Wine Club: The Club W Experience
I’m a member of a few wine clubs, 5 to be exact. Most of them are winery based, but I have been members before of wine clubs that weren’t. Those clubs were great because of the variety of wine that was made available to you.
When I saw Club W I had to try. I got to select three wines that were shipped to me and arrived on my doorstep complete with a bone for Summer (compliments of the FedEx guy)
Once you decide to join Club W you set up your palate profile by answering 6 questions about the flavors you like. Then they make recommendations that they think you will like. Of course you are free to choose what ever selections that interest you.
What is nice about this wine club is that they have a a video that goes with each wine that includes tasting notes and a history of the wine on the bottle. However, I am old fashioned when it comes to this. I like a piece of paper that I can reference with my shipment. Yes, I know it’s the QR code age. I am a firm believer in QR codes, but when it comes to tasting notes and history of the wines that are included with my shipment, I like a piece of paper. That’s me, as you might be different (and then there are people like my husband who don’t own a smart phone)
Here were my three selections:
2009 Love this Life – California White Table Wine. I couldn’t find any information on what grape varieties were in this white, I am taking a guess that there is some Chardonnay. The Love this Life brand is about living in the moment and enjoying life.
2011 Flaco Trempranillo – produced from organically grown and dry farmed vineyards in the DO of Madrid Spain. The vineyards are located in Arganda & Navalcarneros districts which are located south east and west of Madrid. The wine was aged in stainless steel and cement tanks.
2011 Mas de Bayle – from the Languedoc region of France. It’s a famile estate located in the heart of Herault. The vineyards are spread over 19 acres and is planted with Syrah, Grenache, Cinsault, Carignan, Mourvedre and Alicante.
Below is a video of my tasting. One note…I stated that the price of the wine club was $13 per bottle and included shipping. I was incorrect. It’s $13 per bottle and you get to choose three bottles – so $39 plus $6 shipping.
Memorial Day on the Outer Coastal Plain AVA
Can you believe it, we are coming up to Memorial Day weekend, the beginning of the summer. Time goes by to fast these days! What will you be doing this weekend?
I’ve been very fortunate to be able to go to Cape May for many years and now have my own home to go to there. I’ve written before about the wineries of that region and have watched the region grow, but I plan to explore them in more detail now that I will be visiting the region more than once or twice a year, but making the region my second home.
The wineries of Cape May are part of the Outer Coastal Plain AVA. Yes there is actually a designated AVA. The Outer Coastal Plain AVA wine appellation covers the counties of Cumberland, Cape May, Atlantic, Ocean, and portions of Salem, Gloucester, Camden, Burlington and Monmouth. They have well drained sandy or sandy loam soils with moderate fertility and a long growing season. There are 27 wineries and growing in this region.
I will admit first things first when I head down to the region – it’s the beach for me. I am a sun worshiper at it’s best baking on the beach. But there is always time on my way home to stop at a winery and I plan on taking part in some winery events along the way.
I plan on visiting new wineries and the older ones and am looking forward to seeing how they have grown.
Also on the agenda is New Jersey Craft Beer. Yes there is a craft beer movement in New Jersey and the first brewery on my list to visit is the Cape May Brewery. I even purchased a NJ Craft Beer membership.
Let the summer begin!
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| Turdo Vineyards |
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| Turdo Vineyards |
| Natali Vineyards |
| Jessie Creek Winery |
New York Gruner Veltliner by Fulkerson Winery
When you hear Gruner Veltliner you think of a Austria. Well it’s only natural because Gruner is the most dominant grape planted throughout the country. But where else can you find wine made with the same grape outside Austria. We don’t have to look to far, just to the Finger Lakes region of New York.
Fulkerson Winery is one of a few wineries in the Finger Lakes region producing Gruner Veltliner. Planting their Gruner in 2010, the 2012 vintage is their inaugural release.
The wine is all estate grown and was harvested at 20.8 brix. The alcohol level clocked in at 12%.
The nose is crisp and clean, quite floral with hints of apple and peach.
The palate is full of tart green apple, peach, citrus and finishes with a soft spice.
The retail price for this wine is $12.99
Disclaimer: I received this wine as a media sample from the winery.
Summer of White Wine & Bubbly
I was recently looking in my wine cellar for a white wine to bring to a party and realized my choices were quite boring. I had many California and New York Chardonnays and nothing out of the box. You know what? I am getting bored! I told my husband, no more California & NY Chards and we are going to explore different wines from different countries.
This summer join me as I explore the white wines of the world. No more NY or CA Chardonnays. Quite honestly, I really can’t say there will be no Chardonnays, because Chardonnay produced in a different country like France, Argentina can taste very different than one produced in California.
There is so much to explore and so many countries to visit!
