Networking

I live for these events...

Wine Seminar - German Riesling

I enjoyed a great tasting of fine German Rieslings this past week. I know the Germans are known for their Rieslings, so I was really looking forward to comparing their whites to the recent Rieslings I had tried in the Finger Lakes. Comparison? While a couple of them are right around what we have here in New York... the difference is palpable. While I'm not a huge fan of white wines, I definitely have begun to appreciate what a fine white can be.

2009 Wili Schaefer Graacher Riesling Trocken $16.99
No residual sugar, this mosel style wine come from soil filled with slate, which displays a very earthy aroma. Tastes of peaches and apricots, it's intensely acidic and has an aftertaste of lemon & melon. Described as classically intrinsic, this is a crisp and clean bone dry white wine. * 1/2

2008 Johannishof Charta Riesling QBA $14.99
Coming from a micro/meso climate (which tempers the cold of Germany), this high acid, compact wine has little sharpness with a fatter, easy drinkability. Can age 5-6 years. I liked it. ** 1/2

2009 Donnhoff Kreuznacher Krotenpfuhl Riesling Kabinett $20.99
The best sweet wines finish dry. And this one is no different. It has citrusy undertones, coming from fully ripened grapes and has a nice sweetness. Has a dryer mouth, tastes young, is wonderfully and balanced. I like Rieslings on the semi-dry side, and this one delivers. ****

2006 S.A. Prum Urziger Wurgarten Riesling Kabinett $10.00
Coming from riper fruit, has an amazing honeysuckle body. I was blown away by the nose of this wine.. very fresh. Would go well with bbq chicken or pork chops. Low acid. This tastes very sweet, but still has a low RS. Can age 10 more years due to the fruitiness. ***** (I bought several bottles.)

2008 Graff Piesporter Michelsberg Riesling Spatlese $11.99
This is not a long term wine. High acid. High RS. But it tastes less sweet. Not a high-end wine. It has structure to the body, and starts to shows it complexity if you leave it in your glass a bit. ***

2006 Richter Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Auslese $35.99 (14.99)
This wine hit the scene in 06 for $36 a bottle. It has since come down, through no fault of its own. Has a flat nose, tastes of honey and is very sweet. Tastes VERY young and can age another 10-12 years. Smells like sugar water. Tasted it and the word than came to mind... liquid nectar. It's like living in a honey comb. ****

I enjoyed learning about the region. Kabinett means fully mature grapes. The younger/fruiter a white wine, the colder you want to serve it. 2001 was a great year for Riesling. 2009 was a classic year. Will definitely keep these guys in mind in the future.

WINE KEY

Volleyball

We may have lost big but our team has a lot of fun (drinking)!

Grandma's Birthday

Recently had a nice birthday for my Grandmother. My mother sent me
this photo from the event. She was cute. I gave her my Keuka Lake
Wine Tour Hedonist Chocolates & a bottle of wine. I never keep the
good stuff for myself!

Running

Beautiful run this morning! Spring? Yes?

Keuka Wine Tasting

Five of us wine touring today via LIMO for Valentines Day. Live it. Love it.

Seth's Birthday Bash

Seth's rockin birthday last night was beyond compare. Kelly really went all out. Had a lot of fun samping all the goods.. even the homemade marshmallows!

Seth's Birthday

Amazing food and amazing people speckle this party.

A little piece of heaven...

Love going home to mom's when the views are like this....!

Cayuga Wine Trail

Wine touring with mom!
Trying the following wineries:
1. Swedish Hill (wine & chocolate!)
2. Knapp Winery (wine & chili!)
3. Montezuma Winery (port wine, cranberry wine!)

I love it!

Fourteen years ago... oh wait.

Been a great couple of weeks. Not much to share.. beyond that I'm very busy, moving around a lot, working hard, having fun and doing my thing. Had a little dinner party, had a bigger dinner party, saw some friends I see all the time, saw ones I haven't seen in months... I've been having to turn down social occasions because my schedule fills up. And then work sometimes runs late and wrecks some of those, too. For example, I had to work last Sunday all day. And it run up against volleyball and all that. But that's OK. I knew what I was getting into. I met up with Donna and Steven on Tuesday, too, even thought the snow was unreal.

