First Visitors to Chateau P&C

Fun Stuff:

Our first visitors have come. Today, our friends, Lars-Åke (pronounced "Laash okay", emphasis on the O), his lovely soon-to-be-wife Esti, and their adorable son William arrived from Belgium. We hiked up the hill on the way to the Bastille, but we only made it 1/10 of the way before it was time to stop and drink. I don't blame anyone. It was the wine's fault. It was screaming at us from inside the bag. It is beautiful up there. You can see that in the previous image.



I already made Lars-Åke mad because I put his Westmalle Tripple in the fridge on it's side. This type of beer has yeast remaining in it, and needs to stand up right otherwise the yeast will pour into the glass.

Wine Stuff:

I went to the big grocery store, Carrefour, and bought wine. It was so cheap I just decided to buy everything I wanted. It cost me $100 for 15 bottles. No joke!

I love all types on wines, countries, and regions equally, but I just have to mention the fact that I can find 5 and 6 euro Alsacien Gewurztraminer here. Alsacien Gewurz, I can honestly say, is my favorite wine/grape/region. I won't go into the details, but suffice it to say, Alsace soil allows for a vast diversity of flavor, and I love every variation of flavor on this grape.

happy drinking,
-PMo

Finally in Grenoble!

Fun Stuff:

We finally moved to France. We have been here only a week, and I am already starting to feel at home. We are still waiting for our refrigerator to be delivered, so we are eating out a lot. That has its good and bad sides. The food is great, and we don't have to cook it. On the other hand, we are spending A LOT of money, and it is less relaxing, less cozy.

We hiked up to the Bastille, on a hillside, just across the river from us. It is about a mile hike up hill, and we are not in the best shape of our lives. Very tough hike, but it was quite pretty as you can see here.



Wine Stuff:

So I don't have any specific wine to tell you about yet, but of course I have imbibed a lot of new wines. I do want to say that the price difference between French wine, in France, and virtually any wine in the U.S. is dramatic. So far I have only been to small grocery stores to shop. Nevertheless, I have not paid more than $6 for a bottle of wine, and I have purchased at the top end of what is available. The most expensive French wine I have seen was about $8. The most expensive wine in general was $11 (California). Don't get me wrong; you can buy expensive wine if you wish. There are two key issues at work here.

1 The average wine is better here than in the U.S.

2 French wine is just dirt cheap

I will enjoy life here :)

-PMo

Too Much Fun and Boring Wine

Fun Stuff:

Lately there has been nothing but FUN STUFF. I have had too much fun in fact. I am funned out. The date of departure is just around the corner. We, and all of our friends, are trying to cram in as much as we can before we leave. Truth be told, I am tired. I need a break. I think I am just going to leave the country.

Wine Stuff:

Too much wine to remember lately. Thanks to the, above-mentioned, too much fun, there has been no stopping the flow of wine. I can say, however, that I have not tasted anything too spectacular lately.

With that said I want to mention a phenomenon I have noticed. I don't have the wine importation facts to back this up, so it would be nice to know what other people think on the subject. I think that the wines we produce and import to the U.S. all taste the same.

Bold statement I know, but it is a bit of an exaggeration to make a point. In my travels I have tasted wine from all over the planet in many different locations. What I have noticed is that the wines in Europe, imported or local, have a broader range of flavor and character than those in the U.S. I think the U.S. follows more closely to taste trends, and like many markets, we tend to stay close to what sells best. In my opinion, that makes it hard to find "different" wine.

Just a Theory.

-PMo

EVOLUTION: Lucky Number 9 Wine

Fun Stuff:

My friend, Brandy, is coming to town tomorrow. That will be fun. We don't have any plans really. Just hanging out with friends, maybe visit a vineyard or two. I am sure we will have fun, and thus the fitting title fun stuff.

Wine Stuff:

So I said I would let you in on Evolution, "Lucky number 9". Evolution is a great white blend from Sokol Blosser. I will describe it, first, relative to another wine, Caymus Conundrum. Caymus is a popular and well-respected producer. Their Conundrum white blend can be quite good. Thanks to the many grape varietals used in it, it has a lot of character and layers. With that said, it has two faults. One, it is surprisingly inconsistent for such a big name wine. Two, it cost $22. That is about $5 more than it is worth.

Evolution costs $15, is surprisingly consistent, and has all the good things conundrum has. Give them both a try, and let me know which you think is better. I can't decide, but I drink about twice as much Evolution as Conundrum.

