Archive for January, 2009

Layer Cake Cabernet

January 21st, 2009

logoI attended with Lisa the 2 year anniversary of the Barrell Room this week.  Can you believe that place has been around for 2 years already?  If I had to wager a guess, I would have said barely over 1 year.  I’m really happy that place is doing well.  They could make some improvements (desert, main dishes), but their variety is great.  They offer the always safe cheese and meat plate, great wine selection, and you can never go wrong with a build your own <panini>.  I am either on a brie kick, or I love their brie there as well.

On to the wine.  We had a bottle of the 2007 Layer Cake wich is a Cabernet Savignon from the True Vine winery in Napa.  We paid $36 for the bottle.  It retails for $24.99  The wine bottle had an endearing story behind its name.  It said:

“My old grandfather made and enjoyed wine for 80 years. He told me the soils in which the vines lived were a layer cake. If properly made, the wine from these vines was like a delicious cake layerd with fruit, mocha, chocolate and hints of spice …and rich, always rich. ‘Never pass up a good Layer Cake’, he would say. I have always loved those words.” -A. Orlando Tribute, Jayson Woodbridge

layercakeImpressions
Sight
Lisa enjoyed this wine more than I did.  I was first set off by the coloring.  I wasn’t sure if it was due to the brown marble bar that we sat at, but the wine gave off a brownish tint–similar to how wine looks when it is going bad. 
Scent
We tried to ascertain what smells the wine had, but surprisingly we couldn’t pick up a scent. Lisa stated “I couldn’t figure the scent out.” To which I replied, “Me neither, usually i just guess either peppery, oaky, or fruity.”
Taste
It wasn’t a super dry wine.  It had a light finish.  Lisa thought it was easy to drink and held a medium complex finish.  I felt that the finish was weak.  It kind of drained off and had a watery finish.
Score:
Lisa gave it a solid 6 while I gave it a weak 6 out of 10.  She would order it again, but I would not choose to. Though, I would drink it if I had to.

The winery is currently facing charges of making wine without a license.

The wine maker recently spoke at the Culinary Institute Of America (C.I.A) for its recent graduation.  If you are ever in Napa Valley, I reccomend that you visit the C.I.A.  It’s really a beautiful campus and offers cooking demonstrations practically daily.

Winery Thoughts:

Vintage: 2007
Wine Type: Bold Red Wine
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon
Appellation: Napa Valley
Bottling Date: July 2007
Alcohol %: 14.2

Tasting Notes:
Beautiful deep garnet color. Aromas of blackberry, cassis, violets, cedar, tobacco, and hints of minerals and graphite. Sweet, densely packed and creamy in the mouth, but with firm, underlying structure that gives lift to the dark berry, chocolate, and coffee flavors. This is a very lush, soft, complex wine that coats the palate and spreads out on the long, lingering finish.

Winemaker Notes:
We fermented this Napa Valley Cabernet using hand punch downs and gentle pumpovers; then transferring some to French oak for aging. The most structured, most powerful lots were put into new French oak for aging to balance the tannins and extract the rich flavors from the barrique. Some lots that would benefit from the softening effect of time in oak were put into French barrels that were used to age Hunderd Acre. By carefully blending the differnet lots – varying oak types and different vineyard lots – we created a balanced and compklex wine.

Alexander Valley Cabernet

January 21st, 2009

alexandervalley1I ate dinner at Vincent’s in Escondido recently, and ordered a bottle of Alexander Valley Cabernet ’06.  It was an ok wine.  It was dry and had a oaky and peppery smell.  It was a pinkish purple color.  It was tasty and drinkable, but scored low scores.  Around the table it was given a 6, a 6.5 and a 7.  I would order it again, but it would not be at the top of my list.

The bottle retails for $12.99 at bevmo.

Others’ Thoughts:
90 PTS WILFRED WONG. Unusually fragrant and quite fine, the well-balanced ’06 Alexander Valley Vyds serves up pretty, red fruit flavors; firm and lasting on the palate; smooth in the finish.

Born Of Frustration

January 16th, 2009

Stop stop talking about who’s to blame
When all that counts is how to change

– James

CR7

January 15th, 2009

I love Nike.  They make great products and they often have fabulous marketing campaigns and advertisements.  This new one I just found demonstrates the Love/Hate relationship that most soccer fans have towards Christiano Ronaldo, reigning world soccer player of the year.

High-Five

January 15th, 2009

Check out Ryan Seacrest instinctually attempt to give a high-five to a contestant.  But then remembers that the guy is blind.  HA!

**Update (2/15/09)**
Apparently fox got embarrased and removed the video from the internet.  It was really funny though, so you will just have to imagine.

Other Great fives:

Scrubs:

Seinfield

puddy

Top Gun

skins

 

Scrubs (more of a handshake than a high-five)

Another Scrubs handshake from an outtake

honorable mention goes to Borat, but I couldn’t find a good clip or image.

Cletus

January 14th, 2009

Conan makes a great point, and I agree entirely.   Funny video.

**Update (2/15/09)**
The original video that I had (at the bottom now of this post), was removed from youtube.  I have found these others, although they are not exactly the same.  Enjoy.

 

Not So Funny Bone

January 14th, 2009

I feel like im becoming a hypochondriac.  I’ve always been in tune with my body, and can tell when something  just  isnt right…maybe its cause ive spent 2 years and the last 9 months specifically knowing that something was messed up in my knee, and trying to get the attention it needed.

This past Sunday, I was riding in the car, and my arm was on the arm-rest.  I bent my arm and felt a tingle sensation in my hand.  Thinking it was odd, i stretched my arm out and did it again and the same thing happened.  Later that night, I was scratching my elbow, and felt it again.  Since then, I have spent 4 days with my hand numb.  After doing internet research I found that it is called Ulnar Nerve Entrapment, or cubital tunnel syndrome.    It is when the ulnar nerve that runs from my spine/neck down my arm, to my hand, is compressed.  It is interesting to read about.  I am not sure about the solutions, and I’m worried about potential nerve damage.  In the meantime, its aggravating, annoying and painful.

nerveentrapment

The ulnar nerve gives sensation to the little finger and to half of the ring finger on both the palm and back side of the hand.  The ulnar nerve runs behind the elbow on the inside of the arm. The upper arm bone (humerus) has a groove on the back where the nerve lies. Here the nerve can be felt as the ” funny bone. ” The ulna is the forearm bone that makes the point of the elbow when it is bent.

Oh What A Finish! – Gourcuff With Rooney Bonus

January 12th, 2009

Make sure to stay till the end.  Check out the footwork on the replay.  Amazing.

and as a bonus, check out this cheeky play by Rooney and the red devils.  Lame that the ref didn’t allow it, it appears legal.  What do you think? Make sure you get to the replay at the 40 second mark.

Respect Your Mutha

January 6th, 2009

Bounded Ambition

January 6th, 2009

Lisa wrote, er, posted an interesting video on the psychology of happiness and the human brain. Its a long video, but its worth a watch and its worth a discussion.

This Week I'm Thinking About: Josh Stichter