Amy S.

Francophile dreaming of Lyon. Helping people notice their alcohol since 2009.

[amy-ess-blog]

WINE REVIEW: 2014 Bird Song Hill Vineyards Riesling

Region: Columbia Valley, Washington

Price: $11.99 at Total Wine

ABV: 12.4%

Sight: straw yellow

Smell: mango, very ripe banana, fresh mint

Taste: mango, orange, pineapple, apple, semi-sweet 

Overall: This Riesling is candy. On the nose, fresh, ripe tropical fruit aromas are garnished by a whiff of cool mint. On the sip, it’s light-bodied, but its rounded sweetness pushes it in the direction of medium-bodied (a teetering 3.5 on a 1-10 scale).  The mango and dangerously ripe banana carry over gracefully from the nose to the palate, joined by a splash of acidity from a Navel orange and the sweetness of extracted candy pineapple (read: piña colada Dum-Dum).  The finish transforms into the lingering flavor of a Golden Delicious apple.  

I don’t love this wine--for me to tolerate residual sugar, I’d like for it to clean up after itself, but this one doesn’t quite do it.  That sticky sweetness hangs around.  The best Rieslings use more acidity to balance out all that dessert--they hit you with a whole mess of sweetness, but then scour your palate clean with relentless acidity, and you feel fresh enough to take the next sip.  

This one is just over the line of being too sweet for my personal liking; however, if you are a Moscato fan and are looking to change things up a little, or you want to have an option in-house for any potentially sweet-toothed guests, the $12 you’d spend on this bottle buys you an intensity of flavor that is nothing to scoff at.  It’s not one of those wines that I think everyone should try, especially since there are so many good Washington Rieslings out there around the same price--but if you know your audience, there’s still a chance that this one could be a hit.

[amy-ess-blog]

WINE REVIEW: 2011 Bulgariana Cabernet Sauvignon

Region: Thracian Valley, Bulgaria

Price: $10.99 at Total Wine

ABV: 14%

Varietals: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon

Sight:  blackish garnet

Smell:  mint, cherry, licorice

Taste:  vanilla, cherry candy, acidity, cardamom, medium-bodied

Overall:  Was 2011 a good year for Bulgarian wine?  Who even knows?  I bought this wine for the novelty alone.  Bulgaria is near Serbia, Macedonia, Romania, Turkey, and Greece, and I have never heard of a wine from this country before.  It pours quite dark, with red fruits and an herby-spicy aroma featuring a notablre whiff of licorice.  On the sip, it echos more red fruits with a round vanilla flavor, finishing with moderate acidity and a spicy note.  There is something a little flat or wilty about how this wine feels on the palate.  It is very mild, even soft-spoken.  Fortunately, it remains smooth, and the spice on it is nice and warm.  This is definitely a casual wine, fit for a casual meal.  You can count in it not overpowering what you're eating.  This is a nice product out of Bulgaria  Pleasant, solid.  I look forward to more Bulgarian wines appearing on the map.

[amy-ess-blog]

WINE REVIEW: Foss Marai Roos Brut

Région :  Veneto, Italie

Prix : $17.99 à Total Wine

Degré d'alcool :  12%

Genre : spumante rosato et brut

Visuel : rosé, saumon

Olfactif : fraise, mandarine, citron

Goût : fraise, mandarine, citron, citron vert, celeri, concombre

Sommaire :  Voilà un spumante très sec; c'est un vrai brut.  Ce vin-ci a toute la joie d'un jardin au printemps qui n'est pas encore mûr.  L'agrume du bouquet est l'héraut parfait de beaucoup d'acidité au palais.  C'est si aimablement aigre qu'il me fait penser d'une vinaigrette.  Des échos des légumes vertes détruisent l'attente qu'un spumante va être toujours doux.  Il y a beaucoup d'agrume et la sauveur d'une fraise qui est à peine mûre.  C'est un vin de printemps et des aliments frais.  Servez bien froid avec le sushi, une salade verte, ou les crudités.

