ANTAKARI CARMENERE SYRAH 2008

I can't get over the pungence of burning tyres. Gawd -- my eyes are still watering.

Alma Andina - Malbec 2008

You know, Malbec is always good. But when you add a little Argentine peasant elbow grease into the mix -- then you've got something.

This stuff was a little better than the usual Malbec that helps us all pass the time during a long, hard week.

:)

2009 Geista Dao

I don't think we've ever had wine from the Dao area (in Portugal) before.

Here's what wiki says about Dao region wines:

The red wines tend to be very tannic due to prolong periods of maceration during winemaking.

We found this not to be the case with this wine.

Here's a bottle we opened after a long morning at the mall. Heidi found it quite good and a headache reliever. Eric thought it had a weak chemical taste - chlorine pool water..but not in a bad way.

McMenamins Ale Sampler

After a 1 month hiatus from Beer, we had a delicious cheat meal at McMenamins before seeing A Doctor in Spite of Himself.

I'm not a big fan of the strong coffee flavors in stouts, but the rest of the Ales were all filled with hoppy goodness.

Sonoma Vineyards 2007 Merlot

This guy had a strong, unexpected, earthy/coffee flavor. When we first nosed our pours, there wasn't anything that stood out in particular, but the first sip was was like sucker punch! The shock diminished over the course of the next glass, but this was a Merlot to remeber..haha.

Vega Oliveras - Tempranillo vino de la tierra De Castilla 2009

This is a selection from our latest delivery from the WSJ Wine Club.

A nice, full-bodied spanish wine that went well with our low-carb shrimp and walnut dinner. Usually you'd drink this with a thick rib-eye, marbled with veins of delicous fat, but it performed just as well with our farm-raised shimp friends.

From Wikipedia:

Tempranillo wines can be consumed young, but the most expensive ones are aged for several years in oak barrels.

Well....clearly this 09 swill didn't spend its infancy in a snuggly crib of oak, but it maintained a precocious presence.