red wine – In Good Taste

Wine on Wednesday: Jacob’s Creek Reserve Pinot Noir

Maris Callahan — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 17:35:12 +0000

I’ve never been to Australia, but now I have another reason why I’d like to visit: Australian wine. Last week I met with Bernard Hickin, Chief Winemaker for Jacob’s Creek, one of the most well-known wineries in the Barossa Valley of South Australia. Jacob’s Creek recently launched a new line of Reserve wines from three key wine regions in Australia: Barossa, Coonawarra and Adelaide Hills. Each new wine is said to reflect the distinct personality of each region through the chosen grape variety. The philosophy of Jacob’s Creek is to offer a range of wines that suit all occasions, which they certainly do, but the wine I want to talk about today is one that embodies their philosophy on its own: Jacob’s Creek Reserve Pinot Noir. Now, we all know that I’m not the most enthusiastic red wine drinker. There are some that I enjoy, like Gnarly Head Old Vine Zinfandel, which you can buy at Walgreens, but for the most part, if I’m ordering wine in a restaurant or picking something to pair with a meal, I tend to favor whites. Yet, the Jacob’s Creek Reserve Pinot Noir is something I could drink every day. Well. You know. If […]

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#WineWednesday: Torbreck Woodcutter’s Shiraz

Maris Callahan — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 20:00:02 +0000

Shiraz (Also known as Syrah in France) is the most widely planted red grape in Australia. There are a lot of different styles of Shiraz that are produced as well, ranging from jug wine (think: the ones with kangaroos on the labels) to wine that are internationally recognized and rated among the greatest wines in the world. It’s easy for the casual wine drinker to find high quality Shiraz for around $10-25 per bottle. How do you know if a Shiraz is high quality? A way to cheat and ensure that you are getting a better quality Shiraz is to look for wines with the name of a wine growing region on the label (for example: Barossa, McLaren Vale, Hunter Valley). If the wine just says ‘Australia’ on the bottle the grapes could be grown anywhere and generally speaking (there is always exceptions in wine) the wines might not be as high quality. Torbreck 2011 Woodcutter’s Shiraz, made in the Barossa Valley, Australia is one of my fail safe red wines. It is a full bodied red wine that smells like blueberry muffins, black cherry, lavender and pepper. This wine is very easy drinking, even for white wine drinkers, because it […]

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#WineWednesday: Wines to Drink on a Snow Day

Maris Callahan — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 04:44:16 +0000

THIS JUST IN: it snowed in Chicago. When I moved here everyone warned me about the brutally cold winters, the biting wind and the endlessly dreary gray skies that would usurp the horizon from November – May. I prepared for that with a down coat and boots that aren’t quite waterproof but warm enough. My friends warned me that the city slows down in the winter and people hibernate, only to emerge around Memorial Day for alfresco dining and drinking on rooftop bars. What they didn’t tell me was that when it snows, the city turns all “Apocalypse Now” and highways close, businesses shutter and people raid grocery shelves like food is going out of style. I get it – severe weather is serious business. But when I moved to Chicago I expected snow to be the norm – not breaking news – and I expected snow days to be very few and far between, if at all. Today, however, was a snow day. Since I work from home I couldn’t very well justify taking the day off for snowy shenanigans but from what I could gather from my friends’ Facebook and Twitter updates, there were quite a few corks […]

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#WineWednesday: Gnarly Head Old Vine Zinfandel

Maris Callahan — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 20:27:27 +0000

Have you ever walked into a wine shop, took a look around and made a beeline for the nearest, cheapest bottle of Chardonnay you can find? It’s because there are too many decisions and the guy behind the counter is eyeing you suspiciously, as though he thinks you’re nineteen and you probably do look nineteen because you didn’t wear make-up today. Yeah, you’ll probably want to start hanging around my corner of the internet more often come the middle of the week. Today, and every Wednesday for the foreseeable future, we’re talking vino. We’ll talk with some pros who can teach us about wine, we’ll sample some wine, we’ll talk about the wine we’ve drank. We’ll even talk about what happens when we drink too much wine on Saturday nights with our friends. I’m kidding about that last part. Let’s just talk about wine now. I am a white wine drinker, through and through. There are some winter evenings when red sounds warm and inviting and while I’ll drink it and enjoy it, reds were never my favorite, until a friend brought a bottle of Gnarly Head Old Vine Zinfandel over to a dinner party. Why should you drink this wine? […]

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