[amy-ess-blog]

Birdsong Brewing St Tuber Abbey Ale

Region: Charlotte, North Carolina

ABV:  7.2%

Style:  Dubbel

Sight:  hazy bronzy mud-brown

Smell:  aromatically challenged, sweet caramel

Taste:  banana, butterscotch, sweet, coriander, clean finish

Overall:  This is a cute candy of a Belgian ale.  I very much enjoy rather than scoff at its unabashed simplicity.  My only complaint is that there isn't much of a nose on it--it has a faint sweet smell, so faint that you doubt whether or not you're actually smelling anything at all.  However on the sip, it has an intensely saturated flavor.  All your luxuriously extracted malty favorites are there: caramel, butterscotch, toffee--all rich and sweet.  Fruity banana esters and a hint of coriander round it out.  It's medium-bodied and leaning towards light, not overly boozy, and it finishes fresh and clean.  For all the sweet flavors, it doesn't leave a sticky, gloopy aftertaste.  It's not a change-your-life beer, but it's accessible and sure of itself.  Would recommend with pork or pumpkin pie.

Also, if you haven't noticed yet, some of the Total Wines in Charlotte now have growler stations.  (Relatively new thing--just over a year ago, North Carolina changed its laws to make this possible for a retail establishment.)  They make a point to connect you to a lot of good local brews--you can get 32 or 64 ounce fills at a great price.  Check it out!

[amy-ess-blog]

2013 Apothic Dark Limited Release

Region: California (presumably Lodi)

Price: $12

ABV: 13%

Varietals: Petite Sirah, Teroldego*, Cabernet Sauvignon

Sight:  opaque black, neon fuschia rim

Smell:  blackberry, sweet blueberry, slightly burnt chocolate cake, Raisin Bran

Taste: full body, black currant jam, baked blueberries, velvety tannins, raisins, chocolate mousse

Overall:  The color alone is ridiculous--they weren't kidding when they called this Dark.  It looks like one part blueberry syrup, two parts ink.  It is absolutely opaque black, except for a fuchsia, crushed velvet ring around the edge of the wine.  The unfathomable blackness lends to an illusion of intense viscosity.  Everything about this wine's appearance is brazenly announcing that this is some rich, thick juice.

It doesn't smell like too many things--mainly dark fruits and dessert. There is a whiff of something like the crispy, slightly burnt bits you get on the edges of the pan after you've baked a chocolate cake, complimented by jammy blueberry filling, blackberry, and some Raisin Bran for good measure.  It isn't cloyingly sweet, but it does smell very ripe.

On the sip, it is astounding.  I mean, jeezy creezy, for a $12 bottle, this wine feels huge.  I took one sip and felt full, as if a couple of ounces of liquid could actually be dense enough to be dinner.  Ripe, dark berries coat the palate, while smooth and dark-but-not-too-dark chocolate emerges and lingers long into the finish.  As the tannins give your mouth a little squeeze, the wine seems to expand.  The Petite Sirah is obvious in the shadowy power at play here, but it isn't acting as angry or abrasive as it often does.  It's hefty, and it's brash, but it isn't spicy or earthy as I expected it to be.  Instead, it's sort of like that big, mean-looking dude it took you forever to finally talk to, but now you're friends, because you realized he actually has a sense of humor, a heart of gold... and he gives great hugs.

I especially like that this wine can be decadent and saturated with dessert-like flavors, but it doesn't veer off into being superficial and sweet, and more importantly, it doesn't lose the delectable, mouth-watering acidity that comes naturally to most grapes.

This is a dangerous wine because you'll want to just keep sipping at it.  Apothic brand, after your earlier efforts (Apothic Red, Apothic White...) I did not expect to respect you so much.  Kudos to you for producing something so indulgently delicious with such gravitas and dare I say dignity.

Now my only regret in life is that at this present moment, I lack a bar of chocolate...

