Hi everybody!
So Thanksgiving is nearly upon us and it's time for Robert Sharker's annual list of recommended Turkey Day wines!
Now before we begin, we should clarify a few things. My hi-tech tracking data tells me that the majority of my readers are land-dwelling humans, which means that your Thanksgiving celebrations are drastically different than mine. Whereas my family and I typically enjoy a steaming pile of dead sea lions or sometimes a two-ton roasted walrus for Thanksgiving dinner, I realize that the majority of my readers traditionally consume the large, stupid North American bird known as "Turkeys" for their respective Thanksgiving dinners. Now I have never seen one of these Turkey things before, but I've done some independent research and here are my recommended wines to accompany a traditional human-style Thanksgiving dinner:
WHITES:
-Andre Blanck Riesling 2007: Beautiful dry Riesling from Alsace. Bright acidity, nectarine, peach and lychee flavors, this makes Turkey or any other large, semi-flightless bird taste better!
-Terra Antiga Vinho Verde 2008: This Portuguese quaffer is a popular wine during the hot summer months, but its refreshing fruity flavors also help to improve the dry flesh of dead Turkeys. This one in particular has wonderful mango and pineapple flavors, along with a slightly spritzy texture. Its incredibly cheap price tag also helps during this period of extreme economic recession (...largely created by douchebag humans).
-D'Arenberg Hermit Crab Viognier/Marsanne 2008: Lotta stuff going on in this white blend from Australia; we've got citrus, stone fruit, pear, and some savory, nutty flavors rounding it all out. All in all, it's full bodied and fresh. A fine partner with Turkey...and not a bad choice with stuck-up Sea Bass motherfuckers either.
REDS:
-Domaine de Colette Regnie 2008: Excellent value in cru-Beaujolais here. Light-bodied strawberry, raspberry, and mineral notes make this a no-brainer. You could even slip some in at the kids table if you would like to enjoy a quiet ride home after dinner!
-Hartford Court Land's Edge Vineyards Pinot Noir 2007: Ripe cherries, red currant, and delicately balanced acid from this fantastic Sonoma Coast bottling. Especially good pairing if you like to go heavy on the cranberry sauce.
-Cantina Zaccagnini "Ikebana" Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 2007: Light. Really light. And juicy too. Like the blood from a freshly killed...oh never mind... my human audience could never fully understand. Anyway, this wine would be great with turkey. Freshly slaughtered, still warm, bleeding turkey...ok, moving along now...
ROSES:
-Commanderie de la Bargemone Coteaux d'Aix En Provence 2008: A blend of Grenache, Syrah, Cinsault and Carignan. This is a full-bodied dry rose, with flavors of wild strawberry, it's an ideal distraction from the bland flesh of your mother-in-law's overcooked turkey (and her blah, blah, blah-ing...).
-Villa Wolf Rose of Pinot Noir 2008: From the Pfalz region of Germany. Joyfully light,juicy, raspberry and pomegranate flavors backed by some robust acidity and minerality. Makes it so easy to wash down an entire turkey...or some guy with a mustache from Tampa who fell off his jet ski!
FOR DESSERT:
-M. Chapoutier Banyuls 2007: Layers of chocolate, espresso, raspberry and raisins abound in this hedonistic bottling from southern France. Great with tiramisu, sharp cheeses, or humans with intense body odor.
That does it for Robert Sharker's 2009 Thanksgiving wine list! Needless to say, there are HUNDREDS, if not THOUSANDS of great wines out there to accompany your Thanksgiving dinner- these are just a few of my favorites of this year. Don't see your favorite Turkey wine on this list? You can tell me all about it at robertsharker@gmail.com.
Until next time,
Happy Thanksgiving from Robert!
Sincerely,
Robert Sharker.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Thornbury Marlborough Pinot Noir 2002: 92pts
Hello again wine-o's!
So last night I was perusing my underwater wine cellar (...location secret!) in search of something to go with a couple of manatees who had no idea they were about to get chomped in half. I had forgotten all about my stash of '02 Thornbury Pinot from Marlborough, which I had picked up years ago during one of my frequent trips to the waters off New Zealand. I remembered this being pretty bold in its youth, so I thought it would be fun to see how it was coming along.
I poured it into my decanter and gave it about an hour to open up. This gave my wife ample time to drag down those cocky manatees and get them on the table where they belong! Who's so cute and adorable now, huh!?? The wine poured out a deep, but slightly rusty purple with aromas of cinnamon, stewed cherries and some nice balsamic notes. On the palate is where it got really interesting- right up front was a powerful mesquite flavor backed by more cherries and some pretty firm tannins. The acidity was assertive but well balanced. Quite an interesting Pinot with plenty of life left ahead of it. I'd say this should continue to improve for another 5-7 years.
