(First of all, a quick plug, Mal Jones redesigned the DC Conspiracy site and it's hot. So go check it out.)

The Drunken Wine Critic was something I started early last year, got some great feedback on, and then abruptly stopped doing it in March after filming the fifth episode. People are always asking me when the next one's coming out and I keep telling them, "eventually." This one was a bitch to edit - there was around four hours of footage and I could have easily made an hour-long movie. Of course the rule of the internet is to keep it to five minutes so I had to kill a lot of awesome (embarrassing) footage. Also, after filming this video I spent an additional two hours sitting down in the shower naked, occasionally puking on myself. I don't know if that's an endorsement for Lil' Jonathan wines or what, but watch the movie and decide for yourself. This video is being cross-posted at the Drunken Wine Critic website.

Labels: drunkenwinecritic, humor, video, wine

It has been a gastronomically delightful weekend so far. It started with a trip to Enology on Friday with Warren and Paul of Virginia Wine Time fame. Two glasses of the dolcetto (one to start and one to finish), a glass of primitivo, and a glass of tempranillo to accompany venison pate, chicken mousse, prosciutto, several cheeses, and a basil/mozzarella flatbread. It was a great (albeit expensive) evening that left my belly full and my head nice and light.

Saturday’s mouth-pleasing delight came from Ray’s Hell Burger. A 10-oz burger topped with brie cheese, cognac-soaked mushrooms, applewood-smoked bacon, pickles, and Ray’s Heck Sauce. I had some corn-on-the-cob on the side and a nice tall bottle of black cherry cola.

Today, however, was a day dedicated to wine. Robin and I needed to restock on some Gray Ghost Victorian White, our favorite value-priced table wine, and we decided to go out to the winery instead of buying it at a local shop. So we headed west for a little over an hour for an afternoon of wine tasting and good eating. We did a full tasting at Gray Ghost (10 wines) and ended up buying a half-case of the Victorian White, a bottle of their reserve Chardonnay, and a bottle of their excellent Gewürztraminer.

After the tasting and the purchasing we were kind of hungry so we asked the folks at Gray Ghost where we should go. At first they recommended Linden Vineyardsbut we informed them that Linden closed off their food service to all non-members. Linden is certainly a winery that’s getting a bit too big for its britches and, I have to admit, several wineries in the area absolutely trump their wines, including Gray Ghost. He started mentioning Oasis but we cut that one short, we’re through with Oasis for now. He finally directed us to Gadino Cellars, about twenty-minutes west of Gray Ghost, so we decided to give it a shot.

I really liked Gadino. Great backdrop, nice patio, and an inviting tasting room with a friendly staff. We tried all ten wines before settling on a bottle of the Sunset table wine and the Pinot Grigio. We also got two glasses of the Sunset to go with their cheese and summer sausage basket, took a seat on their patio, and enjoyed the warm weather.

After Gardino we decided to try out two more wineries: Mediterranean Cellars and Marterella Winery. Mediterranean Cellars was a gorgeous little place, surrounded by grape vines, greenery, and horses, but I wasn’t a big fan of any of the 12 wines they had on the tasting menu. We ended up buying a bottle of their Romance table wine because it was probably the smoothest of the bunch but we passed on everything else. We tried Retsina for the first time and it was miles away from “my thing.” Robin and I choked it down and smiled and tried to give some encouragement by calling it “different.” Different strokes, different folks…

Marterella Winery had a nice “down home” feel. The tasting area looked like a full kitchen, an employee was playing guitar in the corner, there were five dogs running around at people’s feet, and a wood burning pizza over outside of the house gave the whole area a pine smell. I loved their reds but they were mainly priced a bit out of my range. I brought home a bottle of the sangiovese but I’m already regretting passing on their reserve cab.

We also jacked a tasting from some couples champagne. The girl behind the counter popped it open and we asked what it was. She said “champagne” and I said, “Well, it’s not really champagne.” She showed me the label and sure enough it was French, she poured both of us a tasting and then brought the bottle out to some couple. Turns out the bottle was kind of expensive and we got a bit of it on someone else’s dime.

Of course, after all that we stopped for Friendly’s on the way home. Without getting into the foods we ate, I will just sum it up with Robin’s little bit of wisdom: “If you’re going to diarrhea, you may as well go out with style.”

Truer words have never been spoken.

More pictures from the weekend:

www.flickr.com

Labels: wine

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