*Teroldego is an Italian grape, widely grown in Trentino, dry, and somewhat comparable to Zinfandel, only with higher acidity.

[amy-ess-blog]

WINE REVIEW: 2013 19 Crimes Red Wine

Region:  South Eastern Australia

Price:  ~$10

ABV:  13%

Varietal:  Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Pinot Noir

Sight:  dark ruby, violet, somewhat translucent

Smell: bubble gum, strawberry, cherry, spearmint, strong alcohol

Taste:  crackling alcohol, stale grape Juicy Juice, strawberry jelly, cherry Charms Blow Pop

Overall:  This wine catches light like a ruby.  Redder towards the center, it transitions into a purpley fuchsia hue towards the edges.  On the sniff, there are whiffs of jammy red berries with a hint of bubble gum and exaggerated mint.  The alcohol is not so well hidden, as a whiff of it is over-powering and almost singes the nose hairs.  The wine smells so boozy and out of balance that I could easily believe that somehow all the alcohol in the glass was sitting in a thick layer on top of the wine, like oil on water.  Fearing a disjointed, over-extracted blend, I was wary of the first sip.  

Rightly so.

This wine has an artificially full body, 'roided up on an overbearing alcohol presence.  It burns.  If you can chew through the dense, curtainy texture, you get to a juicy red berry filling, but not in a pleasant way--it tastes like a grape Juicy Juice juice box left sitting out to bake in the sun on a playground bench at two in the afternoon on a Saturday in July while the kids forget about it and obsess over the swirly slide.  The awkward staleness is only accentuated by the uncomfortable warmth brought on by the obnoxious, close-talking alcohol.

Following the over-sweet, over-extracted Juicy Juice flavor is a double-punch attack of Smuckers strawberry jelly and a possibly-past-its-expiration-date cherry Blow Pop.  In the place of drinking this wine, the residual flavor (I dare not call it a "finish") and the sick-to-your-stomach feeling it leaves as its legacy could be easily achieved by eating your body weight in red and purple Now-and-Laters the night of Halloween.

As is the case with many wines on the grocery store shelves, more thoughtful consideration was apparently given to the label and the marketing than to the balance of the wine.  Sorry that my return to wine reviews is heralded by such a downer.  I hope to have better luck with my next bottle...

[amy-ess-blog]

BEER REVIEW: French Broad 13 Rebels ESB

Region: Asheville, NC

ABV: 5.2%

Style: Extra Special/Strong Bitter

Sight: amber

Smell: bread dough, toasted pine nut, cinnamon, earth

Taste: toast, spicy, yellow pepper, peanut

Overall: ESB!  This is the first beer of this style that I'm reviewing ever--I can't imagine why, though.  I mean, what isn't absolutely irresistible about something that describes itself as an Extra Strong Bitter?  If that doesn't sound just perfectly charming, I don't know what does...  

It starts off with the smell of rising bread dough and a prominent nuttiness, like when I'm toasting pine nuts for pesto or something.  A hint of spice emerges with some earthiness from the hops.  On the palate, the nuttiness continues like peanuts roasted in their skins, and the flavor of bread turns to toast--delicious, white bread toast.  No butter, no jam; just toast.  Also the tangy bitterness of the inside of a crisp, sweet, yellow bell pepper jumps right up and catapults off of the finish.  I'd say this has got great balance--spicy hops, bready malts, and vegetal-borderline-fruity esters make a lively, albeit savory, trio.

[amy-ess-blog]

“Drink a glass of wine, as Scientific American notes, and you materially alter the number and types of proteins at large in your system. This is a pleasant feature for drinkers, but not nearly so helpful for geneticists for trying to understand what is going on.”

