Wimpy vs Willy Wonka Wine

Ravenswood's battle cry is No Wimpy Wines and they mean it. Drinking Ravenswood is like taking a turbo trip to the Willy Wonka Wine-o-candy factory. No, I don't like their Zins much, at least the regular old barrel ones they serve up with the $5 or $10 tasting fee. (Can't remember how much it cost per person)
Nonetheless, I love visiting this winery, which is tucked away on a hill in Sonoma, CA., and often hosts barbeques (I've yet the attend one).
Who says you have to love a winery's wines to visit? This place is just fun. The guy who did our tasting when we visited last October was super generous on the pour, very chatty about the year's vintage, teaching us a thing or two about wine. I looked at my watch as my husband and I were leaving. My head was in the clouds and an hour and a half had passed.
Although I don't like many Zins, particularly the huge Robert Parkery ones, I did buy a nice solid bottle of 2000 Sonoma County Carignane that day. It went down fast when we drank it about a month later.

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New Favorite Wines From TJs

There are some fine wines at Trader Joe’s if you stay clear of that two buck Chuck crap. Even better, their wines are largely cheap! As a journalist, I've always wanted to interview the Trader Joe's wine buyers. They have such a cool job, traipsing around the world sipping new vintages. Lucky dogs! Here's a blog that tracks many Trader Joe's wines. The blogger, JohnG, is a web designer who lives in Sonoma. Like Robert Parker, he scores the wines he reviews on this irreverent site.

My neighbor Velma swears by this Trader Joe's wine from Italy she discovered last year. She turned me on to a 2001Sabbie Di Nuvola Vecchia Toscana and it costs just $6.99 a bottle. It's a Sangiovese variety (90% Sangiovese, 10% Merlot and 12.5% alcohol) from Tuscany and it's pretty darn good. Smooth and fruity and more expensive tasting than its price tag. Occassionally I've had a spoiled bottle (so has my neighbor) but overall its a very drinkable wine. It's nice with pasta and anything you'd normally pair with a good red.

Another red wine I recently tried is the 2003 La Loggia Barbera D’Alba. It's $5.99, too, and I liked it even more than the Toscana. Unfortunately, when I bought a second bottle I couldn't tell if it was spoiled or just inconsistently made. We tossed the bottle. It was AWFUL.

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Snips from Around the 'Pire

What happened at some of our other top blogs this week?

Liquor Snob: Liquor Snob Gear 2: Electric Boogaloo

Single Serve Coffee: First Impressions Mr. Coffee Home Cafe Generation II AT13 Single Serve Coffee Maker

Just The Chips: Inside the Poker Mind: Essays on Hold 'em and General Poker Concepts

Kitchen Contraptions: Vacu Vin Pineapple Slicer

Shaving Stuff: Gillette Fusion Available in Chicago

TV Snob: How to buy a big TV

Shirt Snob: Article with Mike Jeffries, CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch

GPS Lodge: WorldTracker SMS - Small GPS Tracking

The Cooking News: Recipe News: Farro With Goat Cheese and Pesto Risotto

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Best of the Blogpire

Tvsnob 125 Macnn-1 What a week! Things are getting busier and busier around the Blogpire. We've got several interesting giveaways and contensts including Sign Up for our Mailing List & Win Collectible Cups from illy! at Single Serve Coffee.com and we're giving away $50 bucks if you design a new logo for TV Snob.com at TVSnob Logo Contest. Overall if you didn't catch this new Melitta One:One - A Better Way to Make Coffee Commercial you should see it. Liquor Snob.com also has Shotgun Party Video Review from Transworld Skateboarding that is QUITE interesting. Now on with the Best of the Blogpire!