…that I started this blog and podcast. Just finished up another show tonight but I need to do a bit more post production, so it will not be posted until tomorrow evening. Stay tuned and subscribed, and thanks to all for your support.

Jordan, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sonoma County 2001 ($42) - Dark ruby in color with currant, eucalyptus and cassis aromas; ripe blackberry and black cherry fruit flavors with moderate tannins. Delicious. Score: 9/10

It’s been a super busy couple of weeks for me and I’ve fallen behind on my blogging. Just noticed that Derrick has written up an extensive summary of Wine Blogging Wednesday 16 over at his An Obsession with Food blog. Very interesting reading and it was great to see two other podcasts – the RatCast and A Guy, A Girl and A Bottle – create shows around this theme (also, Bill from WLW-Winegeek and the new Wine4Newbies podcast participated, but took the text-only route this month).

The Cork Dork, has also posted the theme for next month’s outing: Kiwi Reds. Hmm, I just saw a Meritage-style blend from New Zealand in the wine store this past week; best go back and pick that one up along with another Pinot Noir. Join the fun on January 4th, 2006.

Now back to normal blogging, including back-to-back podcasts.

UPDATE: A good idea, but my “studio” was not available last night. Podcast 49 will also be my 1 year anniversary show; probably better than my show of past clips I was planning, anyway.

The theme for this month’s event is provided by Derrick at An Obsession with Food who asks us to Judge a Bottle By Its Cover. Basically, he just asked us to pick up a bottle only selected by its label art and not any other factor such as producer, reputation, vintage or critic review. I thought it would also be interesting to pick up only wines from producers I am unfamiliar with.

So I went to the wine store and found my first selection right away from Nova Wines the producer of the famous Marilyn Merlot, the 2005 Norma Jeane Merlot. The label is a stunning shot of the young Norma Jeane Baker in a bikini sitting on a large flower. It certainly commands attention alongside more modest labels. It’s a blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Syrah from the Tallerico Vineyard in French Camp, California. Here are my tasting notes:

Nova Wines, “Norma Jeane”, Merlot 2005 ($10.50) - Clear ruby in color with explosive wild cherry and papaya aromas; simple wild cherry flavors with a hint of the tropical fruit on the finish. Quite quaffable, but not up to the latest crop of Beaujolais Nouveau tasted on my last podcast. Tasted at cellar temperature, but a bit better slightly chilled. Scores - Label: 10/10; Wine: 7.5/10

My second wine stood out from the rest on the shelf for it’s minimalist typography and 3-dot esthetic. This wine is an Eric Soloman Selection, who seems to always have great typographical label art. It is from a co-op of 15 wineries and growers in Portugal’s Duoro valley and is a blend of old vines fruit from all 15 producers. Being a typographer from the pre-computer days, I really appreciate the clean use of sans-serif font and white space; a very elegant label that attracted my attention.

Lavradores de Feitoria, “Tres Bagos�, Duoro, Portugal 2002 ($16) - Deep ruby color with aromas of blackberry, earth and spices; nicely concentrated blackberry fruit and black pepper flavors with dusty tannins and high acidity. Another very good food wine and one of the best table wines from Portugal I have tried. Scores - Label: 9.5/10; Wine: 8.5/10

So both wines take an honor this time; for best label art, Norma Jeane Merlot 2005 and the best tasting wine is the Lavradores de Feitoria, “Tres Bagos� 2002.

Thanks again to Derrick for the theme and I’ll see you all next month.

Feedback: winecast@gmail.com | Audio comments: +01-206-33-WINE-9 (+01-206-339-4639)
Copyright 2005 Tim Elliott. Licensed to the public under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

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Tonight’s show is a celebration of the 2005 vintage with Beaujolais Nouveau, tasting four shippers wines from this great year.

Show Notes:
0:21 - Welcome
0:35 - Beaujolais Nouveau Background
4:31 - Tasting Notes
4:41 - Francoise Chauvenet, Beaujolais Nouveau 2005 ($10)
4:59 - Antonin Rodet, Beaujolais Villages Nouveau 2005 ($10)
5:25 - Mommessin, Beaujolais Nouveau 2005 ($10)
5:51 - Louis Tete, Beaujolais Nouveau 2005 ($12)
6:15 - Best of Tasting and Best Value
6:45 - Contact Details
7:10 - Next Show Theme

Feedback: winecast@gmail.com | Audio comments: +01-206-33-WINE-9 (+01-206-339-4639)
Copyright 2005 Tim Elliott. Licensed to the public under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

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After 6 weeks of thinking about podcasting, one year ago today I registered Winecast.net. While this is not really the first year anniversary like it is for Tom’s blog, it set in motion the activities that produced this podcast 18 days later. I’ll have more on the subject on December 19th when I celebrate one year with show 52

In what I hope is a trend, Goosecross Cellars has started podcasting. I’ve added them to the many podcast links in the right menu and have subscribed to check their show out. After a year of wine podcasting, it’s great to see the industry start to get on board with this medium. What surprises me most is that it took so long for a wine producer to get started.

If any winery owner out there needs some help getting going with either podcasting or blogging, drop me a line. I’d be happy to show you how this works…