Bill Bryson: A Short History of Nearly Everything

[goodbottlecompany]

Come meet @rangeralex from @newbegium and register to win the fat tire cruiser. TONIGHT. Also shift, rampant and imp coffee chocolate on tap (at Good Bottle Company)

[amy-ess-blog]

DOUBLE FEATURE: Neumarkter Lammsbräu Organic Pilsner & Dunkel

LAMMSBRÄU ORGANIC PILSNER  Region:  Neumarkt, Bavaria, Germany Price: $9.99/4-pk at Total Wine Style: Pilsner ABV: 4.8% Sight: hazy lemon yellow, speckly carbonation Smell: weed, white grapefruit, straw Taste: citrus, cantaloupe, sweet rolls, straw, grassy hops Overall: Organic and Reinheitsgebot-ready, this is a classic, clean, archetypal pilsner that you could confidently offer to anyone that asks “What does a German pilsner taste like?”  That suspiciously… “how-do-you-say… herbal?”, slightly skunky aroma that may or may not remind you of a certain type of college apartment (we all had that friend) is there to greet you, as I find with most pilsners (the ever-present reminder that hops are indeed in the cannabis family).  It’s accented attractively with white grapefruit in the top notes and doughy bread as the mellow base, with a waft of hay.  The carbonation is at the level of about how bubbly club soda feels after it’s been mixed—not super aggressive, but not creamy either.  On the palate, the nuance of weed fades completely, replaced by rounder fruits (melon), sweeter bready malts (think of the rolls they serve at O’Charley’s), and a fresh, grassy hop on the finish.  Crisp and clean as a pilsner should be, this is definitely one to remember to resurrect once summer rolls around. LAMMSBRÄU ORGANIC DUNKEL  Region: Neumarkt, Bavaria, Germany Price: $9.99/4-pk at Total Wine Style: Dunkel Munich Lager ABV: 4.8% Sight: rust Smell: cinnamon pinwheel, molasses, blonde roast, wet earth Taste: cinnamon pinwheel, toasted pine nut Overall:  Also an organic proponent of the Reinheitsgebot, this beer really makes me feel like I’m drinking one of these:  Aroma-wise, it smells like a bakery—cinnamon pastries and gingerbread accented with Starbucks’ blonde roast.  There is a base note of damp earth—here “earth” is no euphemism for something stinky and manure-like; I really mean “earth” as in how potting soil smells, or the forest floor after a rain.  On the palate, that gooey, nutty cinnamon pinwheel definitely dominates.  Cinnamon, dough, and a pronouncedly toasty nuttiness cover the bases on this medium-bodied dunkel.  This is smooth, somewhat mellow, and something different-but-not-too-crazy that you could easily get your Yuengling, Fat Tire, or Samuel Adams people to branch out into.  It would also make a great dinner beer for any grilled or roasted proteins you may be serving (especially pork or beef).

[amy-ess-blog]

BEER REVIEW: New Belgium (ft. Boon) Lips of Faith Transatlantique Kriek

Region: Belgium & Colorado

Price: $10.99/22-oz at Total Wine

Style: Fruit beer

Sight: clear ruby, cotton candy pink circlet

Smell: fresh-picked cherry, Pinot Noir, purple or red Flintstones vitamins

Taste: dark Hudson cherries, dry rosé, spice cake

Overall:  My very simple understanding of this undertaking in the Lips of Faith series is that a cherry lambic from Old Belgium blended with a non-cherry ale at New Belgium.  Right from the pour this beer is absolutely gorgeous.  It's a glass full of my birthstone--ruby--with a wide column of fine, miniscule bubbles floating silently but expediently from the depths to the surface. As a whole, it looks so clean, clear, and unflawed that it's as if someone found a perfectly smooth, solid, oval ruby, and happened to have a piece of glassware that fit it like a glove.  Stunning--I honestly don't know if I've ever looked upon a prettier beer.  I'm sure, however, you're also interested in its personality, so I'll move on to the aromas...

Something about this smells just like a Pinot Noir--bright acid and tart red fruit.  The cherry note is very fresh, barely ripe, right off the tree.  Funny enough, there is also a snap of something that recalls the Flintstones vitamins I'd crunch on my way to elementary school--specifically the red and purple ones.  

