InMyCups

A few years back, I was introduced to the gem that is Gargiulo Vineyard’s Aprile “Super Oakville” blend.  A riff on a classic Super Tuscan, Aprile is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (4%)  and Sangiovese grapes (the other 96%).  The result: deee-lish.  Aprile remains one of my *all-time* favorites and a wine I hoard, since it’s virtually impossible to find in Massachusetts.  (A note to the Commonwealth’s intrepid: Gargiulo will ship to you, but the evil Massachusetts distributors have done their darndest to make it prohibitively expensive.  Come on, people, free trade!)

The wine is named for April Gargiulo, daughter of the Gargiulo owners.  Last I heard, April was running Gargiulo’s marketing efforts and doing a masterful job of putting this boutique winery on the map.

I once found some Gargiulo wines in Gordon’s in Waltham.  If you’re ever in Napa, I highly encourage you to book a private tasting at Gargiulo’s beautiful tasting room.  It’s worth the commitment to book ahead.  They’ll take spectacular care of you and you’ll enjoy an afternoon to remember.

We Americans tend to drink our whites too cold and our reds too warm.  So I was psyched to discover the “Corkcicle,” an ingenious new device for keeping wines chilled to their ideal temperatures without bulky tabletop ice buckets.

The Corkcicle looks like it sounds: almost like an icicle with a cork on top.  Simply pop open a chilled white or room temperature red, and the Corkcicle will keep the white cool or bring the red down to the perfect drinking temperature.  When you’re not using the Corkcicle, just leave it in the freezer to use at a moment’s notice.

You can buy the Corkcicle online at its site, or retailers like Amazon in the $20-25 range.  (I also spied it this evening in the Sky Mall catalog during my flight to Minneapolis.)  It’s also a terrific hostess gift or a perfect gift for Mother’s or Father’s Day.

This gives a whole new meaning to “putting a cork in it!”

Gentle reader, I’m recovering from a serious attack of bloggis interruptus.  Life has gotten in the way of my posting these past few months.  But I’m back, baby, with a renewed commitment to spread the word of great wine finds and general musings on the grape.

Readers will recall my foray a few months back into the mysterious world of boxed wines.  After serving as the guinea pig for Big House’s Cabernet Sauvignon, I’ve since turned several friends onto this find (including discerning drinkers like Wine Gal) as their new house red.

Now I’m experimenting with Big House’s Unchained Naked Chardonnay ($15.99 at my local liquor store, Busa Wine & Spirits).  For me, picking up a boxed white required some advance planning in the refrigerator department.  But I wedged it in and gave it a shot.

Not bad.  Not *great* either.  But definitely a drinkable white with the added convenience of a nifty spout that doesn’t drip.  As the “naked” moniker suggests, the winemakers used steel tanks, rather than oak barrels, to age the wine.  So it lacks the usual big butter flavor of a traditional California Chardonnay and is a bit more fruit-forward.  The Big House site says the result is a wine that’s “more reminiscent of an aromatic white than its namesake.”  I’d agree.

The upshot: I recommend this as a reliable wine to keep in the fridge when you want a tasty glass that doesn’t break the bank.

Sometimes a beautiful label beckons to me when I’m browsing the aisles (this picture doesn’t do it justice).  More often than not, I’m disappointed once I pop the cork.  But this week’s Quaff of the Week not only had Sophia Loren good looks on the outside, it was beautiful on the inside as well: a 2010 DaVinci Opula.  Opula is a Tuscan blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Merlot, which combine into a delicious, fruit-forward, full bodied red wine.

The Cups in Laws and I really enjoyed this wine, which had a smooth body and a really nice finish.  Plus, it was a bargain at $9.99/bottle (thanks, Busa Wine & Spirits in Lexington!).  I’ll definitely be picking up a couple more bottles of this as a new house red as the weather starts to take on more of a consistent January chill.

Happy 2012, everyone!

Enjoyed some delicious Moet Imperial and Mumm Napa Valley to ring in the New Year last night.  But now I’m polishing off a gift from under the tree: a 2007 Elements by Artesa blend.  This is one delicious “mutt” of a red – a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Tempranillo, Merlot, Petite Sirah, Grenache, Malbec and Petit Verdot harvested from Napa and Sonoma counties.  The result?  A delicious, dark, fruit-forward wine “with delicate aromas of nutmeg, coriander, vanilla and roasted coffee beans.”

According to the Artesa site, this wine retails for about $20.

Wishing everyone a healthy, prosperous and fulfilling year ahead.  And remember to only drink the good wine!

I’m sure I’m a latecomer to the Pretty Things beer and ale party, but I’m totally onboard now.  I recently discovered this Someville, Ma. “gypsy brewery” that’s producing some pretty spectacular stuff.  I’ve found Pretty Things on the menus at the Porter Cafe gastro-pub in West Roxbury (fabulous!) and Meadhall in Kendall Square, and am staying on the lookout for more of its delicious offerings.

Loving Pretty Things’ Jack D’Or, in particular.  It’s not too heavy but has a nice bitter “bite” to its finish.  Some more on Mr. Jack, courtesy of the cool Pretty Things site:  “Inspired by some of our favorites like Saison DuPont, but also DeRanke’s XX Bitter, De Dolle’s Arabier, and local IPAs like Smuttynose, the Jack D’Or starts off with North American Pils, Vienna, Wheat and Malted Oats (among others) and is hopped with a combination of four hops, finishing with Palisade and Nugget. The bitterness is the real backbone of the Jack D’Or.  It’s a proper “plant-like” bitterness with all of its jagged edges, beginning deep in the soil, then to the stem of this beer and up into to the very tippity heights.  Fermentation-wise we use a blend of four yeast strains to give Jack D’Or its refreshingly dry character.  Finally, despite all of the spicy flavours in this beer it contains no actual spices – only malt, oats, rye, sugar, hops and yeast.  One more time: there are no spices or citrus in Jack D’Or. Wheat lends acidity at Jack’s edges, then rye and our blended yeast character come into play for a bit of polyphony, displeasing the notion of “balance” and creating the fire in the belly of Jack D’Or!”

I enjoyed Jack last night in the company of some of the Cantata Singers leadership team. Cantata Singers performs just four concerts per season (including some in Boston’s beautiful Jordan Hall) and juxtaposes both old (Bach) and new (commissioned) music.  Yes, another pretty thing!  And a group very worthy of checking out in its 48th season!

To Jack and Cantata!