Partagas Aristocrat

Recently I was browsing the humidor at the ABC store that we frequent, and noticed that they had these Partagas Aristocrats on clearance for half-price. Having not smoked a Partagas in a number of years, I was happy to pick up a couple and finally got around yesterday to firing one up.

The first thing that I noticed was that this seems like a fairly tight cigar. Once it got going it burned just fine though so I'm not sure why. The burn was even and not too hot. The cigar was a little more robust than I remembered, with notes of cedar, some spice and just a hint of caramel on the finish. It was well wrapped with a firm and slightly oily skin.

At $5 a stick, this was a darn good smoke.

Length - 6"

Ring Gauge - 50

Shape - Torpedo

Cheers!

2007 Finca El Portillo Malbec

It is all too easy to fall into the trap of writing about wines that we either loved or that we strongly disliked. It is also fairly easy to forgot about the vast majority of wines out there that are just okay - neither memorable nor regrettable. Let's face it, most wines out there today are realistically in this middle ground.

If you follow the scores of the likes of Robert Parker or Wine Spectator (disclaimer: we do read both, but seldom really pay attention to their numerical scores) then you'll note that a lot of what they are reviewing is in that 80-90 point range. Good, but not great and also not bad. And that is the way the it should be, in my opinion. I mean, seriously, they can't all be 90+ points can they?

This is one of these wines that aptly fits into this category. While it was good, it certainly didn't wow us. And the good news is that it was not terrible either. The nose and palate both had a pretty heavy earthiness, and was balanced by some plum and black cherry fruit. The finish was tannic, with hints of vanilla. It was medium-bodied, with a mild and short finish.

So, for $12 or thereabouts we had a couple of glasses of wine and are ready to move on to the next tasting.

Cheers!

2005 Pigs in the Sky Shiraz

Those crazy Aussies... who dreams up the names of these wines I wonder? What in the heck is up with "Pigs in the Sky"? Well, according to the back label there was some skepticisim about this wine being produced; i.e. "when pigs fly"... so when it actually did get produced, that became the name of the wine. In any event, I am awfully glad that it did get produced because it is a great deal for a fantastic wine.

The nose was full of black cherry fruit and a sweet smokiness. On the front palate, the cherry was predominant but it was quickly followed with pepper spice, sweet vanilla oak and a touch of herbs. It did finish a little bit hot, which was startling as it only comes in at 14% AbV.

This was $8.99 and worth every penny. The only reason I'm not marking it as an everyday wine is that I've only seen it once. If I start noticing it more often, then I may come back and update this.

For the past couple of weeks, we have been travelling a lot for some unexpected reasons and in addition I've had a cold, which severely limits our ability to do much tasting. Hopefully we are now settled in for a while and over the cold so look for some more frequent updates in the near future.

Cheers!

2006 Ravenswood Zen of Zin Zinfandel

You have to love a winery whose motto is "No Wimpy Wines". And fortunately, this is one that actually lives up to its motto. Ravenswood makes a range of Zinfandels (32 are available on their website!) from single vineyard to good quality everday bottlings like this one. I did find it somewhat odd that I could not find any information at all about this on their website and there do not seem to be tons of reviews out in cyberspace either.

Which is a darn shame because this is a seriously good, inexpensive everyday red wine! I know that the 2007 has already been released, but our local ABC is still carrying the 2006 so that's what we are currently drinking. It may time to lay in a case.

This has a lot of opulent blackberry on both the nose and front palate, but it does not come across as fruit forward. It is medium bodied for a zinfandel, but still packs lots of character. The black pepper spice stands up and smacks you at first, but then settles into a supporting role to tame the fruit. A touch of oak and tannin rounds it out on the finish.

This also isn't a massive alcohol bomb like some zinfandel can be (do you really need 15.9% or above AbV?) -- it comes in at a solid 13.5%.

With a moderate finish you are left wanting perhaps a bit more, but at $9.99 a bottle you can always open a second one! Cheers!

Lucky Pelican Bistro - Lakewood Ranch, FL

We've been having lunch at the Lucky Pelican Bistro on a fairly regular basis and I was surprised to see that I hadn't written anything up about it -- serious oversight on my part! We've only been for lunch, but they also serve dinner as well as offer a fresh seafood market.

