#4 in the Whole Foods Holiday Top Ten Wine List - the 2008 Sutter Home Muscat Of Alexandria...
I've been really impressed with the tasting and food pairing notes this year from Doug Bell and team over at Whole Foods. For the Sutter Home Muscat, Whole Foods has this to say about it:
The retro label is a tip-off—you'll find comfort in this bottle. Honeysuckle and peaches make it playful for occasions like brunch or dessert when you need a wine on the sweet side. Cowgirl Creamery Organic Mount Tam or Rogue Creamery's Anniversary Blue cheese makes the wine's sugary side divine.
Cowgirl Creamery Mount Tam and Rogue Creamery Blue Cheese? Are they kidding? How'd they know these are two of my favorite things? In San Francisco, my wife and I always went to Cowgirl Creamery at the Ferry building and this was the cheese we went home with, especially when we needed something for a dinner party. On top of that, the Rogue Creamery is a few miles from where we got married in Oregon and their blue cheese is out of this world. Or, better said, the best in this world (literally, they've been voted as making the best blue cheese in the world).
It's like Whole Foods somehow tapped our phone lines over the last few years, then rigged it so I would start wine blogging and direct some of my focus on Whole Foods - brilliant! Very interesting...and if I were a paranoid person, I would put a lot of merit in that idea, but I am neither paranoid nor inclined to spend time on such a silly idea. Unless, of course it's true, then I'd have to hire a PI and bug their phone lines right back and...uh, well, okay maybe not.
Unfortunately, I found myself focusing more on the cheese than the wine, because this wine was not to my liking. In short, I found it be one-dimensional and offer not much more than a bottle of spiced honey. Very sweet, too sweet for my taste and a wine that I won't be picking up again. I did struggle for more to say about it, but after more sips than I would have liked, I just kept coming back to honey with a little bit of spice, like nutmeg or cinnamon.
Now, Whole Foods did nail the fact that this wine would go very well with the Mount Tam and the Rogue blue cheese, but I've had enough of both of those cheeses to know that a lot of whites can hang out with these near-perfect cheeses. I would probably even give the Muscat a few extra points in my rating if I tasted it with the cheeses, but I didn't, so will settle into a lower score of 82.
What you should do: If you like sweet Muscat, definitely try this. If your palate is more like mine and prefer dried wines, you may want to try the 2008 Ca' del Solo Muscat from Bonny Doon - it's a beautiful, well balanced, drier Muscat that kept me going back for more when I first tried it. If you like cheese, find a way to get ahold of some Mount Tam or Rogue blue - these will certainly not disappoint.
My rating: 82
NOTE: this wine was sent to me as a free sample.
I've been really impressed with the tasting and food pairing notes this year from Doug Bell and team over at Whole Foods. For the Sutter Home Muscat, Whole Foods has this to say about it:
The retro label is a tip-off—you'll find comfort in this bottle. Honeysuckle and peaches make it playful for occasions like brunch or dessert when you need a wine on the sweet side. Cowgirl Creamery Organic Mount Tam or Rogue Creamery's Anniversary Blue cheese makes the wine's sugary side divine.Cowgirl Creamery Mount Tam and Rogue Creamery Blue Cheese? Are they kidding? How'd they know these are two of my favorite things? In San Francisco, my wife and I always went to Cowgirl Creamery at the Ferry building and this was the cheese we went home with, especially when we needed something for a dinner party. On top of that, the Rogue Creamery is a few miles from where we got married in Oregon and their blue cheese is out of this world. Or, better said, the best in this world (literally, they've been voted as making the best blue cheese in the world).
It's like Whole Foods somehow tapped our phone lines over the last few years, then rigged it so I would start wine blogging and direct some of my focus on Whole Foods - brilliant! Very interesting...and if I were a paranoid person, I would put a lot of merit in that idea, but I am neither paranoid nor inclined to spend time on such a silly idea. Unless, of course it's true, then I'd have to hire a PI and bug their phone lines right back and...uh, well, okay maybe not.
Unfortunately, I found myself focusing more on the cheese than the wine, because this wine was not to my liking. In short, I found it be one-dimensional and offer not much more than a bottle of spiced honey. Very sweet, too sweet for my taste and a wine that I won't be picking up again. I did struggle for more to say about it, but after more sips than I would have liked, I just kept coming back to honey with a little bit of spice, like nutmeg or cinnamon.
Now, Whole Foods did nail the fact that this wine would go very well with the Mount Tam and the Rogue blue cheese, but I've had enough of both of those cheeses to know that a lot of whites can hang out with these near-perfect cheeses. I would probably even give the Muscat a few extra points in my rating if I tasted it with the cheeses, but I didn't, so will settle into a lower score of 82.
What you should do: If you like sweet Muscat, definitely try this. If your palate is more like mine and prefer dried wines, you may want to try the 2008 Ca' del Solo Muscat from Bonny Doon - it's a beautiful, well balanced, drier Muscat that kept me going back for more when I first tried it. If you like cheese, find a way to get ahold of some Mount Tam or Rogue blue - these will certainly not disappoint.
My rating: 82
NOTE: this wine was sent to me as a free sample.
Gadget
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