Join me beginning June as I search out the white wines of the world. I will do this $15 and under a bottle because that is all my budget will allow and I want to make sure you can afford them too! I will also add a little bubbly along the way.
Life of a Wine – My Journey with 12 Bottles of Syrah
A few weeks ago I was a guest blogger for The Wine Key. It’s a post I have been waiting to write, because how many times do we open a bottle of wine we have been aging and it’s on one side of the other of that bell shaped curve. Not the side we were expecting. Does it change again?
Join me on my journey with 12 bottles of Syrah.
http://www.the-wine-key.com/blog/2013/4/16/the-life-of-a-wine-the-journey-of-12-bottles-of-syrah.html
Notes From the Captain Lawrence Tasting Room, Vol. 59 Re-imagining the Grapefruit Diet
Captain Lawrence Brewing, at 444 Saw Mill River Road in Elmsford, is open Wednesday through Friday (4-8 p.m.), Saturday (12-6 p.m.) and Sunday (12-5). The author is paid by Captain Lawrence, partially in Freshchester Pale Ale.
Tousey Winery’s Rose and Riesling Release Party
A couple of Saturdays ago I drove up to Tousey Winery for their Rose & Riesling Release Party. I had found out about the party when I was attending an event at Cru Club Wine Bar in Rhinebeck.
On this beautiful Saturday I set forth for the ride to Germantown to do some Rose and Riesling tasting.
We began the tasting with the 2012 Rebellion Rose that was 100% Blaufrankisch. Aromas of red berry and strawberry filled my glass. It was quite delightful! The palate was just bursting with bright red fruit.
Many of you may know that I have been trying to find a Rose that I like. I can tell you this is up there and I’ve personally been quite pleased with the Rose wines that Ben has been making.
Rebellion Rose retails for $16
Now we moved on to the Riesling wines. There were two, one dry and one semi-sweet.
The 2012 Dry Riesling had a beautiful nose of honeysuckle peach and pear. The aromas reminded me of the smell of walking on the beach on a nice spring day.
Stone fruit filled the palate with slight minerality. I was really enjoying the taste of this wine when I noticed it was time for the next Riesling. This is a great summer Riesling.
This Riesling retails for $21 and is made from Estate Grown 100% Hudson Valley Riesling
The last wine tasted was the Semi-Sweet Riesling. These grapes were picked 3 weeks later than the dry Riesling grapes. They were left out there longer so that their sugar content would be a bit higher.
I didn’t find the aromas in this wine quite as strong as the dry Riesling. It was almost like the sweetness in the wine took away from the aroma. The wine had aromas of apricot and soft peach. Flavors of apricot filled my mouth and it had a nice creamy texture and didn’t show as much minerality as the dry Riesling.
I am a bit sensitive to sweetness levels in a wine and guessed the residual sugar was between 1.5% and 2%. Well I think Ben was quite surprised when I approached the subject because the residual sugar is 1.7%.
The wine isn’t overly sweet and was quite enjoyable. Would pair very well with a spicy seafood dish!
The Semi-Sweet Riesling retails for $19 and is made from Estate Grown 100% Hudson Valley Riesling.
Traveling Through Hudson Valley Wine Country
Now that Spring has finally arrived we are itching to hop in the car and go wine tasting. Travel with me as I travel through Hudson Valley Wine Country.
I’ll take you to Millbrook Vineyards and Winery, Whitecliff Vineyard and Winery and Benmarl Winery.
Enjoy the wine!
Wine Notes
I am retiring my wine tasting notebook, I think. I like writing everything down and having something to look but sometimes, depending where I am my tasting notebook isn’t available.
I searched for a wine app that I can have on my phone and tablet, knowing I will have at least one of them with me. I found “Wine Notes”
With this app, I can rate the wine, and put just about all the information about the wine including pictures in the app. It will even allow me to export to blogger which is the platform I use for this blog. However, I would suggest using that feature as you will still have to go into your blogging platform and personalize the post.
With the above being said, I can email the notes to myself and even share them on various social sites if I wanted to.
Not only do I have a list of the wines I’ve tasted at my finger tips, I’ll know what to look for when I go to the liquor store. Society today, we don’t leave home without our phones. That would be a naked feeling.
What wine apps do you use? Does anyone have a good wine cellar app. That’s the next app I’m looking for.
Notes From the Captain Lawrence Tasting Room, Vol. 58 The Captain’s Log
Captain Lawrence Brewing, at 444 Saw Mill River Road in Elmsford, is open Wednesday through Friday (4-8 p.m.), Saturday (12-6 p.m.) and Sunday (12-5). The author is paid by Captain Lawrence, partially in Freshchester Pale Ale.



