There is no candy and nothing artificial on the palate whatsoever.  If you're used to your cherry lambics being sweet, look again--New Belgium has fine-tuned a tastefully dry blend here.  It tastes like a cherry fruit chew; not the fake plasticky kinds like Life Savers or Gummy Bears, but rather the responsible-school-lunch varieties you never fully appreciated for their nutritional value--the ones made from 100% real fruit juice and little else.  The cherry flavor is very real and unadulterated; it doesn't taste too far off from the dark cherries we keep on the table at home.  

There's a protean maturity at play here that I really admire; somewhere this beer crosses a line and acheives wine-like complexities and flavors.  I'll go ahead call it "vinous"--but not in a heavy Port or busty Cabernet kind of way.  It drinks like the dry rosés of Provence: light- to medium-bodied, fresh red fruit flavors, zero residual sugar, especially satisfying during spring and summer months.  It's satisfyingly circular that this beer has traveled all the way across the Atlantic to America, only to bring me right back across the Atlantic to the South of France.

I don't think I can recommend this highly enough.

Pair this with a bagel & cream cheese to achieve maximum deliciousness.

[amy-ess-blog]

BEER REVIEW: Boulevard Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale

 Region: Kansas City, Missouri Price: $9.99/4-pk at Total Wine Style: Farmhouse/Saison ABV: 8% Sight: cloudy marigold, sudsy crown Smell: white grapefruit, orange rind, ginger, coriander, nutmeg Taste: citrus, yellow cake, herbal, ginger, cinnamon Overall: Even with a slow pour, Tank 7 is super-easily agitated and very quickly stacks up a very loose, soapy foam.  Huge carbonation happening right off the bat.  The smell of a saison takes me straight back to summer—I was drinking saisons ALL the time.  As cold as it is outside, I wish it were summer, so already this beer is very dear to me.  On the sip, this is probably the least-herbal saison I’ve ever had—the flavor of yellow cake introduces borderline sweetness right at the center of the palate.  There’s a little bit of an aromatic herbal quality that chimes in like thyme or basil, but it mostly veers towards spice-cake spices: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg.  Grapefruit and orange citrus notes keep this light and airy .  Surprisingly, the carbonation doesn’t scratch and claw its way across the tongue, but rather softens and rounds out quite pleasantly with little more than a reassuring tingle.

[amy-ess-blog]

TASTING NOTE: 2011 Arindo Rueda Verdejo

Region: Rueda, Spain

Price: $13.99 at Total Wine

Sight: pale daffodil yellow

Smell: lemon drop, pineapple, piña colada, flowers

Taste: pineapple, wet rock, green and white Smarties, flowers, mango, medium-bodied

Overall:  What a success.  Out of 8,000 different wines in the store where I work, this is consistently one of my top go-to recommendations for a winning bottle of white wine.  Verdejo is a grape out of Spain--a lesser-known, cheerful, spring-and-summer white; one that could play the adorable little sister to the opulent, languid whites of the French Rhône.  Citrusy and tropical, but not so zesty as a Sauvignon Blanc, Verdejo tends to be a little fuller, slightly rounded, with only a hum of minerality.

Arindo smells like a vase of summer florals, candied lemon, and piña colada.  On the palate, a wave of pineapple rolls through, steeped with daisies and lime candy.  Stony minerality adds some shading and lends to a clean finish, which is basically a sun-kissed meadow of wildflowers, a hint of tart candy, and a touch of mango.  The most incredible thing about this wine in its entirety is the balance.  There are no sharp edges or jarring soprano notes; in fact, I would describe this wine as an alto.  It sits in the same warm range as a cello.  Not too deep or heavy, but still somewhat low.

As an added bonus, the rich, deep-set tropical fruits combined with the just-enough acidity of a mere suggestion of citrus actually make this wine a great partner to some surprising foods.  Foods like bacon burgers, pizza, or pastas in red sauce that you might associate with red wine may actually be a spectacular companion for your Verdejo.  Again I say, do not underestimate the white wine.  Try it for yourself!

