2004 Roshambo Syrah

Posted on March 27, 2007 by Sonadora

I attempted to serve the 2004 Roshambo Syrah from the Frank Johnson Vineyard with our dinner. It didn’t work. The alcohol and heat on this wine when I poured it just wouldn’t go away. It took well over an hour sitting in our glasses before the alcohol scent disappeared and I could actually attempt to drink this.

The wine was 15.5% alcohol by volume, had a cork closure and came in a wine club shipment, yet another one without a price list.

Eventually on the nose I found raspberries and cloves, plus a bit of earth and oak. I was trying to serve this with pasta, fresh tomato sauce and fresh grated parmasean, but that didn’t work out, so we drank it by itself after (long after) dinner. Perhaps food would have helped this wine out, but to be honest, I’m not so sure. In the mouth there really weren’t any flavors. It was very muted and all I can say is that the wine was bitter, astringent and thin. It really didn’t do much for me. I can’t find this online, but I really hope we it didn’t cost too much.

Ah, the benefits of signing up for WineQ, I can choose the wines I want when I want them. And I hopefully won’t end up with wines like this one that don’t do much for me, since I can read other user’s reviews before I queue up anything! (I have convinced Matt that we will be signing up when we get back from our upcoming CA trip! Woohoo!)

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Filed under: Red, Roshambo, Syrah | 7 Comments »

Sniff Sniff…Is that Ladybug I smell?

Posted on March 27, 2007 by Sonadora

Back in 2001 I was working in NYC, living in Hoboken and my commute was horrendous…it literally took me an hour and a half (or more depending on delays) on a combination of the PATH, the Subway and walking 22 blocks to get to work. I picked up the habit of buying the NY Post on the first leg of my commute, mainly for Page Six, I will admit, but I also read the news, and then the New York Times on the second half. To this day, I still read both of those papers online, plus a handful or more other papers.

I have to say, in all those years, this is the first time I recall the Post having a news article (I rarely even recall a wine review to be honest) about wine that didn’t involve stolen wine.

Apparently there is a new threat to the aroma of wine: Ladybugs. While good for pest control, it has been found by a new Iowa State University study that Ladybugs emit a foul smelling liquid that can be detected in very small amounts by the human nose. Likened to the scent of green peppers and roasted peanuts, the aroma has been dubbed “Ladybug Taint” and is reportedly becoming more common in wine. The article isn’t long, you can find the AP text here.

The article asserts that the Ladybugs are being mixed into the grapes during the fermentation process. I will have to poke around the internet today to see if I can’t find out anything more, but if for nothing else, “Ladybug Taint” made me chuckle this morning.

Filed under: Wine, Wine News | 9 Comments »