Month: June 2020

Happy Sunday All.  I hope you’ve had a great weekend and are staying healthy and safe.   I binge-watched Narcos this weekend and feel that I’m now an expert on the Colombian drug trade history from the 1980’s and early 90’s.  I’m not sure what I will do with my new-found knowledge, but I might hold my own during a very specific type of trivia night.  Note that it is spelled Colombia with an “o” not Columbia with a “u”.    You’re either going to a beautiful country historically wrought with violence with a cartel that brought in billions of dollars of drug money or you’re going to an ivy-league university.   Big difference there.   No matter the country’s history, I understand it is a beautiful and much safer country and one I’d like to visit at one point.   In a very ironic and unplanned twist of fate, I’d opened the 2017 Chateau Ste. Michelle Cabernet Sauvignon from Columbia Valley – no relation to either the country or university.   The Columbia Valley lies in the Columbia River Plateau, through much of central and southern Washington State, with a small section crossing into the neighboring state of Oregon. This area has been established as an American Viticultural Area (AVA) and is known for its different varietals of wines.   I enjoyed this wine with fruit notes of cherry and blackberry mixed with a solid oak essence.   The great thing about this wine is that while it had solid fruit notes, it was a good blend and the fruit didn’t overpower the experience.  You can find Chateau Ste. Michelle wines at many different locations.  I was able to buy this year and varietal at Market Street for $16 on sale.  It normally retails closer to $20 per bottle.   Enjoy your week!

Hey Everyone!  I have certainly been remiss in blogging about any wine for the last few weeks.  These have been interesting times – mostly bad, some good.   I was looking for a white wine that I could just drink without too much effort – one with a screw cap was a good start as little fuss there.   Don’t judge.  Some white wines and “younger” reds do well with a screw cap as it does not allow any oxygen into the wine and those wines don’t need to “settle”.   Bolder red wines, on the other hand, do well with corks because the corks allow some oxygen into the wines which helps with smoothing out the tannins.  More winemakers these days, than in the past, are using screw caps for their wine bottles as it is more a more convenient way to open and close for their consumers.   It is also a way for wine producers to remove the potential of cork taint from production.   Cork taint may affect up to 2% of wines every year and can ruin batches of wine or ruin consumer’s views of a particular wine if not caught before shipping to market.  Cork taint is caused by a chemical, Trichloroanisole, that can be introduced into your bottle of wine somewhere in the production effort and usually through the cork.  Wines with cork taint may smell like moldy newspaper or wet dog.  

Back to the wine…I opened the 2018 Martin Ray Chardonnay…with a screw cap.   It had hints of apple and pear and was a medium oak Chardonnay and did well on a hot June day, so a definite recommendation.   You can find this wine in some grocery stores and at Total Wines for around $18 per bottle.