King Estate Pinot Gris 2014

This was a very good wine, especially for the price of about $15. Beautifully complex and sophisticated. If there are any faults, it is the somewhat unpleasant acidity, but all the beauties make the wine worth it.

On the nose, you get a pleasant Parmesan smell, with lemon/lemongrass and lime, which are likely the cause  of the acidity. The acidity does go down as the wine breathes, but I think it is worth noting the negatives of a wine on opening nevertheless. It's like Sprite Plus though! Good shit.

Taste wise, it is the same in regards to the citrus fruits--the lemon and lemongrass--with a Parmesan finish with the aforementioned slightly unpleasant acidity. Underneath of citrus of the wine's body, there is an nice smoothness. There is a softer, fruity underneath it, floral or buttery, peach maybe--I cannot quite place it.

Overall, I rate this a 4.5 out of 5.

I could not find my little booklet at the time, so I did a voice recording for the notes. In a way it helped improve my noting. One thing I noted was that white wine is a difficult wine to perfect, not only in making, but in enjoying. To fully be enjoyed it needs to be chilled, but not too much, and not too little. Thanks to modern technology this can be fixed, but if you can't afford that fancy equipment, or are a romantic, an ice bucket works, though for me the freezer is just as easy. Put it in the freezer for thirty to thirty five minutes, no longer than forty. But for serving company, an ice bucket is good for presentation, but you should rotate it in and out of the bucket to avoid it getting too cold, say every ten to fifteen minutes. Chill it in the freezer, then get the ice bucket out. Another small note is use water in the ice. It makes it chill much faster. Also add kosher salt to the ice, which supposedly slows melting down. Also of course, use a towel to place the bucket on, as it will sweat profusely, and a hard object, like a wooden cutting board underneath it to avoid water stains on the table cloth or nice wood of the buffet. It should a full towel, folded up all the way that the bucket can fit on. Too little thickness, and the water soaks through. That's a nasty mess.

Here you can find notes on serving, regarding the difficulty of perfecting that matter;

http://www.winespectator.com/webfeature/show/id/45890

Oh, and since this is an Oregon wine, I have to share this adorable, charming video, being a romantic about Oregon. It is a dream of sorts to move there one day:

Montinore Estate 2014 Pinot Gris

It has been a while since I wrote anything significant or did any reviews. Money has been tight for one, and I participated in a study for a nasal version of an epilepsy medication which treats acute seizures, that is, the seizure itself, rather than the seizures; it is akin to what they use in hospitals to immediately stop a seizure, particularly a full blown gran mal, and more particularly, the possibly fatal status epileticus. On which note, November is Epilepsy Awareness Month, so please consider making even a small, tax deductible of course, charitable donation to the Epilepsy Foundation. You can click here and go directly to the donations page.

Now to the wine! So this medium priced wine was a gift, at least I think it was. It seems to be under around $15 now! It is organic by the way, for those of you who are big on that.

The notes:

On the nose it is interesting. There seem to be occasional Parmesan notes, but mostly lemon, floral notes, with lime, too, if I recall. The latter I did not write down, but it does have lime on the tongue if nothing else. I did write that down. You are smelling the roses with this wine though! Given the Parmesan note, this would go well with pasta, a red sauce even. Unlike one might think, you can drink white with a red sauced pasta. When it comes down to it, you can drink whatever in the hell you want, though it does help to drink a wine that compliments a dish.

For example, tonight I am having a Beaujolais with red beans and rice. I think the smooth texture will compliment the spice, cooling it down even, or something to that effect. To me, at least, Beaujolais is smooth, even watery you might say, but not in a bad way. Everyone hates getting a watered down bottle of wine. Beaujolais is good and simple, and good for those who do not like a full bodied or dry wine. It is fruity, but in an Old World, rather than New World way; that is, it is not the fruity go to Yellow Tail.

But back to the current wine. It's taste is one of apple, demon with a finish that is rather long and tangy, with that same Parmesan effect of the nose.

Overall, on a 1-5 scale, a 4, which I list as "Great" in my system. For me it is just at great. It is complex enough to be above okay. I say this objectively, because I am not a big fan of white wine, so for me personally the wine is "okay" in the sense that white wine is not my thing. But I think learning wine requires one to drink not just red!

PS....I will try to put up my red beans and rice recipe. It is the first time I am making it, and I am using other's recipes to a degree, but mainly following the basic principles rather than strict rules. There are not strict rules anyway with dishes like this, simply principles that must be followed to make it true red beans and rice. One of them, from what I understand, is dry beans, not canned ones. Also, for example, white rice would not really be proper, though I think it might go well with the sauce. Just "regular" rice for this.