-PMo

Fun in El Paso

Fun Stuff:

So I was in El Paso, visiting family, over the weekend. That is the explanation for no posts. I had a great time. I got to see my wife’s entire family, hang out, a lot, with brother-in-law, and his wife, ran a couple miles with my niece, and visited New Mexico. We went to New Mexico for a wine festival. If you know me at all, you know I can’t pass up a wine festival.

The second bit of “fun stuff” is that we are in fact leaving the country on May 13 as originally planned. Off to France with us. Yeah! No visas, but we are going anyway.

Wine Stuff:

Right now I am drinking Lucky number 9. If you know what that is, you also know it is yummy. I will talk about that in a later post.

As I said, I went to a wine festival in New Mexico over the weekend. WOW! It was hot. We had a great time anyway. The concept of the festival was that you pay $10 to get in, you get a glass and a wristband with six pull tabs. These six tabs get you six tastes of wine. You can also buy wine by the glass or bottle. So the plan was to get six tastes of wine, then buy a glass or two of the best stuff. Simple.

I got in one of the many lines and apparently I am a good line picker. I asked for a taste of Viognier, and I got a near-full glass of the stuff! That happened FOUR times with four different “tastes”. TWICE my little pull-tabs were left intact. I left the festival, drunk, and with one tab still on my wrist. I think I had about eight glasses of wine total. I did buy one.

I am not a big fan of Chardonnay, but I had a good one at the La Vina wine festival. They produce two different Chardonnays, but in my opinion, the Desert Flower is the only one worthwhile. What I remember about it is that it was very fruity, and that is not common among Chard that has character. It is an easy grape to produce, but it is hard to grow with real flavor. Wine makers tend to use a lot of wood on crappy grapes to make something interesting. There goes a digression, sorry. This wine was made with well-grown fruit. That is not to say it was not well treated with wood. I think it had the perfect balance between fruit and oak. With all of that said, I hope you can try it, but I don’t know where to get it… Aside from the vineyard.

-PMo

Possible Delay in Departure

Fun Stuff:

Well I have some not-so-fun news, but I am trying to look on the bright side. I got an email today from the attorneys handling my French work permit/visa stating that the documents are delayed by over a month. What this normally means, is that my departure would be delayed. I am going to try to find a way to go to France on a temporary basis, start learning French, and wait for the visa. The problem is that, I think, I have to come back to the U.S. to “activate” the French visa. Hopefully there will be better news soon.

Wine Stuff:

More summer wine, Yeah! I am drinking a Pinot Grigio from the Beringer Blass Wine Estates. It’s a firt for me. I have never had anything from this vineyard, but I like it. This wine is nice all by itself, like I am having it. I don’t mean I am all by myself drinking like in that song. NO! Claudia is sitting right over there watching me. Heh.

Back to the point. The wine would also be good with pasta and an Alfredo sauce, and of course chicken or fish. If you like dry, bright and citrusy Pinot Grigio, you will like this.

-PMo

Oops, Wrong Wine

Fun Stuff:

THERE IS NOTHING FUN TO SAY, I WAS AT WORK ALL DAY!

Wait just a second. That is probably not quite accurate. It's true, I did go to work today, but to say that I “worked” would be a bit fictitious. What did I do at work today!?! Okay, I did, like, one hour of work. That is pretty admirable for someone who is going to France soon. That is about it really. I didn't do anything especially fun today. I did have dinner at El Chilito, and I had some sangria with dinner, and that leads me to our wine review...

Wine Stuff:

Soooo I drink, and therefore buy, a lot of wine. That is to say that I know where the stuff I am looking for is stored on the shelves. So I wanted a simple Valley of the Moon Pinot Blanc. It is nice and simple with some real taste (unlike your average Chard). Yes I am biased against Chardonnay. Anyway, the point is I went to the shelf where all the pinot blanc’s and white blends are, I saw Valley of the Moon and I grabbed a bottle. I came home and threw it in the Fridge. That was last week. Today I grabbed it and opened it. Claud said something like "Are you having Zinfandel", and I thought that was an odd question. Why would I drink Zin on such a warm day. A day screaming for COLD WHITE WINE. Well, she asked because I had just opened a CHILLED Valley of the Moon Zin. Dammit!

The wine was stocked in the wrong place, but that is no excuse. I can read. I should have read the bottle.

