Wine

Well this is quite the wine review bonanza! Really it's because I've been delinquent and trying to get back up to speed. Now that I have a computer to call my own, I have no excuse (other than the 5:28 AM alarm clock seriously always comes too quick) to review one bottle of wine per week - God knows that I will drink ONE bottle of wine for the good of the blog to be reviewed. I really do it because I love you. Seriously... and I love wine, and coffee, but coffee is the same (Folgers Hazelnut brewed every morning, stuck in a thermos and walks with me to work. It's like my security blanket. It makes my first hour of work so much more bearable and happy.)

But I digress...

Top: [4 stars] Plungerhead. We got this wine because of the name and the label. And really, would you pass this one up? There's a guy with a plunger on his head. How great is that? This is the second Plungerhead that we've tried. We got the first at BevMo! and it was about $15, it was good, but I don't have a picture of that one, and it wasn't as good as this one pictured. We got this one at Costco, this was also in the $15 range, however this one was much better. I believe this one is a step up from the BevMo! variety, but really they've all been great.

On a side note: I love the word BevMo! due to the following reasons:
1. I'm a sucker for 2 capital letters in one word (i.e. my name is AnnE.)
2. I'm a sucker for anything that has an exclamation point in the name. This one also might have something to do with my name. I like the punctuations.

3. I feel like it's slang. I'm not good at creating my own slang words, so I like when stores make it easy.

MAIPE: [4 stars] Is a wonderful Malbec called Maipe from Argentina? (I'm not exactly sure, it's some place in South America) and of course Mike is modeling how tasty it is in the glass. Isn't he cute? I don't venture into the Malbec category much, actually ever, but my parents were out and my dad was the wine picker extradinairre and boy oh boy did he do a good job. My parents taught us that Malbecs are very tasty and cheap! What could be better?

Maipe had an excellent flavor and has really opened my world to try more Malbecs. I actually tried a different Malbec while at a restaurant in San Jose recently and it was not nearly as good as Maipe. Lesson learned: not all Malbecs taste the same, but Maipe tastes really good.

And now we're back to our regular programming:

[2 stars] Cameron Hughes (bottom picture) I have to tell you, we were totally sold by the wine steward at Costco. He sweet talked us into 2 of these Cameron Hughes bottles. Let me tell you a little bit about Mr. Hughes. So apparently Cameron (if that is his real name) buys grapes from all the great Napa/Sonoma wineries and then bottles the wines himself so you are paying for the finest of grapes and not the label. I like the theory, however sometimes you need to pay for a sweet label because this wine is nothing to write home about. The wine guy said that this is a $25 bottle of wine, but because we are the coolest of the cool Costco members, we get to buy it for $12. Frankly, if you drink it really quick right after you open it, it's worth the $12. But if you milk it for a wine throughout the week, you are going to pour it down the drain because grape juice doesn't do it for me. But then again, that's probably not recommended by the wine steward either. I'm not sure if Cameron Hughes distributes only in the Bay area or if its across the country, but if you sign up on their website you can get the skinny on which Costco location is getting what specific wines. Now that part I think is kinda cool. It feels like espionage.

PEPPERWOOD (pictured 2nd from bottom): [0.75 stars] You know what the most important lesson I have learned lately? $4 wine just isn't what it used to be. Seriously, I was jumping for joy in the Safeway wine aisle to see this dandy of a $4 bottle. Mike was traveling for work so I thought a $4 bottle would be just the ticket for me while he was globe trotting (ok to Minneapolis and back).

Another side note, depending on who you tell that we recently moved from Minneapolis, they act like we were just living on the moon. Seriously people...Minneapolis is not the end of the earth. It's a lovely place and yes, I do like snow. (not the shoveling part but the cold gives you character, and you need character.)

Back to the crappy $4 bottle of wine. I'd like to say that my frugal self will be buying this one again, but sadly that is not in the cards. I'm not opposed to $4 wine, just not this one. By the way, my favorite $5 bottle (BV Coastal) is now up to $7! I can't decide if it's due to my raving about it or inflation.