Wine-o: The Show Cabernet Sauvignon

The Show 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa County, CA
Alcohol: 13.9%

I confess I was very surprised to read the vineyard's notes on this wine.  I did not think this wine was "big and bold".  I enjoyed this wine with my grandmother (who has had several more wine tasting years than me and I assume therefore a more sophisticated palate).  We both agreed that the wine was simple, not overly flavorful and with a short finish.  The wine was fruity and a tad sweet, reminding me of the Masked Rider Petite Syrah.


We used a portion of this bottle in our slow cooked elk roast and it was delicious!  We mixed it with turkey broth, dry onion soup mix, several garlic cloves, and spices.  After 9 hours, dinner was ready and it was amazing!

Vintage Notes:

Like a Hatch print for an Elvis gig, The Show grabs your attention. Big and bold, it is dominated by full flavors of dried black cherries, jammy preserves and complex toasty, vanilla, and spicy oak. Learn more at www.threethieves.com

Other Notes:

86% Cabernet Sauvignon 12% Petite Sirah 2% Zinfandel

Price: ~$15
Freya Score: 58
Mona Value: 3.9

Wine-o: Cupcake Petite Sirah

Cupcake Petite Sirah, 2009 Central Coast, CA

13.5% Alcohol

This wine was recommended to me by a friend and since I love the Cupcake Sauvignon Blanc, I thought I would give it a try.  It is a simple wine, with dark berry flavors, smooth with almost no body.  The flavor was good.  It seems to me that my taste recently is leaning towards the big, spicy Zinfandels and Cabernet Sauvignons, which this is no where near.

From the vineyard's beautiful website:

We harvested these tiny berries in the early morning and transported the grapes over to the crush pad. A dense, full-bodied red wine, crafted from the coolest Central Coast areas, this Petite Sirah is anything but petite in flavor. Bursting with dark cherry, blackberry and bittersweet espresso notes, it has a creamy mouthfeel derived by aging a portion of the wine in small oak barrels. This wine is reminiscent of a dark chocolate cupcake with a vanilla berry coulis. 

The BF, was very skeptical, asking multiple times if it was a sweet wine.  It's not!  He tried it, loved it, finished the bottle for me!

Freya's Score: 7 A great flavor, if not exactly to my preferences

Cost:  $8.97 in Southern Missouri, bought from the Macadoodle's location in Pineville, MO.  This is a great deal if you purchase it with the fantastic Macadoodle's case of wine deal.  Try out the Macadoodle's new e-commerce store to have wine and other goodies delivered to you.  

Wine-o: Lesson from Dan; Drinking vs. Tasting

I had the great fortune to have time after work to speak with Dan at the Macadoodle's wine tasting bar.  Dan is one of the wine experts at the Pineville location and he was kind enough to give me some pointers for beginning wine tasters.

The first thing he told me: "Tasting is completely different from drinking".  As he had me taste a couple different wines he told me that I was sipping and not truly tasting the wine.  He gave me the following steps:

1.  Take a gulp of wine, a large mouthful, let the wine run all over your tongue and mouth.  The tongue has various zones used for tasting.  It is important to make sure you are employing all of those when tasting.

2.  Then take an inhale through the mouth and exhale through the nose.  This completely transformed the taste of the  Reds Red Wine blend.  All of a sudden I could taste beyond the peppery tones of the Zinfandel.  Notes of berries and a much fuller taste were apparent to me.

3.  Aerator - an aerator changes the flavor of the wine by oxidizing it.  This enhances the fruity flavors and reduces the acidity in the wine.  It is important to open any dry red wine one hour before serving to appreciate the full flavor of the wine.  (As was noted in my post regarding the Tontitown Winery Merlot and Shoofly Shiraz)

The Macadoodle's Wine Tasting bar is open when the front doors are!  Stop by and try their offerings of the day and get some tips for your own wine tasting!

Wine-0.2007 Masked Rider, Petit Syrah

I confess to many people that I am a wine-o, I love trying new and different wines.  However, I do not pretend to be a well educated wine taster.  This is a skill I look forward to honing as I pass through life.

Wine of the Evening: Masked Rider, Petit Sirah, 2007  Sonoma, California

From the vineyard's website:

This 2007 Petite Sirah has lots of dark plum, blackberry and fruit aromas. The taste of berries and black pepper on the mouth.  A smooth mouthfeel and rounded tannins make this an enjoyable red wine.

The words that came to mind when drinking this were soft, and round.  It has a longer finish, lingering pleasantly in the mouth.

It is recommended to eat this with chicken or pork, and I think it would go well with a pork roast.  That being said I am sure it will taste lovely next to tonight's venison quesadillas.

Price ~$10 (Missouri, Macadoodle's)

Freya's Rating: 6

I probably would not buy it again, but it was a great deal as a part of the Macadoodle's case deal (buy a case of wine and get 10% off all wines not on sale)