New Idea

I've been thinking about the lack of posts here and decided to try something a little different. Maybe it will get me here more often. What I'm thinking is to do more tasting notes and less verbiage...at least for a little while. It will also be a good way for me to catelogue the wines I taste and keep track of what I like and more importantly, what I don't. I'll keep you posted...

It's Been Awhile....

OK, so it's been awhile since the last post...several months to be slightly more precise. So here goes. Last night I went to a friend's house. Whenever we go there, one thing can be assured, the wine will be great. I fried a turkey (which if you've never tried, you have to...no other way to eat the bird, except maybe smoking it) and he supplied the grape.

When I fry a turkey, I always brine it. Brining adds great flavor and moisture to the turkey. For a 15 lbs. bird, I use 2 gallons of water, 2 cups diamond crystal kosher salt (different kosher salts weigh different amounts, so if you use morton's, for example, you need to adjust the amount of salt downward), and 1 cup of sugar. For this particular turkey/brine, I also added about 1/2 cup of Frank's Hot Sauce (much better than Tabasco). The length of time you brine depends on the weight of the thing being brined (actually, thanks to my son Jake, I now know that it isn't really the weight, but the mass). For a 15 lbs turkey, you brine for the maximum amount of time, 8 hours.

After you finish brining, dry well coat the skin well with salt, pepper or your favorite rub and fry in 35 lbs of peanut oil (3 minutes per pound plus 5 minutes). Pull it out, let it rest and eat....

The Wine:

2004 d'Arenberg The Dead Arm - McLaren Vale Shiraz. (RP95) Like most Australian Shiraz, the "Dead Arm," is not shy on color. It's inky purple, almost blackish, with a great nose. When you stick your nose into the glass and breath in, it's almost like inhaling wine perfume. Blackberry, black cherry and vanilla with pepper, spice and a little bit of petroleum (believe it or not). The wine itself does not disappoint. You almost have to close your eyes when you taste it. The wine has great mouth feel with solid velvety tannins and all the flavor I smelled plus chocolate (and more that I couldn't place) and a great finish. This is a great wine, expensive and worth the $55-65/bottle price.

I Made the Big Time!!!

My friends know that even though I pretend not to be, I am something of a narcissist. With that in mind, I think that everyone should go to the New York Times (on line) and check out the article that mentions lil ole me.

click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/business/smallbusiness/09webshift-1-backf-biz-34-43.html?ex=1341806400&en=559a8dcbda52d07c&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Wine Library TV

Unfortunately, Time Magazine beat me to the punch and revealed my newest dark secret.... I, like many others, can now come out of the closet and admit to family, co-workers and friends my addiction. No longer do I need to hid or skulk in the shadows as I hunt for a fix. I can now admit, "MY NAME IS MIKE BRENNAN AND I AM A WINE LIBRARY TV ADDICT".

For anyone, like me, who has an interest in learning about wine and doesn't buy into wine snobbery, please check this out. Every day, more or less, there is a new wine tasting to which we are now all invited. The site is run by Gary Vaynerchuk, who runs his family's business, Wine Library in NJ. (http://www.winelibrary.com/). His irrational and logic-defying love of the NY Jets, hasn't seemed to affect his palate and wine knowledge. I've found that I've agreed with the reviews where I had actually tasted the wines. The Wine Library's prices and selection are both reasonable and impressive. Unfortunately, until the Massachusetts legislature pulls their collective heads out of their asses, you can't buy their wine on-line and ship to MA.

In the past, I have fallen into the "more expensive means better" pitfall. I know this isn't true and my daily fix of Wine Library TV gives me something to think about and makes me think a little more about QPR. Whether your looking for old world wines or new world fruit bombs, WLTV has something for everyone. After a long hiatus, I even started drinking white wine again after 2 recent episodes (one about Reislings, which, if you haven't tried, you really need to).

Bottom line, this site is one of the greatest gems of the wine world. Find it. Subscribe to it. Watch it. Join the revolution. "Because YOU with little bit of me, we're changing the wine world aren't we........"

Beehive Restaurant and Bedell Cellars 2005 Taste Red

We went to a new and allegedly hip new restaurant last night in Boston's South End called the Beehive. It's located on Tremont Street at the BCA. Only opened two weeks, the service was good, the seating cramped, the food OK and wine list limited.

Our reservations were at 7 pm and we were seated promptly (so far so good). The waiter was friendly, attentive and knowledgeable (also good). The cocktails were also good. The waiter suggested a surprisingly good wine from, of all places, Long Island, NY.

"2005 Taste Red" is made by Bedell Cellars, which I believe is on the North fork of Long Island, this is a small production wine that tasted very much like a left bank Bordeaux. The wine is 55% Merlot 25% Cabernet Sauvignon 10% Cabernet Franc, and (here is the difference) 10% Syra. It's aged for 15 months in new French Oak barrels. Again, for what I was expecting, it was very good. It smelled of barnyard and ripe fruit and had a very forward blackberry fruit and currant taste and firm tannins. For a younger wine, it was well balanced and well structured. The upside, I thought it was worth $50 at a restaurant, but looked on-line and found it for as low as $24.00, but retails for $30ish. For $30, I can buy 2-3 bottles of either fabulous Spanish reds, Southern Hemisphere reds or even French reds (e.g., Chateau d'Oupia ).

All in all, Beehive didn't remotely deliver on the hype and towards the end, things went from pretty good to really pretty bad. The place showcases bands and because it was a Saturday night things were busy. A little after 9:00, the waiter (on instructions, I'm sure) came over to let us know that there was another party waiting for our table. We weren't offered dessert, coffee or after dinner drinks. It was basically, "thanks for coming. See ya". To quote my friend Sarah, who we went with, the place was "big on attitude and not much on gratitude."

This place hasn't been opened long enough to cop an attitude like that. If you're looking for a hip/scene kind of place, I'm sure you can find better, hipper and tastier places with a more extensive wine list.