We've had both the calamari and the bacon wrapped scallop poppers as appetizers, and they are both very good.

Allison has pretty much settled on the fish tacos for her entree -- with grilled fish rather than fried. There are two pretty substantial tacos accompanied by a vinegar based coleslaw.

I've had a couple of different dishes: the fish and chips, oyster po boy and the daily lunch grill (I had salmon). All have been very good, but I haven't settled on a favorite yet.

Since we've only had lunch, we haven't partaken of the wine list yet but it appears to be pretty solid -- we noticed one couple with a bottle of Sonoma Cutrer Chardonnay!

The prices are pretty reasonable, and the service is good although at times a little slow since there are generally only 2 people for several tables.

Cheers!

Vertori's Pizza House - Bradenton, FL

Vertori's Pizza House

6830 14th Street West (US Highway 41)

Bradenton, FL 34207

Allison has been looking for a good lasagna ever since we moved from Birmingham, or more than a year! She had been wanting to try Vertori's, so last night we got take out from there. She finally got her lasagna, and said it was extremely good. It appeared to be a good sized portion, and had lots of cheese and sauce. Served with a small salad and garlic bread, it was a perfect meal for her.

I have a bit of a head cold, and just wanted something simple so went with a sirloin steak salad. This was a big salad, with romaine lettuce, tomatoes, red onion, bell peppers, pepperoncinis and gorgonzola topped with sirlion steak cooked to order. I had them hold the cheese and the steak was medium. Perfect!

Vertori's has a pretty extensive menu, with lots of pizza choices as well as other typical Italian dishes, a range of salads, subs and desserts. The prices are pretty reasonable considering the quality and quantity of food. From the outside it doesn't look like much -- it is in a pretty old strip mall -- but inside looking very inviting with a good number of tables and some Italian music playing in the background. Definitely will be worth trying again.

Cheers!

Long Island Wine Dinner @ Lido Beach Grille

Allison and I had the opportunity last night to attend a wine dinner at the Lido Beach Grille last night featuring a menu of Long Island inspired food and Long Island wines. We've been looking forward to this for a couple of weeks.

First, the wines. We were tasting Bedell Cellars wines from Cutchogue, Long Island. They had three different bottles there, and we tasted two of the three:

2007 Taste White

This was an interesting blend of 58% Chardonnay, 16% Sauvignon Blanc, 15% Viognier and 11% Gewurztraminer. The nose revealed a sharp acidity and floral overtones, notably jasmine. On the palate there was a lot of citrus, melon and green apples. It was somewhat medium bodied, with a hint of sweetness and spice. A very good summer white. The tasting sheet noted the price at $49/bottle, so I'm guessing it would be $20-25 retail.

2006 Taste Red

Another blend, this one is 56% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon and 19% Syrah. On the nose there was a lot of bright fruit which at first scared us, but the palate was well balanced between plum and cherry, with notes of cocoa, bell pepper and finished with an earthy oak. The tannins were somewhat gritty on the finish.

The third wine, which we didn't taste was listed as 2005 Musee but the website is showing information for the 2006, so I'm not sure which one was actually being poured.

The menu was 3 courses - appetizer, entree and dessert - and included:

Appetizers

• Fresh field greens with roasted chestnuts, farmers goat cheese fritters, grilled strawberries and shaved fennel minted strawberry vinaigrette
• Shinnecock Quahog chowder, a tomato based thick and chunky clam chowder

We both had the chowder, and it was very good even though I'm not a big fan of tomato based chowders. There were lots of chunky tomators and clams in a tomato broth full of herbs. It was presented in a deep bowl accentuated with a clam shell in the center. This was probably the best part of the meal for both of us.

Entrees

• Line caught wild striped bass with horseradish potato crust, served with light lemon-herb butter and fresh long island vegetables
• Roasted Long Island duckling with three berry reduction, corn pudding and brussels sprouts
• Stuffed Montauk flounder with Peconic Bay blue crab claw meat and Robins Island oysters and fresh Long Island Vegetables

Allison went with the flounder and thought that it was just okay. The presentation was great, but the flavors didn't seem to really complement each other that well and the fish tasted fairly fishy. I had the bass, and thought too that it was a bit fishy for my taste. The potato crust was excellent however.

