Boozy McGuzzles

BOOZE TYPE: Wine
PRICE: $9.99 at Astor Center
RATING: A

After two bottles of that big zin I was drinking in my last post (which did indeed drive me to book travel to San Francisco again), it was time for a little dip back into the whites pool. Good for the unseasonably humid October we are having in New York. NUTS TO YOU, WEATHER.

I wanted something already chilled that I could drink as soon as I got home, and this had the right price, and a nice staff pick card on it talking about how it had the scent of ‘wet sand’. Well, I don’t know about that, but there is something nice and moist and earthy in the aroma. There’s also a mineral flintiness there in the scent that I like a lot.

This is exactly the sort of white wine that I can’t get enough of: fresh, tart, and mineral. No fruity flavors or buttery heaviness here, just crisp wine that almost puckers the tongue. It’s got a lot of minerality up front, which I love… that element in wines is such an unusual thing to me that I still can’t quite get enough of it. Like flint or chalk or limestone, but in a good way.

Not too complex of a wine, and not a great pair with the, uh, roast beef sandwich I had for dinner, but just pleasant and drinkable. As it opened up, it took on a little spiciness throughout, just an extra little zing! on the tongue. I think this would go great with some spicier Asian food. Perfect for the price.

BUY IT AGAIN: Sure! To go with some spicier Asian food!

BOOZE TYPE: Wine
PRICE: $19.99 at Astor (on sale for $16.99)
RATING: A+

First off, let me say hello to all the folks who are coming in via the PC Magazine Top 100 Blogs story. I am glad that you either got all the way to the end of the list of blogs to find my contribution, or that you actually had an interest in the blogs of PC Magazine staffers. Hi! I’m a lush.

Anyway, it’s red wine time! Red red wiiiiine. I’ve been vaguely plotting going out to California again sometime soon, so I picked up a Sonoma wine tonight. The Seghesio Zinfandel has such a powerful aroma that I can smell it strongly while the glass is sitting three feet behind me on my dresser. Up directly under the nose, it’s a serious powerhouse of heavy, spicy red scents.

And the taste? This is one of the few wines that has made me immediately say “Wow!” after the first sip. This really knocks my socks off. It gives an immediate strong hit of flavor, sweet and fruity on the tip of the tongue, spicy throughout, and with a bit of smokiness on the finish. Goddamn, this is making me really wish I had a bigass steak to go with this wine right now. This just begs to go with meat.

Okay, that’s it, it’s time to book a flight out to California. And keep drinking this wine, which–no exaggeration here–gives me shivers down my back. And will probably lay me out on my back, due to the 15.2% alcohol content. For a $20 wine? Just outstanding. Words won’t really do it justice… this one, you need to try.

BUY IT AGAIN?: Oh, mama, yes.

BOOZE TYPE: Wine
PRICE: $14.99 (on sale for $12.74) at Astor
RATING: A

I put a cap on the end of a stressful week of working in the mines by swinging in to the liquor store on my way home to get some goddamned booze. And, since Astor Wines is a lovely place that has tastings every Thursday-Sunday, I was there in time for a tasting. I had some weird but pleasant maple vodka, grabbed the bottle of bourbon I’d come in to get, and then got caught by the wine tasting area on the way out.

Now, I know I said recently that I could basically never drink another Chardonnay again as long as I lived and still be happy, but when I came up to the tasting table, the woman doing the pouring said the beautiful words “completely un-oaked”, and I thought it was definitely worth a taste. I tried the 2006 and found it quite delightful. The tasting lady said that the 2005 was “delicious”, and she said it with emphasis, so I went and snagged that off the shelf.

And it’s true! It is delicious! As promised, entirely unoaked. I’m a big fan of this whole stainless steel thing; it tends to lend a nice hint of minerality to a wine. The aroma is sharp and fruity, and the first impression on the tongue is acidity and a taste of apples. This is crisp upfront, but smooth and a little creamy on the finish.

This wine is very pleasant, and might just give me hope for chardonnay again.

BUY IT AGAIN: Could happen!

BOOZE TYPE: Wine
PRICE: $24.99 at Astor Center (Although I got a store card discount for $21.99!)
RATING: A-

I’m just going to be upfront about this: I bought this wine because I’m a sucker for a gimmick. The store had a couple of bottles sitting upright on one of the shelves, and it caught my eye because the cork looked like it was all made of white wax, or something similar. And when I investigated more closely, I was even more interested, because this stuff was shiny.

Because this wine? Has gold flakes in it.

I did a whole two laps and a half around the store (which is what I do when I’m thinking about whether or not I should buy something that’s a little silly and a little out of the range that I wanted to spend) before I came back to get this one. This’ll probably be the last white I buy for a while, since finally, finally temperatures are starting to drop, and I will be able to drink red wine again without wanting to suicide. I decided to whip out the credit card and be stupid to get a stupid-looking, shinyshiny wine.

