Drinkmuse: Very Late Virginia Wine Festival Post

About a month ago, Ashe and I wound up at the Crystal City VA wine festival. I don’t have long notes on these, but a few thoughts on each of the wineries we tried:

 

Rosemont of Virginia –  This was one of the best ones for Ashe and I of the day. I very much liked their Syrah, and their Cabernet Franc, which Ashe even liked a bit. Their Traminette was surprisingly dry, if you have tasted other VA Traminettes, and was quite nice. Ashe really liked their Rose, but I found it a bit too sweet – I typically like a dryer Rose. Finally, their sweet wine, the Lake Country Sunset, was a bit hit with Ashe.

Savoy Lee – Sadly, we weren’t that impressed. Their Riesling/Vidal was nice, but the rest of the wines didn’t really stand up for us. They did have a great sangria recipe using a bottle of their wine, but I suspect that any fruity lighter red could fulfill the role just as well.

Well Hung Vineyard – This was the winery of the day for us. They had five wines there, a Chardonnay, a Viognier, a Blush, a Cab Franc, and a Merlot-Verdot, and we liked all of them. Particular highlights were the Blush and the Merlot-Verdo, which stood out to us. Ashe even liked the Merlot-Verdot, which considering how she feels about a lot of red wines, says something. The person conducting the tasting was one of three women who own the vineyard (I think), and was great. They don’t have a tasting room, which is sad – would visit if they did.

Ingleside – Another mixed bag for us. Do need to shout out to the taster – he was pretty great, once he started paying attention to us. Wine was up and down – the Blue Crab Red, a fruity wine with Cab Sav, Merlot, and Syrah was good for me, and Ashe really liked. I liked their Merlot, and their Sangiovese, but was not a fan of their whites at all. Ashe did like their sweet whites, however, although I wasn’t impressed. They do recommend a very cute bay cruise for the day – take the cruise to the winery, then drink, then travel back with the same cruise. Seemed like a fun day trip.

Athena Vineyards – I’ll be brief. We were excited, as Athena plays a big role at Ashe’s alma mater. However, none of the wines were worth it. My only note is a big “NO” at the top of the sheet. Very disappointed.

Cooper Vineyards – This was the perfect example of one where Ashe and I really disagreed. I liked their Coopertage, which I thought was complex and interesting, but didn’t really like much else – the Chardonnay and the Norton reserve were both ok, with the reserve having some nice tartness to it, However, Ashe loved their Rhapsody and their Noche, and liked several other of their sweet wines.

Horton Cellars – This was the first one we visited, as I am very familiar with their wines. I am a very big fan of their Port,which I try to buy whenever I can. Ashe picked out the Rkatsiteli (an odd Georgian grape), the Niagara, a typical “grape” tasting wine, and their Xoco chocolate wines.

Oddly enough, we left buying no wine, but picking up some Spice Rack Chocolates, which are out of this world amazing, as well as some chip dips.

 

 

Drinkmuse: St. Michaels Winery – Maryland Quest pt. 2

As you will remember from the Knob Hall post, I am currently working on a quest to taste wine at every Maryland vineyard. St Michaels was next on the list (since Ashe and I had a Livingsocial deal), so one dreary day we make the trip from DC across the Bay Bridge and south to St. Michaels. The town itself is gorgeous and very cute, even on a day of rain and generally unpleasantness, and I’d love to see it (and further down that peninsula) when it is nice out.

St. Michaels Winery

First off, I have to admit that I’ve tried some of the StM wine before.. and I was not completely looking forward to this tasting. The wine I have had was mostly extremely sweet, and lacking in character. Ashe however, had liked the sweet wine that we had had from the winery. So, in short, I had low expectations.

The winery itself is actually a tasting room (I don’t know where the vineyards are) inside the town. I believe the tasting room is at the site of an old mill, but I am not sure. A small bar and room with 4-5 tables is basically all the space they have – and it was packed, mostly with folks who livingsocial deals. The staff was great though – well spread out, and moving everyone through their tastings with good speed, without rushing anyone. Everyone we talked to took the time to chat about the wine, about their favorites, and share stories if they had them. Cute setting and good staff was a very good start.

