I wanted Pinot tonight, but couldn’t pass up a $12 bottle with the notes “try with BBQ!”.   Bought the bottle, made a burger with smoked cheddar cheese.   Medium rare  :-)

Color is reddish purple, looks medium bodied.   Swirl, sniff… mushrooms and spicy tart blackberries.   Lots of acidity on the midpalate but not so much bite that it was overwhelming.   Tart dark berry cranberry juice-like finish, and now the acidity is definitely lingering.   Clean and simple, but maybe a bit too simple.   I wanted it to be a bit more robust.   Maybe it needs more time in the bottle?

$12/bottle

Single

Ingredients:

1 Heirloom tomato

As much blue cheese as you want

2 strips of thick cut bacon

1/2 cup white balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt

Black pepper

Slice tomato.   Cook bacon, crumble into smaller pieces (but bigger than bacon bits!).   Top tomato with bacon and blue cheese.  Mix together white balsamic vinegar, olive oil, sea salt and black pepper.   Pour mixture over sliced tomato/bacon/blue cheese.   And done!

Never go food shopping hungry.   If you do, you will walk out of the store with lots of cheese, ice cream and – of course – a bottle of wine.   I usually go for a pinot that has more details provided on the bottle…. I mean, “California” doesn’t really narrow it down!   But on the back of the bottle, it is specified that this pinot is made from coastal fruit.   OK, sold.

Oooh a twist top!   Makes my life easier.   Black cherry dominates the nose on this wine, smells tangy, spicy and earthy.   A little mushroom-y.   Mouthfeel has tart black cherry… this pinot reminds me more of the Willamette pinots than ones I’ve had from California.   I love me some California pinots and usually want more roundness, so I was a little disappointed at first but the acidity on the finish is nice.   This would be a great cheese wine (brie, goat cheese) or would be yummy with creamy sauces.   I also had these awesome little feta tarts from Trader Joes that would be fab with this wine.

$12/bottle (on sale from $15/bottle at Whole Foods)

Double