All in all, pretty impressive for such a modestly priced wine. You should be able to find current vintages of this Pinot in the lower teens. If you can still find some '02, pick it up! This is a Pinot Noir that can stand up to bolder cuisine than most; it was great with the manatees and would be a fine match with most large mammals.
That's all for now, friends. Until next time.
Salud!
-Robert Sharker.
So last night I was perusing my underwater wine cellar (...location secret!) in search of something to go with a couple of manatees who had no idea they were about to get chomped in half. I had forgotten all about my stash of '02 Thornbury Pinot from Marlborough, which I had picked up years ago during one of my frequent trips to the waters off New Zealand. I remembered this being pretty bold in its youth, so I thought it would be fun to see how it was coming along.
I poured it into my decanter and gave it about an hour to open up. This gave my wife ample time to drag down those cocky manatees and get them on the table where they belong! Who's so cute and adorable now, huh!?? The wine poured out a deep, but slightly rusty purple with aromas of cinnamon, stewed cherries and some nice balsamic notes. On the palate is where it got really interesting- right up front was a powerful mesquite flavor backed by more cherries and some pretty firm tannins. The acidity was assertive but well balanced. Quite an interesting Pinot with plenty of life left ahead of it. I'd say this should continue to improve for another 5-7 years.
All in all, pretty impressive for such a modestly priced wine. You should be able to find current vintages of this Pinot in the lower teens. If you can still find some '02, pick it up! This is a Pinot Noir that can stand up to bolder cuisine than most; it was great with the manatees and would be a fine match with most large mammals.
That's all for now, friends. Until next time.
Salud!
-Robert Sharker.
Friday, November 13, 2009
The Sharkers visit Spain and I come to terms with my expensive tastes.
Hello again, wine lovers!
I haven't written to you in nearly two months and now it's time for me to make excuses. Are you ready? I've got some good ones:
1.Shitty phone and internet service in Europe.
In early October, my wife and I went to Spain! (more on that in a minute). Prior to to our trip, one of our offspring got me a new iPhone so I could update my blog on the go rather than bring my laptop and look for spotty WI-FI service. Sounds great right? Apparently these amazing devices don't work very well when submerged under 300 ft of saltwater! Thanks Apple. You're really making life easier for all of us. Of course there are internet cafes throughout the Mediterranean but those foreign keyboards might as well be from the moon.
2. Swine Flu.
So on the trip back from Spain, of course I get stuck sitting next to a couple of damn jellyfish. Ordinarily I would eat these spineless bastards without thinking twice about it, but my wife says I need to do a better job controlling my anger in public so instead I just make pleasant conversation. "How do you do? My name is Robert". "I'm retired and I write a wine blog. What do you do? Oh really? That must be very interesting. Wow. Oh really? That's nice." And so on... It was brutal but I did it.
It was about this time that one of them starts coughing and sneezing, and right away I knew what I was in for. As soon as we got home I went down hard with a 103 degree fever, which when you are cold-blooded can be very fatal! I couldn't get out of bed for nearly a month and needless to say, couldn't have a drop of wine! All thanks to these asshole, swine flu carrying jellyfish who refuse to get vaccinated because it violates their religious beliefs! C'mon, get real.
"That's great Robert. Can you please wrap it up and talk about wine?"
You're right! I am so sorry. Enough excuses. I wanted to tell you all about my wine-ephiphany while we were in Spain. We spent our time prowling the waters between Barcelona and the island of Mallorca. This was our first trip to this particular region and we were blown away by the beautiful warm water, the friendly locals, and the abundance of prey! We absolutely gorged ourselves on Catalan specialties like squid, octopus, anchovies, sea snails and stoned Barcelona teenagers who wandered too far into the surf at night!
Now being a famous wine critic, I must confess that I've gotten a bit too comfortable with my easy access to the world's finest wines. I mean, when I check my underwater P.O. box it's just overflowing with sample bottles of wines I could never afford if I weren't in this business. And when my wife and I dine in restaurants, the sommelier frequently comps us a bottle or two of some of their most exclusive wines. I realize this doesn't sound bad at all to most people but believe me, it can lead to a real sense of apathy.
On this particular trip, I wanted things to be different. I wanted to see what wine the local folks would be drinking with their meals. I wanted to get back to what wine is really about, which is enjoyment. Not reviews, scores, high price tags, or pedigree. So for almost every meal, we simply ordered a liter of the house wine (red, white, or rose as the situation demanded) and let me tell you, it was a real eye-opener. Typically, the wines were served in an anonymous glass carafe; no label, no names, just total anonymity. These wines were very inexpensive, locally produced and always complemented our meals perfectly. It was great! And best of all, it gave our food enough room to be the star of the show, rather than the other way around. Any serious predatory creature will agree that this is the way it oughta be!
