La Crema the crop

When I got home last night the GF surprised me with a nice bottle of this:

2008 – La Crema, Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast
This is a very well-balanced PN with bright red berry and spice notes on the nose followed by a rich and smooth palate of raspberries and red cherry with perfect elements of spice and soft tannins. The finish was equally smooth and I even detected notes of light chocolate. Out of all the bottlings from La Crema, the Sonoma Coast is by far better than the Monterey offering, which to me was too leathery, bordering on black rubber on the nose. We feel in love with this bottle while in San Fran last April. And for $19.99 at Trader Joe’s it’s not too bad a buy either.

it’s nice to zin once in a while

Had this lovely zin last night with grilled tacos, Italian Sausage, spinach, goat cheese and mushroom empanadas, sided with homemade pico de gallo and c=Chili Morita sauce.

2005-Stonehedge, Reserve Old Vine Zinfandel.
Another $9.99 Trader Joe’s gem. I let it open up for about an hour and the nose was deep and rich with dark fruits and spice. The palate was treated to wonderful dried fruit flavours nicely balanced by spice notes and silky tannins. Nice lingering finish as well.