What I Learned Today

Posted on March 10, 2007 by Sonadora

I finally broke down today and entered our collection of wine into Cellar Tracker, mostly at the repeated urging of Dr. Debs from Good Wine Under $20.

I learned that I do not like when wine clubs ship you wine yet do not list on the packing slip or anywhere in the shipment how much each bottle cost. Yes, I can look it up on my credit card bill and figure out the total, but that doesn’t break it down by bottle. It’s a royal pain in the rear end to figure out the price of something, especially when it’s an older bottle that was sent and is not available on the website to purchase. Note to wineries: Tell me how much my wine costs!

I learned that we currently have 84 bottles of wine that are all now rearranged into 9 wine racks. This is both good and bad. We started, back in early September, with 12 wine racks and a wine fridge full (read: approximately 150 bottles). So this means that at a minimum, since September, we have consumed 66 bottles of wine. However, this is not nearly the extent of the wine we have actually consumed, given that we were receiving shipments from 12 wineries during that time and we bought several cases of “everyday” wine, not to mention the odd bottle here and there for WBW. By rough estimating, I gather we’ve received around 60 bottles of wine from wine clubs. Rough guess? I would say the number of bottles consumed (or given away as presents) exceeds 150. In approximately 185 days. At that rate, what we have in our racks will only last us about another 100 days. And we will not be drinking all of it, since there are bottles I know are not ready yet. Additionally, since we cut out half of our wine clubs, the wine will not be arriving fast enough to cover the rate we are drinking it. I guess I will be hitting up the local wine shops more this spring.

Finally, I learned that the wine we do have adds up to a cost that I don’t really want to think about. And if I do think about it, and and I assume it roughly equates (if I extrapolate it to include more bottles) to the cost of the wine we have consumed thus far, we have, in the last 6 months, probably drank several thousand dollars worth of wine.

In conclusion, wine drinking is an expensive habit, and if you’d like to have a mini-heart attack like I did this afternoon, head on over to Cellar Tracker and enter your collection in. I will be recuperating from the shock this evening with a bottle of wine.

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Filed under: Cellar Tracker, Good Wine Under $20, Misc, Wine | 7 Comments »

Knocking another one out of the park!

Posted on March 10, 2007 by Sonadora

Now, if you are an incredibly avid reader of my ramblings, you might be thinking, hum, didn’t she review the 2004 Nelson Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon back in November? And the answer is, yes, I reviewed the regular garden variety, but tonight I am reviewing the 2004 Nelson Family Vineyards Top Row Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon and I am blown away!

The wine clocks in at 14.3% alcohol by volume, had a real cork closure and cost us around $19 in a club shipment. The wines from Nelson are very reasonably priced and represent great values for our wine budget. I actually need to get in touch with Chris Nelson as several months ago I asked him to answer some questions about his vineyard for the blog and he agreed, then things got crazy for me (read: we found, bid on and bought a house) and I haven’t had a chance to sit down and draw up the questions. I promise I will do so soon readers!

Back to the wine. I get blackberries on the nose to begin with. They jumped out of the bottle when I opened it. My glass has been out for a few hours now and I am getting a touch of earth and something almost slightly minty (can’t say I’ve seen that before!). Under those aromas comes some cedar and a little oak.

In the mouth I am finding plums, black currants and blackberries. The mouth is full of dark fruit. Following the fruit is a cedar taste. The fruit lingers in the mouth.

Overall, this wine is drinking really well right now. (Again, woo hoo, I’m back with wines I’m loving!) In the mouth it is smooth and silky and I don’t get any tannins or alcohol heat. I served this with bruschetta and pork chops that I cooked in the crockpot in pasta sauce all day. I liked the match of the pasta sauce flavors with the dark fruit in this bottle. I would drink this one anytime you are ready if you have it around, it’s drinking beautifully.

Filed under: Cabernet Sauvignon, Nelson Family Vineyards, Red | 2 Comments »