Oregon ABC

 After the Italian pleasure, a long flight to Oregon where this funny packaged wine went very well with a bowl of pasta in tomato sauce. Found at the Wine House and part of the Dirty Dozen, it proves me that not all are bad in his team. Well it may not be as good as the previous (from the dozen) was bad but it's announced for $15 individually which is way overpriced for the modest quality. For this price I expect a wine which I could keep a few year and which offers not common, fine and complex aromas. I'll take some time one day to list some of them in this category.

Toscana

 It looks like the quality of the wine on my table is as unpredictable as the weather. Even when I forecast a good nectar I end up disappointed but I don't expect a miracle I get satisfaction. This one from Toscana found at Trader Joe's doesn't very special but for $5 or $6 provided enough pleasure so I'll get some more bottles next time I will shop there.

Good Bordeaux; most of the time

 I realize that I never mentioned this Bordeaux yet. In fact I had several bottles of this Chateau Mayne Guyon, Premieres Cotes de Blayes 2003, in the last year and only had one "bad". well for $6 at Trader Joe's not a big drama and the last one I opened was better than 2 bottles of Costieres de Nimes bought $10 at the Wine House. 

The winner in Rose this year

  I have a huge backlog in wines I tasted but haven't commented yet and after this trio of awful ones I would like to share this wonderful Rose ($9.99 or so at the Wine House) which is probably the best of all the Rose I've had this summer. The season is almost over (well it may be extended for the Indian Summer in the Bay ;-) so next time you have a BBQ on a sunny day open a bunch of these out of the fridge. 

Jamais 2 sans 3!

 I will complete this suite of failures with this one which a guest brought home the other day. The big trick is the appellation 'Rose'. I've learnt my lesson 12 years ago when I discovered the White Zinfandel and since looked carefully to avoid the wine from this grappe. No warning on this one but instead of a refreshing wine I got a sweet beverage I couldn't even finish one glass. Be careful! or let me know what kind of food or mood match this one. 

Not much better :-(

 This was not a pleasure but I could at least finish a glass of this one! 'Pinot Auxerois' as bad as the soccer team from the same area who lost 3-0 at home against Marseilles last week-end! This wine is bitter: how this is possible?! I cannot believe it is on purpose. Once again it was part of the dirty dozen from the Wine House... I guessI had enough now. I liked the concept to have opportunity to taste many different wines every month but more and more of the dozen are really dirty. Need a new source...any idea? 

Wrong definition

By testing all this wines I'm trying to find for each occasion and type of food an appropriate wine which I would classified into the "table wine" category because of their simplicity and price also. "Table wine" for me doesn't mean vinegar or 2 bucks chuck wines but the quality that I use to buy in containers for $1 or $2 a liter at the winery down the street when I used to live in the South of France. Well I realized this week-end that in Monterey (and the Wine House) their definition of a "table wine" is totally different: it seems to be a collection of grappe(?) juices from different areas mixed together with chemicals and sold big price with fashion label. Wrong, very wrong! I couldn't finish my glass! From the multiple identified aromes/flavors in wine this one was out of the spectrum. I couldn't classify this wine in any group. Bad bad taste: AVOID!! 

Portuguese traditional

Not familiar with Portuguse wine I have to mention this one which was a pleasant table wine for $9.99 at the Wine House. Not fancy or sofisticated but simply easy to drink. I have the image of wines from Portugal dark red, heavy, strong but this one has none of these caracteristics. Actually I finished the bottle with Indian spicy food and it was light enough to help with the fire of the chile!  

Robert Hall from Paso Robles

 Another one from California, so good I didn't have a chance to taste it well enough...I guess I was not the only one to think like this! I will definitely look for wine from this winery in the future. 

Bonterra from Mendocino

  Well I gave up long ago on California wines not because of their quality but because of the price of the quality. I haven't tasted an acceptable red one under $15. I had very good ones over $30 but my focus here is about the "cheap" ones I consume on my regular meals. I really appreciate though any opportunity to have a good California wine when it's offered to me ;-) And I'm always happy to discover delicious wines out of the Napa valley like this one from Mendocino county...and organic on top of it. Very pleasant one.

Enjoy summer, enjoy Rose!

Several Rose like this one available at the Wine House for no less than $9.99...all from Nimes area. Expensive considering the impressive volume that can be drunk during a BBQ ;-) but so good and refresshing when it's warm outside. Not many equivalent out there.  

Swiss wine

This is a rare one like most of the Swiss wines. Small productions so very little exported. I found some at Beltramos but this one was brought back from Swizterland by a friend. It was very good and different from the one I enjoyed before; usually good whites and light reds better to drink in aperitif, this one was in between a Beaujolais and a Cote du Rhone with enough body to stay at the table during main meat course and cheeses.