Big Fat Wine

We have been trying to hit as many new clubs, tasting rooms and wine bars as possible, but after a long hot (95 degrees at our house) Saturday we just wanted to sit down in an air-conditioned comfortable spot for a bite to eat and a glass (or 6) of wine.

Cork! A Wine Bar in Tacoma was our first thought.  I know that we have talked about this place before so I won’t go into all the fall-de-rall.  Cork! never seems to disappoint.    Nick is friendly and knowledgeable and just plain nice to be around.  The staff is always present but doesn’t hover.  The cheese plate hit the spot (you have to try the Oregon Bleu with the Root One Sauvignon Blanc).   We talked, we laughed, we drank, we ate… when we walked outside it was around 10:30 and it was still wonderfully warm… this is the life!

I have a feeling that this is the kind of place where you would feel comfortable whether this was your first tasting/wine bar or your 100th.  I highly suggest this place.  According to their website they have FREE tastings on Thursdays.  We may have to re-think our weekend focus for tastings.   Cork! has quickly become one of our favorites.  Stop by and tell Nick that Big Fat Wine sent you. While you’re there check out their awesome wine flight carriers, of all the places we have been these are the coolest we have seen.  I want one BAD!  Maybe next time we’re in we will sneak a snapshot and have one made… hmmm…

UPDATE: I found the flight carriers. Check this out!

By the way if you see a frizzy headed old hippy chick it’s probably me so come on over and say hi. And if it’s not me don’t worry about it us old hippy chicks are pretty friendly.

As Always,
Love, Laugh, Learn… LIVE!

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The essence and structure of great rock music is built in layers much like the essence and structure of great wine.  When I think of wine it brings images of smoky bars, gatherings of friends and family, wonderful meals, romantic evenings… funny thing is that all of those things are made better by great rock music.  (Epiphany) WINE and ROCK MUSIC make a perfect combination!

When I started doing research for the connection between wine and rock music I was immediately overwhelmed.  There is so much information and I wanted to include it all.  Not going to happen.  It would take me a year just to pull together a decent list of the information to start on.  So I decided to pick one minute detail and get something down.  Here goes…

I love rock and roll!  When I asked Joel what he loves about rock, he said, “It makes me feel connected. Like I’m a part of something bigger than myself.”   I can relate.  The wine lifestyle gives Joel and me that same sort of feeling of connectedness.

Seems that the people at Wines That Rock understand that too.  They have taken 3 classic collections of music and created wines based upon the spirit of those collections.   The three that they have *co-created so far are 2006 Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon Cabernet Sauvignon,  2007 Rolling Stones’ 40 Licks Merlot, and 2008 Woodstock Chardonnay.

Did These guys crawl into my head? They really get me!

I thought of about 100 albums or songs that I want them to do because they have such strong anchors to important points in my life.  While surfing around on their website I found a link to vote on the inspiration for their next creation, and what-do-you-know, several of the albums that I was wishing for were on the list of possible choices.   I won’t tell you what I voted for (the doors) as I wouldn’t want to influence (the doors) your vote (the doors) in any way.  That (the doors) wouldn’t be right.

I will be following this exciting winery and looking forward to all their new creations.

*I wrote “co-create” in order to give credit to the creative collaboration between the musical artist and the artistry of the winemaker.

As Always,
Love, Laugh, Learn… LIVE!

The members concerts at Chateau Ste. Michelle are one of the highlights of our year.  Because we have duel memberships we get 4 tickets every year and usually attend both events.  This year they set the members events to fall over one weekend.  Woodinville is only about an hour away from home but since we had events both Saturday and Sunday we  booked a room so that we didn’t have to drive home in between (also so we can write about the Willows Lodge in Woodinville, but that’s another blog).

Our two oldest daughters meet us at the winery every year(they are both members too).  After Joel’s surgery Friday I wasn’t sure that we were going to make it, but Joel refused to be kept away.  Spending time with the family is our top priority so we packed up the car and and headed out.  Our timing was perfect.  We arrived, parked and made our way to the line just as the girls walked by.  It couldn’t have been better choreographed if we had planned it ahead of time.

We were also meeting friends and they had gotten in just ahead of us and were setting up our spot just to the left of the stage.   Over the next five minutes we had blankets down, cooler and picnic basket set, plates out and headed up to get our glasses.  The lines for tasting weren’t too bad this year so we had our first tastes quickly.  Over the next two hours we tasted, we talked, we laughed and we enjoyed the perfect day.

Joel bought a couple of bottles of the 2006 Columbia Valley Tempestade – Limited Release  for the concert.

