I found these in Walgreens at end of a row. The Riesling bottles are huge for supermarket sale or are they? The bottles on shelf above are 750 ml Champagne bottles. Notice the size difference! I absolutely have no interest in tasting what is inside the bottle!!! I thought the size was a great gimmick to sell yuuuuuuk.
I bought Marraso Malbec 2007 without any plans. I was not even to get wine but noticed the store and walked in and Marraso Malbec 2007 is what I walked out with. The wine was inexpensive but within the price range for good quality Malbec from the region. I pulled the plastic cork and the wine had no flaws. Lots of black fruits on the palate and spicy with jammy in the fruits made a very pleasant drink. I really liked the wine and drank half of the bottle leaving the other half for later. Next day when I tried the wine, it had changed dramatically. It was now sour and acid overwhelmed. The fruits in background hardly existed. I was thinking about the wine and felt Marraso Malbec 2007 is a good drinking wine. The experience of drinking it once cork is pulled is worth the price and is a very pleasant. I have had similar experiences which don’t degrade the wine but is something to consider. A typical red wine should last 3 days after opening without extra care and this rule of thumb holds in my experience. I drank some of Marraso Malbec 2007 last night to see how changed and is drinkable. Swirling the wine in Burgundy glass did open it enough to taste fruity again but acid is present too. I would drink it again but only in one sitting and recommend it. I have never had anything I did not like that was spicy. My favorite daily red is Cotes Du Rhone which has enough grenache to be always spicy. I feel confident any Malbec I pick up no matter how cheap will be drinkable and can be better too.
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When I visited BevMo to check some of the items on the 5cent sale (which has now expired) I found it confusing to find things but when I looked online under the sale items on BevMo website I was able to sort wines effectively. Citra Montepulciano D’Abruzzo happened to be the least expensive red wine and soon I had two bottles to try. Montepulciano attracted me for several reasons. I was curious to try a fairly recent vintage and more interested to know how terrible or surprising good it can be when sold as very cheap wine here. I was looking for the catch or hopefully what was good in the bottle though sold in cheap wine sale. I frankly did not expect the wine to be anything great but was hoping I would get lucky. The wine was okay. The price was definitely right. The nose of the wine is young in aromas and so is the palate. I really liked the nose but thought the palate was simply okay. Young red fruits in abundance with acid presence dominated the wine. I hardly noticed the finish and acid is everywhere distracing from any tannin. I drank the bottle and have no complaints but not much else to say. The wine was simple and worth the money. I did not feel anything else worth noticing was there.
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Tags: BevMo, italian wine, Montepulciano
I had been checking wines at BevMo for a few times, for no other reason than easy location, when 5 cents sale began to appear. As a very cheap person, I shop very effectively but am not very knowledgeable on all kinds of promotions. I had to learn about this sale and decided was good once I found a list of all available wines on BevMo website. One of the wines I purchased was Covey Run Gewurztraminer 2008. I couldn’t pick anything I preferred from boxes of wines for this sale and left with two bottles. I admit I got distracted meeting someone I know in the line or would have read the back label while waiting in line. I realized the next day the wine is semidry (which means not what I drink) and was too late. I tried to drink the wine not chilled at cellar temperature and that was a bad idea! Wine was too flabby and a mixture that was not enjoyable. I had to think and by next day was willing to shove the bottle in the fridge to see what happens. Viola, it was great??? I was so impressed with the change I actually kept thinking I like California and how it treats wine. They know SOMETHING. Freezing some wines (too cold to drink) is the way to go or forget this industry. Columbia Valley is not California but what gets 86 from Wine Spectator is. Unfortunately, I was trained such and have the unfortune of being fairly accurate when comparing things. 86 has a very specific meaning to me in terms of wine drinking. 86 is most of GOOD whites from California and freezing seems to keep an industry going. I really enjoyed it. Fruit came out: apples, apricots, peaches and absence of acid or alcohol to bother! The floral nonesense in the nose that made me think “sweet?” when I poped the cork also vanished. A nice and very cold fruity wine was left and sweetness not of fruit is definitely there but did not bother me as did when I drank a whole case of same in years past. I enjoyed my Covey Run Gewurztraminer 2008 “frozen” and will gladly drink the other bottle someday. This one cost 5 cents only!
