Dallas Wine Trial

How cool is this?
Times Ten Cellars along with three other North Texas wineries are excited to announce the creation of the Dallas Wine Trail. Follow this link http://www.dallaswinetrail.com/ to learn more about the trail and wines produced by Calais, Fuqua, Inwood Estates, and Times Ten Cellars. All are located within the city limits of Dallas. Mark your calendar and join in on May 24th for our first official wine trail kick off party. Buy local and "Drink Dallas".

Other interesting goings-on from Times Ten Cellars...
Please join us at Hector's on Henderson from 5:00 pm - 7:30 pm for a selection of times ten cellars wines at $6.00 by the glass. Hector will provide complimentary appetizers. If you decide to stay for dinner they will offer a prix fixe menu for $19.95, includes your choice of soup or salad, and one of four entrees. Jazz pianist, John Freeman begins at 7:00 pm. Reservations are not needed, it is come and go.

Times Ten Jazz schedule for April
Sunday April 5th, The Rich Jasin Trio, 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Sunday April 19th, The Carter Jackson Band, 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Tuesday April 14th, Mike Drake, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Recent tastes

On a business trip, I sometimes get to taste wines that are well outside of my normal price range. I tasted two such wines last week. The most spectacular was the 1996 Heitz Cellars Martha's Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. I wasn't embarrassed to act giddy about how much I liked it. The professional associate who purchased a couple of bottles of this fine wine at the bar for us before dinner has a case of it in his cellar, which I have been told is amazing. (So I am sure he thought I was a dork for being giddy.) I want a wonderful cellar when I grow up. (Right now I just want a bigger wine frig.) I also had a ZD Cab, but don't know the year. The problem is that cocktails preceded these fine wines. I wish I could have experienced and appreciated them on their own.

Tasting the Heintz reaffirmed to me that I should do something I have been pondering for a while now. I want to get a few bottles and put them up for several years. I have never managed to keep anything more than two years or so. I have a 2004 Rutherford Hill Petit Verdot that I want to cellar (i.e., keep in my wine frig) for a few more years. But I think I am ready to invest in a few more bottles for later. Fortunately I shared a bottle of the Petit Verdot with a friend last year, so I have notes to compare the aged bottle when I decide to open it. I still don't know much about wine, but learning is much fun to me.

Now, that is is getting warm, it's white and rose' season again. I got a bottle of my favorite rose', the Miguel Torres Santa Digna Cabernet Sauvignon Rose' at Cork last week. It is the 2008. I loved the 2006 and really liked the 2007. Hopefully this will be good too. The price is still a whopping $10 for lots of juicy, but not sugary, fruit. Now if the Arboretum concerts would just hurry up and start!

Also good for light foods and warm weather is the Italian 2007 Barone Fini Valdadige Pinot Grigio at about $12 a bottle and the Milbrandt Vineyards 2007 Pinot Gris from Washington at about $13 a bottle. I believe they have the latter at Veritas.

Woman of a certain age

There comes a time in every woman's life....

Oh heck, why talk in third person?!

I recently found these cutoffs. They made me smile. But I quickly came to the realization that even if I could get my booty to be that size again (and I think I can) I am too dang old to wear these shorts. That ship has sailed.

But I still smile at the patches holding them together, and the little Grateful Dead dancing bears - Iko bears, we called them back in the day. I smile at the confidence and sass I had in those days and hope that ship hasn't sailed too.

Chilean Wines

Since I have not blogged in over a month, I thought I would post the wine musings of my friend JK who recently returned from a trip to Chile. Many thanks to her for the tips! I am really looking foward to trying some of these.

Hint: anything 2005 is fabulous--otherwise choose odd years.

Sauvignon Blanc:
Casas del Bosque: amazing--crisp, grassy, and minerally.
Veramonte: also very nice--less minerally and more lemony

Cab Sav:
Splurge on Concha y Toro's Don Melchor 2005. It's not quite ready to drink, but already fantastic. Carter just bought a bottle for $55. And you know we don't like to spend a lot on vino.
Viu Manent 2007 Cab Sav. Probably under $15 and really yummy.

Carmenere:
My new favorite varietal.
Casa Silva 2007 is yummy.
Casa Montes also delish

Malbec:
Viu Manent beat the Argentinians! Their 2007 won the Gold Medal and really pissed off their neighbors. Fun.

Chardonnay:
Casa Lapostolle.

Look for: Casa Haras "Albis" blend. This is a joint venture between Chile and Italian winemaker Antinori. I bet it will be fabulous! We visited the Haras winery on a lark, but were not able to do a tasting.

By region: white wines: Casablanca Valley
red wines: Colchagua and Maipo valleys.

Noteworthy joint ventures: Almaviva (Concho y Toro plus French Baron Rothschild); Lapostolle (French Grand Marnier family + Chilean Chadwick); Haras (Chile + Antinori); Sena (Chile + Mondavi). All of these brands are producing spectacular wines. We have a bottle of the 2005 Almaviva. We accidentally drank one other bottle of the same (forgot we'd paid a lot for it). It was absolutely fabulous! It rated a 94 on Wine Spectator.

My favorite wineries were Casas del Bosque, Viu Manent, and Concha y Toro.