2006 Columbia Valley Tempestade – Limited Release WINEMAKER NOTES
“This is the second Tempestade Red Wine from Chateau Ste. Michelle. Sourced from Portuguese varietals in our Cold  Creek vineyard, this earthy wine delivers pronounced aromas of chocolate, coffee and spice. On the palate, the Tempestade is dense and full, with a rich, layered finish. It is a very bold wine not for the timid.”

And what a bold wine it was.  There were six wines to taste but this was our favorite.  Me, flavors of chocolate and coffee?  You can’t go wrong with that.

The Girls liked the 2009 Columbia Valley Gewürztraminer.

2009 Columbia Valley Gewürztraminer TASTING NOTES
“A fan favorite, this Gewürztraminer is such an enjoyable wine with exuberant fruit and clove spice. This is a lush style of Gewürztraminer with a lot of floral character, yet it still maintains the grape’s natural crisp character. A touch of Muscat offers citrus notes and a deeper spice character. Try this wine with Thai food or any cuisine with a little “bite” to it.” -Bob Bertheau, Winemaker

Natalie MacMaster came on stage and the place lit up.  Ms. MacMaster is entertaining, and plays the hell out of that fiddle. The crowd wanted good music to go with the wonderful day and they weren’t disappointed.  There is something so right about a summer evening, great wine and fiddle music, it just feels natural.

I didn’t know much about Ms. MacMaster before the concert (it never matters who is playing, we always have fun) but I will certainly pick up a couple of CD’s for in-car enjoyment.

We had a wonderful time at this event and this is only the beginning of one fabulous weekend.

As Always,
Love, Laugh, Learn… LIVE!

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Friday morning at 3:00 AM Joel wakes me to tell me that he is in pain and going to drive himself to the hospital.  I was sound asleep so my first reaction was, “okay honey, call me when you know what’s up.”  Thirty seconds later, when I came to my senses, I said, “oh, hell no.”  I threw some clothes on and my cell phone in my purse and we headed for the local ER.

Luckily it wasn’t crowded so we got in fairly quickly.  The doctor came in and ordered x-rays and a series of tests with promises of pain relief once he knew what was going on.  About 30 minutes later he came in with a syringe of something magical to go into the IV and the news that Joel had a gallstone about an inch in diameter and that he had called a surgeon and they were getting a room ready to admit him.   The Gallbladder had to go.

I was in deep trouble by the time 8:00 AM came around and I started making phone calls to the fam.  Once the kids found out that Dad was in the hospital and I didn’t wake them up before we left they were not happy with me, not at all.   They finally took him into surgery about 2:00 PM.  Our whole motley crew took over the surgical waiting room, watching bad daytime TV, reading out-dated magazines and waiting for word.   Everything went well and he was out of recovery before we knew it.  When they finally got him settled in his room he asked if he could eat and actually asked if they had a wine list.  He was completely out of it but still had a sense of humor.  By the way, the nurse didn’t have a sense of humor at all.

Joel made it very clear that he did not want to stay the night, he was ready to go home NOW.  Actually we had members events at Chateau Ste. Michelle and a stay at the Willows in Woodinville booked for the weekend and Joel was not going to miss out just because of some dumb gallbladder.  It took a bit of convincing and promising but by 11:00 PM the nurse finally signed Joel’s walking papers and we were on our way home – less one gallbladder and one nights sleep.   I was ready to cancel the events but Joel was totally committed.  We did end up spending the weekend at the winery, but that’s another story.

Joel met with the surgeon this morning and is healing perfectly.  Looks like the crazy long weekend was actually good for him.    Go figure.

As Always,
Love, Laugh, Learn… LIVE!

There are almost as many types of wine glasses as there are wines.  And, yes, the wine glass you use can make difference in the enjoyment of the wine you are drinking.  I wouldn’t go so far as to say that you need a different glass for each type of wine but a cabinet with the basic three can give you great bang for your buck.

A large broad bowled glass for reds.  The fuller bodied the reds you enjoy the larger the glass you need.  A large bowled glass allows for more surface area of the wine to be exposed to oxygen.  Red wine is typically better when well oxidized.    The larger size gives you the ability to get a great swirl going to further aerate your wine and release the bouquet.

A slightly smaller narrower bowled glass for whites and rose.    The smaller narrower bowl helps to keep your white chilled and also helps to focus subtler fragrances making them easier to detect.   While smaller and narrower you still want a glass large enough to comfortably swirl your wine without spilling it.

Finally a good fluted glass for champagne and sparkling wines.  The fluted shape aids in keeping your wine “bubbly” longer and also is really pretty when the bubbles rise the length of the glass.

