Showcase: Cupcake Sauvignon Blanc
Jan. 16th, 2010 12:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
foolish_m0rtalOkay, so today we bought a Cupcake 2009 Sauvignon Blanc, a Black Swan 2008 Shiraz, and a Sutter Home 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon. I was super excited.
We got this fantastic Bellavitano cheese that's a mixture of aged cheddar and Parmesan. It's just, hnng, mmm, so GOOD. It's sweet, but it's a complex kind of sweet, not the young simple sweetness from usual Parmesan. And the cheddar gives it that little hint of a bite and you can feel it in little crunches now and then. But that's a foodgasm for another day.
So first we drank the Shiraz with the cheese, because that was the suggested pairing. It was...hmm, not bad, I guess. It reminded me slightly of the port we used to drink, but not so DARK and SWEET, just a hint. It was a little smoky, like the cones of incense we burn in the shrine but not so sweet. Not fan-TAS-tic, but not bad. The review I read about it said you have to let it breathe for a really long time, so I suppose we'll see how it is later.
Perhaps because I was getting off the high of the cheese or perhaps because I might not like Cabernet Sauvignon, but I didn't like the Sutter Home. It tasted like a weird half-bad grape juice. Maybe it's too young or maybe I just have to let it deal with itself for a while. I read an "mm, okay starting point but kind of mediocre, but if you're desperate" review about it somwhere else, but that was a 2006 article about a 2002 bottle.
I picked the Sauvignon Blanc because we eat a lot of seafood, Japanese, and Thai food. We were eating Indian shrimp tonight, which is a little spicy and fried in a pan on the stove.
Okay, so I ate some of the shrimp. And then, in the famous words of Linguine, I thought, "So, let's do this thing!"
I roll my eyes at wine afficianados as much as the next person. (Okay, maybe a LOT less now after taking the wine class, but still. Just a little) So when I tell you I heard music, I'm not kidding or exaggerating. I LITERALLY heard music.
There was this little triangle of seed pearl bubbles cascading crisply up and then collapsing into a smooth wave down around my mouth like a hug. I don't know where the bubbles came from- the wine isn't carbonated. But there was something about eating seafood and then drinking the wine that made the feeling of bubbles like a little murmur of laughter.
Crudely drawn, but it's kind of like that. A rushing build up of tiny gentle bubbles that fall over each other and break into a smooth wrap-around.
I heard Yoko Kanno's Inner Universe from Ghost in the Shell in my head. (This sounds SOOO totally stupid, doesn't it?) After I felt the taste, I know the context was completely wrong. This wine is like a hippie, like a girl with woven grass crowns in her hair.
There's nothing futuristic or coldly industrial about it. But the opening sequence before the vocal part. Lighter perhaps, and not a lot of heavy base. But still, I heard what I heard.
The first six seconds is what I heard. The build up and slow subsiding. Again, I sound like a total wanker.
Maybe I need to let it sit for a while to draw out the melon, but I definitely tasted the bell pepper and grass that I've heard so much about. Tasting this brought back memories of my old place (WAAY before I had a LJ or any of you knew me) where they would cut the grass outside in the young springs when it just got warm enough before the real onset of flowers. It wasn't the heavy heat of summer, it was cooler and lighter. Like the light green of a vegetable that's still tasty even if it's a bit unripe yet. The way celery snaps so suddenly with no give.
I would completely recommend this wine for anyone who enjoys seafood. It's under $10 and a great way to celebrate or await the coming of spring! I'll let you know how this wine progresses and if I with my inept paduwan wine skills/patience can bring out more of the late spring melon-pineapple taste in this wine that would make it taste more...womanish than girlish, maybe. (jeez, I thought the wine guys were just jerks referring to wine as women, but there are definitely genders.)
SAUVIGNON BLANC UPDATE
01/16: So we tried it again after it's been properly chilled and out with new air in the ullage for a day, and there's less of the grassy taste and definitely more of the kiwi/pineapple without TOO much of the sweetness, so maybe it's getting there? I dunno. Like I said, I'm new at this.
01/17: There's definitely more melon in it now, though the bubbly grassy sensation has faded. It's growing up, aww. Girl, you'll be a woman soon?
SHIRAZ UPDATE
01/17: So I let it breathe for a while and left it alone for two days, and it's so much better. I can definitely taste more bitter dark chocolate, blueberries, and plum now, except the blueberries don't taste ripe and the plum is more like the bitter plum skin. So I guess we drank it too young? I drank this later on with a bit of dark chocolate truffle, and WOW, it really made the dark chocolate POP in a way I hadn't tasted before. Without it, the chocolate was just flatly bitter, but after drinking the Shiraz, it tasted like it had so many layers of sweetness. So I'd recommend letting this bottle breathe for a LONG time (just like someone said online, ironically) and then eating it with something darker and sweeter. Dark chocolate is perfect.