The wine is a mix of Gewürztraminer, Viognier, and Chardonnay. Two of those three grapes I just love, and I could basically never drink another goddamned Chardonnay in my life and be happy (although I suppose that would be a good goal for me: to find chardonnays that don’t just make me roll my eyes), so I had a feeling the wine might have something beyond its shiny gimmick. My expectations were low, since, well, the bottle was full of gold, but after I let my roommate take a bunch of pictures of the shimmery bottle, I cracked it open and ended up quite pleased.

I initially overchilled this (stuck it in the freezer and then got distracted wrestling my kitchen window open and peeling two heads of garlic), so my first impressions were ‘ah, it’s cold! And it’s white wine!’ But as it returned to a more reasonable temperature, I got some nice scents and flavors. This had a very good aroma; something between pears and peaches, and a little bit of honey. The gold flakes had the benefit of getting me to swirl it a lot to keep them from settling at the bottom, so I kept getting waves of the bouquet. On the tongue, this wine was very acidic–mouth-puckeringly so–but not citrusy at all. Each sip of it just made me want to drink more… despite the acidity, it had a taste of very wet fruits–pear, peach, melon. I really quite enjoyed it. It went well with the massively garlic and chorizo heavy soup I made for dinner tonight.

This wine, while ridiculous, was fun, and almost good enough to justify the price. At the end of the day, though, I’m just wondering if drinking this whole bottle tonight is going to leave me shitting sparkles.

BUY IT AGAIN?: Depends on whether or not I shit sparkles. IS THAT A GOOD THING OR A BAD THING? YOU MAKE THE CALL.

BOOZE TYPE: WINE
PRICE: $11.00 at Freshdirect.com
RATING: A-

Tonight I’m making poulet sautè aux herbes de Provence, and the major ingredient is white wine, so I picked up something French in my Freshdirect shoppings! Nearly half the bottle went into the pot, and the rest is going into a glass and into my belly.

This is very interesting and kind of complex. The scent has a fruity, floral hit at first, and then when I really stick my nose deep in the glass, I got the smell of apples. The first sip was explosive and odd; this has more alcohol content than most wines I’ve been drinking lately, so I can feel my tongue pucker from it. It’s really quite pleasing. Upfront it’s a little sweet and citrusy, but in the aftermath there’s some grassiness, something woody. …I feel like I’m just using all my wine words I know here, but this is a really interesting wine that keeps me sipping and going “Hmm. Hmm! Hmm.“

It was also very good in the chicken. I mean! Poulet!

BUY IT AGAIN: Yes, so I can drink a whole bottle and figure out these flavors.

BOOZE TYPE: Sparkling Wine
PRICE: $11.99 at Astor Center
RATING: A

Astor Center has moved its Moscato d’Asti wines into its Cool Room (a lovely glassed-off room that’s kept at a chilly 57° at all times), or maybe they’ve always been there and the store is just now putting up signs saying that’s where they are. In any case, I’m grateful, because I could never find the stuff before. I think the first time I had it was as part of the ridiculous and wonderful tasting menu I had at the best dinner of my life at wd-50, where it appeared late in the courses, after many, many other glasses of wine. I think that’s what it was, at least. Like I said, many glasses of wine. Delightful and bubbly and sweet, just perfect for dessert.

My last experience with Moscato was with the Death in the Afternoon cocktails I was making with my bottle of Lucid Absinthe (which, I will report, was all drunk up in less than a week. ….I had help.) That was sweet and pleasant, but I wanted to try it on its own, so I picked up one of the lower priced bottles, that had a placard that talked about how it would be paired well with yellow cake. Presumably not uranium, but what do I know about wine pairings?

As I sipped this, nicely chilled and so very gently bubbly, I was delighted by how softly sweet it was, but spent a while being puzzled by what the fruity taste was. Apricot? I thought. Peach? And then I went, well, no, dumbass, what this tastes exactly like is Muscat Gummy (”Its translucent color so alluring and taste and aroma so gentle and mellow offer admiring feelings of a graceful lady. Enjoy soft and juicy Kasugai Muscat Gummy.”) Shocking, that something made of muscat grapes would taste like this candy. Shocking, indeed!

In any case, this wine is very pleasant, with a low alcohol content that keeps it light on the tongue and very sweet indeed.

BUY IT AGAIN: Yum, yes.

BOOZE TYPE: Wine
PRICE: $17.99 at Astor Center
RATING: A

Weather has blissfully, beautifully cooled in New York City, and we’re rolling into my favorite time of year, which also means my favorite foods and beverages. I can put the whites away and get to enjoying red wine again without it making me sweat! (I am a fat Southerner, you see, so hot food and red wine make me break into a sweat.) Central Italian wines were on sale today, and I’m making tomato sauce, so off I went!

I’m not sure if I’ve ever actually had a chianti before, but this is definitely a good starting point. The back of the bottle recommended letting this open up some, so I poured a glass and then worked on prepping dinner. Coming back to it a half hour later, I’m finding it incredibly enjoyable. It’s got a rich, red scent that reminds me of a lot of other amazing wines I’ve had, and the scent automatically takes me back to good memories of being with my wine fiend friends in San Francisco. It’s rich in the mouth, tannic without being overwhelming, to make for a very smooth feel. On the tongue it has a nice acidity without too much sweetness, and my favorite part is the finish, which has a woody, smokey taste. Lovely for this weather, and it should go well with tomatoes.