For all three, look for clear glass or crystal with a thin lip for the best experience.  The clear glass allows you see the color and the thin lip makes sipping more pleasurable.  I know some people who like wine glasses with no stem but for me, unless I’m drinking brandy, mulled or warmed wine, I want a stem.

(tip: don’t hold the glass by the bowl while drinking to keep from warming the wine with your body heat… as we know , wine drinkers are hot blooded)  :)

I suggest that you borrow a selection of glasses from your friends or go to a good tasting bar and ask to test different glassware.   To really get a true idea of the differences drink the same wine from different shape and size glasses.  I was amazed by the difference in a cheap cab when enjoyed from a good glass.  It made all the difference in the world.

By the way, the glasses shown in the photos above and in the strip below are from the Riedel Ouverture series.    This is the everyday stemware that we use at home and love.

As Always,
Love, Laugh, Learn… LIVE!

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The sun came out yesterday and it stayed.  Looks like we are going to have a streak of “summer” weather here in western Washington.    Two warm days  and the news is going crazy, “heat streak” they’re calling it… Geez.  It’s supposed to drizzle on Monday.  How can a “heat streak” only last five days with only two of those over 90?

It was lovely today,  95 degrees with occasional light breezes.  I took my laptop outside into the shade and opened a bottle of chilled Stella Rosa Rosso.   It was heaven.  We had kids and kids friends and cats and dogs all running in and out all day.  Our four kids that still live at home (we have 6 kids between the ages of 18 and 29) spent the day between here and Lake Tapps to stay cool.  The dogs and cats were a bit lethargic but we just made sure that the water bowl was kept full and that they stayed in the shade.   And, as for Joel and I, we made sure our wine glasses were full, we stayed in the shade and we enjoyed the hell out of it.   It was a day for relaxing, stoking up the barbecue, cranking up the radio, inviting over friends and keeping glasses full.

Here’s to summer… CHEERS!

As Always,

Love, Laugh, Learn… LIVE!

Some of you have been following us on Twitter and have noticed that we have been posting quotes and words of wisdom throughout the day.  I have been researching wine quotes and have found some really inspiring thoughts.  I think we, as enthusiasts, tend to look for the gusto in life and many of us know how to voice that gusto with ease and flair.

When it comes to wine, I tell people to throw away the vintage charts and invest in a corkscrew. The best way to learn about wine is the drinking.  ~ Alexis Lichine

A woman drove me to drink, and I’ll be a son-of-a-gun but I never even wrote to thank her. ~ W. C. Fields

Drink is the feast of reason and the flow of soul. ~ Alexander Pope

Wine rejoices the heart of man and joy is the mother of all virtues. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1771

“Wine is sunlight, held together by water! ~ Galileo Gallilei

From wine what sudden friendship springs! ~ John Gay 1685 – 1732

Wine gives strength to weary men.  ~ Homer

One not only drinks the wine, one smells it, observes it, tastes it, sips it and–one talks about it. ~ King Edward VII

Where there is no wine there is no love. ~ Euripides

These are just a few.  There are thousands upon thousands of quotes out there.

I am truly thankful for the wonderful people that I have met through this lifestyle both  in person and online.  The words of the masters and the word of my friends are interchangeable and for the most part impossible to distinguish between.  If given a list of quotes I couldn’t tell by the wisdom alone whether it came from one of the great thinkers of all times, the bartender at the local wine bar, one of the many #wine lovers on twitter or the guy I run into every year at the members concert at Chateau Ste. Michelle.

I know that some of you have quotes or words of wisdom either your own or your favorites to share and I would love  to hear them.  Feel free to leave them here as a comment and I will add it to my encyclopedia of cool stuff with credit given to you of course.

As Always,

Love, Laugh, Learn… LIVE!

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“When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…”

Holy shit those old dudes could write!  Click here to see the complete text of our Declaration of Independence.

We celebrate Independence Day today with friends and family, picnics, baseball games, BBQ and fireworks.  The original Independence Day was a day marked by the signatures of a handful of brave, committed, disobedient and treasonous men dedicated to bring about a new nation.  You heard me right… the signing of that document was a treasonous act.  And look at the last line– “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”  These brave men knew that to sign might mean sacrificing their lives, fortunes and honor… Damn!   We come from good stock.

How many of us, if faced with that situation today, would be willing or able to do the same?

While you enjoy your picinic or baseball game or fireworks display, raise a glass to those brave men (and women) who pulled together, stood against the status quo and dedicated themselves to bring into creation this nation, and to those who still today stand in the gap to ensure those unalienable rights are upheld.  We, here at Big Fat Wine, will lift a glass of red, white and blueberry wine in celebration and in thanks.   Cheers!

Be careful and have a safe and fun 4th.

As Always,
Love, Laugh, Learn… LIVE!