Vine Time

Spring break is just around the corner. This year, my friends, Lauren and Meg, are coming from Chicago and DC areas (respectively), to the Big Apple. Granted, planning this trip has not been the easiest for me, but tonight, I get to relax and anticipate my most recent acquisition for the vacation. Since we three are music teachers on a modest budget, to save money, I suggested we bring wine and drink in our hotel, rather than go out every night. Now, keep that on the dl, because I think technically we're probably not allowed to do this. So...shame on us, but nobody is getting hurt.

Class let out early tonight, so on the way to the library, I took a slight detour to a wine&liquor down the street. The store itself was a bit sad; several shelves were either empty or haphazardly stocked, but at least the wine regions were clearly marked. I went in thinking that I'd get a CA Chardonnay, Upstate NY Riesling, and a southern Muscato. I didn't think my friends would appreciate the less-fruity European styles of wine. Well, the only New York wines are from the island, and I don't particularly care for the mineral-y flavor of Long Island wines, based on the three or four that I've had.

I ended up getting only two wines tonight; the third will have to wait for later this week. But the two that I bought, I'm very excited about.



The first: Chateau St Jean Chardonnay 2009. Reviews from Winetracker give it an average of 87.3 points, saying it is light bodied, rich, buttery, oaky, pears, vanilla, and citrus. Some say it is good with shellfish, others drank it alone. I have high hopes for this wine. For a $15 bottle of wine, they say it's a good deal.




The second: Menage a Trois California White 2010. There are very sparse reviews on this wine, but of those out there, they say it's not a spectacular wine. They say it's a light white with soft, subtle, floral finishes, and is easily paired with food. This wine is a blend of chardonnay, moscato, and chenin blanc; I enjoy all three varietals, though I wish it was semillon instead of chenin blanc. Truth be told, I bought it for the label. The name caught me. I figured there will be three of us in the hotel room, and this is the type of joke that I find amusing, and my friends would expect nothing less from me. For a $12 joke, I'm sure it'll be just fine.



The third: Laurel Lake Riesling. Being a trip to New York, I couldn't resist throwing in a New York wine. Laurel Lake, located on Long Island, uses grapes from the Finger Lake region to make this Riesling. Fruity and florally, this clean, crisp wine is perfect for after-dinner drinking. $18




In short, I'm really looking forward to drinking these next week. I know it sounds like I'm this huge wine snob who knows what she's talking about, but this is pretty much the extent of my wine knowledge. Tasting-wise, most of my descriptions are very basic, hardly beyond the "it tastes like....wine" stage. We all have to start somewhere.