The Wine

First up was the Chenin Blanc. It had a very nice nose, with a distinct tangerine taste. Was a great first impression wine. My only complaint was that it was a little thin, even for a summer wine. That said, it wasn’t overly sweet, it was nice to drink…. no need to be wary apparently.

Next up was the Long Splice. This was a bit more disappointing. It had a very nice, initial crisp burst of fruit, but after that start, the wine really disappeared, and tasted pretty thin. Both this and the Chenin Blanc both fit the “summer wine” category quite well.

Third was the Viognier, which was quite nice. Light and crisp, I got some apple on this wine, and a bit of butter at the back end of the palate. Of the three first wines, my favorite (and my favorite of the summer wines).

I tasted Ashe’s Chardonnay as well – I didn’t get a sample because I generally don’t like MD chards. This was a bit thin, but better than the first two, and was aged in stainless steel, so it was not overly buttery. Citrus was the most prominent flavor for me. Improving with each wine so far.

The Rose however, confused us a bit. I couldn’t figure out the nose, and Ashe called it “funny”. The taste was actually quite nice, with a nice bit of strawberry, but there was an out of place flavor at the end, somewhat buttery, so possibly oak based, but it was hard to tell.

Next was a very smokey Merlot. In fact, there was smoke on the nose, and the palate, both on the front and the back end. Lots of oak at the back, and very little fruit. I like a smokey wine, but this was a bit much for me.

The next two were my favorites of the tasting, with the Syrah, coming next. Bit of oak on the nose which scared me, but it was a very nice red fruit blend on the palate, with a bit of spice kick to it which was really really good. I thought it was a bit expensive for the flavor profile, but really tasty.

The other favorite was the Island Beauty, a red blend, which had a big pop of fruit right as you tasted it – I couldn’t figure out what it was reminding me of, although it seemed to be a bit of red AND black fruit. Very little sugar, with some nice tannins at the end. Really liked this.

Moving through the reds, we came to the Chambourcin, which was incredibly fruity. I think we were mostly getting cherry, but it was not particularly tart. The wine had a very slight smoke flavor to it as well. Liked this.

The final normal red was the Cab Sauv, which was very solid. It did not blow me out of the water, but was very nicely balanced, only needing perhaps a bit more fruit to shine through to be really good. Would be happy to drink this most anytime.

Gollywobbler Red was the first of two sweet wines, with the red version basically being welch’s grape juice. Ugh.

After that was the Pinot Blanc. I don’t really remember this wine… but my notes for it are “first wine today that matches my impression of the grape. Tasty, Clean.”

Finally, our last wine was the Vidal, which the pourer described as being their closest wine to a Riesling. Didn’t really remind me of a Riesling, however, as it was too “grapey”, if that makes sense. Bit sweet, but not overwhelming. This was Ashe’s favorite, along with the Chenin Blanc, and we got a bottle of this to take with us.

I look forward to stopping by here again, perhaps in connection to trying out the brewery that was just down the street. Considering how scared I was of the winery, I was nicely surprised. Nothing that made me want to jump for joy, but a handful of wines I would be happy to drink at any point.

Drinkmuse: Paradise Springs Winery, Clifton Virginia

Credit to Ashe

This past weekend, due to a LivingSocial deal, Ashe and I had the chance to head to Paradise Springs Winery and go through their tasting menu. The winery is located right outside Clifton Virginia, a cute very small town (village?), and right next to a park, which makes it convenient if you want to do some hiking/nature watching around your wine tasting. It is a relatively new winery – I’m not sure how long the team has been making wine, but they have just this past year moved into their current building and winemaking facilities. It’s very well put together – nice photos on the wall, big glass wall allowing you to look into the barrel room, and surrounded by woods, with a large area for sitting outside and picnic benches. Previous to their move, they were gypsy-winemaking at a couple wineries in the area, including La Grange. The winery uses all Virginia grapes, but buys the majority of their grapes. They only have one planted at the winery, either Cab Sauvignon or Cab Franc… I can’t remember which.

