Winery: Willamette Valley Vineyards
Wine: 2008 Riesling
Location: Willamette Valley, Oregon
Price: $14

This review is long over due. Jonathan and I drank this wine several weeks ago, but I never got around to posting the blog. We paired the Willamette Valley Vineyards Riesling with homemade Indian food (one of our first attempts). I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again – Riesling and Indian food are a match made in heaven. I hoped this wine would be as tasty as the other bottles from Willamette Valley Vineyards, but I was left a little disappointed.

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Winery: Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande
Wine: 1980 Red Blend
Location: Pauillac, Bordeaux, France
Purchased: JJ Buckley
Price: $110.00

Jonathan’s turning the big 3-0 this year (yes, I am too!) so for Christmas I gave him a bottle of Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande from his birth year. Granted, 1980 wasn’t a spectacular year in the wine world so this wasn’t a hot commodity like say a 1982 bottle. In researching various châteaux, I found several I was interested in, but some were potentially past their prime or at least on their downhill slide. I ended up just taking the plunge and going all in, purchasing the bottle I really wanted. I knew it would be hit or miss if this bottle was past it’s prime.

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 Jonathan and I planned to attend the Austin Wine & Music Festival this past weekend, but as usual I procrastinated in buying the tickets. Well, this time it actually paid off. My cousin Kevin e-mailed me on Thursday asking if we planned on checking out the event. He knows about our love for all things wine. His company was one of the sponsors so he was gracious enough to add our names to the Sponsor/VIP list. Jonathan and I weren’t really sure what that meant until we arrived.

Sponsor/VIP= free, unlimited wine tasting! 

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Winery: Château Le Gay
Wine: Red Blend 2000
Location: Pomerol, Bordeaux, France
Purchased: JJ Buckley
Price: $69.99

Jonathan and I have a habit of buying two bottles of wine when we make purchases like this. We know, when the wine actually arrives, we’ll be so excited and want to drink it immediately. However, usually a few more years in the bottle are needed for it to reach its prime. So we just started buying two – one to drink and one to keep. I made this purchase several months ago, but with the moving craziness and Jonathan’s trip we never had a chance to try a bottle. In fact, I nearly forgot about it! I know, it’s hard to imagine.

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Winery: Mandola Estate Winery
Wine: Viognier 2008
Location: Texas High Plains
Purchased: Mandola Estate Winery
Price: $18.00
 

It’s been several years since I’ve sampled wines from the Texas Hill Country. In fact, our last real trip to visit wineries in the Hill Country was for our first anniversary. This May, we’ll be celebrating six years of wedded bliss so it’s been a good five years. Jonathan and I recently stopped by a few local wineries close to our house…ah, the beauty of living on the edge of the Texas Hill Country. We had never been to Mandola Estate Winery, but thoroughly enjoyed the white wines and beautiful surroundings. Just before he left on his trip to India, we shared the bottle of 2008 Mandola Viognier as a sendoff for Jonathan.

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