What's in your glass tonight?

[tullamore]

my go to beer for afternoon drinking

 

[Christopher Anderson]

All for tonight?
Hope you're having a party!

Son's birthday. 10 of us. R

 

[Hazelemere]

Chardonnay Viognier White Fusion 2023-24

This is a 25%/25% blend of Sheridan Chardonnay fermented with 71B yeast and Fresco Chilean Viognier juice fermented with D47 yeast and then re-blended in a glass with 50% White Fusion 2024 which is my cyser pyment from home grown muscat grapes, apples and unpasteurized blueberry blossom honey.

Here are my comments on this blend on day 1:

Appearance - clear deep lemon yellow

Smell - buttered popcorn and limes

Tannin - good

Acid - good

Flavour - Right now on day 1 this is the weakest of the 3 Sheridan Chardonnay blends I made. It needs time in my cooler, in bottles to become more complex. It actually improves on airing in a glass. Right now I'd rate it as "good" with the potential to become "good-very good"

Here are my comments on this blend on day 2 (i.e. if you can go easy on day 1 you can get a day 2):

Appearance - same old

Smell - better smell on day 2, a bit like Vino Verde from Northern Portugal or Muscadet from French Loire. Both wines kill with Atlantic seafood like Langostinos (European lobsters), clams, oysters, sole, mussels, cockles alive alive o. Yes you can eat cockles. I had them in La Rochelle, France.

Tannin - good

Acid - good

Flavour - Right now, opened on day 2, cold from the fridge, this is really good, classic seafood wine. Drinking it this cold I don't notice that I am drinking Chardonnay 50/50 in a blend. The Viognier dominates the flavour and has improved on opening over 24 hours. This is a treat for me because I love seafood and this blend is a no-brainer for seafood. I rate it as a "very good" sea food wine on day 2. The lesson for me is to forget about names like Chardonnay or Viognier and focus on flavours and smells like Vino Verde and Muscadet with respect to seafood. What I might do and have never done is drink this New Year's day with either savoury prawn crepes or New England clam chowder or fish stew.

Merry Xmas to all of you

This is a really good website IMHO

Namaste

Klaus

 

[Rice_Guy]

A sparkling Rose. LaCrescent and LaCrosse for the major percentage grape, Marquette for color and tannin, Semi sweet (1.007) but tannin bite makes it feel dry, OK fruit.

From a Prairie Vinters outing.

The QA chemist keeps coming out, note 20ml tube with hydrometer.

 

[Christopher Anderson]

At Pappadeaux. Nice $10 bottle they sell for $36.

 

[winemaker81]

Just proving I drink things other than wine ...




This coffee bean is interesting, as it's stored in a building where the rain & wind from monsoons gets to it, so the beans are lower in acid. They are also swelled to double the size of normal coffee beans.

For those that don't roast coffee beans (which is probably 99.9% of the audience), green coffee beans are small, and they shed a paper thin shell and swell to double size during roasting. The Malabar Monsoon beans have little shell and don't change size during roasting.

 

[jswordy]

At Pappadeaux. Nice $10 bottle they sell for $36. View attachment 118869

Yep, paid $18 for a 9-ounce glass of an $18 a bottle wine at Char ––– but found out the name of it, and it has never been out of my cellar since!

 

[jswordy]

Just proving I drink things other than wine ...

View attachment 118872


This coffee bean is interesting, as it's stored in a building where the rain & wind from monsoons gets to it, so the beans are lower in acid. They are also swelled to double the size of normal coffee beans.

For those that don't roast coffee beans (which is probably 99.9% of the audience), green coffee beans are small, and they shed a paper thin shell and swell to double size during roasting. The Malabar Monsoon beans have little shell and don't change size during roasting.

My BIL is super into this. His whole grinding and brewing setup is north of $4K. Me? Bag of Dunkin goes little by little in a Mr. Coffee grinder and a Mr. Coffee drip machine that's uncomplicated with a simple shut-off switch. I have bags of coffee I have been given lying around here for years.

 

[winemaker81]

My BIL is super into this. His whole grinding and brewing setup is north of $4K. Me? Bag of Dunkin goes little by little in a Mr. Coffee grinder and a Mr. Coffee drip machine that's uncomplicated with a simple shut-off switch. I have bags of coffee I have been given lying around here for years.

My roaster cost $180 ... cost of green beans is typically $8-$10/lb. Overall, it's cheaper than good quality coffee, and realistically, it's significantly cheaper.

Plus I like it.

 

[Christopher Anderson]

Yep, paid $18 for a 9-ounce glass of an $18 a bottle wine at Char ––– but found out the name of it, and it has never been out of my cellar since!

What was the name of the bottle?

 

[jswordy]

What was the name of the bottle?

Southern Belle. It is the first wine ever to be aged in bourbon barrels, and the only wine aged in Pappy van Winkle barrels. They do an outstanding job, IMO, year after year, and it is completely affordable. This is the wine I take to gatherings, because invariably people will like it. If I also bring other bottles, even of the very finest French or Australian wines, they will end up being compared to this. All for $17.50-20.00 a bottle.

 

[jswordy]

My roaster cost $180 ... cost of green beans is typically $8-$10/lb. Overall, it's cheaper than good quality coffee, and realistically, it's significantly cheaper.

Plus I like it.

My BIL is an over the top kind of guy and he has the bucks to be so. He is currently having built his second auto show vehicle (I cannot even see pix of it or know any details until it has been shown at Goodguys sometime in 2026), and has an entire room at his house dedicated to displaying the first place trophies from his first car. So, when money is plentiful, it is no object. He dives into his interests with gusto.

Anyway hey, you don't have to defend it to me! I'm a big "If you like it, do it," guy – as long as you get consent first if needed and have a safe word if required.

 

[Christopher Anderson]

Southern Belle. It is the first wine ever to be aged in bourbon barrels, and the only wine aged in Pappy van Winkle barrels. They do an outstanding job, IMO, year after year, and it is completely affordable. This is the wine I take to gatherings, because invariably people will like it. If I also bring other bottles, even of the very finest French or Australian wines, they will end up being compared to this. All for $17.50-20.00 a bottle.

This one?

 

[jswordy]

View attachment 118914 This one?

That's it.

https://epicureanangel.com/southern-belle-2018/

 

[BarrelMonkey]

Failla is something of an anomaly - a Napa Valley winery that specializes in pinot noir rather than cabernet sauvignon. Ferrington is one of the oldest and most respected vineyards in Mendocino County's Anderson Valley, and this rendition of their grapes is delightful.

 

[Christopher Anderson]

View attachment 118914 This one?

View attachment 118914 This one?

I also found

 

[Christopher Anderson]

That's it.

https://epicureanangel.com/southern-belle-2018/

I will try it. Available at World Market here in San Antonio that I can see so far

Thanks!