Tasted: 2005 Grimaldi Luigino Barbera d’Alba Superiore

2005 Grimaldi Luigino Barbera d’Alba Superiore

Appellation:  Italy, Piedmont, Barbera d’Alba

Tasting notes.  100% Barbera.  13% ABV.  Light ruby color, red fruit nose, a little floral, a little must.  Nice fruit, well balanced, a little pepper, a little floral, medium finish.   Nice mouthfeel.   Not super complex.   Dry.  Good, makes me want ravioli with a red sauce with sausage.  This is the kind of wine I’d serve with a big pasta focused Italian meal, will be very red sauced food friendly.  Will be a crowd pleaser.

Rating:  3/5, 15/20, 86/100

Price:  $13.99 at Bin 604

A note on ratings:  I use the 100 point rating for Cellartracker, even though my palate is still developing.  As a statistics geek, I know that the variability in scores works itself out as the number of scores increases.  However, my score may not be yours or Robert Parker’s, it is simply a subjective value based on my palate.  I much prefer to use a 5 point (or star, or whatever you want to call it) scale, as it more represents my reaction to wine, which is more simple than a 100 point scale represents.  I like the 20 point scale as the more detailed score.   On this site, I will provide all three, although the most meaningful are the 5 and 20 point ratings.

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Tasted: 2007 Marchesi Dè Cordano Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Micarone

2007 Marchesi Dè Cordano Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Micarone

Appellation: Montepulciano d’Abruzzo

Tasting Notes: 100% Montepulciano. 12.5% ABV.  Dark purple color.  Nose is candied red fruit, a hint of a floral component, but mostly candy.  Flavors are far more subdued than I expected.  Some cherry, and cranberry, not nearly as jammy as the nose suggested until the finish.  Medium finish, decent structure.  Solid wine, not great, not bad, will be a nice Wednesday night pizza wine.  Simple.

Rating: 3/5, 12/20, 82/100

Price: Unknown.  Was in the $100 case at Chesapeake Wine, but they don’t give individual prices.  Next time I’m in, I’ll check the price if I remember, it’s probably around $10.

A note on ratings:  I use the 100 point rating for Cellartracker, even though my palate is still developing.  As a statistics geek, I know that the variability in scores works itself out as the number of scores increases.  However, my score may not be yours or Robert Parker’s, it is simply a subjective value based on my palate.  I much prefer to use a 5 point (or star, or whatever you want to call it) scale, as it more represents my reaction to wine, which is more simple than a 100 point scale represents.  I like the 20 point scale as the more detailed score.   On this site, I will provide all three, although the most meaningful are the 5 and 20 point ratings.

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Introducing Lady Parker – A New Zealand Wine Reviewer

I am young woman in wine, reviewing and vlogging the best of what New Zealand wine has to offer – it’s personalities, it’s stories, and most importantly the uniqueness inside each and every bottle.

Sharing no known lineage with Robert Parker (the USA’s Wine Advocate), though a common background – I’m passionate about learning, tasting and enjoying what the world of wine has to offer.

I’m pursuing my passion… It’s been a lifelong one – growing up as a wine makers only daughter, with five brothers – my day-to-day life has hardly been prosaic. I grew up in a family of wine and entrepreneurship.

Now having finished my Law Degree at Otago University, I have chosen to honour my fervour for Wine and am on a journey of discovery – endeavouring to navigate the unchartered world of wine & ultimately seeking to achieve my MW perpetually learning, reviewing (and enjoying!) wine.

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Maryland Direct Shipping effort loses out, again

Senator Zirkin tried, but failed to get an amendment passed that would ‘allow’ Maryland residents to receive shipments of wine, which as of today, is still a legal product.

The move would have upset an uneasy compromise reached last week between proponents of direct shipping – a majority of the 47 senators – and Sen. Joan Carter Conway, the head of the health committee and a unwavering opponent of the bill. They agreed to amend a direct shipping study to Conway’s Winery Modernization Act, a bill that includes a slate of technical changes to winery law. (Here’s our latest story on the winery legislation in the General Assembly, and our longer overview.)

Zirkin’s gambit prompted nearly 30 minutes of debate on the Senate floor, with some direct shipping proponents urging him to give up his amendment so as not to scuttle the modernization bill, and others clamoring for a chance to put the idea to a full-Senate vote.

Sen. Delores G. Kelley, D-Baltimore County, said her office received more than 900 calls from direct shipping supporters this year.

“I must keep my word and I must support this, because apparently it’s the only way it will come before us,” Kelley said.

In the end, Zirkin acquiesced to those who asked him to withdraw his amendment – “I wish you had done that 25 minutes earlier,” Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller deadpanned – but not before Sen. Alex X. Mooney, R-Frederick and Washington, tried to force a vote on the issue. He took the unusual step of resisting Zirkin’s attempt to withdraw his own amendment, calling for vote on the motion.

But now, all those people who say they are for direct shipping being legal don’t actually have to vote on it and put the contributions from the distributors at risk. Well done, Senate, well done.

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