Purple Pages Free Trial!
Thanks for the folks at Spittoon for tipping us off to the special offer at Jancis Robinson’s website giving 15 days of free access to her “purple pages”. What does this include, you ask?
As stated on the site, the access will allow you:
Tasting notes: Thousands of fine wine tasting notes with scores and suggested drinking dates for each individual wine
Members’ forum: Lively forum for questions, comments and wisdom from Jancis and literate, intelligent and courteous members from more than 70 countries
Inside information: Exclusive news, observations and insider tips
Don’t quote me: The things Jancis wouldn’t dream of saying between hard covers or on the pink pages of The Financial Times
Oxford Companion to Wine 3rd edition: The world’s only online version of this multi award-winning reference book that Eric Asminov of New York Times calls “a magisterial 813-page encyclopedia of just about everything a wine lover could ever want to know”
The last item is probably the most valuable of the entire list, though we have to say we love Jancis’s tasting notes as well. She’s blunt, to the point, and knows her stuff. She doesn’t seem to get caught up in the emotion that other critics have grudgingly admitted to, though it’s clear she understands that tasting wine is completely subjective.
Go and sign yourself up for a Purple Pages trial, since you’re likely to learn way more there than you will here (no, we did not just say that!).
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get your wine on
2007 Breggo Cellars Pinot Gris, Wiley Vineyard
We’ve fallen in love with a Pinot Gris from Breggo, whose Rosé was part of the Sonadora (aka Wannabewino) Bloggerpack and whose wines we have the utmost respect for. The PG is classic cool climate, with a nice crisp acidity and plenty of aromatics. A scant 225 cases or so were made of this wine and we snapped this up while we could get it. Sure to sell out from the winery. Score some Scholium.
2005 Scholium Project Satripies of the East Red Blend
This is an enticing blend of Cabernet, Merlot and Petite Sirah. If our sources are correct, it contains fruit from Margit’s Vineyard, which is connected to Randy Hall of Wine Biz Radio. Yay for great wine with fruit from a great guy! Score some Scholium.
NV Louis de Grenelle Saumur Sparkling Cab Franc
Here’s one for both the wine geeks and for the masses - it’s fairly obscure (a sparkler made from 100% Cab Franc, from importer Jon-David Headrick) and it’s delicious. It’s got some sweet-tart red fruit and great texture. And it’s affordable at $18 a bottle. Franc-ly, I’d like to try a sparkling Cab Franc!
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freshly pressed
Bonus Bottle of the Week: 2005 Jack William “The King” Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley:
Last week we experimented with an incentive…order a certain dollar amount, and get a bonus bottle with your order. We started off with a bang (or maybe a shake) with some wines from Mollydooker. It was a great success — all the Gigglepot Cab is gone, though nobody really went for the sparkling Shiraz — so we’re going to make this a semi-regular thing. We’ve also decided to call this our “Bonus Bottle” program.
Here’s our offer for Bonus Bottle number two. We’re moving closer to home this week, with the 2005 Jack William “The King” Cabernet Sauvignon from the Alexander Valley. When we first carried this, it retailed for $37 a bottle and we felt it was a steal even then. We far prefer this wine to Silver Oak and Jordan, two Alexander Valley perennials that are more about hype and brand name than integrity of the juice.
A couple of weeks ago, we got the last cases available from our distributor and were able to lower the price to $27 as the vintage was being closed out. So the wine went from a great value to an even greater one. And you can make it an even better deal — in fact, a veritable steal.
Make a purchase of $85 or more, and use the code “king” during check-out to get a bonus bottle of this fantastic Cabernet with your order. In fact, the way our coupon codes work out, you’ll also be saving a penny off the total. Limited quantity of bonus bottles available. When the supply runs out, the code will stop working. So go get yourself some wine and a bonus bottle now!
Bonus Bottle of the Week: 2005 Jack William “The King” Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley
WBW #50: Picnicking in October with Elio Perrone’s Bigaro
Simon’s Pick 10/08: 2007 Cotes-du-Rhone Villages, Cuvee Jules, Andre Andrieux
wine jargon
Frizzante
From Wikipedia: Frizzante is an Italian wine term term for semi-sparkling wine (as opposed to Spumante, which is generally used for fully sparkling wines). Frizzante wines generally owe their bubbles to a partial secondary fermentation in tank. You might notice a light fizz or tingly sensation on the tongue with a Frizzante wine, compared to the more carbonated sensation that more fully sparkling wines yield.
Scorekage
Okay, so we made up this word yesterday after a great restaurant experience. We brought a bottle of wine with us, expecting to pay a corkage fee. But the restaurant either forgot to charge us the $15, or decided to be nice to us. We scored! Hence, “scorekage” has entered our lexicon. This can also refer to BYO friendly restaurants that don’t charge for corkage under any circumstances.
grapewise
domaine547 In the Blogosphere! Imbibe Magazine Unfiltered
Check out this blog post where they actually refer to somebody from d547 as a “wine expert.” Shocking! In any case, the Imbibe blog offers a nice recipe to go along with one of our wine recommendations. Enjoy!
The 89 Project
We’ve joined a group of bloggers (wannabe critics, some have said!) as part of “The 89 Project,” an effort to explore the complicated matter of the 100 point system of evaluating wine. Go take a peek at the 89 Project blog, which has apparently already started a bit of controversy (and we’ve yet to make a post!). It’s interesting stuff.
domaine547 In the Blogosphere! Imbibe Magazine Unfiltered
The 89 Project
d547 In the News! Pasadena Star
July 11th, 2007 at 9:59 pm
Count me in. Thanks for the heads up!