Friday April 2nd 2010

Environment and Extraneous Variables:
Once more into the breach… We venture deep into the bowels of Critical Chianti Consumption, to offer up our humble opinions, emanating from the untrained taste buds (taste-icles if you will) of homosapious vino novicias.

We spend another Friday evening at Andrew’s kitchen table, again joined buy Jeff (from around the way) who “has some splainin to do”, as he has not become an official follower on either the Facebook or Blogspot pages. We will most likely consult our governing body, known only “The Order”. Consequences are usually quick and sever.

Dinner for this FNCC meeting was provided by momscasserole.com. Check out the website and order any or all of the offerings. We had the Lazy Lasagna, which was a culinary delight. It was enough to feed a family of four, a hearty and satisfying dinner, in about 30 minutes, without all the work. I’ve had several of the other dishes, on the menu, and I definitely suggest giving them a try, with special not to the Perogy (Midwest and east coast natives more likely to be familiar with that one).

Some of the evening conversation centered on the shows\cartoons we grew up watching. It’s pretty clear that many of these shows would no longer grace the airways. Some definitely lacked the tact and cultural complexity that many of us understand today. Take a moment and think about your childhood viewing. Characters such as; Fat Albert, Hong Kong Phooey, Speedy Gonzalez to name but a few (of course I’m aging myself) were after school and early Saturday morning viewing. It’s hard to believe but perhaps someday we’ll look back and feel bad about today’s assortment of cartoons. We’ve been making a mockery of sponges for at least ten years now. But the old theme song, you can’t beat’m.

To the wine cellar Robin…

San LeoninO
Chianti Classico 2006
$15.98 Bevmo

Initial Impressions:
"Rattles around in your mouth, then settles down nicely" -SP
“Warm, like the inside of a Tauntaun” and “easily imbibed and easily forgotten” -AP
“Tastes pretty good” and “It’s a funny looking girl” – JM

Descriptive terms:
Heavy, heavy handed, like a plastic umbrella, ludicrous, bunny rabbits, brown M & M’s

Character Comparisons:
Jack Sheppard (Lost)
Tori Spelling
Curious George
John Denver

Overall Rating and Conclusions:
AP rates it with 3.27 corkscrew turns.
SP rates it with 2.91 corkscrew turns.
JM rates it with 3.5 corkscrew turns
OVER ALL RATING 3.22666666666666666667 corkscrew turns

Some closing thoughts on this Chianti: It seemed a “middle of the road” selection, yet evoked the “always something there to remind me” reaction to its consumption. If that doesn’t make any sense, don’t feel bad. I will just say that after going over the notes for this wine, the definite lack of cohesion made it impossible to have a strong recommendation one way or the other. I was struck by the utter lack of commitment, by any of the three of us. I know, shocking for a group of men to have an aversion to making some kind of commitment, but 2 out of 3 are very dedicated family men and the third does not have the level of influence on the others to create such ambiguity. So the old saying “it’s not you, it’s me” can be turned on its head. I definitely feel it was a problem with the Chianti and not the reviewers.
As always, we powered through the bottle, seeking any facet to sink our teeth into. What we came up with is; We did and would drink without trepidation, but would not make any decisive moves to consume again.

We will be taking a week sabbatical, to cleanse our pallets and free our minds. Be seeing you. Remember “any wine that does not kill you” clearly was not thrown directly at your head.




Gabbiano Reserva
Chianti Classico 2005
$16.99 Bevmo



Initial Impressions:
"A postal explosion of mediocre flavor" -SP
"The Parent Trap" – JM


Descriptive terms:
Open and honest, Dr. Evil’s head (smooth), a wool sweater worn on a foggy morning, cheese whiz and organic. (can’t say there’s much cohesion on this on either)


Character Comparisons:
Sade
Peter Parker
Jaime (from Get Smart) not the evenings conversation above.


Overall Rating and Conclusions:
AP rated it with 3.12 corkscrew turns.
SP rated it with 3.98 corkscrew turns.
JM rated it with 3.7 corkscrew turns.
OVER ALL RATING 3.00

In the final analysis, the Gabbiano Reserva Chianti Classico 2005 was labeled as “not a strong finisher”. It bursts onto your tongue, with a hint of enthusiasm, only to break your heart like so many before. Like the opening riff to Kenny Loggins song.