13% ABV indicated. Liquid silken rocks with a splash of lemon. A somewhat larger splash would be better. ($cheap, K&L)
By request, one of my favorite dishes.
Beans and Rice With Avocado Salad
10oz dried yellow (Mayacoba/Canary) beans, soaked in water 6 hours to overnight
2 rice cups (360ml) Jasmine (white or brown) or Thai Red Cargo rice
2-4 avocados (depending on size)
2 large shallots
2 medium-sized ripe tomatoes
1oz fresh squeezed lime juice
1tbs chili flakes, fine
top-quality aromatic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
salt and pepperBring soaked beans to a boil in a pot of water, then reduce heat and simmer slowly, covered, until tender (several hours). 10 minutes before finished, add salt to taste (it takes a few minutes for the beans to absorb the salt). Drain the beans, reserving the cooking liquid, and set aside. In an electric rice cooker, cook rice with some salt and the bean cooking liquid. A few minutes before the rice cycle completes, add the cooked beans to the rice and stir well. While the rice cooks, prepare the salad.
Slice avocadoes in half, removing the pit. Score with crosshatches and scoop into a bowl. Dice tomatoes and mince shallots very fine and add to the bowl along with lime juice, salt, pepper, and chili flake. Add a good splash of the aromatic olive oil and stir well, trying not to completely mash the avocado cubes. Serve the cold salad atop a bowl of the hot rice and beans so that the heat from the rice brings out the aroma of the oil. Top with additional olive oil if desired.
12% ABV indicated. This is a little bit of happiness in a glass. It’s got fruit. It’s got rocks. It’s got juicy tartness. It’s absolutely adorable, and all of $13/bottle. Delicious, food-friendly red wine without attitude. Sadly, no longer available. ($13, K&L)
The ghost of an apple haunts this dry, dessicated husk of a wine, its shrill, acidic shrieking almost completely masking the rustle of autumn leaves. ($17, K&L)
Delicious, but not as extraordinary as the 2006. It lacks the etherial beauty, showing a slightly more masculine profile. Still, it’s great stuff. ($17?, K&L)
(14.5% ABV indicated) Brilliant ruby wine, redolent of oak and spice, bearing not the slightest resemblance to Cab Franc. Good fruit, but generic. (~$40 direct)
Floral nose, dense blueberry and blackberry packed into a context of rich tannin. It avoids being syrupy by the narrowest margin – a hedonist’s wine that even fruit-haters like me can enjoy. Delicious. A Larry, but a good one. (Beltramo’s, $20?)
13.5% ABV indicated. 50% Montepulciano, 50% Sangiovese, aged 9 months in new and used French oak barrels. This has that rustic, prickly, volatile acidity and leathery (bretty?) scent that we find in a lot of lesser-known Italian reds. The wine is not significantly harmed by the new oak, only showing a little sweetness and a little smoke in the finish. Finishes a little sticky. Decent table wine, not worth spending much money on it.
Lots of fruit, an unusual dark maroon spice tint, and a good bit of juicyness. What does it taste like? Hard to say – I wouldn’t necessarily have guessed it as a gamay/pinot noir blend in a blind tasting, but maybe I would have. Unusual, pleasant, refreshing. Larry. ($14, K&L)
Maybe it’s just the mild head cold and stuffiness I’m experiencing, but this is severely underwhelming. A bit rubbery both to smell and taste, and the biscuity/doughy note doesn’t really compensate for the almost astringent, thin character. Still, we took posession of the new house, and needed to celebrate that along with Repeal Day. Good memories despite underwhelming, expensive fizzy wine. ($119, Costco)