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Zaca Mesa 2004 Z Cuvee Santa Ynez Valley Red Wine
2007-11-06 03:53:00 Zaca Mesa Winery is located in Santa Ynez Valley on an 750 acre estate whereof 244 acres are planted vineyard. The winery was founded in 1972 and was one of the first in Santa Ynez Valley since the prohibition ended. It was originally planted with varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Chardonnay, Zinfandel, etc. In the early 1990's it was determined that Rhone varietals such as Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, Viognier, and Roussanne grew best on the site, and it was decided that these were the varietals the winery would focus on. Since 2002 an additional 100 acres have been replanted with new clones of Rhone varietals.All grapes used in their wine is grown on their property with sustainable wine growing as the goal.An interesting trivia is that their Syrah was served in the White House by President Clinton to the French President Chirac.The Zaca Mesa 2004 Z Cuvee Santa Ynez Valley Red Wine is a Chateauneuf-du-Pape style blend of Grenache, Mourvedre, Syrah and Cinsaut. Th...
By: Tastes of Life
Foxen 2002 Foothills Reserve Santa Ynez Valley
2007-07-06 03:03:00 The Foxen 2002 Foothills Reserve Santa Ynez Valley is a Bordeaux style, red table wine, made from 44% Cabernet Franc, 41% Merlot, and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon.It has a deep, dark, red/purple color in the glass and provides dark cherries and currant with spice on the nose. On the palate, dark cherries, prune, black currant, and a hint of lingonberry and peppery spice shows off. Moderate acidity and firm tannins carries the dark fruit and berries into a long finish. It shows great fruit throughout but also has a nice structure.A good effort from Foxen! I had this bottle with friends and we all enjoyed it. I thought it would be hard to get a hold of but there are several web sites that carries it. Best deal was at Wine-Searcher.com from $31.05.Vote for my blog here and help me stay in top 10 on The Blog Top! I have finally reached top 10 and I am now striving to reach top 5!
By: Tastes of Life
Rideau Vineyard In-Circle Cellar Club, Iris' Estate, Bon Temps Vineyard Syr
2007-05-20 04:02:00 We bought this wine when visiting Rideau Vineyard last summer. I pulled it from the wine fridge tonight anticipating a good match with the BBQ flank steak and Santa Maria style salsa I was preparing.This wine has a dense, dark, inky purple color in the glass. Looking at the color you expect massive dark fruit and berries, and it sure delivers. Greeting you is a big punch of black pepper, dark berries and black currant. Sipping it, the ripe, dark fruit hits you again with a hint of vanilla. Big, soft tannins and black berries finishes this wine.This is a voluptuous, big, maybe even huge, naught, naught syrah. But oh so good!It worked to a certain extent with our meal. The pepper and big body was perfect, but it was a bit to ripe and fruity. Still, we had a great meal and a great wine. Perfect match or not....Robert Parker gave this wine 90 points. I bought it for $58 at the winery. Searching the web I could not find it for sale. If you do run across it, grab a bottle or two. It is wo...
By: Tastes of Life
Rideau Vineyard
2007-02-20 04:13:00 Rideau Vineyard Tasting RoomDuring our weekend in Santa Barbara we took a little trip up to Santa Ynez Valley to do some wine tasting. Our favorite during this tour was Rideau Vineyard which was founded in 1997 by New Orleans native, Iris Rideau (at photo to the left). The tasting room is a historical 2 story Adobe built in 1884. Through the years it has served as stagecoach stop, a famous inn, a guest ranch, and a working ranch. Iris Rideau bought it in 1995, after the property had sat abandoned for 10 years, and restored it to it's current condition.The estate grows exclusively Rhone varietals and we decided to do the Reserve tasting at a $15 cost per person.The first pour was the 2006 Estate Viognier. It has not been bottled yet so this was a futures sample. Cloudy due to coming straight from the barrel this was a nice Viognier but a little bit to fruity and sweet for my taste. After this we got to taste the 2005 Estate Viognier. A year in the bottle makes a huge difference and ...
By: Tastes of Life
Video: Authentic Swedish Meatballs
2007-02-14 05:44:00 Today I've taken a new turn with my video blogging. I am showing you how to make my grandma Elsa's, authentic Swedish Meatballs. I've taken a few steps to make them a little bit more healthy without sacrificing to much taste. These are the meatballs I grew up with and that I am now making for all of my friends, and everybody loves them (or so they tell me...). Check it out, cook up a batch of your own, and serve them with the traditional Swedish sides.Episode 8: Cooking Swedish MeatballsSwedish Meatball RecipeMix together in a bowl:1/2 lb ground beef1/2 lb ground porkHalf a yellow onion, finely chopped1 egg5 tbs plain bread crumbs1 tbs watersalt and white pepper to tasteWork mixture together with hands. Form and roll into round, small, balls. Place on plate, cover with plastic, and refrigerate for 30 min. Remove from fridge and pan fry with butter in skillet on medium/high until nice, dark brown on all sides. Transfer to bowl and cover with foil to keep warm.Pour water or milk in...
By: Tastes of Life
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