Credit to Ashe

Our tasting was handled by Richard, who led tastings for one half of their tasting bar, the other handled by a woman whose name I didn’t catch. Richard was very good, knowing both his wines, as well as being able to talk intelligently about other wines, wine aging, and wine growing. Each leader had about 10 people (5 couples generally) per session. While we were there they were constantly busy. We got in and immediately tasted, but by the time we left there were lines waiting for tastings to begin – most likely due to the LivingSocial deal, which was in evidence everywhere. The deal was great by the way – two tastings, a cheese plate, and the glassware for 51% off. We are keeping an eye out for more winery deals.

Sorry for the lighting - I'm working on Iphone photography

Onto the wines: the tasting started with the 2010 Chardonnay, which was “aged in light french oak for 9 months Sur Lie”. The 2009 vintage won a governer’s cup for best white wine in VA. I was pleasantly surprised – the oak was tastable, but not overwhelming. They describe this wine as having apple characteristics – I got more lemon, to be honest. It was very smooth, nothing disjointed, very nice. I can see it being a regular and easy seller for them.

2010 Viognier – 100% Viognier, which is a classic Virginia grape. This delivers on the provided tasting note – I get lots of honeysuckle on the end. Aged for 8 months in french oak, this felt more oaky to me than the Chard… which means I didn’t like it as much, as I’m not a big oak fan.

2010 Petit Manseng – Love the nose on this, but the taste was a bit sweet than what I normally like. Surprisingly, this actually hit the spot, and I am not sure, but I was getting distinct citrus, but mostly orange, on the palate. Not a taste I am used to at all.

2010 Somment Blanc – Trying to be a German style blend. Was def sweet, too sweet for me (Has 34% Traminette and it showed). Nose was great, but taste just didn’t excite me.

2010 Nana’s Rose – A sweet rose, but not cloying like many american roses. Tasted less sweet as I got through the sample. Ashe loved this.

2010 Petit Verdot – The first of the reds, this was my favorite wine of the tasting. Distinct black fruit impression immediately upon tasting, with spice on the back end. Really really enjoyed this – not complex at all, but very easy to drink, and at $27, would buy a bottle to have around.

2009 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon – 13 months in 1-4 year old oak barrels, this was supposed to be their big wine. I wasn’t getting heavy tannins (although Ashe gave me her tasting because it was too tannic). Lots of cherry on the palate, but that was about it for me.

2009 Meritage – Their blend of five Bourdeaux varietals. 10 months in american oak, the nose seemed closed to me, but this had some great fruit, and some testy tannins. Could see this evolving over time.

Drinkmuse: Dogfishhead Ta Henket

As part of a celebratory beer tasting, we picked up a 750 of this beer. Traditionally DFH is one of my go to breweries- I can count on them being solid, no matter what. However, that rule has now been broken.

Not a single one of the four of us tasting this beer liked it. Only one finished their glass. It was utterly horrible. The smell was unbearable. The taste was described as old bacon, burnt coffee grinds, and piss. It actually turned tasters stomachs and made people come close to puking.

I got a distinct wheat flavor to it, but not wheat beer wheat- pure wheat, like from eating a piece of grain. Really really odd.

Bookmuse: Playing the Moldovans at Tennis

Playing the Moldovans at Tennis by Tony Hawks is the story of Hawks’ attempt to a win a bet. A bet, which, to any sane person, would sound utterly ridiculous: that he could beat all of the players that were on the field for the Moldovan national soccer team, in tennis (one on one). Why this bet, of all things? As he and his buddy were watching the game on TV, they decided to debate if athletic ability wins out over skill and knowledge of a game. As Mr. Hawks used to play tennis at a very low competitive level, he was adamant that he could beat athletic individuals, like these soccer players, at his game. So adamant that he was willing to agree to stripping naked and singing the Moldovan national anthem if he wasn’t able to beat all 11 players. Pretty daring, but somewhat expected – Mr. Hawks wrote one book previously, Round Ireland with a Fridge, where apparently he walked around Ireland while carrying a fridge, also on a bet.

