365Corks.com

Wednesday, 9/26, Little Rock, AR

About a week ago I had a chance to sit down with the Editor of Sync Weekly, a cutting edge, weekly publication that is somewhat new to the area. She was planning an issue devoted to wine and had found the 365Corks site. She wanted to know what people just starting to discover wine should know and I tried to give some suggestions that I thought would be helpful. The publication just hit the stands today and can also be found online at their site. Entitled Wine Notes: Some basic knowledge will go a long way in learning to appreciate wine it lists several areas that their editor thought would be interesting to her readership. A very informative article that I was happy to be able to contribute to. Check it out if you get a chance as there are several other articles relating to wine that were very informative. Sit Long, Talk Much, Laugh Often, Drink Wine!

Saturday, 9/22, Little Rock, AR

There is no joy in Hawgville as the mighty Razorbacks have lost to the Wildcats from the Bluegrass state. No heartburn on my part as I didn't go to the U of A, or just Fayetteville, as it is known. We had our neighbors over for the game and ended up trying two different bottles of the Smoking Loon Pinot Noir. We tried the 2006 bottle first, followed by the 2005. Dark, ruby red in color, they both exhibited a strong nose with lots of strawberry/cherry aromas. On the tongue we noted the strawberry, cherry, light spice and a touch of oak. Smooth, excellent finish made both of these winners. No real difference was noted between the 2006 and 2005 as both were equally good. Based on the absurdly, at least for a Pinot Noir, low price of $9.99 each, it was extremely easy to award both of these 4 Corkscrews. Smoking Loon is part of the Don Sebastiani chain and I've been surprised how consistent their Pinots have been and am sure we'll be picking up more bottles in the future. Sit Long, Talk Much, Laugh Often, Drink Wine!

Okay. I know many of you may be wondering what happened to Rob W. over at 365corks.com. No. I didn't quit drinking wine. I have, however, been extremely busy and haven't had a chance to try any new and unique wine that I felt like writing about. I've also had a little bit of travel thrown in for good measure, Dallas, Texas, and didn't even have any notable wine there. In fact, I ended up drinking Blue Moon beer two of the nights I was in town. Now that is good stuff if you like beer at all! Today's reviewed wine, the 2005 Smoking Loon Chardonnay, is, unfortunately, the wine I chose to review in my "comeback" review. Nothing at all to recommend about this wine. Very weak nose, no flavors of any note and an uninspired finish. Wish I could be more positive about this one, especially after a several week lay off from posting reviews, but as they say, "It is what it is". 2 Corkscrew rating for this one, and barely at that. I'll get out there and track down something new just as soon as I get a chance. I'm also going to start posting some anonymous, mystery buyer reviews of wine outlets here in Arkansas, and wherever my travels take me. Stay tuned. Sit Long, Talk Much, Laugh Often, Drink Wine!

Monday, September 3, Little Rock, AR

Ahh Labor Day! A day spent meeting with the DirectTV guy to upgrade my receiver, for about the fourth time in two years, and then a trip to a nearby water park where evidently they were having an "Everyone overweight by 100 pounds or more gets in free" day, no we had to pay, to the discovery of today's reviewed wine. On our way home with the kids from the fat farm, they didn't qualify for free admission either, we stopped by this little hole-in-the-wall wine/liquor store that we seldom frequent. I went in looking for a bottle or two of some type of white wine and ended up grabbing a 2005 Concannon Central Coast Limited Release Pinot Gris that was selling for about $10.99/bottle. I also picked up a Pinot Grigio at the same time which caused an intellectual discussion between #1 and myself to break out. What is the difference between Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio? I'm sure many of you have asked the same question and hopefully I can give you a simple answer. Pinot Gris has more alcohol content, and is a bigger, smooth, full-flavored wine while Pinot Grigio is more restrained and delicate. Simple enough. The Concannon was anything but restrained and lived up to its birthright. Very clean, full of fruit, apple, melon and citrus, and a wonderful finish. Both of us agreed that this was a great wine right off the bat. And it has to be one of the best valued wines I've had in sometime. I had tried the Concannon Cabernet Sauvignon in Las Vegas back in June and had given it 4 Corkscrews because we liked it so well. Easily gave this one 5 Corkscrews based on overall taste and excellent, excellent value. Keep up the good work Jim Concannon. I hope I get a chance to taste your wine at the vineyard some day! Sit Long, Talk Much, Laugh Often, Drink anything Concannon produces!