from the salad menu. I had the Macadamia Nut Crusted Chicken and my wife had the Asian Beef Salad. The salad was fresh, the blue cheese top notch and the beef/poultry were cooked to spec. We will definitely dine here again.

River Cat Grill
148 Rowayton Ave
Rowayton, CT 06853
(203) 831-0567
http://www.rivercatgrill.com

This wine was obtained through wine.woot.com along with two other (non reserve) Sangiovese’s. I enjoyed the standard offerings so much that i decided to save this wine for a more special occasion which ended up being a random “good feeling” Wednesday. Got home from depositing my stimulus check and popped this baby open. The nose was suburb. Text book dark cherry with a tail end of spice (I couldn’t put my finger on the specific spice component). Right off the bat this light/medium body Sangiovese hit me with dark chocolate tailing off with a nice cordial cherry component. I personally would have never guessed this wine dialed in at 14.5% alcohol but my wife’s first comment after sipping was “Is this wine hot?”. I’ll leave you to judge.

I highly recommend this wine. It may be a little tough to find but i believe Woot has offered this more than once so keep checking Woot’s latest offerings.

Bohemian Highway 2004 Cabernet (St. Helena, CA) has a great fruity flavor, I picked up cigars and smoked cherries - delicious. I will admit the quirky label grabbed my attention first and the price made me put it in my basket - only $4.99. You don’t need to attend A Night at The Opera to enjoy this inexpensive, but completely enjoyable bottle of cab.

I need to sneak in some Seafood and White before this summer is over. Last night I seared up some simple salt/pepper scallops and opened a 2005 Domaine Le Fruitiere Muscadet . The nose on this white was addictive, extremely fresh citrus, not overpowering. Taste was light citrus (not like sauv blanc) with a mineral/rocks/earth finish. My kind of white! I don’t give many whites 90 pts but for $9! 90 pts all the way.

Recipe Link - Seared Scallops

Finally!

Just heard that addictive Umbrella song so that explains the title…

Wine Library TV episode #302 inspired this post and my drink of choice for tonight. Native to the Piedmont region of Italy, Dolcetto is often overshadowed by the leading nebiolo and barbera grape varieties. As a result, Dolcetto frequently yields tremendous QPR. Onto the wine…

The 2005 Giacomo Grimaldi Dolcetto d’Alba presented with a vegetal-peppery nose followed by a pleasingly tannic raspberry/blackberry flavor. At $13 this blows most wines in that price range clear out of the water. Solid 89, great effort!

Friend of mine from college settled just outside of Downtown Raleigh with his wife about 3 years ago and I have imposed on them annually ever since. I wish i was writing about the local Raleigh wineries but unfortunately they weren’t in the schedule this year (hopefully next year). Luckily, we did get a chance to drink some wine and check out some good eats downtown.

Saturday night in downtown Raleigh started of with an excellent sandwich at a small bistro style restaurant called Rockford’s. Toasted pumpernikel, melteld fresh mozzelrella, pesto, basil and red roma tomatoes. Sipped on a 2003 Rio Sol Cabernet/Shiraz, excellent everyday value quaffer, soft tannins made for a smooth finish. Onto Vin wine bar where the fun begins…

At Vin I tasted 3 wines. First the 2005 Gilbert Picq Chablis, typical Chablis, juice a lemon over a piece of toast and thats basically this wine. Expected a tad more body but nonetheless still great, 87. Next i went straight for the only Bordeaux on the menu which was the 2003 Chateau Courtin. Medium in body this Bordeaux displayed an old world terrior driven nose of soil, rock and some black cherry. Great balance with a nice slightly spicy finish. This wine was still pretty young (like most Bordeaux us Americans consume), would be nice to revisit in 4-10 years. 90 pts for the Bordeaux, looks pretty limited on wine-searcher but for $30, I would drink again. My visit to Vin ended with my newfound love for Aussie Shiraz. If you enjoy new world fruit bombs then definitely try the 2004 Piombo Shiraz. This McLaren Shiraz exploded with BALANCED dark fruit! I stress balanced. This wine was just plain fun to drink. Reminded me of the Step Rd Shiraz i last reviewed, only better, 92 pts.

The night ended at Rum Runners. Great dueling piano bar with lots of college kids, bachelor/bachelorette parties, dancing, beer, and more beer. No wine here, sorry!

After a long drive back from Raleigh, NC my wife in I weren’t in the cooking mood so we opted for a wine and cheese dinner. I wish i could do this every night but i am certain my doctor wouldn’t approve. Onto the note…

I look forward to seeing Aussie wines utilizing the screw cap (or as the snobs called it, the stelvin enclosure), needless to say I was disappointed to have to break out the almost obsolete corkscrew. The nose shouted “fruit bomb” with sweet strawberries & dark berries. The forward fruit coated my entire pallet with a finish that lingered 15+ seconds. If you are a new world fan then this is for you. Old world fans, don’t even touch this. I’ll go 90+ , great effort, [new world fans] seek this out!