I wasn’t really sure what the expect when picking up the book, but I found a nice easy reading, quite humorous (Mr. Hawks is a comedian by trade) story. What was even more impressive to me was how he captured the feeling of the ex-Soviet Union so well. In particular, throughout the novel appear his host family that he lived with and their story of warming up to him. It perfectly mirrors what I have been told, and somewhat experienced in Russia, of Russian/ex-soviet union citizens being very hard to get to open up, but when you do, they are amazing and dependable friends. That seems to have been the author’s experience as well.

Overall, I’d recommend the book to someone looking for an easy read dealing with the former Soviet Union. It won’t be life-changing, but you’ll enjoy it and think about it for some time afterwords.

Techmuse: How not to do Social Media or Customer Service

I have several friends who work now in the social media sphere – they’ve been hired to understand how to communicate on social media to get your message across in the best way possible. As part of my job I do a large amount of social media searching, to see what information I can find. In both cases, one of the things that is driven home is that the internet is forever. If you screw up, the information will be out there, and findable, so you need to be aware of that possibility, and be ready to apologize/explain/commit seppeku.

At 12:30 AM this morning, Penny Arcade broke the latest in public relations screw-ups online. In a nutshell, the company OceanMarketing are responsible for marketing a PS3/Xbox controller. A customer pre-ordered one, and the shipping dates kept on getting pushed back. That’s somewhat normal, so not a big deal. However, the customer service rep, which seems to be the president of the company, Paul Christoforo, handled this situation quite poorly. The customer got frustrated, and Paul went after him, claiming he knew all sorts of important people, etc. So the customer cc’ed a bunch of the big tech sites (Penny Arcade, Engadget, Kotaku, IGN), on one of his e-mails. Which of course the President liked – more publicity! The trick is, the adage about all publicity being good publicity doesn’t seem to hold as true as it used to. The internet changes that.

So what has happened since PA posted this wonderful e-mail exchange about 12 hours ago? Kotaku has an article, and the story is #3 on reddit at the moment. The #OceanMarketing and #OceanMarketting hashtags are blowing up (oh, yea, the twitter for the company is OceanMarketting, and he’s ridiculous on there too). IGN and Engadget have stated that they do not have a relationship with OceanMarketing. Multiple memes have started. Oh, and the Amazon page for this project is getting pretty beat up. Finally, this isn’t the first time he’s done this, even: see Nate’s Network.

Ok, the story isn’t good. What really flabbergasts me is the security this guy had around his social media stuff. At the start of all this, his twitter was open (Makes sense), but had his full name and personal e-mail. His facebook was unlocked. His linkedin was not private. His youtube page has videos of him threatening youtube viral action cause of the noise outside his apartment building (it’s a terrible video, and when I saw it today had 301 views, many of which come from this hooha, I’m sure, so fail job there getting it to go viral). If you are working on social media, you should know better.

This SHOULD be a lesson for customer service people (be nice!), for social media people (Make sure you have permissions/controls on your personal stuff), and for denizens of the internet (anything you post can be found). Of course, this is just one in a series of examples of social media and customer service ridiculousness, so I expect to see more soon.

Shortmuse: Credit Unions

So, I wanted to briefly explain how I love my credit union. First off – I’m not someone who encourages others to switch their accounts to CU’s, or any of that. I’ve always belonged to a credit union and only recently have I come to appreciate how awesome that is. A couple of thoughts:

1. Awhile ago I needed a loan (of a somewhat significant amount). I called my CU up, explained what I needed, and within a day had approval, and within two and half days had the money in my account. Literally zero stress.

2. One of the big problems with my bank (now fixed), was that I could not deposit checks anywhere south of the PA-Maryland border, as my credit union is in PA. Lo and behold, that has changed. Now you can go into any credit union in the U.S. and just say which one you belong to, your account number, and then you can deposit checks. Just did this last week, in and out in now time at all. It’s almost like expanding the number of branches my CU has exponentially. I was flabbergasted.