OOOOH.. and I saw a pedestrian get hit in the road! Was quite exciting & terrorizing. I called 911 and had quite the difficult conversation with the operator. For some reason she wouldn't believe me. But I've been upping my wine tasting schedule. And I've come to realize it's now consuming like 20% of my free time! Drinking wine, that is. I've been hitting up tastings at wine bars all over the city and also still doing my monthly seminar at Century. Good times. Lots of great wine, too. Plus I've been hanging out with Scott, Kelly & Seth a lot more too. It's been nice having Scott back in town. He's been here about a month... and he's leaving to go back to Afghanistan soon. So we've been cramming in as much fun, dinners, parties, games and such in as possible. It's been a great month.

Plus I've been hanging out with my friend Keith more and more. Him and I have a lot in common, so we're trying to do random crap all the time. I'm looking forward to the summertime. He's into camping, hiking, biking and more. Plus he's always up for some randomess. And he goes out several nights a week. Need a wingman? Sure thing. Him and I met up at Lovin' Cup the other night.. great place! I hung out there last summer with Tad a lot. Plus I had a couple gift certificates to that place, so what's not to love about $75 worth of food and wine for literally nothing? Yep!

Last night was a weekend of parties! Had such a great time. Had great homemade Indian Food & wine/bourbon, port with Karen/Chuck, delving into games, singing/guitars, and the following day was filled with preparation for a great cocktail party for Josh & Jody's engagement. I didn't know what to make of it, but it was great! I had such a great time. Jody's parents took right to me.. and got me going on scotch. I think I had 4 different kinds... even had my first rusty nail! Was such an interest, fun night. They invited me to stay over. I always get along with parents for some reason. But seeing everyone and giving good congrats to the happy couple made me happier than I can say.

I did get a bit sick this week, and have been struggling through a cold. It's been tough. I even called in sick on Monday. Not good. But it's been one of the few times where I literally could not get out of bed. I hate when my body just collapses like that. It's been rough. But my cold has turned into just congestion now. But being sick has its advantages. I caught up one some television (which I never watch anymore), movies and some reading. And I've started cleaning for my SuperBowl party on Sunday.

OOOHH... I've been delving into stock investing as of late. NOT being a daytrader, I promise.. but I've definitely been dropping some serious dough on some investments. It's cool, cause I know a few other people doing the same. It's something neat to talk about, and I'm hoping one of these days I can drop $50K on something and have it totally take off and make some serious money off it. We shall hope. For now, I am sticking to mostly $2K trades and holding for 6+ months. We shall see.

I think that's enough for now. Can't keep talking about nothing.

BSG at Midnight...!

Games, nuts & diet coke make my late nights shine!

Wine Seminar - Sensory Perception of Wine

Did a wine seminar that helped shed some light about the perceptions of wine and how it affects your taste and experience. A lot of it felt phooey, because I know the difference between good and bad wine. And no amount of high or low expectations is going to change that. But he was right about one thing... if someone says "you can taste the chocolate overtones in this wine," then you will.

Lucien Albrect Crement Rose $17.99
This wine had a slight sweetness to it. It covered up the acid bite. It's a great sparkling wine and would do well instead of champagne. ***

Golwater Sauvignon Blanc $13.99
Very earthy taking wine. Vintage is 2008. It's semi-dry (ish) which means a bit of sweetness to it. Reminds me of cold, creek water from camping. It's got a great nose. **1/2

Blason d'Aussieres $14.99
Amazing nose to it! Complex flavor. No tannins. Well bodied. Good wine for the price. *** 1/2

Rutini Malbec $15.99
Strong pepper nose to it. Cold icy flavor. Great tannins. Would recommend. *** 1/2

Overall, it was interesting. I was disappointed we only tried a few, but it let me get to understand my palette a little better.


WINE KEY