Vodopivec Classica 2005

There is a wine called Orange Wine.
No, it's not made of orange. It's white wine.

After white grapes are crushed, the must (grape juice) is usually send to the press immediately to avoid oxidation, but for the orange wine, the must is macerated with skins for days, or longer, and extracts color from the skins which makes the wine orange.

Orange wine once became out-of-fashion, but now some wineries in Northern Italy make this.

Vodopivec Classica 2005 
A wine from Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy.

The grape variety is Vitovska. 
I've never heard of this grape. They are grown near Italy/Slovenia border.

Beautiful color.
It had oxidation like Sherry and refreshingness at the same time. And pickled fruit.

It was my first time to try Orange Wine. 
Judging from the name and the color I expected light, fruit juice-like wine, so it was a bit confusing at first, then I became to like it. There were uniqueness and seriousness.
I'm not a big fan of Sherry-like oxidized wine, but enjoyed drinking this wine.

Monchiero Carbone Tasting

There was a tasting of 6 wines from Monchiero Carbone.

Monchiero Carbone is a winery in Roero, Piedmont.
Roero is located just north of Alba, and Roero DOCG produces red wine from Nebbiolo and white wine from Arneis.

Wine made from Arneis is very floral. The grapes are so fragrant that they are planted near Nebbiolo vines to distract pests' attention from valuable Nebbiolo grapes with their strong aromas.
Traditionally, a small amount of Arneis can be added to Nebbiolo to soften its tannin.

Roero is near Barolo and Barbaresco, just the other side of Tanaro river yet their Nebbiolo doesn't enjoy the fame like other big two does. Trying these kind of wine reminds me of treasure hunting.

Recit 2014 is a white wine made with Arneis.
There were stone fruit and white flower. Rich texture.

Cecu d'La Biunda 2014 is the same vintage, same varietal as Recit, but vines grow on the different soil.
Grapes for Recit are grown on mixed soil and Cecu were from sandy soil, which makes wine more concentrated.
This one had more herbs and minerals. This would be good to have with cheese.

Perisa 2013 is Barbera.
Ripe fruit and herb. Easy to drink Barbera.

Sire 2013. This is Langhe Nebbiolo.
Still young but approachable for Nebbiolo.
Cherry, rose, violet, fennel. Tannin was high but soft.
Good with pasta +meat sauce.

Mon Birone 2011 is another Barbera. Old vine from single vineyard.
Deep ruby color. Ripe raspberry and prune. Texture was smooth.
Surprisingly heavy weight for Barbera.

Printi 2008 is another Nebbiolo.
It felt rich like cream. Dried fruit like raisin, tar, chalk.
High in tannin and acid, but well balanced. Very good wine.

It was a fun tasting: same varieties from different soils, and same varieties with different styles.
I always like tasting wines, but tasting with some kind of theme like this helps me to understand better.

Weaving stash

It's fun to buy new material to make something: many hobby craft people admit that choosing materials at stores is more exciting than actually making something.
It's also fun, however, more challenging way, to come up with the idea to use the left over materials, which many craft people also admit accumulating in shelves.

I found pale and dark green color linen yarn which were too long to discard but too short to make something by themselves, and decided to make a small floor mat.

The pattern I used was #518 from A Weaver's Book of 8-Shaft Patterns.
Warp is green, weft is beige

It was a little looser than I wanted, so I washed vigorously hoping that it would shrink and become tight, but no avail.

I made this for summer and the loose linen fabric has summer feel, right...?

Chateau Belgrave Haut Medoc 2000

JC wanted to do Boudeaux Night.
(Or he came up with a reason to open a bottle)
He cooked Duck and opened Bordeaux wine and gave me as blind.

The wine had medium ruby color.
It had aromas of currant, cherry, ceder, pencil and tobacco.
Medium plus acidity and medium tannin which was fine.
It was soft and had red fruit.
I thought it was from right bank (Merlot).

The answer was Chateau Belgrave Haut Medoc 2000, the Fifth Growth from Haut Medoc.

So the main variety was Cabernet Sauvignon.
It was good wine but fruits were beginning to fade.
I would say to drink now, do not hold any longer.

It was very good with Duck.
We still had some leftover Napa Cab from the day before so tried with them too, but those wines and Duck didn't work well at all.
They were all Cabernet Sauvignon. Why?
JC said that probably the acidity was the key (Chateau Belgrave had higher acid).
Even just one element makes big difference. Interesting.

Napa Cab × 2

JC brought home two Napa Cabernet Sauvignon.

Futo Oakville 2006 and Dana Rutherford Napa Valley 2005

Futo comes with cool label.
The wine had black fruits, purple flower and herbs like dill or eucalyptus.
Smokiness and oak flavor. Good structure.
I'd never heard of this winery before but it was a good wine.

Dana's label is cute.
Its aromas were of ripe or over-ripe red fruit, caramel and vanilla.
JC had this wine when it was younger and said this would taste much much better after 10 years of ageing.

Both had high alcohol. Dana had 14.4% abv, and Futo had 15.3%! but didn't feel that alcoholic.
I guess the wine was well balanced.

Dana had more fruit and easier to drink, but Futo had more dimensions.

Wine bar High Treason

One day in San Francisco, we didn't know where to go for dinner, so we decided to have a glass of wine while we figure it out.

Wine bar High Treason is on Clement street.
There are so many eateries around there so the location was perfect to search for good restaurants.

It was Monday and inside was calm and quiet. Usually it gets more lively.
There is a private room upstairs and you can reserve it for a party.

I chose Etna Rosso and JC had Muscadet.
Their wine list wasn't huge, but had quite interesting selections.
Just reading the list was fun. And wine itself was good, of course.

We enjoyed them, maybe too much. When we left the bar, it was too late and all the restaurants were closed...

Charmes de Kirwan Margaux 2010

Second wines are the wines made from grapes which are not qualified for their principal wine.
These grapes are usually from young vines, or simply not good enough to be used for Grand Vin because of whatever reasons.
Some people say that some of the second wines are not good enough for the price, even if they are cheaper than their Grand Vin. However, for people who can't afford to buy Grand Vin from big chateau (me!), this is a welcoming addition.

This idea of second wines was first born in Bordeaux in 18th century. Now you see them everywhere.

Charmes de Kirwan Margaux 2010

This is a second wine of Chateau Kirwan, Margaux Third Growth.

Deep ruby color.
There were abundant pink and red colors like cherry, plum, currant or roses.
Some freshness of liquorice and mint, too.
Spices from oak were well integrated.

Very fruity and drinkable.
I don't know so much about Bordeaux, so I was surprised to taste wine like this, which was far from my stereotype image of Bordeaux wine.

Good when it was opened, even better second and third day.