Now that's not to say we only ordered the house wine. About halfway through a delightful homestyle Catalan meal at 4Gats in Barcelona, where our human disguises worked like a charm, I did order a bottle of 2005 Prior de Fic from Priorat and proceeded to drink the entire thing myself! I just couldn't resist the densely layered plum, boysenberry and vanilla cream flavors. After a week of drinking good but fairly pedestrian wines, it felt great to throw down something with some real backbone to it! In fact, this wine sent me into such a frenzy that I ate or maimed half the waitstaff in a matter of minutes and we had to make a hasty exit back to the sea!
And come to think of it, I did also splurge on a bottle of the venerable 2004 Vega Sicilia Tinto Valbuena. We'll save that one for a few years and I'll report back to you.
So at the end of the day, I guess I do prefer and appreciate the fancy stuff after all. Keep those free bottles coming!
Until next time,
-Robert Sharker.
I haven't written to you in nearly two months and now it's time for me to make excuses. Are you ready? I've got some good ones:
1.Shitty phone and internet service in Europe.
In early October, my wife and I went to Spain! (more on that in a minute). Prior to to our trip, one of our offspring got me a new iPhone so I could update my blog on the go rather than bring my laptop and look for spotty WI-FI service. Sounds great right? Apparently these amazing devices don't work very well when submerged under 300 ft of saltwater! Thanks Apple. You're really making life easier for all of us. Of course there are internet cafes throughout the Mediterranean but those foreign keyboards might as well be from the moon.
2. Swine Flu.
So on the trip back from Spain, of course I get stuck sitting next to a couple of damn jellyfish. Ordinarily I would eat these spineless bastards without thinking twice about it, but my wife says I need to do a better job controlling my anger in public so instead I just make pleasant conversation. "How do you do? My name is Robert". "I'm retired and I write a wine blog. What do you do? Oh really? That must be very interesting. Wow. Oh really? That's nice." And so on... It was brutal but I did it.
It was about this time that one of them starts coughing and sneezing, and right away I knew what I was in for. As soon as we got home I went down hard with a 103 degree fever, which when you are cold-blooded can be very fatal! I couldn't get out of bed for nearly a month and needless to say, couldn't have a drop of wine! All thanks to these asshole, swine flu carrying jellyfish who refuse to get vaccinated because it violates their religious beliefs! C'mon, get real.
"That's great Robert. Can you please wrap it up and talk about wine?"
You're right! I am so sorry. Enough excuses. I wanted to tell you all about my wine-ephiphany while we were in Spain. We spent our time prowling the waters between Barcelona and the island of Mallorca. This was our first trip to this particular region and we were blown away by the beautiful warm water, the friendly locals, and the abundance of prey! We absolutely gorged ourselves on Catalan specialties like squid, octopus, anchovies, sea snails and stoned Barcelona teenagers who wandered too far into the surf at night!
Now being a famous wine critic, I must confess that I've gotten a bit too comfortable with my easy access to the world's finest wines. I mean, when I check my underwater P.O. box it's just overflowing with sample bottles of wines I could never afford if I weren't in this business. And when my wife and I dine in restaurants, the sommelier frequently comps us a bottle or two of some of their most exclusive wines. I realize this doesn't sound bad at all to most people but believe me, it can lead to a real sense of apathy.
On this particular trip, I wanted things to be different. I wanted to see what wine the local folks would be drinking with their meals. I wanted to get back to what wine is really about, which is enjoyment. Not reviews, scores, high price tags, or pedigree. So for almost every meal, we simply ordered a liter of the house wine (red, white, or rose as the situation demanded) and let me tell you, it was a real eye-opener. Typically, the wines were served in an anonymous glass carafe; no label, no names, just total anonymity. These wines were very inexpensive, locally produced and always complemented our meals perfectly. It was great! And best of all, it gave our food enough room to be the star of the show, rather than the other way around. Any serious predatory creature will agree that this is the way it oughta be!
Now that's not to say we only ordered the house wine. About halfway through a delightful homestyle Catalan meal at 4Gats in Barcelona, where our human disguises worked like a charm, I did order a bottle of 2005 Prior de Fic from Priorat and proceeded to drink the entire thing myself! I just couldn't resist the densely layered plum, boysenberry and vanilla cream flavors. After a week of drinking good but fairly pedestrian wines, it felt great to throw down something with some real backbone to it! In fact, this wine sent me into such a frenzy that I ate or maimed half the waitstaff in a matter of minutes and we had to make a hasty exit back to the sea!
And come to think of it, I did also splurge on a bottle of the venerable 2004 Vega Sicilia Tinto Valbuena. We'll save that one for a few years and I'll report back to you.
So at the end of the day, I guess I do prefer and appreciate the fancy stuff after all. Keep those free bottles coming!
Until next time,
-Robert Sharker.
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