In this episode of 1WineDude TV, I struggle mightily with the ZORK wine closure, and taste a couple of CA Zinfandels from Manzanita Creek… the kind of Zins that could beat you up, steal your lunch money, and give you a wedgie… with seriously mixed results. Also, inappropriate references are made to “marital aid dual purpose” massagers and late-70s sitcoms.  Enjoy!

2008 Manzanita Creek Three Vines Zinfandel (Sonoma County)
Price: $28
Rating: B

You’ll need to like ‘em (very) big, but if you do then it’s the kind of juice you will want to pop open when your family fires up the ribs with the secret-recipe spice rub (more detail in the vid).

Cheers!

In this Episode of 1WineDude TV, we’re talking about why wine books are Exhibit A evidence in the case against printed books being dead. Also mentioned is a cool book about hands that’s (mostly) unrelated to wine but that you might want to check out anyway.  Don’t worry, it will all makes sense after you watch.  Maybe.

Mentioned in this Episode:

• Ramos Pinto 20 Year Tawny Port (yummy – about $60)
• The Finest Wines of California: A Regional Guide to the Best Producers and Their Wines (excellent, about $25)
• The Finest Wines of Bordeaux: A Regional Guide to the Best Châteaux and Their Wines (made my top 3 picks for the most recent Georges Duboeuf Wine Book of the Year Awards judging, about $25)
• Real: Stories by Shelley Malcolm Photographs by Terilee Dawn Ouimette (very cool, but not really wine-related – about $36)
• Olivier Leflaive Burgundy selections (awesome, but expensive – see past 1WD coverage of Olivier Leflaive for more info).

Cheers!

In this episode of 1WineDude TV, I share the results of a “field test” of Clif Family Winery’s “The Climber” pouch wine from the 20th annual Summer Solstice Music festival outside of Philly, a charity event for which my band has performed (clips included in the vid) for… well… quite a few of those twenty years! I then wax dime-store-philosophic about why Cabernet Sauvignon in a pouch/box/bag is probably a bad idea (attention box/bag/pouch producers: can we get some Barbera or Gamay in that packaging, please?).

Mentioned in this episode:

• Black Box Chardonnay (bag-in-box)
• Boho Chardonnay (bag-in-box)
• Clif Family Winery’s “The Climber” Chardonnay & Cabernet Sauvignon (in 1.5L pouch)

Cheers!

In this episode, I chastise Vinos Navarra for making extra work for me (sort of), and profile Portuguese producer Oscar Quevedo‘s unique approach to wine and social media (quick review of one of his latest below after the vid), which seems to jive pretty well with the style of consumer engagement that Gary V. championed in our recent interview from the Nomacorc wine marketing symposium at Napa’s CIA.

2008 Oscar’s Red Wine (Douro)
Rating: B
Price: $14

Talk about robust.  And peppery, too, with a ton of black fruit that has concentration but isn’t screaming at you about its over-ripeness.  It’s a solid effort, and pretty much exactly what you’d expect from the Douro but with a friendlier, approachable streak, without at all being ponderous.  For sure this is a wine tailor-made for the grill (the closer you get to steak territory with this, the better).

Cheers!