BUY IT AGAIN: Quite possibly!

BOOZE TYPE: Wine
Price: $8.99 at Astor Center
Rating: B

I’m not going to lie; I appreciate wine that comes in a box, or in other non-bottle forms. And there really are pretty decent forms of box wine out there these days. My mom just about always keeps a box or two of the classier box brands in her pantry for easy access to the occasional glass. They’re a great low-pressure way to have wine… you don’t have to worry about drinking it in any set amount of time, you can just sip away glasses night after night until you’re squeezing the last out of the weird little bag.

But this all is tangential to the wine at hand, which is not in a box at all… it’s more like a juice box. I’ve been drinking French Rabbit wines for quite a long time, because I find everything about them delightful. They’re all inexpensive, but quite pleasing, and you get 250 milliliters more in their tetra pack than you would in a standard bottle. I love grabbing one of the reds for cooking, since I can use a little and then spin the cap back on and put it in the fridge for later without worrying it’ll go to waste. The whites (I’ve actually only had the chardonnay, which is fine, but I’m dead sick of chardonnays in general) are good for nursing over a few summer days and nights.

But, let’s focus on the Pinot Noir in particular. This is absolutely perfect to go in food or with food. It gave great character to my tomato sauce tonight, and did well in a glass next to it, too. Alone, it’s very drinkable and easy; it’s tannic, but still smooth and light. This actually works well as a chilled red, an idea that I’m warming up to (har har) more and more. It’s a little acidic on the tip of the tongue, with some sweetness in the aftermath.

French Rabbit wines make a great simple drinking wine, when you don’t want to think or worry much about what you’re drinking, but still want to have something good.

BUY IT AGAIN: Yep!

BOOZE TYPE: Wine
PRICE: $8.99 at Astor Center (but $2 off with store card!)
RATING: B

Today at work I found myself tired, and grumpy, and beset by what medical professionals would call “lady pains”. I knew that after work I wanted to pour some variety of yummy, soothing alcohol down my gullet. I considered going to investigate the newly opened Whole Foods Beer Room and pickin’ me up a growler, because I love everything about growlers. Hell, at least 60% of what I love is just the name “growler”. But then my brains won out as I remembered that going to any sort of establishment guaranteed to bring yuppie joy on its opening day is more or less a guarantee to bring large crowds and annoying waits. So growlers will come later, and I promise to write when I get one. So to Astor it was.

I’m not going to lie to you. I walked in there and had an honest to god intention of buying a magnum of white zinfandel. I… I’m not proud. But you have to understand, my womb hurts, and I wanted something sweet and shameful. However, when I came around the corner to the shameful section of wines, there were two employees standing, like, right there, and I just couldn’t do it. And after three or four laps around the store (discovering that they carried not only Lichido Lychee liqueur, which my mother has craved since we went to Japan, but also Lucid, the new absinthe brand available in the states, which will so be a next paycheck splurge) I settled on wanting something sparkling, and sweet, and found an old friend.

I’ve had Pêche Imperiale a few times before. The wine is “a harmonious blend of traditional champagne method Saumur wine with natural essences of peach.” What this means is something that tastes like a cross between a pêche lambic ale and a sweet sparkling wine. The peach flavor is actually not too strong; it’s very present in the aroma and the aftertaste, but most of what you get on your tongue is just fizziness and sugar. A lambic would have been better, but for the same amount of liquid, you’d pay more and get less of an alcoholic kick, and sometimes you want a freakin’ alcoholic kick.

All in all, a decent sweet little treat. Great for dessert, or just for fun, and utterly horrid with food. Tuna + red peppers + this wine = oof maybe I’ll just drink water for now.

BUY IT AGAIN: Most likely, yes.

BOOZE TYPE: Wine
PRICE: $11.99 at Astor Center
RATING: A+

As I said in my very first review here at Boozy McGuzzles, Cline wines are an amazing and lovely thing. The one afternoon I spent in Sonoma was so special and so wonderful, that whenever I see a wine from any of the three wineries we visted (Mayo Family Winery, Chateau St. Jean, and Cline Cellars), I sort of feel compelled to buy them. They’re the most beloved wines of my dear friends, and they’re just damn good.

When I was celebrating… something… possibly the fact that it was Friday? Maybe I’d just gotten paid? I don’t know, but there was some reason I was buying a large number of bottles of wine (mostly vinho verdes, as it is summer), and I espied a Cline wine in the liquor store’s refrigerated case, and I had no choice but to buy it. I’d likely had some whites in my tasting when I was there, but none that I could remember. I am beginning to think myself a fan of Viogniers, so I was happy to snap it up.

And oh, oh, it was so lovely. This was a wine that was just enchanting, especially for its price. It had a heady aroma of peaches, but was not overly sweet; that was the real amazing thing about it, the way it managed its sweetness. This wine had all these wonderful notes of honey and sweet fruits, but without really being sweet or cloying at all. Absolutely beautiful.

BUY IT AGAIN: Oh, yes.