Dear Wine Press, thank you for everything...

Hi lovely G&G's,
I thought it might be nice to keep you all updated on all our wine adventures, not just the ones that we taste at wine club.

It's been lonely at The Eustonian this week while K's been out in L.A. Obviously, I've had some (bottles of) wine to keep me company. I picked all of these up at The Wine Press in Brookline, mostly because they were on super-sale.


I started the week with a 2008 Tilia Malbec from Mendoza, Argentina. Tilia is sourced from sustainably farmed vineyards (bonus!) and had a spicy, fruity nose with heavy notes of black cherry and plum. It was easy to drink alone, and was soft enough to complement my dinner of baked acorn squash stuffed with spicy quinoa-pilaf.




Later in the week, I made tequila shrimp and black bean coriander cakes (R loves shrimp... I love tequila... how could it go wrong?). We opened a bottle that I had been holding onto for awhile for this special dinner - the 2004 Mira Salinas. This bottle was originally priced at $64.99... I got it for $19.99 (Thanks Wine Press!). The Salinas is 65% Monastrell, 25%Cabernet Sauvingnon, and 10% Garnacha, aged for 20 months in French oak. Wow, I loved this! It's a deep, garnet hue, with heavy aromas of black cherry, blackberry, plum, and minerals. It was bold and full-bodied on the palate, with excellent acidity and tannins. The finish was long and mouthstaining, with a nice balance of pure fruit and oak. I need to remember to head back over to the Press for a couple more bottles... what a steal!



Finally, I ended my week with the 2006 Concannon Petite Sirah Limited Release from California's Central Coast. R and I had this wine for the first time on our anniversary at The Fireplace in Washington Square. This time we had it with chicken scallopini and a creamy rosemary white bean puree. Concannon was the first winery in the USA to produce a Petite Sirah as it’s been around since 1883 in the Livermore Valley area. Petite Sirah, as its known in the U.S. and Israel, is actually the Durif grape – it came about from cross a cross pollenation from Syrah and a Peloursin plant. It shares a lot of similarites with Sirah (hence the name) - spicy, slightly jammy, with a decently smooth, silky finish. I got this on sale for $10.99, marked down from $17.

OK, that's it for now, its been a good wine-week and I can't wait until our next G&G meeting!