Happy Monday!  Oh my goodness, new favorite wine alert!  Last week I discovered Lulu B., a series of wines produced from the makers of Cupcake.  First of all, how adorable is the label?  When Monique told me that she liked the wine I knew I had to try it – especially at 3 for $25!  We grabbed the Pinot Grigio, the Cab and the Malbec.  Each wine is from a different country, Pinot Grigio from Italy, Malbec from Chile, Pinot Noir from France, and the Can and Chard from California.  Quite a tour de force!  They are all simple, easy to drink varietal wines.  My favorite so far is the Malbec, it is light and bright and perfect for sipping on the patio with cheese and my Kindle.  You should definitely try these out folks, great summer time wines!  Let me know what you think, cheers!

(photo credit:  LuluB.com)

Last night we met up with some friends in town for supper.  The reservation wasn’t until 7:30 so we had some time to kill beforehand.  We headed over to Stella, an adorable bar/restaurant in the South End.  All decked out in chic Italian white, this is a great place to hang out and people watch.  We selected a bottle of J. Lohr Gamay.  Kind of random, I know, but you know how I feel about lesser-known varietals.  I couldn’t recall having a 100% Gamay wine before and I was very intrigued by the soft tannin and jammy flavor.  Tons of blackberry and raspberry.  There were strong alcohol notes on the finish (I know, all wines are alcohol, but some have more alcohol essence than others, it’s a real thing in the wine world, I swear!) and overall I really enjoyed the wine.

Well, you know what’s funny?  When I looked up the wine on the J. Lohr website, I discovered that it is actually NOT a Gamay but a Valdiguié!  I hadn’t even heard of the varietal so I didn’t think anything of the fact that it was printed on the label of the wine.  I guess I figured it was something to do with the vineyard.  But anyway, I looked it up and apparently the wine makers thought it was Gamay until U.C. Davis testers determined that it was actually Valdiguié, an even lesser-known varietal with roots in southwest France.  I guess the folks at Stella didn’t get the update, oh well!  Doesn’t change the fact that we really enjoyed the wine.  We also enjoyed the price, only $28 for the bottle!  And, of course, we  enjoyed the fried artichoke hearts in a caper-laden sauce that we nibbled on while we were waiting.  Yum.

Happy Monday, all!  We tried a lovely new wine over the weekend that I am excited to share with you.  It was suggested by Monique, our darling wine-lady at a local store near our house.  Monique has not reccommended a bad wine yet, in fact, she is the one who led us to both Liberty School Cab and Axis Zin, so you know this one is going to be good…  We felt like doing a little grilling and wanted something that would pair well with shrimp and veggie kabobs.

The wine Monique suggested was Joseph Cattin Pinto Gris from the Alsace region of France.  It was REALLY good.  I found the wine to be on the sweeter side of dry, loads of vanilla and apricot notes.  The winemaker points out strong spice and smoke notes but I didn’t really pick up on a lot of smoke until the finish.  The smoke was mild enough and complimented the sweeter palate so I didn’t mind it at all (normally not a huge fan of smoke).  Fantastic compliment to the grilled meal.  At 2 for $25 I would totally buy this wine again.  By the way, can you please take a look at this beautiful tray of veggies?  Doesn’t that look SO GOOD.  Now imagine it with a fresh blue cheese & herb dipping sauce.  Right?

So glad to be grilling again, next Monday is the first day of spring – as well as the Hub’s birthday!  Hurrah for fun times and fine wines!

It’s that time of year, folks!  Plonkapalooza 2010 took place this week and I have dozens of new wines to try, hurrah!  For those of you who may not be familiar with the event, the Plonkapalooza is an annual wine tasting event in which local wine shops nominate bottles sold for $12 or less to be a part of a blind tasting hosted by some of the area’s top wine experts.  I wrote a few articles about Plonkapalooza 2009 if you’d like to check out last year’s nominees…  So, boston.com recapped this year’s event in a recent article and low and behold, it sang the praises of a wine I just recently reviewed myself! A month ago we went to my parent’s house for dinner and I brought a bottle of Saint-Peyre to pair with the lemony baked artichoke and shrimp dish my mother prepared.  It was fantastic, and a French twist-off at that!  Low and behold, we get this quote from Stephen Meuse at boston.com:

Ah ha!  How about that?  Oh man, I must have ESPN or something because I TOTALLY called this wine out as a winner weeks before Plonkapalooza.  See mom & dad?  My $100K+ education with a BA in Spanish is REALLY starting to pay off  :)  Who am I kidding, my mother and father have always been my biggest supporters, both of MoreThanMerlot.com and of just me in general.  What exciting news to start off the weekend!  Hope you all have a spooktacular Halloween, and seeing as today is pay day I will run out and pick up a few bottles of Plonkapalooza 2010 nominees for your reviewing pleasure!  Hasta pronto!

