Gifts for a Wine Snob : A Slate Cheese Tray

When enjoying wine with others, we typically have some cheese. For serving the cheese, I have fallen in love with a J.K. Adams slate cheese board my wife gave me last Christmas. It's a reasonable gift, costing $20 to $30, depending on where you get it (BevMo was cheaper than Amazon when I looked).

It looks really cool, has an interesting texture, and is hefty, but not too hefty. The back is covered in felt, so there are no worries about scratching things.

16 x 12 Slate Cheese Tray

To top it off, you can write on it with chalk, indicating what cheese is where, and easily erase it to correct mistakes.

Slate Cheese Tray in Action

Add some cool cheese knives and you have a powerful presentation of your cheese, enhancing your wine drinking experience.

If you're looking for the perfect gift for a wine snob that enjoys cheese, check this out. Of all the wine accessories I have received in the last couple of years, this ranks near the top.

Would you like some Wine with your Coffee?

Sangmok and his wife Kyonghee joined us for an intimate Pinot blind tasting back in January. Sangmok had heard the talk about blind tastings at lunch and had been dying to give it a try. I asked Bob and Carolyn to join us. Carlos was looking for something to do, given his family was out of town, so he joined us as well.

Cheese plate and 4 glasses of Pinot, what more could one need?

We tasted, discussed, and enjoyed each other's company.

Results

Top to Bottom from Left to Right

D - 2009 Flowers, Somona Coast came in first place with an average of 3.73. Sangmok and Kyonghee brought this. It cost $43.

C - 2008 L'Attitude 39 Degrees, Sonoma Coast came in second place with an average of 2.89. Carlos brought this. It cost $20.

A - 2008 Skov Winery, Santa Cruz Mountains came in first place with an average of 2.80. Sue and I brought this. It cost $26 from the winery.

B - 2008 Nicholson, Split Rail Vineyards came in first place with an average of 2.79.  Sue and I  also brought this. It cost $39 from the winery.

Sangmok and Kyonghee's first time out and they knocked it out of the park. The Flowers was a great choice!

Coffee Time

After tasting, Kyonghee, our resident coffee expert, made a scrumptious pot of coffee using Rwanda coffee from Wracking Ball Roasters and the "pour-over" method. Everyone that partook loved it and was impressed with her knowledge of coffee.

Kyonghee makes some coffee after dinner

The pour-over

You lookin at me?

After dinner coffee really hit the spot

An Explosion of Pinots

We had a wonderful wine filled BBQ for the fourth joined by Jose, Carlos, and Craig.

2011 Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc-Viognier

We started with an inexpensive bottle of white Paul had been recommending: 2011 Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc-Viognier. I found it at KnL for $10.99. The first taste was unfamiliar, but I quickly warmed up to it. Everyone agreed it was quite nice.

Continuing my Reverse Wine Snob inspired inexpensive tasting spree, we moved to an intimate blind tasting of Pinots that included the Kirkland brand and two unknowns that I had picked up at Santa Cruz Mountains wineries. I pulled out more glasses. We tried each of them, comparing notes, and talking about this and that.

Results

Top to Bottom from Left to Right

C - 2009 Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard, Santa Cruz Mountains, Branciforte Creek Vineyard came in first place with an average of 3.35. Sue and I picked this up at the winery the last time we were there. It cost $39.

This wine was darker than the others and had an aroma of cured meats. Yum! Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy the taste. I thought it was very rough, but it was everyone else's favorite. Jose thought this wine reminded him of the Picchetti.

B - 2007 Regale, O'Neal Vineyward, Russion River Valley came in second place with an average of 3.18.  Sue and I also picked this up at the winery the last time we were there . It cost $50.

Jose claimed this wine had the Pinot aftertaste, whatever that is.

A - 2010 Kirkland, Carneros came in last place with an average of 3.13. I picked this up at Costco. It cost $9.99. When I picked it up a friendly Costco patron told me she thought that it was pretty expensive for a Kirkland brand and I should try the ménage à trois.

This wine had a very light aroma and tasted like medicine. The others disagreed, giving it a likable rating. As it opened up, I settled on rating this a 3 too, giving it the nod over C.

This is the second blind tasting the Branciforte Creek Vineyard has won (see other tasting). There must be something there, but it doesn't work for me.

Dinner

Sue served us huge New York strip steaks, accompanied by shrimp, corn bread, corn on the cob, and my mother's cheesy potatoes. Does life get any better?

