Think Pink: Wölffer Estate 2007 Rosé

All this week, we'll be reviewing rosés in honor of Valentine's Day. I consider rosé a misunderstood wine that can be excellent. Sadly, too many rosés are still sugary sweet. Rosé is more than white zinfandel or cheap blush, but a full-fledged wine style in itself. This week, we'll explore dry rosé, one of my favorite types of wine.

 

I'm kicking off this week's series with the 2007 Wölffer Estate Rosé, from Sagaponack, New York. Unfortunately, you can't find this wine in Cincinnati (that I'm aware of), but you can find it elsewhere. This particular bottle was part of a bourbon – wine trade between myself and Long Island wine blogger Lenn Thompson. I've also picked it up at a wine shop in Tampa, Florida.

This particular bottle is a little bit of everything, with a blend of 35% merlot, 40% chardonnay, 17% cabernet sauvignon, and 8% cabernet franc. The color is a nice coral shade of pink, with more oranges and tans than candy apple. On the nose, there is the unmistakeable scent of strawberries, along with citrus and apricot. It's an acidic wine, and it paired nicely with the Chinese food I was eating. It tastes fruity, but not sweet. It has apples, oranges, and limes, but there is also a nice quality of slate in there to balance it all out.

This fun wine was a great way to kick off the series. This wine is light rosé, and it would be a great wine to kick back on the deck and relax with on a hot summer evening. I prefer a little more heft to my rosés, but it was tasty nonetheless.

Rating: 

–

Think Pink Rosé Series

• 2007 Wölffer Estate
• 2005 Chateau Bonnet Bordeaux
• 2006 Tin Roof Cellars
• 2007 La Vieille Ferme
• 2007 Montes Cherub

Crowdsourcing: Name that Liquor Store!

Literally!

Liquor Direct is searching for a new name. Submit your marketable ideas and this spring, we'll get to vote.

Re-branding is a huge proposition and I wish them luck. In all fairness, they sell so much wine – fine wine, good wine, affordable wine – it's time for a name upgrade.

What are your suggestions? Even if you send them in (or if you don't), leave your ideas in the comments. This could be fun!

Winery Photo: Kinkead Ridge in Winter

Nancy, the co-proprietor behind local winery and vineyard Kinkead Ridge, sent out this photo this morning. I loved it so much I wanted to share it.

I love how the deer are wandering the vineyard, perhaps wondering where the tantalizing grape snacks are.

Featured Cincinnati Wine Events: Feb 7-13

I bet you thought Valentine's Day was still a week away. According to Hallmark, it is. But according to the restaurant industry, well, Valentine's Day starts this Tuesday. Yeah, it's crazy. There are a lot of Valentine's Day events that aren't listed as well. For instance, I know Lavomatic has a prix fixe menu at least on 2/14, if not on 2/13, but I don't know the details. It's also safe to assume that most of the restaurants I have listed for Friday also have the same deal on Saturday, 2/14.

Remember, these are just one-time events of which I'm aware. Regular (recurring) events are always listed on the calendar. The calendar is up to date.
Any wine-related events I'm currently aware of are on the
calendar. If I missed something – something local to Cincinnati that is
- let me know!

For information on what's going on in Dayton, you can refer to Mark's blog at Uncorked.

Local Wine Tasting Event Calendar

Friday Interactive Wine Tasting Map

Saturday Interactive Wine Tasting Map

Read the rest of this entry »

Las Vegas: Simon at the Palms

My first night in town, I met up with some of the more party-prone folks at the conference and we hit the town. Our conference was at the Rio, off-strip, so it was natural that we'd head to the nearby Palms. If you follow any celebrity gossip, you know that the Maloofs own the Palms and they've somehow made it a celebrity haven. All I knew was that I was hungry.

We ate at Simon at Palms Place. Palms Place is the adjacent Palms tower (every casino seems to have a special second tower now) that you access via the SkyTube. I thought the SkyTube would be quite exciting, but it's more of an airport people mover. Rather boring for such a trendy hotel.

Simon is on the 6th floor of Palms Place. It's adjacent to a gorgeous pool area – closed in the winter – and surrounded by palm trees and fireplaces on the outside. Inside it boasts stark, clean, and modern lines. An interesting features was a sort of greenhouse in a far room, which was obviously growing herbs and assorted greens.

The by-the-glass wine list was okay, but not overly impressive. I ended up with a 2007 Ferrari-Carrano Sauvignon Blanc because I knew I could trust it. It ran me about $11/glass. The wine list was small but focused. I particularly liked their selection of organic and biodynamic wines. The one that stood out was the "Clor Sacres" Savennieres from Nicolas Joly, which costs $75. To give you an idea of the markups, the bottles in the Spanish section cost about $20 over the retail price. I suspect that was the sweet spot on the list, and I'm rather encouraged by that.

The menu was eclectic. I'm not a food blogger, but I'd say it was nouveau American cuisine + sushi. Chef Kerry Simon brings in fresh, locally grown products and in many cases, organically grown. I've read that since, but it was also pretty obvious to me just from the menu. As many of you know, I'm a complicated eater. I'm picky and I have food allergies. There was plenty on the menu that I would eat, which I found refreshing.

I ordered an endive salad (sans walnuts) followed by citrus-braised short ribs with corn tempura and a bed of grits. It's the first time I've ever had grits and I doubt I'll ever find them quite so soft, fluffy, and un-grit-like again. It was excellent. Several folks at the table had ahi tuna and sushi, both of which received rave reviews.

As far as service, I found the front waiter (er, waitress) to be rather condescending and rather lacking in customer service. That said, the back waiter was excellent. We chose not to have dessert but noticed a table next to us enjoying a huge serving of Cotton Candy. No kidding. We grabbed it and joked around, so the back waiter brought us a small serving of our own Cotton Candy, no charge.

Overall, I rate Simon with a , despite the fact I was so turned off by our server. After all, the rest of our service, from the bus boys to the hostess, was excellent.

Following Simon, we trekked back to the original Palms tower and visited the Playboy Club, which was surprisingly old-school and classy. Yes, both the waitresses and the dealers were wearing bunny outfits. It was a throwback to the '60s and didn't bother me in the least. We followed that up with a trip upstairs to the Moon nightclub. It wasn't my thing at all (a little too techno when I'm all about Sinatra) but I did enjoy the retractable roof and the gorgeous views of the mountains and Las Vegas.

View a complete slideshow of the Palms, including Simon and the Playboy Club here or on Flickr.