(photo via)

Hurray for Thursday!  So last night, as I mentioned previously, we went to my parents’ house for a lovely dinner.  Of course I called dibs on picking out the wine.  On the menu was a baked shrimp, artichoke, garlic and lemon bake served over angel hair pasta.  A white for sure, but I also wanted to pick up a red to tide us over until dinner was ready.  We started the evening with Tutto Bene Toscana Rosso, 1996, primarily a Sangiovese varietal wine from the Tuscany region of Italy.  My father is partial to Italian reds and I thought this looked like something he would enjoy.  Delicious blackberry, hints of chocolate and spice, this was a phenomenal sipping wine and went great with the fromage forte I picked up to nibble on before dinner.  Moving on, for dinner I discovered the delightful Saint-Peyre, a white wine made from the obscure Picpoul grape in the Languedoc-Roussillon region in France.

Since Languedoc-Roussillon is less well known than its neighbors Bordeaux and Burgundy, you can get really incredible wine for a lot less money.  Get this – the wine was even a TWIST-OFF!  Yes, a French twist-off!  A good sign indeed…  Fabulous lemon & grapefruit and well-balanced acidity – the perfect wine for a seafood dish!  I bought both wines at Whole Foods, the Tutto Bene for $11.99 and the Saint-Peyre for $8.99.  Excellent deals on two excellent wines!  Keep an eye out and let me know what you think!  Cheers!

(photo credits: wine.com & secondglass.com)

Ok, down to business!  So this past weekend, as you probably know since I’ve talked about it incessantly, my lovely sister and brother in law came to town for my cousin’s wedding.  Since my parents were at the rehearsal dinner Friday night, I kidnapped my sister and BIL for a little wine tasting action.  To finish off “Six Ways to Sideways – The Merlot Project,” I selected three different bottles of Merlot from around the world.  I looked up some notes online to clue me in to the strength of each wine so that I could order them from softest to most potent, as I feel this is important when tasting multiple wines in a row.  Luckily, my ordering was right on!  So here we go with the first selection:

The Wine:  ”Encore” Merlot by Christian Moueix, 2005.

The Region:  Bordeaux, right bank (Right bank = mostly Merlot, left bank = mostly Cab)

The Results:  This bottle ran us a bit more than usual at $13.99, but it  it was important to me that we incorporated 100% varietal wines from different areas so we could compare and contrast.  And let me tell you, this wine was well worth it!  The few extra years of aging definitely show in the soft fruit and super smooth texture of this wine.   Bright cherry and subtile vanilla with soft tannins, a perfect sipping wine for a summer evening on the terrace.  The wine did not pack too much of a punch overall, so I would not pair it with stronger dishes like a normal Merlot.  This would be great for a mild brie cheese plate, a salad course, or with simple chicken or pork dishes.  I guess I would really pair this wine more as a light Pinot Noir than a Merlot.  So if you’re a big Pinot person looking for something different, you should check this wine out for sure!  How did this rank against the other wines of the evening?  Sorry, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow  :)

PS – You will also have to wait until tomorrow for some pictures, as I tried uploading this morning and the program timed out  :(  My sister looked beautiful, I swear!

Who doesn’t love the little black dress?  Who doesn’t have at least 5 of them in her closet?  An absolute staple, and now an absolutely adorable little French wine!  We received a bottle of Little Black Dress Pinot Noir from my fabulous aunt & uncle and finally opened it up last night to pair with a Greek rice and spinach dish topped with sharp feta cheese.  The smooth pinot held up to the several distinct flavors in the dish without being overpowering (of course this is one of the many reasons why I love pinots!).  Plus, the wine maker itself, Little Black Dress, is pretty darn cute.  They even have instructions on how to host a Little Black Dress Clothing Swap on their website.  Imagine the timing, my friends are hosting a clothing swap this very weekend!  Ladies, you better check this out to make sure we’re following the rules…  So grab a bottle, grab a little black dress, reinvent your closet, and have loads of fun while you’re doing it.  And thanks again to my aunt & uncle for introducing us to this fun, versatile wine!  Cheers!