We got this fantastic Bellavitano cheese that's a mixture of aged cheddar and Parmesan. It's just, hnng, mmm, so GOOD. It's sweet, but it's a complex kind of sweet, not the young simple sweetness from usual Parmesan. And the cheddar gives it that little hint of a bite and you can feel it in little crunches now and then. But that's a foodgasm for another day.
So first we drank the Shiraz with the cheese, because that was the suggested pairing. It was...hmm, not bad, I guess. It reminded me slightly of the port we used to drink, but not so DARK and SWEET, just a hint. It was a little smoky, like the cones of incense we burn in the shrine but not so sweet. Not fan-TAS-tic, but not bad. The review I read about it said you have to let it breathe for a really long time, so I suppose we'll see how it is later.
Perhaps because I was getting off the high of the cheese or perhaps because I might not like Cabernet Sauvignon, but I didn't like the Sutter Home. It tasted like a weird half-bad grape juice. Maybe it's too young or maybe I just have to let it deal with itself for a while. I read an "mm, okay starting point but kind of mediocre, but if you're desperate" review about it somwhere else, but that was a 2006 article about a 2002 bottle.
I picked the Sauvignon Blanc because we eat a lot of seafood, Japanese, and Thai food. We were eating Indian shrimp tonight, which is a little spicy and fried in a pan on the stove.
Okay, so I ate some of the shrimp. And then, in the famous words of Linguine, I thought, "So, let's do this thing!"
I roll my eyes at wine afficianados as much as the next person. (Okay, maybe a LOT less now after taking the wine class, but still. Just a little) So when I tell you I heard music, I'm not kidding or exaggerating. I LITERALLY heard music.
There was this little triangle of seed pearl bubbles cascading crisply up and then collapsing into a smooth wave down around my mouth like a hug. I don't know where the bubbles came from- the wine isn't carbonated. But there was something about eating seafood and then drinking the wine that made the feeling of bubbles like a little murmur of laughter.
Crudely drawn, but it's kind of like that. A rushing build up of tiny gentle bubbles that fall over each other and break into a smooth wrap-around.
I heard Yoko Kanno's Inner Universe from Ghost in the Shell in my head. (This sounds SOOO totally stupid, doesn't it?) After I felt the taste, I know the context was completely wrong. This wine is like a hippie, like a girl with woven grass crowns in her hair.
There's nothing futuristic or coldly industrial about it. But the opening sequence before the vocal part. Lighter perhaps, and not a lot of heavy base. But still, I heard what I heard.
The first six seconds is what I heard. The build up and slow subsiding. Again, I sound like a total wanker.
Maybe I need to let it sit for a while to draw out the melon, but I definitely tasted the bell pepper and grass that I've heard so much about. Tasting this brought back memories of my old place (WAAY before I had a LJ or any of you knew me) where they would cut the grass outside in the young springs when it just got warm enough before the real onset of flowers. It wasn't the heavy heat of summer, it was cooler and lighter. Like the light green of a vegetable that's still tasty even if it's a bit unripe yet. The way celery snaps so suddenly with no give.
I would completely recommend this wine for anyone who enjoys seafood. It's under $10 and a great way to celebrate or await the coming of spring! I'll let you know how this wine progresses and if I with my inept paduwan wine skills/patience can bring out more of the late spring melon-pineapple taste in this wine that would make it taste more...womanish than girlish, maybe. (jeez, I thought the wine guys were just jerks referring to wine as women, but there are definitely genders.)
SAUVIGNON BLANC UPDATE
01/16: So we tried it again after it's been properly chilled and out with new air in the ullage for a day, and there's less of the grassy taste and definitely more of the kiwi/pineapple without TOO much of the sweetness, so maybe it's getting there? I dunno. Like I said, I'm new at this.
01/17: There's definitely more melon in it now, though the bubbly grassy sensation has faded. It's growing up, aww. Girl, you'll be a woman soon?
SHIRAZ UPDATE
01/17: So I let it breathe for a while and left it alone for two days, and it's so much better. I can definitely taste more bitter dark chocolate, blueberries, and plum now, except the blueberries don't taste ripe and the plum is more like the bitter plum skin. So I guess we drank it too young? I drank this later on with a bit of dark chocolate truffle, and WOW, it really made the dark chocolate POP in a way I hadn't tasted before. Without it, the chocolate was just flatly bitter, but after drinking the Shiraz, it tasted like it had so many layers of sweetness. So I'd recommend letting this bottle breathe for a LONG time (just like someone said online, ironically) and then eating it with something darker and sweeter. Dark chocolate is perfect.
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no subject
Date: 2010-01-16 05:43 am (UTC)But, Cupcake is apparently not available here. CRIES.
You've taken a wine class? SWEET. I've always wanted to take one, but they're hella expensive. I try a lot of stuff for work, and I know what I like, but damn if I'm able to explain anything, much less the symphony you've got here.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-16 05:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-16 06:00 pm (UTC)Okay! I'll find something that goes with Chardonnay, and we can have it with dinner or something. (that sounded SO creepy, but it's not! I swear!)
no subject
Date: 2010-01-16 06:07 pm (UTC)