St. Francis 2008 Sonoma County Chardonnay

OK. Let me start out by saying this: I prefer red wine, but if I'm going to drink white, I'm drinking chardonnay. I'm not an ABC (anything but chardonnay) type of girl. Well, maybe this is an unfair statement. I'll try anything once. Perverts, keep your minds out of the gutter. I'm talking wine here.

I picked up this type of school-night wine at Stew Leonard's (God help me, I think I keep them in business) for $9.99. It fulfills my 10-bucks-or-less requirement, which I think is so important when reviewing cheap wine. The economy is bad, dammit! There should be more quality wines for under ten bucks on the market, if you ask me.

This chard came highly recommended at Stew's, so I had high hopes for it. I poured two glasses: one into the traditional all-purpose wine glass, the other into the fancy red champagne coupe for makeshift decanting. On the nose, this chard smells like a traditional, oakey chard, much like any other oak-aged chard worth twice its price or more. It's got a few legs on the glass, heavier than an ordinary white wine. Interesting. I like heavier wines. It's a personal thing.

On the first glass, I wasn't really impressed with this wine. It was kinda ho-hum, in its own way. Nothing spectacular, but nothing bad, either. It was an ordinary little wine. I was a little disappointed - it came so highly recommended! BOO!

Then, after waiting about a half hour, I tried the "decanted" glass in the wine coupe.

What a difference! It was smooth, silky & full-bodied. Now THIS is the type of chard I like to drink: buttery, oakey, not sharp. (By the way, what is the opposite of sharp? Smooth? I guess I said that already.) If I'm gonna stray to the white side, this is the type of chard I like to drink on a budget. Mission accomplished.

Thumbs up to St. Francis! They've made a pretty decent chardonnay to drink for under ten bucks. You can't argue with the logic there. I mean, I'm not a professional wine taster, but I know a pretty good wine when I taste it. This is a wine that I would definitely purchase & crack open again.

I would recommend decanting this one, though. An hour in the decanter & this one will blow the roof off.

In case you're interested, this wine is currently sitting on the counter, with the wine stopper that Julie bought me for my bridal shower firmly in place. Next time my husband is out of town (like he is tonight - he & his good buddy are going to see a Nets game in New Jersey), I'm going to take the whole bottle of this wine & decant it. It'll be worth the wait.

Cheers!
Kate

Geno Auriemma Pinot Noir 2008

OK. If you're from CT like Julie & me, you might know a thing or two about Geno Auriemma. One, he's the big man on campus as the coach of the UCONN women's basketball team. Two, he's got this fast-food restaurant called "Fast Break" in the Mohegan Sun casino. See, I like wine, I don't follow basketball, but I digress. Before I opened this bottle of wine, the only reason I knew anything at all about Geno is because he makes his own pasta sauce, sold locally in CT in a fresh-foods store called Stew Leonard's (which I am always in).

My favorite place to buy wine is Stew Leonard's, mostly because it doesn't remind me of a warehouse. I noticed Geno's wine for sale, and the manager assured me that it sells well - so well, he emptied 50 cases between Thanksgiving and New Year's. I wanted to try it, and it's a cheap buy at $8.99.

The night I opened this wine, I decided to pour two glasses - one in a traditional glass, one in a red champagne coupe to let the wine breathe. (I have a beautiful decanter, but I never use it when I'm by myself, only when I'm in the company of some serious wine afficionados.) Looking at the wine in the traditional glass, it's a beautiful, clear purpley-red color with maybe two legs. The weird thing is that this wine has almost no scent. It's unnerving.

Sadly, at first sip, this wine tasted like rat poison. It's acidic, thin & bitter-tasting. I waited 30 seconds, cleared my throat & tried again. This time, all I tasted was sugar water, like someone had emptied a couple of packets of Pez in a glass of water & let it dissolve.

Once I'd finished the first glass, I waited a good half hour before attempting the second glass (the one in the champagne coupe). Sadly, this glass tasted no different from the first. Geno's wine is not a fine wine that will mature or ripen with decanting.

On the bright side, this wine is so thin that it slides down your throat. It's low alcohol content (I believe it's 12.5%, but it could be 13%) and thin texture makes the wine feels like it's sliding down your throat. Despite its acidity, I easily swallowed down two glasses without it even registering that I was drinking two glasses of wine.

The upshot? After drinking the two glasses, I performed alcohol abuse & poured the rest of the bottle down the drain. Blasphemy, I know, but I also believe that there are better bottles of wine on the market for $10 or less. A few come to mind right now, ones that I will hopefully review in the future. Bottom line? Take your ten bucks and put it towards something else. Oh, Geno? You're a phenomenal coach & I love you for it. Don't quit that job.

Cheers!
Kate

PS: I don't know why the computer won't let me rotate photos. Live & learn for the next blog, I guess. Sorry about your necks, people.

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