[amy-ess-blog]

PAIRING: Breakfast (Brunch) & Moa Breakfast

MOA BREAKFAST

Region: New Zealand

Price: $18.99/4-pk at Total Wine

Style: Fruit Beer

ABV: 5.5%

Sight: slightly cloudy yellow-amber, steady carbonation

Smell: cherry Tums, grape juice, yeast, sunscreen

Taste: witbier, Capri Sun, cherry Tums, slightly bitter

Overall:  Brewed with Nelson hops and cherry juice, this oddball little "breakfast" beer is just the style you'd want if you're starting early.  It pours with a fluffy white crown, presents understated fruit aromas, and carries itself with a light, almost creamy softness.  It tastes mostly like a gourmet witbier, decorated very modestly with faint candied cherry flavors.  Texturally, the yeast lends a little chalkiness, which combined with the cherry flavor, reminds me a cherry-flavored antacid.  On the finish, the beachy aroma of sunscreen wafts through, which is puzzling but not undesirable.  It's an easy beer, and it especially steps up to the plate when actually paired with toast & eggs.  It turns unbelievably fresh, and at only 5.5%, Moa Breakfast is careful not to ruin your day.

[amy-ess-blog]

BEER REVIEW: Stone Enjoy By 4.1.13 IPA

Region: Escondido, California

Price: $7.49 at Total Wine

Style: Imperial IPA

ABV: 9.4%

Sight: furious carbonation, orange amber

Smell: hay, weed, pine

Taste: resinous, biscuit, basil, pine, tangerine

Overall:  Sweet baby Jesus.  A giant wet haybale, bundled pine needles, and a thick haze of weed smoke shriek out of the glass like some kind of hysterical disaster signal.  ("M'aidez. M'aidez.  We have been bodily crushed by a crap ton of hops.")  It's very intimidating, and at first whiff I'm nearly stunned, and I have to take a second to get it together because now I have to go in... 

I have to say, once it's on the palate, it's not as spiky as it smells.  A squelched, buttered dinner biscuit is the only hint of malt as far as the eye can see; from there on out, it's all hops.  Super-mega-fresh hops.  It hits all the big hop notes with a very heavy, very certain fist.  Evergreen.  Herbals. Citrus.  West Coast IPAs are not normally my style, but if I get to drink one, I'm glad it's this one.  It's a titan, and it has a good, expressive arc. Garden basil strikes first, then a grove of pine trees, and then a surprisingly fleshy and supple tangerine finish.  I'm not even going to broach the subject of balance since this is clearly not the point, but I do want to say that I think this is a game-changer, and I'm really happy for all of you who got to try this, which I think is clawing its way to the top to be the emperor of the Imperial IPA category.

(I also want to mention that this is the best label design I've ever seen from Stone.  A masterpiece in itself.  Props.)

[amy-ess-blog]

LET-DOWN OF THE MONTH: STIEGL SALZBURGER LAGER.

Tastes like stale Fig Newtons.

[amy-ess-blog]

TASTING NOTE: Santi Nello Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore

Region: Valdobbiadene, Prosecco

Price: $14.99 at Total Wine

Sight: pale, almost clear in color, very busy bubbles

Smell: pear, lime, sugar cookie, cream

Taste: pear, green apple, toast, lime finish

Overall: This Prosecco is pale--but in color only.  It exuberantly bursts with personality the second it hits the glass.  The supercharged bubbles race to the top and form a crowded bead halo around the top of the drink.  Bright aromas of pear, green apple, and lime invite you in, with a bakery bass note of sugar cookies and cream.  These same flavors swirl across the palate, while the scratchy carbonation rolls with an attractive tension all the way through.  The orchard fruits lead the way to a dense core of brut toastiness; then zesty Persian lime finishes with a sweeping gesture.  This Prosecco can easily run with the best Crémants of France, and at just over $15, it will bring you the elegance of the true Champagne you covet--without the hefty price tag.