Artesa Chardonnay

In light of our sad wine fridge, I made a case white wine purchase through a recently joined wine club as well as stopped by Sam’s Club and wine shops to pick a bottle up here and there. (its always easier to stock up when you buy a bit at a time. In the past few nights we’ve tried a few note worthy chards (well, note worthy for those who like or might like chards one day). The first was a 2006 Artesa Carneros Chardonnay. Green apples, but not tart….it had just enough cream finish to remind me of an apple crisp topped with vanilla ice cream. I liked it more than Mr. Lush did-I think he prefers a bit more of oak, and this has some stainless steel aging along with oak, to give it a slighter clean, but lingering finish, if that makes sense. Here’s the tasting notes from the winemaker:
Lemon blossoms, green apple and honeydew melon are front and center in this Chardonnay. This crisp fruitiness is combined with nuances of creme brule, vanilla, toasted macadamia and humidor cedar making this wine both easy to enjoy and seductively complex. Supple and silky yet crisp enough for food, a great accompaniment for food and friends.

More to come on our chardonnay love affair…..

Summer drinking habits

Recently Lucy and I were talking about our summer drinking habits and I mentioned how we need to stock up on whites for the summer. (Our new 100 bottle wine fridge was full of reds, but the white side was very gloomy looking.) She mentioned how the Luce's drink a lot of red during the summer with the grilled meat. I had never really thought about it, but while we do have steaks and ribs and brisket multiple times during the summer, we do end up drinking much white wine and our consumption is nearly flip flopped. Although Mr. Lush is a grill master, BBQing Lush-style is an event that takes hours. This means we don't have a ton of grilled meat in the heat of the summer, as I don't like to make Mr. Lush stand out by an open flame for 5-8 hours. (I said it was an event, didn't I?) Because it is an event, we typically only BBQ for company. Its very sad, but do stay tuned for good BBQ pairing posts to come.

I wonder if others are like us and switch to a primarily white wine menu during the summer or if they are like the Luce's and let the grilled meat lead them to joyous consumption of red. Is it a temperature driven decision or a menu driven decision or both? Food for thought, as I sip a glass of chardonnay.

    

Dinner with friends who don't like wine

To me, one of the more stressful decisions regarding wine and entertaining is what to serve when your guests aren’t that into wine.

Do you drink wine and serve them something else? Sure, this might be feasible at a dinner party atmosphere, but what if you’re only having one couple over? Doesn’t that seem rude to serve up a bottle of wine and say “hey, wanna Bud Light?”.

Do you care about pairing? I mean, will they even appreciate it? For example, if all you like is sweet wines, you won’t like a cabernet if I served it with a beautifully aged and perfectly prepared prime steak-its just not your thing. Sure, if they happen to like red and you’re serving red, it might all work out, but then what about the price?

Do you serve a cheap crap wine? Sure, that’s probably all that they’ve had, but they probably don’t like it and you certainly don’t, so why ruin your meal?

Do you serve a nice bottle and try to convert them? I mean, its unfair to give someone a glass of bad wine and expect them to understand why you like it so much. But, what if they hate the nice stuff and just slug it down to not hurt your feelings? Is that how you want your wine wasted? Do you just suck it up and say well, at least I got to have a nice wine with dinner?

I don’t recall who, but someone told me they go into the kitchen to pour and pour themselves a nice glass and their guests a crap glass. I don’t know what I think about that-that seems so dishonest and cheap. Somehow cheaper and more dishonest than serving them beer while you drink wine.

I think the best option is find a solid value wine, maybe in the $12-$15 range that you like enough to buy for $20 and serve that. Then, if they don’t like it, that’s fine- only $7.50 was wasted. It might mean some research on your part. Luckily Mr. Lush and I have done extensive research on value wines with our wedding wine tastings, so feel free to look those over for ideas. Or of course, have a fairly full bar and be able to offer them cocktails or beer or wine, so they have a choice. Probably an even better option-then if they opt for a gin & tonic, you can break out whatever you want.