To finish the evening, I brought out the 2010 Châteauneuf-du-Pape I had also pickup at Costco. It cost $19.99; one can only image what the friendly patron would have thought of this price. I couldn't believe there was a Kirkland French wine. I wonder what the French think? I found the bottle mediocre, though no obvious flaws; decent, but nothing special. Were I Robert Parker, I would have rated it high 80s.

At 8:30 we headed off to enjoy the fireworks from the mall garage roof.

The Glass Tank

John B pointed me to this interesting wine glass designed by Kyouei Design.

The Glass Tank

Looks magnificent to me! Should it even work? You'd think the wine would all flow out of the tank, but the description says it doesn't overflow due to air and water pressure; the glass maintains a constant amount of liquid. I would love to see one of these in action, though I don't think I'll be owning one any time soon, as they cost 29,800 Japanese Yen, which is roughly $375. Perhaps when I'm enjoying my $168,000 Ampoule of Penfolds.

The Glass Tank in Action (Illustration)

Ted brings up a good point though: It may be hard to smell the wine, let alone swirl it.

The Reverse Wine Snob

Carlos pointed me to this Business Insider article, which interviewed the The Reverse Wine Snob. I'd never heard of him. He rates wine under $20. Had I found my wine arch-nemesis?*

Not at all! While I tend to only drink wine that costs more than $20, I would love to find enjoyable wine under that price. It's possible I have become snobbish in what I like, but I hope not.

Reading his Top 10 Red list inspired me to try his highest rated wines and see what I thought. I called up Jose, resident Costco evangelist, to get me in. I had been wanting to go there since I watched the CNBC special on Costco. We walked the wine aisle, looking for any matches from the list. I picked up a few bottles, two from his list, and we headed home to give them a try. A couple of texts to Bob, and he and Carolyn were on their way to join us. They arrived with enough cocktail weenies, cheese, and crackers to feed an army.

2008 Dry Creek, Old Vine, Zinfandel

The first wine we tried was a 2008 Dry Creek, Old Vine, Zinfandel. It wasn't on the top ten list, but I always like to have a Zin for Jose. It cost $18.89. Variants of this wine, there are 3 different Zins, have scored high in a couple of our blind tastings, but this bottle didn't work for me; it tasted chalky, perhaps from tannins. It may also have been from the serving temperature; Jose pointed out the wine was too warm.

2008 d'Arenberg, The Laughing Magpie, Shiraz Viognier 

The second wine we tried was a 2008 d'Arenberg, The Laughing Magpie, Shiraz Viognier. It wasn't on the top ten list either, but it was from the creator of The Dead Arm, a bottle Jose gave to me as a birthday present years ago, and I figure what the heck. It cost $17.99. It tasted pretty good.

2009 Tudal Family Winery, Tractor Shed Red

The third wine we tried was the 2009 Tudal Family Winery, Tractor Shed Red, a California blend of Sangiovese, Merlot, Zinfandel and Cabernet Franc. This is #2 on his list and cost $6.99. It tasted great! I'm going to have to try a couple more bottles to verify our original findings. Bob asked me to pick him up one, which I did, but since he didn't take it home...

2010 Napa Cellars, Napa Valley, Merlot

The last wine we tried was the 2010 Napa Cellars, Napa Valley, Merlot. The 2009 is #7 on his list. This cost $12.99. It too was very good and warranted further investigation.

Bob and Jose concentrate on the tastes and smells

Sue shines with glass in hand

* Everyone knows that Carlos is my poker arch-nemesis.

Redux

I tried the Dry Creek again days later at a poker game and did not at all get the chalky taste. In fact, it tasted quite nice, though it didn't help my poker game (but what can). Either the temperature was too high or the bottle was bad. I would guess it the former.

We tried the Tractor Shed Red again last night. It's unfamiliar taste seemed pretty rough to me. I may try it again, but I'm not thinking this is drinkable unless you proceed it with two other bottles.

Related Blogs

• The Reverse Wine Snob's #1 Syrah Put to the Test

$168,000 Ampoule of Wine?

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/06/most-expensive-wine/

If someone is planning on bringing this to the next blind tasting, please don't tell me, I want to be surprised at the reveal...

Stop the Presses! Burrell Now Has Nice Bathrooms!

I just received the update via FaceBook, Burrell finally has a decent restroom. Good bye porta-potties!

Burrell has always been a wonderful place to taste, now it's even better!

My only remaining complaint is that the club deliveries must be cellared.