The Gourmez

Trader Joe’s Grande Reserve Carneros Pinot Noir 2011 Napa, California I tasted this wine before purchasing it at Trader Joe’s, and I’m glad the sample convinced me to get a bottle. Its rich, medium-bodied boysenberry digs into me and won’t let go. The nose has a fleeting burst of fig newton, but is otherwise lackluster. [...]

Martine Galhoune Moulin 2010 Pinot Noir France Nectarine. The nose of this wine is full of nectarine. It’s thin-bodied, fun to drink, and a welcome shift from the overly dry wines I’ve had lately. I’d call this one medium dry. It has vanilla, spice, nectarine, chocolate, and cherry all balanced well together. The MGM 2010 [...]

Arrow Creek 2009 Pinot Noir California It’s on the browner side of red for a wine, mudlike in color. I smell rhubarb, plum, and tobacco, and the plum sticks with me when sipping. It or some other stonefruit is prominent. There are a lot of tannins, and the wine tastes dark with coffee and tobacco [...]

Tisdale Pinot Noir (vintage free, yo!) Modesto, CA This wine looks thin, watery, dark brown, and plum. It smells of bitter chocolate and currants. As expected, it tastes very thin and watery. Fleeting cocoa powder comes first followed by the currant and overripe figs with some apricot notes. Then the cocoa powder rushes back in [...]

Jujube’s Semler Wine Dinner There are few things I like more than wine dinners at Jujube. For $42 per person with four courses and four glasses of wine, they really aren’t a bad deal at all. Tuesday night, I went to one with my husband and a pair of foodie friends that was hosted by [...]