Underground Cellar

Do me a solid and look at that. Just look at it. Now look at the next one.

Is this Christian Grey's wine subscription? How do I insert a fire emoji into a blog? Wait... check out the next one...

Helllllooooooooo.

I don't think I need to say anything else. You know you want this. Just go to UndergroundCellar.com and get yourself one. You deserve this shit.

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Sauvignon Blanc! It's the Ultimate Wine Club Theme

As a wine guy in the retail business, I get a lot of regular customers from various wine clubs that come around looking for suggestions. These people get together usually once a month and they each bring a bottle of wine and, sometimes, food to pair it with. Generally the cap limit is $15 a bottle.

They’re not only looking for suggestions and pairings to fit a theme, but whoever is hosting that month might be looking for a theme itself. It could be a region or part of the world. Northwestern United States is always a big hit, because Oregon and Washington produce great affordable wine and cover a bunch of different grapes and styles. One person is designated an Oregon Pinot Gris, another a Washington Merlot, etc etc. Or it could be different California red blends. Or it could be just one varietal from around the world, which is exactly where I’m going with this.

One theme that is always a smash hit, where everybody has the most fun and learns the most about wine, is Sauvignon Blanc from around the world. Every time I suggest it to those who haven’t done it yet, they come back raving about the results.

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Wine Subscription Review: Wineist Wine Carte, Part 1

"Small in size, big in wines" is the Wineist motto. They're I guess what you could call a wine club but they call themselves a "wine carte". Carte is actually a good choice of wordage because it can mean menu or map. You're getting a taste of the wines they sell and their wines are from all over the world!

This is how it works: you go to WINEIST.COM and see what plan works for you. You can get a monthly subscription, six month subscription or a yearly subscription. Let's just say you get a monthly subscription, which is $29 a month at the time of this review. Every month you'll receive six 50 ml sample bottles in a neat little box. There's also a pamphlet telling you what each bottle is, all the tech information you could possibly need, winery information, food pairings, etc, and space for your notes. If you like any of the wines then you can buy them in normal bottle size.

Just by seeing what they do, having this package in my hands, I can tell you this is a very cool product. But how are the wines in the package that I got?

I'm breaking it down into two reviews: In Part 1 I've got a Riesling from Germany, a Pinotage Rosé from South Africa, and a Tempranillo blend from Spain. In Part 2 I've got a Chianti Rufina, a Shiraz blend from South Africa, and another Tempranillo blend from Spain.

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Wine Review: Nederburg The Motorcycle Marvel 2013

You may have heard of Nederburg. They're only the most famous and most awarded South African winery on the planet. It got its name in 1791 from German immigrant Philippus Wolvaart, who named his wine farm after Commissioner-General Sebastian Nederburg. I just call the winery Nedes. We're buds. Alright, they have no idea who I am. But I like to pretend.

This particular wine of theirs gives homage to their former cellarmaster from 1956 to 1989; Günter Brözel. This guy built Nederburg's reputation, and his favorite form of transportation was via motorcycle. He also was the first to make noble late harvest wine in South Africa, which he called Edelkeur. Current cellarmaster Razvan Macici, an award-winning cellarmaster himself, draws inspiration and drive from Brözel's legacy. Wilhem Pienaar is the current winemaker.

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Oh, you ordered Pinotage???

Oh, you ordered Pinotage? I too like to live dangerously.

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Review: Ta Za! Shatterproof Wine Glasses with Excelsior 2011 Syrah

One of the hazards of drinking wine is breaking your wine glasses. You know how many I've broken? A whole lot. Hey man, things happen. But the most common time that those nice wine glasses break across the world is at parties and gatherings. Lots of people around, lots of things going on, lots of people feeling affected by alcohol. Next thing you know... CRASH!

But that just comes with the territory, right? Nothing is as good as glass. You can't really respect your wine and drink it from a plastic cup! That would be asinine! That's at least what I thought until Ta Za! sent me their product. Prepare yourself for some serious ass-kissing because my whole household loves these glasses.

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Wine Review: MAN Family Wines 2014 Chenin Blanc

So here's the thing: It's officially still spring here in the northern hemisphere but c'mon, it's summer. It's time for being outdoors, eating seafood and keeping the wine refreshing. Crisp white wine is where it's at for late spring, early summer. Once you're into the groove of summer you can return to the reds, but you gotta kick it off with lots of whites. You just gotta.

Oh Chenin Blanc, my dear, dear friend. You are the ultimate white grape. Creating so many different wine styles ranging from sweet to bone dry, from fruity to minerally, from expressive to delicate. So many different styles, so many completely different flavor profiles and they're all awesome. The ultimate white grape.

Chenin Blanc is native to France but it's also known as Steen in South Africa and it's been grown there for a very long time, basically becoming their flagship wine grape along the way. There's reason to believe that it was even the very first European wine grape grown in South Africa, resulting in the first South African wine on February 2nd, 1659.

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Wine Review: Boekenhoutskloof The Chocolate Block 2012 Red Blend

Franschhoek, where this wine is from, is Dutch for "French Corner" and it's located in the southwest of South Africa. It was settled by French Huguenot immigrants in 1688 and since then viticulture and winemaking has been an important part of their culture. Now it's known as "the food and wine capital" of the country.

Boekenhoutskloof Winery was founded in 1776, the same year the United States claimed independence. It was bought and renovated by the current ownership in 1993, the same year Jurassic Park and Mrs. Doubtfire were released. Coincidence? That's for you to decide.

The name Boekenhoutskloof means "ravine of Book-n-howed", Boekenhout being a native tree popular for making furniture. They produce the very popular Wolftrap wines and the highly acclaimed Chocolate Block.

The last time I had Chocolate Block must have been five years ago and I believe it was the 2006 vintage. I thought it was just the bomb-diggity. Well, my wine knowledge has kinda improved just a tad since then and I recently acquired a bottle of the 2012 through the kindness of a good friend's heart. Time to check this bitch out.

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