3. You can now also use any credit union’s ATM without fee, anywhere in the U.S.

4. I’ve never gone into a credit union that wasn’t mine and had them try to sell something to me. Every single time I went into a capital one to get quarters, they gave me a marketing spiel.

Really, that’s it. Just wanted to detail the wonderful virtues of my credit union.

Drinkmuse: Knob Hall Winery – The start of the Maryland quest

It has finally started: The great Maryland wine quest. This summer I got it in my head that it would be a great idea to go to all of the Maryland wineries (at least the ones that are open to the public), visit, take notes and pictures, and write them up. Throughout it, I hope to discover new wine, show that there are, contrary to popular opinion, good Maryland wineries, and maybe even that Maryland doesn’t just have sweet wine.

The first stop for the quest wound up being Knob Hall Winery. We had a Livingsocial coupon for it which was expiring soon, so on a whim during a day when we weren’t really busy, we decided to drive up there. Let me tell you, it was a drive. Basically straight NW from DC for a while, up 70 till just past Hagerstown, and then off of 70 quite close to the PA border. The winery itself is in farmland (we saw lots of horses and cattle), and is situated on what was an old farm, I believe.

As I understand it, the winery is pretty new – the last 3-4 years I believe (although that may not be completely accurate). If you check the website you will see that one of the managing partners is part of a family which has owned that land for over 200 years. Impressive story. The barn which is the tasting room was erected in 1860. It’s a great setting to taste some wine. I get the feeling they are still building – they talk about building a state of the art building for producing the wine on their site, and they have recently planted 30 acres of grapevines.

Onto the tasting: As you walk into the barn, you can tell it’s age – the floorboards are a bit uneven, they are large old style planks. The barn itself has pretty minimal additions to make it into a tasting room – tables, the tasting bar and some stools, plus some fridges and a port-a-potty. The tasting area is actually quite small – 6 stools I believe, which feels a bit odd with how giant the barn is. Lots of what feels like unused space (but which must be great for events). We got there are there were only two other people tasting – a pair of friends from Silver Spring.

We tasted 3 whites, 2 roses, and 4 reds. I thin we actually missed one red, which is sad, but we did taste their reserve bottling, so that was nice. I will note that my nose is oddly stuffed (and has been for weeks), so my notes are a bit weaker than I hope.

1. Vidal Blanc – First impression was dry and tart. I have to say I couldn’t get a lot other than some stone and minerality here. It was interesting, not overwhelming, but I’d like to taste again when I have my full palate.

2. Vidal Blank Sweet – Felt very much like the classic “Maryland Sweet Wine” (from now on MSW). Overwhelming notes of melon. Not for me, but I know people who will love this.

3. Tryst – Described as a spicy food wine, I think the hostess said this was made from Traminette (I can’t confirm that with the website). Didn’t taste like previous Traminettes I’ve had – got a bit of lemon, and was too sweet for me for what they were describing.

4. Dry Rose – Got lots of tart cherry. The suggested pairing was with Manchego cheese – I do love me some Manchego, and I can see this working decently. Not something I would be searching for ( I think you can get equally priced dry roses from France that perform better).

5. Sweet Rose – We literally got the same exact flavor profile for this – our hostess described this as being made because they saw the market/desire in Md for a sweet Rose. That made me laugh – just so stereotypical of the state, or wine geeks impression of the state, at least. This was perhaps a little bit sweeter, but really not that much.

6. Le Reve Rouge – Great purple color on this. Not a particularly full-bodied red, but lots of red fruit, and pretty tasty. Only bottle we bought – great easy table wine that should go over well with a wide group of folks.

7. Jealous Mistress – This is their most popular wine, as I understand. Merlot and Chambourcin. Dry, I didn’t write much down for this (I’ve had it before). Similar idea to the Le Reve in terms of where I would serve it. Good wine for the price (med-high 10’s).

