Tahbilk, Marsanne, 2011, Nagambie Lakes, Victoria, Australia

I've been on somewhat of a wine buying craze lately after my beloved cousin allowed me to access his free shipping offer from wine.com.  It's not a bad deal considering Hawaii is also included in the offer.  I also have been buying a more blindly and this value Australian Marsanne from central Victoria piqued my interest.
It's murky glowing yellow in the glass and has a slightly stink bomb nose with some flintiness and old hay notes. The body is rather waxy/milky and round in texture. Green apple and honey with a somewhat unpleasant nutrasweet tinge.  Overall okay for a 14 dollar bottle of wine.

Also this was the last drink I had with my friend Kiara before she left Hawaii forever.  People think Hawaii is paradise but sometimes for people that struggle with their mental health living here is like looking at paradise from the wrong side of a tall barbed wire fence.  Kiara reminded me that that it was possible to climb over and I still miss the fuck out of her.  So this is a reminder to me and anyone else that bad wine tastes better with good people and good wine alone will just drag you down.        

Yalumba, Sangiovese Rose, Y Series, 2011, South Autralia

This budget rose from Yalumba is strikingly deep orange and brown in the glass.    The nose somehow pulls off blending curacao, sea salt, vanilla, and just a touch of sauteed asparagus.  A nice summery light to medium bodiy is counterbalanced by a subtle oily texture.  I wasn't crazy about the flavor profile as its fairly simple with tart cranberries, spicy radish, and just a kiss of lemon on the short finish.  It did pair quite well with my bachelor-style poke bowl of pre-frozen safeway bought spicy ahi and microwaveable brown rice.  Maybe I should start reaching a little higher? Nah fuck it, this is good enough for now.        

Henri Perrusset, Macon-Villages, 2011, Burgundy, France

This Chardonnay is fairly translucent in the glass with just a touch of darker gold.  The nose is dominated by lime, graham cracker crust, and pine sol.  This is a medium-bodied and crisp wine with a slight oily texture. It's a clean crisp classic with a hint of rock candy sweetness on the mid-palate.  Kermit Lynch once again delivers a nice understated balanced effort but somehow right now it's leaving me with something to be desired.  I mean its pairing quite nicely with a solo night of season 2 of Friday Night Lights and Pepperidge Farm Salted Pretzel Milano Slices cookies.  Still I'd rather be with a good friend and a plateful of Willapa Bay oysters.

tasting at HASR wine co.

Kelly and I went to a great tasting last week at HASR in Chinatown and had some decent value-driven California wines from Morgan and Bishop's Peak.  I keep forgetting the name of the guy who pours there on Tuesday and Friday nights but he is extremely nice, knowledgeable, and efficient.  The holy trinity of attributes for anyone working in a tasting room.

The 2011 Morgan Sauvignon Blanc was probably the star of the show with a surprisingly big body for the varietal and its clean, minerally, and old world flavor profile.   It is blended with small amounts Sauvignon Musque and Semillon as well as spends 6 months in mostly neutral oak to lend complexity and texture.   The 2011 Chardonnay from Bishop's Peak was lighter in body and color and had an extremely closed nose.  It had nice light clean citrus flavors but not much else to write home about.

BP's Pinot was temptingly priced at $20 and had a plump body with well-rounded tannins and true to the varietal rustic cherry flavors.  The Cabernet was also dominated by simple cherry notes on the front end that fell off too quickly.  It also had a bit too much oak and heat for me.  Finally, the Morgan rhone-style "cote du crow's" blend was much rounder and heavier on the palate with riper darker fruit.  There were some tertiary bitter subtle vinegary notes on the mid-palate that for some reason I was into.  
I would definitely recommend the free bi-weekly tastings at HASR.  And if you see a short dorky-looking haole scribbling tasting notes in the corner, say hi!

Hayman & Hill, Interchange, 2007, Santa Barbara County, California

I picked up a glass of this bombastic white at Morning Brew in Kailua last weekend in between the beach and the bookstore.  A while ago I remember H&H making a fairly decent low-priced Pinot, so I was intrigued when I saw it on the wine list.  Then when I saw they were pouring it for 6 bucks a glass, I said, "Screw coffee.  It's wine time!"
The Interchange is dark gold in color.  It's has a fairly complex but awkward nose of honey, banana, durian, algea, and heat.  It is mouth-coating, full-bodied, and almost like a desert wine in texture.  The flavor profile is dominated by honey lemon lozenge and round cantaloupe notes.  Although the acid is strong throughout, overall the flavor profile is a little clunky, cloying, as wells as sugary/bitter at the same time.  Maybe I should have stuck with the coffee?    

Alta Maria, Cabernet Sauvignon, 2007, Santa Ynez Valley, California

The 2007 Alta Maria is an approachable yet complex enough effort that will satisfy the oenophiles who tend to lean away from California Cabs.  Its got a dark purple core with a hint of crimson translucence on the edges.  The nose is extremely generous with burnt sugar, maple bar, coffee liqueur, boysenberry, and a strange memory inducing scent of a lonely dark dusty old room from my childhood.  The maple translates well into the palate while embracing some dark dark dark black fruit flavors with smokey meat undertones.  It is medium-bodied with smooth sweet rounded out tannins from time napping in the bottle.  The Alta Maria has a pleasing syrupy/juicy body but avoids the fake sweetness found in a lot of California Cabs.  For under thirty bucks, this is an lively, tough as nails, varietally-correct to the core Cab that you can thank me for recommending later.

P.S. The roundness of these tannins feel about as good as Louis C.K. saying a certain taboo word.

      

Torbreck, Woodcutter's Semillon, 2009, Barossa Valley, Australia

The Woodcutter's is light slightly dehydrated pee colored in the glass.  It's is a bomb of aromatics in the glass with banana, dandelion, sea water, candle wax, and lemon (turning to lime on day 2).  The bold flavor profile is dominated by bright original fruit flavors of tangelo, dried apricots, and Aranciata soda with nutty overtones.  As the wine warmed, the fruits tended to blend into more of a white grape juice blend and reminded me of the "t-bone steak cheese egg and welches grape" awkward lyric from "Big Poppa."  Like the greatest rapper of all time, this wine is full-bodied and in your face.  It also has a lovely milky mouth feel that put it head and shoulders above all the other sucker mc white wine summer sippers.  

see pee colored!  also keeping in classy in a dixie cup!