Hip Tastes Blog

Ah, Oscar time. Enjoy this next Top 10 List from WineCountry.com - my second annual Academy Awards wine pairing lineup for them:

"Come February 22, many of us - film and wine buffs alike - will find ourselves settling in to enjoy the time-honored tradition of watching Hollywood's annual version of an all-you-can-eat buffet with extra helpings of couture, paparazzi and bawdy political jokes thrown in for good measure. That's right: it's Oscar time! And, to further enhance your viewing pleasure, this year we're pleased to present our second-annual Academy Awards tasting lineup, complete with frank and - hopefully - amusing commentary on nominated films and personalities.

So whether your star picks turn out to be winners or just plain winers, you'll be guaranteed a good laugh along with a good glass as you take it all in - the most winning combination we can think of.

(List details available at WineCountry.com)

The Curious Case of...Oh, Hand Me the Magnum Already
Drink Wine, Not Milk
Reading Between the Wines
Slumdog Zinfandel
Frost/Nixon Flavors
Vicky Cristina Barcelona...Lake County?
Wrestling with Reputation
Tropic Thunder Thirst
Wall-E Wine
Revolutionary Red"

Read the full list here

Posted by Courtney at 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

If the unseasonable blooms outside (if you're in Cali, anyway) have you looking for something a little lighter in your glass, read on...

Crafted from fruit grown in a single vineyard in Mendocino's Potter Valley, the 2007 Factories and Smoke Pinot Noir ($28, 97 cases) hails from my good friend Kenny Likitprakong and offers a bit of sweet clove, bright cherry and pomegranate, a kiss of earth and a touch of forest floor along with a smooooooth, soft texture that's perfect for early spring sipping. In a word, it's the real deal. The real Pinot stuff. Maybe the best part? It's light in color - like a blushing rose - a naturally light shade perfectly befitting Pinot that's been made unfined and unfiltered and without the additional pumping up of mega extraction and all the other techniques that are used to create the techno showboat wines that are so popular today (snore).

The point: this is Pinot with soul...but definitely not a showboat. If you prefer your wines over the top, don't bother. But I'll go a little further and be provocative: if you know good Pinot when you see it,

smell it and - of course! - taste it, and you don't need it to come all hopped up with add-ons to get a hard on when you sip it, then this one's for you. It comes highly Recommended.

About the label: "Factories and Smoke is borrowed from a poem that I wrote while living in San Francisco when I was 21 years old. There was and still is something romantic and inspiring about industry and these monolithic-like structures. While roaming about in Chicago on a cold day in February 2008, I was reminded of the title and so it made its way on to a wine bottle." - Kenny

Get some @ Hobo Wine Company or visit Kenny's new tasting room off the plaza in downtown Healdsburg

Posted by Courtney at 02:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)