Thirsty Thursdays (7)

Welcome to the seventh installment of Thirsty Thursdays! This post is the Better Late Than Never Easter Weekend Edition!!!

Every week I will select a wine and review it. (There will be no consistent rhyme or reason for picking the wine; presume I chose each bottle on a whim. And, no, I am not receiving compensation for these reviews). I will rate the wine on a four glass rubric because a properly poured glass of wine is 6.25 oz, ensuring that each 750 ml bottle fills four glasses. (This haphazard logic makes sense, right?!)…

Yes - it is very important that I post about wine this week since it's the image that's been dancing in my head at around three thirty p.m. (post kiddies scrambling to their buses). Every day. All week. Does that mean I have a problem? Maybe. Or that I am working hard enough to warrant a nice, little (ahem) glass of vino as my reward! And I would wager that all y'all are in the same position - so let's get on with it shall we?

A reminder in how one should taste her wine:

A proper Wine Tasting starts with smelling the wine. This process looks ridiculous! You take a brief first sniff, then pull the glass away and swirl it like a snob, (look for legs, viscosity, colour, etc.) then stick your big noggin right in there and inhale like it’s your last breath. And THEN you take the first sip, and pull it through your teeth. Also looks ridiculous! Swallow. (Sounds obvious I know…).Take your second sip. During this sip, you swoosh the wine like it is toothpaste you’re trying to wash out of your mouth. Please don’t spit it out, though, unless there’s a bucket and you’re expected to! Finally, that third sip you hold on to and savor – and finally…swallow. It is this final sip that tells for sure if the wine is going to be good.

Region: The cool Central Coast of California.

Price Point: $20.00 USD

Tasting Notes: directly from the Robert Mondavi Website: [The] 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon comes from cool-climate Central Coast grapes and has been blended with Syrah and small amounts of Cabernet Franc, Petite Sirah, and Sangiovese. The wine has the sweet black cherry and dark berry fruit character that distinguishes California’s finest Cabernet Sauvignons, and its ripe fruit is supported by velvety tannins and well-integrated oak.

This is a wine of excellent depth, richness, and length on the palate.

It is a constant and consistently smooth taste from start to finish.

Food Pairings: Enjoy with a wide array of dishes, from standing rib
roasts, grilled steak, and roast duck to spare ribs, lasagna, and flavorful
hard cheeses.

Cabernet Sauvignon, in case you've not noticed, is simply my very favourite wine variety. As my closest friend says: it tastes like red wine. It is dry in flavour and full in body. There is a deep, dark berryness to it that makes it sexy and mysterious simultaneously. And it is simply a sophisticated and honest wine variety. It believes in honour and class above all else. 

Robert Mondavi is a bit more expensive than the previous wines I've discussed and, though this is not always the case, its price point is reflective of its quality. This is a true red wine. It is pure. It is what one expects when they go to take a sip of a red wine. It is smooth and delectable. 

Robert Mondavi is not an everyday wine - unless you are rich, of course! I am lucky enough to have a very generous friend who brought it with her last weekend for our celebrations - and boy was I happy! I felt special, even! I felt like I needed to turn the channel to black and white and put on my most expensive dress and pumps - and get me a faux-fur-coat. And some nice long, thin cigarettes - and red lipstick of course!

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So my best-y and I - being the fun and brave and sometimes cocky ladies we can be when together, WELL!, we decided we were qualified and/or savvy enough to test our tasting skills: so we did ourselves a 'proper' wine tasting and tried to ascertain what characteristics we could find in this treasure.

We even let the boys get in on the fun (though we gave their responses little consideration). I mean, they were saying things like vanilla! VANILLA? I don't think so. Stick to the beer boys.

LH and I, of course, were totally on the money: dark berry is what we said...and then we read the tasting notes and felt all superior and smart. Yup - dark cherry and dark berries. Man we were good! I mean you simply cannot LEARN this kind of talent - it is innate! *hee hee.

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Robert Mondavi Cabernet is everything classy. It is like the gentlemen of the fifties: properly attired from head to toe; he is the man who wears his white tuxedo when going out for the night. His hair is properly Brill Creamed and in place, and his cigar or cigarette hangs from his fingers; And, of course, he has his gorgeously classy lady (oh btw that's obviously you or me) on his arm. We are wearing our faux fur coat, classily expensive and shimmery dress, and pumps and OF COURSE we cannot forget our red lipstick!

We arrive and leave our venue in a white limousine - and we have a proper driver.

It is a wine meant to be shared in a couple or double-date scenario at a ritzy, maybe a bit-too-expensive restaurant. Picture the scene in black and white. Yes. Now this is where this wine should be enjoyed. The piano is playing, maybe a little Frank Sinatra or a little A Kiss is Just a Kiss is floating through the air. The wine is consumed out of pleasure and sophistication - and not a drop is wasted. The conversation is elevated and everyone speaks with purpose. Only the important and most beautiful of people are in this scene (and again - we're talking you and me and our gentlemen too).

The men stand when we ladies leave and return from the powder room, and the chair is always pulled out for us upon our return. It is all class and chivalry. We believe in the old-fashioned and the polished - .

And, of course, we drink responsibly.

My Rating: ****Rating: four poised, shiny, glittery, large/globey glasses out of four! It is everything class and sophistication and nothing short of what a good RED WINE should be!

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