Wine Recap

In my last post, I had a photo of my case of organic wines from Australia, mostly Ochota Barrels.  4 months on, I've not finished all of them but I have another case on the way.  After my most recent trip to California & my Winc membership, the wine closet is maxed out. So, I need to get off my block and make it happen or make room or drink it or share it or something.  If you're free & like wine, text me.

As I was sipping through the Spring & Summer, I did my best to document what I was drinking & eating.  If you'd like any of the recipes, feel free to send me an email. Overall, the wines were amazing & totally worth the shipping.

The below recap comes from phone photos & random notes on slips of paper.  I did more accurate mini notes on Instagram as I went.  If you're curious, you may want to check there as well.

Ochota Barrels 5VOV Chardonnay

Tasting Notes: Buttered Popcorn
Meal: Lemon Garlic Butter Shrimp, crusty bread

Ochota Barrels Impeccable Disorder Picadilly Pinot Noir

Tasting Notes: Red & Black Fruit
Meal: Steak marinated in soy sauce, fish sauce, & red onions, sauteed mushrooms, salad, & oven chips with chicken salt

Ochota Barrels The Fugazi Vinyard Grenache

Tasting Notes: Dark Chocolate & Raspberry
Meal: Arroz con Gandules, Camarones al Ajillo (spicy) & salad

Ochota Barrels & Gentle Folk Vineyards - Father's Milk Pinot Noir
I think the winemaker's wife was pregnant when he made this <3

Tasting Notes: Small, wild sweet strawberries that are red through & through
Meal: Nothing - it was so good that I didn't want to pair with anything. It's the best red I've ever had after the Botanicals.  Reminded me of a valdigue.

Ochota Barrels 186 Grenache

Tasting Notes: Peppery & strong with 13.8% alcohol content #right_turnt
Meal: Most likely steak frites & salad (period dinner)

Miss Moss Sparkling Blanc de Blanc

Tasting Notes: PAPAYA!!!! Amazing!
Meal: Truffled roast chicken, salad, & potatoes.  We tried a few wines with the chicken, so, we had the rest of the bottle with a fried New England Fisherman's Platter (shellfish, cod, fries, onion rings) a couple of days later.

Other Wines From the Case
Ochota Barrels - Weird Sweet Berries in the Woods Gerwurztraminer: Hands down my favorite Gerwurz, super dry, floral - so delicate & complex.

The Other Right - White Young Thing: Tastes like baking tart apples, would be good in the fall with mature cheddars

Ochota Barrels - A Sense of Compression: This is the partner wine Maynard James Keenan and it's a one the best done premium new world wines I've ever had.  We shared the wine & our summer truffle with friends who are Tool fans and chefs.  The whole thing ended up being a truffle pizza & wine fest.  BTW, I bought the truffle on sale from Food52 & we definitely got $60 worth of deliciousness and entertainment out of it!

If you're interested in any of these, Australian Wine Centre ships worldwide.  With the exchange rate, it's not as bad as you would think.  However, if you're looking for something a bit closer to home, Winc is a great wine club.  I normally don't recommend wine clubs since they tend to be quantity over quality.  If you dig around their website, they have some really interesting California wines you don't see on the East Coast.  On a recent quick in & out of California, I saw my entire August order for sale at 2 super hipster wine shops.

Cheers!
Salud!
Sante!
Kiipis!
Slainte!
かんぱい！