Most Talked About Wines Online This Week: French Bargains vs. Twisted Oak
Beaujolais, Gamay, Loire Valley, Mourvedre, River of Skulls, Twisted Oak
VS
There seems to be a battle brewing online this week for the most talked about wine(s) in the blogosphere. A few weeks back, it was all about the Rockaway (just Google that, we’re too lazy to find the myriad links). Now, it’s all about two unlikely competitors: Loire Valley/Beaujolais bargains from France vs. Twisted Oak’s new River of Skulls Mourvédre, the first “mailing list” allocated wine for the much blogger-celebrated winery.
It’s not quite a West Coast vs. East Coast match-up of bloggers, but the Loire Lovers do seem to reside on the Eastern seaboard. The River-dancers are more scattered about, geographically speaking!
Go here, here and here for more on the Loire wines…and here, here and here for just a few of the many River of Skulls reviews. Click here if you want to sign up for the mailing list.
Now, we realize that Twisted Oak sent samples out to bloggers…but we know of no such effort on the part of French Gamay producers (or Louis/Dressner who imports many of the wines). We do wonder, though, if Asimov, Brooklynguy and Dr. Vino might have dined together recently!
FYI, we’ve yet to try the River of Skulls but look forward to doing so. We had a chance just yesterday to taste the ‘06 Spaniard, and it was delish. So elegant and balanced, without going overboard with oak in a Jorge Ordonez kind of way. This leaves us very excited to try the Skulls. Also, check back soon, as we’re going to be stocking up on some of the Chermette Beaujolais which we agree, for the money ($16), is pretty much an unbeatable bargain.
8 Responses to “Most Talked About Wines Online This Week: French Bargains vs. Twisted Oak”
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get your wine on
2007 Scholium Project Naucratis Verdelho
Abe Schoener strikes again, this time with a great Verdelho at a slightly lower price-point than the Gemella. This is 100% tank-fermented and a very dry, mineral-laden wine. This is one of the reasons why Schoener is earning status as a winemaker as a cult winemaker. It delivers. $28 for Scholium goodness.
2007 Skylark Cellars Alondra Chardonnay
I admit, I really don’t dig Chardonnay, so you don’t see many around these parts. I do, however, love this one. Not surpisingly, it’s unoaked. $18 of un-oaked, un-malo’ed goodness!
2007 La Fenetre “A Coté” Red Blend, Santa Barbara County from Timeless Palate Wines
This is astoundingly good for the money. It’s 60% Cabernet Sauvignon from the Santa Barbara Highlands Vineyard, and 40% Merlot from the Bien Nacido Vineyard. The winemaker, Josh Klapper, is a mere 29 years old and one to watch. This is red, juicy and lush but not over the top. $18 and worth every penny.
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freshly pressed
Wine Store Design Continued: More Racks and Lights and Stuff:
Just a couple of images for the now…
Some of the single-depth racks, assembled (thanks again to Tim Krablin of Modern Cellar for the photo)…
And the interior of one of the lampshades, of which there will be 48, in three different shades of blue-ish purple. Keep in mind this is 36″ in diameter — as in three feet (the exterior is aluminum, non-powdercoated. I’ll let your imagination do the work).
Maybe one day I’ll post about the wines I’ve been tasting and stocking, and actually try to sell you something…which would possibly help me pay for all these neat things…ummmm, maybe next week…
Wine Store Design Continued: More Racks and Lights and Stuff
Wine Store Design Part 4: Wine Rack Construction
Wine Store Design Part 3: Urinal Defense Fund
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
I recently stopped by Venokado, a new-ish shop in LA. I bought a Lirac imported by Kermit Lynch, and it was yummers. Last night I had the pleasure of spending some time with one of its owners, Susan Brink.
Fabulous & Frugal!
Our friends launched a new site and domaine547 is a featured wine columnist in their premiere edition! Go check out Fabulous & Frugal for some fantastic lifestyle tips for living the good life during what, for most of us, is an economically challenging time. There’s much more than wine there, and we’re thrilled to be a small part of the start of what will surely be a successful venture. Congrats to Brandi & Steph for their achievement!
Go to Venokado please!
Fabulous & Frugal!
domaine547 In the Blogosphere! Imbibe Magazine Unfiltered
September 24th, 2008 at 10:35 am
Nice post — I look forward to trying the River of Skulls, too.
But “Google” information about rockaway? I’m heartbroken. I must fire my marketing team, they’re falling down on the job
http://www.ablegrape.com/search.jsp?lang=en&query=rockaway
compare with:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=rockaway&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=
September 24th, 2008 at 11:44 am
Doug, we love Ablegrape. Sorry for not mentioning you. I think that Google has simply become the generic term for search engines. Please don’t go firing anybody for MY error in judgment!
September 24th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Oh crap–guess what I’m writing about on Friday? Uh-huh. Beaujolais. I hate following in Asimov et al’s train, but the post was written last week so I’m going with it! Are you omniscient? Premoniscient (spellin?)? Or is there some strange blogger world synchronicity…
September 24th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Hey Jill
Don’t forget here
http://anythingwine.wordpress.com/2008/09/23/my-skull-runneth-over/
cheers
John
September 24th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
This Rover of Skulls that you speak of, is it a good breed for families?
Oh… RIVER of Skulls… sorry…
Is that made by those Rockaway folks?
September 24th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Dr. - I think Gamay is on people’s minds now that fall has fallen upon us (sorry folks, I’m not such a clever wordsmith).
John, sorry - I didn’t mean to leave you out! Just picked the first three reviews I could remember off the top my head. Thanks for the link!
Dude - thanks for the punny comment.
September 25th, 2008 at 3:27 am
no problem Jill, just wanted to put it out there and add one more notch to the totem for the Skulls
September 25th, 2008 at 8:44 am
…I would have thought that the month for gaMay would have been just after gaApril…
(ba dum dum!)