Anyway... It is not a bad wine, though it tastes a lot better at room temperature. Some of the flavors get chilled away. Normally I say that red does well at about 55 F (just a little cool). This wine is better at real room temperature. Like 70 F. Anyway, it was okay, though a bit young. It is pretty acidic, so it will get a little better in a couple of years. With that said, I think it will go great with grilled meats RIGHT NOW. So if you buy a 2004 Valley of the Moon Zinfandel, drink it with grilled stuff. The charred flavor will go well with this puppy.

-PMo

Visit to Barton Springs

Fun Stuff:

Well, Claudia and I are trying to cram in as many fun-Austin-things as we can before leaving. Today we went with niece Roxanne to Barton springs for a swim. Since it is a spring-fed pool, the water is pretty cold. I think we had 30 minutes of fun then left. Here are some pictures of Barton Springs for those of you who haven’t seen it.

Wine Stuff:

I have not had any wine today. Don’t worry! I substituted margaritas from Vivo on Manor. Yummy! I think they have the best Rita’s in Austin.

-PMo

BLOG Evolution

Okay, this blog needs format. I am going to try a sectional blog. You know, like a couch. The normal sections will be a fun or funny section followed by wine stuff. This way people who are not interested in boring wine stuff will know exactly what not to read.

Fun Stuff:

I watched an Iranian movie today called Children of Heaven. That’s the English title anyway. It showed me how crazy rich America is. It is about a little boy who loses his sister's shoes on the way home from the shoe repairman. Throughout the movie he and his sister trade his shoes back and forth in a relay fashion. Pretty cute and culturally interesting. From the richy American perspective… both of those kids need new shoes, and some freakin’ food.

Wine Stuff:

I was tipsy earlier, but then I watched the above-mentioned movie. Now I can right a sober wine review. Woo Hoo! So I drank a 2005 Texas Sauvignon Blanc from Fall Creek. It was a nice, light and dry summer wine. It smells of bright melon and tastes like dry tea and citrus until you swallow. The finish has mineral notes. Not a bad attempt at Sauvignon from Texas.

-PMo

The First (Tipsy) Wine Review

I wonder how many posts will be like this one in the future. This is a "tipsy"” post. I want to "review"” a wine that I am currently drinking... After drinking two margaritas.

So I am drinking a Spanish white wine that is a blend of 4 grapes. Well that is what the review said, but I can only find three grapes on the bottle. Muscat, Xarel, and Lo. To be honest, I have never heard of Xarel or Lo, but they are certainly going on my list of "grapes I have ingested in wine form”.

I bought it because I have been in a white blends mood, and I think Muscat is good in blends. Off topic, if you ever see a Muscat/Viognier blend, buy it. I will review one of my favorites later. But I digress...…

This 2004 wine, from Oro Penedes Hill, is dry and fruity both in the nose and palette, but a little watery where it counts.

Let's put it this way: I give it a 8 out of 10 after drinking two margaritas. I guess I would give it a 6 or a 10 if I had not had anything to drink beforehand.

-PMo

Our New Home in Grenoble

I just wanted to share some images of our new home in Grenoble. This photo album has images of our apartment and a few of the city itself. This link is to all of our images on Webshots. Browse around to look at images from places we have been.

There are picture of Berlin, Frankfurt, Potsdam, Prague, Fuerta Ventura, Leuven, Brugge, Brussels, Venice, Ravenna, Strasbourg, Trois Epi, Paris, Grenoble, London, and even Austin Texas.

I got drunk in almost all of those places. :)

-PMo

Welcome to Weirdo's Wine World!

I set this blog up to keep everyone up to date on wines that cross my path. Hopefully the posts will be informative, and sometimes funny. I like funny stuff. I have a lot of friends who don't like wine, so I also want the blog to be a repository for interesting stories about my life in Europe. I will link to images I take, and keep you current on all the fun, interesting, exciting, and surprising things in in the world of me, Claudia, Finn (pug#1),and, Gertie (pug#2).

I have plenty of friends and family who get bored quickly when they read/hear "wine talk". An example of wine talk would be something like:

"After decanting this youthful and vibrant 83’ cab for 1 hour, it had blossomed into a beautiful bouquet of chocolate and black cherry. Blah blah blah, etcetera etcetera."

I will try to avoid such language in favor of everyday joe wine descriptions.



-PMo



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