(photo credit: littleblackdresswines.com)

Argentina – let the day dreaming begin.  The food, the wine, the tango, the wine, the Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals – oh, and did I mention the wine?  I have been in love with Argentina for some time now, and Argentine wines have a lot to do with that.  I mean, look around you!  Every store across the country has a section for wines from Argentina.  Argentine wines have downright exploded!  So what is going on down there?  Here is my little snapshot of the wines of Argentina.

Mendoza Region

First of all, the majority of Argentine wines you will come across will hail from the Mendoza region.  Mendoza is home to several native, lesser-known varietals (those make up the majority of the jug wines from the area), but in recent years Mendoza wine makers have shifted their focus to the cultivation of bigger-name European varietals such as Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, & Chardonnay from France, and Tempranillo from Spain.  Malbec has thrived in the climate of Mendoza, and comparatively Malbec is among the easier grapes to grow, and this is why you’ll see so many Malbecs coming out the region.  Malbec has a very distinct, bold flavor profile.  Now in my opinion, there isn’t a HUGE taste difference from one $8 Malbec to the next.  The more refined Malbec’s in the $15 range will be a bit smoother, but will maintain the traditional fruity palate with hints of plum and blackberry.  The Malbec grape itself is on the smaller side, so it will pack a punch in the tannin department, but won’t be quite as dry as a Cabernet.  This being said, make sure to pair Malbec wines with food or cheese that will stand up to it.  Grilled meats & vegetables are a great choice – it is almost summer after all!  Here are a couple of my favorite Malbec’s if you’d like to give them a try, and if you come across any new Malbec’s please let me know so I can check them out myself!  We ARE going to Argentina for our honeymoon after all, so I must research, right?  Salud!

* Agua de Piedra (also comes in a Reserva which is very nice)

* Alamos

* Dona Paula

Thought it was impossible, eh?  Well, I want to let you know, finding a decent boxed wine is quite possible indeed!  That’s right, I said boxed wine.  After opening the last bottle of nice wine left over from our housewarming party the other night, I wished that I had a better stock of everyday wines on hand so that I could save the nicer bottles for special occasions.  Plus it was the third bottle opened during our late night Godfather marathon, so who really even tastes the wine at that point…  The next day I spotted an adorable little box of wine with a French bistro cartoon on the side.  The wine is produced by J.P. Chenet and it is a Cabernet-Syrah blend.  I was surprised to find an imported wine in a box.  It was labeled as a “Vin de Pays,” or a standard table wine.  Now come on, what is better than enjoying a carafe of unlabeled wine in a dark corner bar in St. Germaine?  You don’t care that you don’t know what the wine is, you just know that it is good enough to be consumed by the French so that means it’s good enough for me.  So I bought a box of this French table wine and decanted about half a liter for a few hours.  Now I can’t say the wine was spectacular.  But that’s just the point!  The wine was smooth and subtle, a great table wine.  Great to have on hand for low-key winter nights at home, I highly recommend you try it out!  Best part – I bought the box for about $18, it is the equivalent of 4 bottles!  Now that’s something we can all get excited about…

Another note about the fantastic wines from Arrogant Frog – They have launched a holiday discount promotion! Find a bottle with the promotional tag and get up to $2 off the bottle. I bought three bottles at $7.99 each, once I get my $6 rebate the price per bottle drops to under six dollars per bottle! A big score. I picked up another bottle of the Lily Pad Noir and decided to try out the Lily Pad Red (Cab/Merlot blend) and the Ribet White (Chardonnay/Viognier blend).   The Lily Pad Red was a little harsh at first, but once we let it breath a bit it was smooth and easy to drink.  I’d recommend this to anyone who enjoys Bordeaux but is looking for something a bit lighter.  The Ribet White was a nice surprise.  It had a sweeter nose (smelled a bit sugary like a Riesling), but had a nice balance of citrus and floral flavors with just a touch of sweetness on the finish.  I’d recommend this to anyone who likes Pinot Grigio, straight Viognier, Albarino or young Chardonnay.   Adorable bottle + tasty wine = Great hostess gift for the holidays!