What's in your glass tonight?

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In my glass tonight is a Cab from V12 Vineyards. This is a nice wine - part of a fitting end to 2021.

So long 2021…

A careful assessment leads us to the conclusion that 2021 has been both the best and worst year on record. It’s time to celebrate victories and lament griefs. Also, time to say good bye to 2021 and welcome 2022; the year of promise. Let's make wine!

Happy New Year!!

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Have you ever gone down to your wine storage area, moved some bottles around and found one without a label? Then try to figure out what the heck it might be? We believe it is a merlot, we know red, light oak, very tasty. Oh well glad it's good and not past the prime.
 
Have you ever gone down to your wine storage area, moved some bottles around and found one without a label? Then try to figure out what the heck it might be? We believe it is a merlot, we know red, light oak, very tasty. Oh well glad it's good and not past the prime.

More than once I'm afraid. What really kicks my butt is when I forget to label a topping up wine.
 
More than once I'm afraid. What really kicks my butt is when I forget to label a topping up wine.
I learned the hard way -- label EVERYTHING.

Last spring, I found a bottle on the shelf, no label. It looked light, but when I wracked my memory, I could not think of what it was!

Pulled the cork and sniffed -- lemon.

It was left over limoncello base from a couple of years ago. For reasons I can't recall, I bottled and corked it for a later time. At that time, I knew I'd remember this.

Obviously not .....

😂
 
Mango Jolly Rancher Shine is on tonight's menu.
Super easy to make, simply put 20-25 Jolly Rancher candies in a half pint jar and fill with proofed Everclear or real shine if its available. Proof to 50% so the candies have enough water to dissolve which at 100 proof takes 24-36 hours.
I like to pour it over ice with a splash of sprite or 7up.
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Here is what was in my glass last night.

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Here is the backstory, and description follows that:



As noted in the quote above, @crushday was so very kind as to give me a gift of this fine quaff. (It is a single-varietal Petite Sirah, which goes by the name Durif nearly everywhere else in the world.) I was waiting for the right occasion. I feared that it might not make sense to crack such a brawny red until the fall. However, the stars aligned in the following ways: (1) it was quite cool here in Milwaukee yesterday; (2) it was my last official day of work yesterday, so looking to celebrate; and (3) I bought a giant porterhouse steak to celebrate fact (2)! (Will post that elsewhere.) So I dug into this. It was really good!

The color was deep garnet (not purple -- no megapurple here!). The nose was mild and appealing; vinous, with a hint of booze. The thought that struck me the hardest upon tasting was that it was exceptionally well balanced: the right amount of acid, dark fruit, and other flavors. It was powerful, but elegant. It had a solid, fruit-dominant taste, but with leather in the background. I tend to overuse the word "languid" when rating favored wines, but there was no other word for this.

It was amazing! Thank you so much, George.

As mentioned before, @crushday generously gave me three bottles of a very fine wine, viz., Caymus-Suisun Grand Durif (aka, Petite Sirah). We had a special-occasion celebration dinner last night (which I will write up in the Dinner thread). Needless to say, this bottle made an appearance.

We started the night with a cheap sparkling wine from somewhere in France that was not Champagne, which we had with cheese and crackers. I had lined up a sparkling Mumm's rose from Napa for the seafood-based first course, but the guests brought a sparkling rose from New Zealand, so we subbed that in. For the meat-based second course, we opened @crushday's wonderful Grand Durif. When that was dead, we topped off our tanks with a decent Zinfandel (Mockingbird Hill), but it was a letdown after the Grand Durif.

I cannot do better in describing the wine than I did in the quote above. It is still accurate.

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