Showing posts with label cabernet sauvignon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cabernet sauvignon. Show all posts

Sunday, October 29, 2017

True Myth Cabernet Sauvignon

Full disclosure – normally when we buy wines at Trader Joe’s, we buy the cheaper bottles.  I mean, isn’t that why people GO to the Trader Joe’s wine department, to score inexpensive wine?? 

But every once in a while, an occasion calls for something special.  Something FANCY.  Don’t you agree??

Either those grooms are very tall, or that "reverend" is very short...  Do you
recognize the officiant?  It was a BEAUTIFUL wedding!
The first time we purchased this wine was for one of those special occasions.  My nephew Jordan married Zach, the love of his life, this January.  For their honeymoon get-a-way they escaped to our Florida house, chillaxing at the beach and playing mini-golf 😊 .  David and I happened to be in Florida right before the love birds came, so before we left we organized little surprise gifts from each family member to greet the newlyweds when they arrived.  One thing Jordan’s parents wanted to give was a nice bottle of wine, so we scoured the shelves at Trader Joe’s and found this True Myth Cabernet Sauvignon. 

Isn't the label beautiful?
One of the things I was looking for when I was trying to pick the perfect bottle was a suitable pretty LABEL.  Cuz it was a HONEYMOON, and you simply can’t have an ugly bottle of wine for the treat!!  (And before anyone comments on this – yes, I know TJ’s sells “Honeymoon Viognier”.  That just seemed, well, too obvious a choice!!)  But the beautiful butterflies on the True Myth label seemed perfect, and the price point was higher than most TJ’s wines without being outrageous (plus, it left money in the pot to buy a gift certificate for a dinner out at a fancy restaurant!). 

It's not $2 buck chuck, but it is not crazy expensive either
So, while Jordan and Zach had enjoyed a bottle of True Myth Cabernet Sauvignon (and reported that it was delicious), we had not treated ourselves to one!  Until Mary Day 2017 that is!!  Yes, to celebrate the end to another Mary Day, I brought home a bottle of this wine.  After all, my mom enjoyed a good wine, so this was fitting on her day.

Since we are talking about weddings, and since I mentioned my mom,
here she is in her wedding gown!  (In one of those bizarrely colorized black and white photos.)
Here is what David thought of this wine:  “This wine is strong, deep, and rich.  It is a little bit “tannin-y” at the end.  It is nice.  It is a bit “woody” tasting and full bodied.  I would definitely pair this with a strong food to eat, like a steak or something.  We had it with snicky-snacks, so it was a little bit overpowering.  I think this is a good wine.  I give it a 4.5.”

A lovely glass of wine at the end of a day of shopping 
Here's my take on it:  I really like it.  Maybe this is a psychological thing – I know it cost more than most wines we pick up, so it is “supposed” to taste good, right?  (I heard an NPR story on that topic once and it was fascinating!  They served people unmarked glasses of wine, and even total wine snobs, like, sommeliers, couldn’t tell the difference between the pricey stuff and the cheap-o kind!) 

Anyway, this wine is very rich.  It tastes very “dark” (can “dark” be a taste??).  There are fruity notes, which I enjoyed.  I think it would be amazing with steak or a pot roast.  In fact, a TJ’s filet mignon roast (reviewed here:  Filet Mignon Roast ) served with mashed potatoes would be a perfect fit with this wine.  Anything with mushrooms would be a compliment.  But I like it even with snacks!  We ate it with walnuts and some super fancy chocolates I got for Mary Day (alas, not at Trader Joe’s, but at a little boutique candy shop) and I liked it even with that pairing!  I guess I am not fussy. 

This is a nice, smooth red wine.  We will get it again.  I give it a 4.75.

And here is one of the very best photos of Jordan and Zach's wedding.  If you can't see the love emanating from there here, you need to have your eyeglass prescription checked.

Congratulations to the happy couple!!!!


Price: $16.99

Rating:  4.75

Monday, November 23, 2015

Day 327 - Benefactor Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon (2014)

David and I ENJOY grocery shopping.  I know that many people dislike it.  I don’t really “get” that because from my vantage point it is fun!  David and I like it so much that we went grocery shopping on our very first date some 27 years ago!  (Note:  we did NOT shop at a Trader Joe’s on that first date, we went to a Wegman’s in Rochester, NY J ).

Anyway, one fun thing about grocery shopping is that sometimes the store becomes a disco!  Here you see David cutting loose on the “dance floor” at Trader Joe’s (that’s one benefit of having most of the carts out of the cart coral – it becomes a dance floor!).  

I guess the moral of this "we love grocery shopping" story is this:  life is what you make of it.  ENJOY yourself.
  
Go David!  Bust a move!!!  (Clarendon, VA store)
Ok, we haven’t had a wine review since Friday, so let’s fix that!  :)

This is a Cabernet Sauvignon from Southeastern Austrialia.  Well, I mean, WE didn’t go to Southeastern Australia to buy it, but that is where it originated…  Boy I WISH we could go to Australia to pick up a bottle of wine!!  This was our first time tasting this one and I really like it!



This wine is good!  It is fruity.  It is complex without being headache inducingly complex (like the SAT test).  We are reviewing this without looking at the price tag, and David is guessing it is a $9 or $10 bottle of wine.  If it is less than that it is a good bargain!

Isn't this artwork GREAT??

Here's a more "regular" price sign












The label states that this wine is a “celebration of reciprocity”.  Well that sounds pretty high fallutin’. 


David says, “It is rich, full bodied, but not too oaky.  It still has a bit of lightness to it.”

This is a good bottle to keep in the wine rack for just an “after work glass of wine”. And hey, we allowed ourselves sto look at the price tag now - it's only FIVE BUCKS!  That's half of what David anticipated.  It's a good one folks, get a bottle.

Price - $4.99

Rating – 4

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Day 98 - Rosemount Estate Ryecroft Cabernet Sauvignon (2013)

This is a wine we had never purchased before.  It was a “flyer item” – meaning that it is advertised in this month’s Trader Joe’s flyer (yes, an old school news print FLYER).  I do not normally take stock in the flyer, I actually feel sort of bad when it arrives in the mail and I put it directly into the recycling bin.  But an employee in the store told us this wine was pretty good, and so we decided to take the BIG GAMBLE and plop down a whopping $3.99 on a bottle!  J

See - only $3.99!  And see how it is marked as a FLYER ITEM?
 It is good!  Coming in at just under 4 bucks would normally make a person think, “Ummmm, yeah, ain’t no way that can taste okay…” but surprisingly, this one does!  As the sign in the store said, it has a “dark fruit” taste to it.  And as the sign touted, “Goes well with almost anything”.   And since you paid so little for it, you don’t feel bad “pairing it” with things like COOKIES or POPCORN! 


$3.99 - surely it will taste yucky....

But perhaps I should keep an open mind...

Because MAYBE it will be a great find!!

This is a good wine for opening when you know it’s just the two of you (or just you if your partner is on the road) and you are gonna sit in front of the television and binge on reality shows all night (or baseball if that’s your thing).

Rosemount Estate Ryecroft Cabernet Sauvignon in action

We will get it again.  Thanks for the recommendation, Trader Joe’s employee! 

Price - $3.99

Rating - 4