8. Merlot – All I got from this was black currant. It was entirely drinkable, I just wouldn’t seek it out if I had a choice.

9. Prestige – Their Bourdeaux style wine, a reserve. We were told they normally don’t taste but they had a bottle open from an event. At 32, I thought the price was a bit much, but it was a nice wine, well-balanced with enough tannic structure that it could stand to be open but not be overwhelming.

Overall impression: This was a good winery to start with. Very nice setting, very nice to see one of the newer ones. We didn’t really like the whites or roses, but the reds were all solid, and for the price both the Le Reve and the Jealous Mistress are well worth it. I’d like to visit in a couple of years to see what they’ve done with the location and with their wine program.

Techmuse: Nest Thermostat

So, I will admit it. I’m an Apple geek. I like my pretty toys, and Apple is very good at making me want to buy things. So I was very intrigued when I saw reports that the “godfather” of the Ipod had designed a new piece of technology – and more intrigued when I found out it was a thermostat. First.. not a commodity, and second.. who the heck thinks about their thermostat? I admit.. if I owned a home I probably would, but I’m going to revel in my renting life for a moment.

This is basically trying to be a prettier, smarter thermostat than the programmable smart ones out there already. Input is by spinning an outside wheel and pressing the face of it (sound familiar?). The key features that are being advertised so far: It’s intelligent/learning. Once you set it a few times it’ll learn where you want the temperature during different periods of the day – colder when not home, warmer when you get home, different at night, etc. Once you do that a few times, it will do so automatically – unlike most thermostats which you have to change manually. Secondly, it has an auto-away feature – it has sensors that can tell when you are not around in the room, and if you leave and forget to change the thermostat, it’ll reduce heat to your “away” setting after two hours. Finally, after learning your normal temperatures, it’ll pop a leaf up on the display if you start moving it to a more energy efficient temperature – in effect giving you a little mini reward for saving energy.

These are all interesting. I find the leaf funny because it makes a game of the thermostat. Now the kicker is, the thing costs 250 dollars. Which is basically buying an iPhone. Pretty high tariff. I like the idea, I think if I owned a house I would be tempted, and I like the look (see this link). Just not confident it’ll take off. But then again, what does take off mean for this kind of product?

Drinkmuse: Shirlington Oktoberfest

Every year Capital City Brewery puts on an Oktoberfest celebration in Shirlington Virginia. I’ve been going for almost the entire time I’ve been here. It’s a bunch of fun, with lots of breweries well mixed between local and further out, basic and higher end. There is of course German music and food, plus food from many of the restaurants in Shirlington. Well worth it, across the board. It’s hard to taste and take notes well there – you get ten tickets worth a tasting each, and you WILL get drunk if you aren’t careful. What follows were thoughts I was jotting down as we went along. This isn’t all I had, but it was a bit. I thoroughly recommend it for next year if you are in the DC area.

 

Clown Shoes – Had a brown ale and a wheat. I liked the brown ale, but it was quite smoky – heavy on the roasted malts. Might not be everyone’s thing. Wasn’t that impressed with their wheat.

Sweetwater – had a I think double IPA which was great, and an Oktoberfest which was just ok. Need to track down if that was their double IPA – it was definitely something I want more of.

St. Louis – Had their framboise lambic. It’s what I expected – similar to Lindemann’s, incredibly sweet, with nothing really reminiscent of the sour lambic style. Great beer to get people who say they don’t like beer into beer, however.

Troegs – Had their porter, which I liked, but came away thinking it was a bit two sweet. Not sure if that was the tasting conditions, or if it was really the beer.

RJ Rockers Dunkel – Tasty. Nothing special, but fit the style as I understand it and was very drinkable.

DC Brau – Was disappointed here. Have loved them the few times I have had them, but both their beers at the fest felt off – all the people I was, plus me, were getting soapy hints to the beer. Wonder if their taps/lines were not washed right after their last cleaning.

Epic – had their Saison, which was really really good. This is another I will seek out more of. Actually tasted like what I understand a Saison to be, instead of being something watered down without the fun Belgian characteristics.