Desserts

• Cutchague strawberry shortcake with fresh whipped cream
• Wickams Farms apple strudel

I went with the shortcake, and while it was good it really tasted a lot like Sara Lee. The cream was very fresh and light. Allison had one bite of her strudel and proclaimed that it was not very good. No one commented or asked her why she didn't eat it which was a serious oversight in our opinion.

So, we were less than impressed with this dinner overall. The wines were very good, and depending on pricing we would probably buy one or both of them retail. However, there were several issues with the dinner that made the whole evening somewhat of a bust for us. First, there was only one glass of wine included with the dinner. Granted, it was a full glass and not just a tasting portion, but I would have rather paid a little bit more and gotten both the white and red. Also, the third wine (Musee) was only available by the bottle and was $94! The next thing that was annoying was the fact that they had one table for 10 (which was a group) and the rest of the tables were for 2 or 4 --- so we sat by ourselves. One of the reasons we enjoy going to these events is to meet and interact with people. I know a lot of restaurants automatically include gratuity on large parties, although I'm not entirely sure that I agree with that policy, but I didn't find that the service approached being worth the 20% that they tacked on. Finally, the manager who was working, and said that she had a hand in putting this together, immediately sloughed off any responsibility when we made a constructive comment to her.

Bottom line is that we enjoyed trying some new wines but the restaurant experience was sorely lacking. We don't plan on returning to Lido Beach Grille.

Cheers!

2007 Beringer Founder's Estate Pinot Grigio

We recently liked the Beringer Founder's Estate Sauvignon Blanc a lot, but the local ABC did not have this in stock so we elected to try the Pinot Grigio. Our advice is to stick with the Sauvignon Blanc.

The nose was a massive bouquet of candied apple with a hint of kiwi and stonefruit. On the palate it was not as bad as the nose would indicate, but neither was it that great either. Hints of melon and peach, with some odd caramel sort of intermingled throughout. It seemed a little edgy, and nothing really pulled it all together.

This was on sale for $7.99 (regularly $8.99), but I think that we'll pass on it in the future.

Cheers!

2007 Agricola Castellana Cuatro Rayas Verdejo

This was an interesting Spanish white that we picked up the other day. Very crisp, with a slightly mineralized nose. The palate was light, with green apples and fresh cut grass with a hint of fennel on the finish. The finish was about average.

Good summer wine that would pair nicely with fish. $12.99/bottle seems to be a pretty reasonable price for this one.

I know that we've not been posting much the past couple of weeks, mainly due to two things - we've had some crazy travel plans the past couple of weekends and we have been drinking a lot of old, familar friends. In the next couple of weeks though we have 2 wine dinners we are attending, the monthly Michael's Wine Cellar tasting this weekend and we probably will hit a restaurant or two so be sure to check back and see what we've been up to!

Cheers!

2002 Campo Viejo Gran Reserva Rioja

Not too long ago, I wrote about the 2004 Camp Viejo Reserva Rioja which we loved. We spotted this Gran Reserva the other day so decided to compare it. We paid $16.99, which is $4 more than the regular price of the Reserva which is a very, very good spread... often, Gran Reserva's can easily be $10-15 more.

Remember that a Gran Reserva is aged a minimum of 5 years (2 in oak and 3 in bottle) as opposed to just 3 years (at least 1 in oak) for a Reserva level. So, by law there is double the amount of time in oak and 67% more total aging -- though in practice, many reservas are aged longer in oak and more than 3 years. In any event, there should be appreciable differences between the two -- a Gran Reserva should taste older, and generally will show more vanilla, oak and tannin but still be a bit more subdued because of the extra aging. Generally!

So, what did we find? In looking back we thought that the Reserva was more fruit forward than we expected. This was also somewhat true of the Gran Reserva but the fruit was less fresh. Plum was predominate followed closely by black cherry. There was definitely more a rustic earthiness to this one. And the tannins were much more discrete than they were in the Reserva.

Bottom line: these were very similar wines, and the Gran Reserva really seemed liked an older version of the Reserva. It was a very good wine, but I would be hard pressed to say that it was worth the extra money. If you like an older tasting wine, you would probably like it a touch better but neither of us thought it was significantly different.

Cheers!