Tannic Pinot: A Dying Breed

2007 Chalone "Estate" Pinot Noir Chalone, CA ($27 at Safeway)
The color is dark--Pinot is normally transparent. There's a noticeable variation in color from the center of the glass to the rim. Although there's nuances of cola, dark fig and dark cherries, I think the fruit's fading and the wine is growing tired. It's high in alcohol, which is one reason I seem to be getting irritated and emotional. Joel Ede, writer for the Monterey County Weekly is tasting this blind and thinks it could be a Syrah, which is a good guess considering the wine's a bit tannic and astringent. Much like Burgundy France, this Pinot was grown at the 1,800 ft elevation in a limestone soil that seems to gives it character. If this were a person it'd be one with backbone. 3/5 stars.

Traminer

2007 Umathum Gilbert & Roter Traminer Blend, Burgenland, Austria ($30 at Passionfish)
I blind-tasted this one and thought it was a Gewürztraminer from Alsace. Apparently, the town Tramin, northern Italy (Alto-Adige)is the original producer of Traminer--Gewürztraminer is related and the most widely know. This one was spicy, floral (white flowers) and fairly gold in color. This full-bodied wine was a pungent slow-sipper that may have been better with food. However, we did finish the bottle. Then, we went across the street to get eggnog and Jameson's and walked to see the Christmas lights at nearby "Candy Cane Lane" in Pacific Grove, CA.

"Oh My God!!!"

2009 Nikolaihof Gruner Veltliner "Hefeabzug" Wachau, Austria 11.5% alcohol $30
When we went to the Cheese Shop in Carmel, CA we got some help from Kent, the owner. He started talking about red wines from the Jura, France and how he was totally in love with Poulsard, an obscure red varietal just east of Burgundy. However, we asked about Nikolaihof and he just about had an orgasm, as he exclaimed, "Oh-My-God!". We were sold. When we got it back to my apartment, we watched "A Good Year" and were somewhat captivated by the movie, but our attention should've went towards the wine. It didn't. If it was life-altering, we would've wrote tasting notes three weeks ago--sorry we don't have generic flavor profiles for this one, but we did drink the whole bottle. Oh yeah, and the sex we had was like..."Oh-My-God!!!"