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Tags: BevMo, Covey Run, Gewurztramoner
La Playa Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 from Chile was an inexpensive bottle I picked up at BevMo. I was looking for any bottle on the lower shelves where cheap stuff are and had nothing in mind but to grap something and explore. I never thought of Cab Sauv except where it should grow and make wines that do the grape justice thus South America never interested me except for Malbec and other grapes that could qualify as strong experiments. Lack of extensive knowledge kept me from exploring the regions also. La Playa was a good chance to test a few things. I check vintage on inexpensive bottles to judge wine condition. 2009 seemed good for a test. Screwtop came off and the condition of wine was too good. The color is young wine and in good shape as if filtered for every possibility. The nose was there but was not California nor Old World leaving me to ponder the climate and who knows what else? I drank the whole bottle but without food it was harder and harder to drink it. In many ways La Playa was like a wine that is bottle-sick but has mostly recovered or very tight but has opened up while missing a few standard characteristics of the wine! It puzzled me to the end and the harder it was to drink it the more I thought what it was. There is nothing wrong in terms of winemaking flaws and La Playa Cab Sauv should have its own class (to justify making it) or I don’t think I care for South American Cabernet Sauvignon. Standard characteristics of Cab Sauv (regardless of the blend) are worth the drinking experience in spite of too many variables to consider. Making Cab Sauv in a non-historical region should consider the typicity test and I have to drink more before I have an opinion but La Playa is just red wine and Cabernet Sauvignon is not a good thing to put on the label in my opinion.
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Tags: Cabernet Sauvignon, Chile, La Playa
Did I have a nightmare? I did wake up and remember too much details which is unlike most of dreams or at least mine. That may because the whole thing was so weird or that it was the last thing I remembered. In the dream everything was very bright but was not outdoors. Bright white lights made details very clear. Bauer was tied to the wall with some fasteners very tightly so he couldn’t move his left arm. His left arm was tied in several places with straps but close so his shoulder was against the wall and that arm completely motionless. He couldn’t move a milimeter his arm and most of his body was handicapped in moving. He was not standing but was forced to be between sitting and standing. I couldn’t see his face and only his arm in very bright light and knew perfectly it is Michael Bauer. He had some sort of device in his hand. It small and was like a cylinder with a spring making it bolt a head. He had the device but the heads were taken from him so he couldn’t use them. Only two existed. One was pointy and the other was flat and looked like a pentagon bolt with no grooves to turn. I was shown that either had to be turned to tighten on device before the spring forced the heads. I knew the flat one did not hurt but the pointy one did as bullet does. I knew the device functioned like a gun. The device had a very small a handle in the middle to hold and point. Device was made of some metal and all pieces were same except spring that looked like any spring. The metal looked shiny gold but knew was cheap metal and knew weighed heavy and it was crudely made as if cast at home or with care. The next part I was behind a counter stooping low as if to hide or keep low. I only knew it was a counter somewhere but could only see the end which was wooden but grey-blue in color. This scene had dimmer lighting and all I could see was this wall-end of the counter. I could hear myself talking loudly explaining things loudly and enthusiastically to someone who was just listening on my left. I only saw counterwall start to finish. Then I saw the device appear above the counter and it had the flat head screwed on not pointy one. I knew Bauer was holding it with his right and was able to point perfectly at me without seeing me and I knew he was still tied to that wall and his body was there. His right was here with the device and I knew we were far from his body. I suddenly realized I was behind this counterend to hide and saw the device move a little making sure it did have perfect aim on me but would not do anything. I started to move closer to the counterwall so it won’t see me and knew the person on my left was moving with me. Somehow I could only move very slowly and knew I couldn’t stop talking. The hand pointed as we moved and I was still in target. I thought I move closer to counter as I kept talking when I woke up.
I was not alarmed nor scarred at any time and that is me if you know me. I have thoughts on what the dream means but don’t know. I like calling it a nightmare though is not. $1 to any person who knows what it means including Bauer if he does. I pay in cash. At least everyone knows how highly I think of unusual things.
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Tags: Michael Bauer, nightmare
I bought a bottle of Albet I Noya because nothing else got my attention. The price was average for everyday old world white wine and I was curious. The bottle is shorter than typical white bottles and a twist off. It did hold well for several days as I drank it off casually. The wine was great for passive drinking. Acid was huge but not overwhelming nor off and tasted almost delicious for acid. I really like the acid for how it worked. There was hardly any fruit presence until the third day when acid was weaker and Chardonnay’s apples were on back finish. I made a decision when I was at home looking at the bottle standing in a closet that has its own mesoclimate and did not chill it. That is outrageous by California standards but wine was perfect at room (closet) temperature. I really enjoyed the wine and did not clash with any food I had including chocolate donuts which was a test! I had to read up for the sake of Xarel-lo and now the wine reminds me of when after year 2000 California sparkling producers started large productions of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay to relieve excesses. Both Chardonnay and Xarel-lo are grown for Cava (a personal favorite) in Penedes and I assume excess turned into high acid but fruity cheap white table wine. Delicious acids recommend the wine.
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Tags: Chardonnay, Spain, Xarel-lo
