Life's a Drag

On Monday I went to a few wineries to taste the fruits of their labor (or the fermented fruit juice of their labor). This is normal, and many people partake in such an activity at some point in their meaningless existences. What isn't all that normal is going potato tasting. I didn't go potato tasting, but, I did go chocolate tasting.

Tucked away in a house of the main highway in Milton-Freewater, Oregon is Petits Noirs (small blacks?); home of the best chocolate I've ever had. (the truffle I paid $3 for in Zurich rivals it though). I walked away with a 6-pack of truffles for $14, and the pack included a violet, espresso, rosemary, whiskey and hazelnut, and toasted anise truffle, as well as one I can't remember the name of. The highlight though was the pudding which was the richest, darkest chocolate pudding I've ever had with a very interesting spicey aftertaste.

Enough about chocolate though; life in this sleepy town in Eastern Washington is pretty nifty at times. This weekend at work we're packing up wine club shipments, and as a bonus for the extra work I was able to take home two Reserve Cabernet Sauvignons, a Reserve Merlot, and the newly released 2006 late harvest Chardonnay/Riesling.

This late harvest wine is actually a true ice wine, picked by many of my co-workers in December at 22 degrees (Fahrenheit). It's called a "Sauternes* style" wine, but the freezing temperatures concentrated the sugars rather than noble rot. I've yet to taste a Sauternes, so I can't compare the two, but I do have one sitting around waiting to be comsumed. What I do know, is that I really like this new dessert wine. I swear if someone gave it to me while blindfolded I'd think it was a screwdriver, and not the tool. The $22 price tag for a 375 ml bottle is steep for a wine, but it's a bargain for an ice wine.

All-in-all, I took home $142 worth of wine that I have no intentions on drinking any time soon. I'll probably bring one bottle of the reserve cab to Florida this winter, and I'll drink the others in 2010 or so. With the abundance of wine I suddenly find myself owning, I'll be amazed if I get to it that early.

Just another sucky day here in Walla squared, and tomorrow doesn't look good either.

Wine nerd notes:

1. Sauternes is a region of Bordeaux. They make some of the world's best known dessert wines. The grapes are left to rot with Botrytis (noble rot), which concentrates the juice. There's plenty of sugar left over after fermentation to make all the moms across America happy, and they are joined by wine snobs world wide. The grapes are primarily Semillon with some Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle - the same grapes as dry white Bordeaux, only more Semillon heavy than Sauvignon Blanc heavy.