What's in your glass tonight?

[Boatboy24]

Had dinner last night with our BFF's. They brought pizza from "Back Road Pizza" in Santa fe. This was a Diners Drive In's and Dives featured joint a few years back. Dug through the cellar and found a couple of good candidates for the evening. Both Costco finds. Had had a bottle of the 2015 Kirkland Chianti Classico and found it a good QPR bottle once upon a time but had not tried this 2015 Tarima Hill Monastrell (Mourvèdre) which was 92pts WS and the #17 wine on the Top 100 Wines for 2017. I made the mistake of going for the Tarima Hill first and immediately was blown away by the wine's bouquet and depth with just a simple pop-n-pour. It got even better with some air time. Very nice bottle of wine and a 5 star QPR for sure. The Kirkland Chianti paled in comparison. It was not a fair fight in the least. Should have bought a few more of the Tarima Hill but its one and done sadly.

View attachment 55898

I buy the Tarima Hill regularly at my local Wegmans. Maybe you can find another source. I agree with your assessment. IIRC I pay about $13 and it's worth every penny and then some.

 

[ibglowin]

That 15' is long gone but I think TW carries Tarima Hill IIRC. I know I can't purchase locally but Santa fe is as good as local for us.

I buy the Tarima Hill regularly at my local Wegmans. Maybe you can find another source. I agree with your assessment. IIRC I pay about $13 and it's worth every penny and then some.

 

[geek]

 

[Boatboy24]

View attachment 55992

I am pleased with that one.

 

[geek]

I am pleased with that one.

tastes very good.

 

[berrycrush]

Is that the one I gave you? I'm enjoying some now.

Yep, it is pretty good!

 

[jgmann67]

Last night’s wine with gnocchi and meatballs on the patio. Unfortunately there’s only one bottle left. At 2 years +, it’s tasting very well. Not as good as the Winery Series Australian Cab I did in 2015, but substantially better than the Eclipse Lodi Cab in 2016.

 

[geek]

 

[geek]

And moving on....

 

[crushday]

Winexpert LE16, Milagro - started two years ago, bulk aged in a carboy for 12 months and been in the bottle since September 2018. Good color, nose a little acidic but not much aroma. Fruit forward attack on the pallet but very drinkable. A bit light on the mouth feel. Slight notes of anise, maybe spice or ground pepper.

Update: Thirty minutes in the decanter and this thing suddenly got amazing.

Wish I had more than 30 bottles...

 

[ericsmithcpa]

Belle Glos Dairyman Vineyard Pinot Noir... None of my kit wine is ready yet, but this doesn't suck at all.

 

[ibglowin]

Well don't expect any Kit wine to come anywhere close to a Belle Glos. That is a Pinot Noir on steroids if ever there was one. One of the few wines from CA that I have quite a few bottles of in my cellar.

None of my kit wine is ready yet, but this doesn't suck at all.

 

[ericsmithcpa]

Well don't expect any Kit wine to come anywhere close to a Belle Glos. That is a Pinot Noir on steroids if ever there was one. One of the few wines from CA that I have quite a few bottles of in my cellar.

Yeah, like most folks here, I'm kind of wine geeky. Try Penner Ash too if you like this one, and Big Table Farm, great wines. From what I read it seems much easier to make a high quality beer than a truly nice wine, so I'm only making premium kits, but still I won't get my hopes up on kit wines... I'm trying to learn what I'm doing, give away most of it, and move to small batch grape wines that I will really want to drink lol.

 

[Boatboy24]

Yeah, like most folks here, I'm kind of wine geeky. Try Penner Ash too if you like this one, and Big Table Farm, great wines. From what I read it seems much easier to make a high quality beer than a truly nice wine, so I'm only making premium kits, but still I won't get my hopes up on kit wines... I'm trying to learn what I'm doing, give away most of it, and move to small batch grape wines that I will really want to drink lol.

I liken kit wines to beers using all extract. Sure, you can do pretty well with it. But all-grain is a different world, as is all-grape. Except for white wines.

 

[ericsmithcpa]

I liken kit wines to beers using all extract. Sure, you can do pretty well with it. But all-grain is a different world, as is all-grape. Except for white wines.

That's a great analogy that'll help me set expectations haha!

 

[Boatboy24]

Delicious, with notes of green apple, lemongrass and peach. Nice, bright acidity too.

 

[CDrew]

The Kirkland Chianti paled in comparison. It was not a fair fight in the least. Should have bought a few more of the Tarima Hill but its one and done sadly.

View attachment 55898

Funny that you had that pair. And I agree with your conclusions. I was just on a Camping trip and had that same pair the same night. Shared around with friends and a camp fire, it was a good time. Paired with fresh salmon sashimi, grilled chicken, and a salad.

That Tarima Hill is the stuff. An excellent wine for a good price. Costco has had some real winners and the Tarima Hill is one of the more unexpected ones.

 

[geek]

 

[ibglowin]

Doing some serious drinking on a Monday! LOL

 

[ericsmithcpa]

I’ve heard good things about Kirkland, never heard of Tarima Hill... I need to try those out. Tonight it’s Frank Family Pinot Noir, 2017... not really ready to drink, but I threw it in the blender for a minute and fixed that... people scoff at me for putting wine in a blender, but it works. Blenders are for food and beverages. Wine is a beverage, what’s the problem? It’s hilarious to see the look on a waiter’s face at a nice restaurant when you ask him to have the bartender put your wine in a blender for 45 seconds and bring it back in a decanter lol.