2003 Hanna Two Ranch Red

Posted on April 2, 2007 by Sonadora

First off, this wine is not ready to drink without some serious time sitting out or in a decanter. It was hot and full of alcohol on the nose and I couldn’t get past that through our whole dinner.

After the alcohol dissipated, I could find the scent of raisins and spice. In the mouth there were plums, black pepper and black currants.

The bottle cost around $20, had a real cork closure and came in a club shipment. Matt tossed the bottle before I could write down what the alcohol content was.

This wine is made from grapes that are deemed not good enough to be made into Hanna’s Bismark Red. So I guess it’s reject grapes? Kind of interesting that they actually tell you on the website that the grapes didn’t make the cut for the better wine. I’m not so sure how I feel about that!

Overall, my assessment of this bottle is that it’s a simple, drinkable bottle of red table wine. There’s nothing remarkable about it, nor anything bad. But definitely let this one air out before trying to drink it!

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A Rose for a Warm Day

Posted on March 24, 2007 by Sonadora

And a soup too….not good for a warm day, but that’s what we had as leftovers tonight. But it balanced out nicely with the rose, though I think soup days are over here.

The wine was a 2006 Hanna Jasmine. It came in a club shipment without a price, but it looks like you can get it for $14 from the Hanna website, it is 12.8% alcohol by volume and had a real cork closure.

Fresh strawberries were jumping out of the glass as I poured this wine. I really liked the aroma. In the mouth I found crisp strawberries and a little taste of lime.

It was great for our mid-70s weather and actually worked really well with the creamy soup, though I can definitely imagine it on a hot day as a really refreshing wine to drink.
The wine had nice acidity and good structure. It was very crisp and lively in the mouth. I liked it a lot and would definitely get it again, especially since the price was right, it made a good value.

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Hanna 2005 Pinot Noir

Posted on February 14, 2007 by Sonadora

I know this wine exists. I drank it and I have a picture of it. However, I can find absolutely no mention of it on their website. Very odd. In anycase, it came in a club shipment, cost us $25ish, runs 14.6% alcohol by volume and had a real cork closure.

I thought this wine showed a lot of potential. I think perhaps we drank it a little too young, but what with serving Roz’s Zuppa Toscana again, I wanted a Pinot Noir since it seemed to work so well last time I paired the two. A few hours in the glass and this was a very tasty wine.

In the glass, it was a beautiful ruby red color. You can’t tell from the picture because, well, I kind of suck as a photographer, plus my life pile on the table is starting to really cramp my photographs!

On the nose I found cherries, raspberries and spices. In the mouth, after a few hours, it was quite smooth and showed raspberries, more spices and some cedar characteristics. Overall, a good wine that just needs some time to come into its own.

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The Neverending Turkey (and Sides)

Posted on December 2, 2006 by Sonadora

I’ve discovered the flaw in hosting a holiday meal when there are only two people who live in the house regularly: leftovers that never end. I did not notice this when I was a kid, for a few reasons. One, my family all lives in the same area of the same state and thus the host usually ends up only making the main meat dish and maybe a few small things. The cousins, aunts, grammas, etc., bring everything else. And when they leave, they clearly want to take their dish home, so they take it with whatever leftovers are in it. Two, there were 4 people to eat the leftovers. And finally, my mother clearly knew better than I how much turkey any given group could eat at a time.

That said, we still have a ton of leftovers. We’ve eaten turkey almost every night since Thanksgiving and had it in sandwiches for lunch. We’re turkeyed out. However, not one to want to waste anything, I made turkey soup out of the rest of the turkey.

And that’s what I paired with a Bottle of Hanna Winery Bismark Moutain Vineyard 2000 Noir. We picked this bottle up for $30 at Hanna when we were out in Sonoma. Cork closure, 14.5% alcohol by volume, this wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot.

I actually remembered to decant this bottle, and I had it out for about 40 minutes before drinking the first glass. I’m really glad I decanted it. I could still smell alcohol on the nose even after that time. So I put my glass to the side and let it air a bit more. When I went back to it, the alcohol scent was gone and I got cherries, herbs and spices. However, this was by no means a big fruity wine. It was also not sweet, it weighs in at 0.03% residual sugar. It was smooth in the mouth, with a long lasting finish, but the finish was not as smooth as I would have liked. This usually retails for $50.00 a bottle, but was on sale for $30.00 the day we bought it. We have another bottle and I will keep that around for a while. I think the finish should mellow with a little more aging.

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