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Rockaway baby, in my wine glass
Who can forget, the Rockaway Scandel of 2008, where bloggers around the country were courted sent bottles of the Rockaway Cabernet Sauvignon by Rodney Strong. Now, I wasn’t part of the original Rockaway 10, or however many it was, but some of you might recall that the big bruhaha was becuase of a misunderstood condition that all bloggers must write something in return for the sample bottle of wine. Again, I wasn’t participating at that time, but I do think that a huge mountain was made out of a molehill. Yes kids, that’s my opinion, please don’t string me up for it. Fast forward to 2009, when I have become one of the cool kids and was asked to play kickball at recess, in the form of my very own bottle of 2006 Rockaway Cabernet! To be clear, no one asked me, cajoled me, or otherwise insisted that I write this piece.
This luxury cab comes from Alexander Valley in Northern Sonoma country, where there is an interesting mix of old school zins and high end cabs planted. I was really excited to try this wine after all the conversation, and opened it up. The 2006 Rodney Strong Rockaway cabernet Sauvignon Single Vineyard is 97% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% malbec, and 1% Petite Verdot, which spent 22 months in 47% new French oak barrels. Rockaway is planeted primarily to Cab and Merlot, but includes all af the major Bordeaux varietals. The vineyard is belanted between 250-750 feet, which provides a variety of microclimates.
to further my experience, I also decided to take advantage of an Eisch Breatheable glass that was sent to me as a press sample. The Eisch Breatheable Glass claims that with it’s patented breathable technology that you will have the same effect leaving the wine in their glass for 2-4 minutes, as you would in a decanter for 1-2 hours. Now, I was skeptical, but what the heck. To control the experiment, I also used a Riedel Bordeaux glass, as well as a “standard” glass, aka a regular tasting room glass.
The first sip was in the Eisch, and I found dark cherries, leather, and notes of ceder on the nose. on the Palate I tasted mocha, chocolate, coffee, molasses, smoke, and it was rich and elegant. The first impression was that it was a bit young, but that’s not surprising given that it’s only a 2006. The tannins were very mellow, and this was smooth. It was elegantly bold with firm backbone, and the dried cherries from teh aroma made their way in to the palate with a finish of bittersweet chocolate. There was a touch of soy sauce in there as well, with big blackberry pie flavors. I really enjoyed this wine right out of the glass, with no decanting.
In the Riedel Bordeaux glass, I had a hard time getting the nose. Again, this wine did not decant, and was only in the glass about 4 minutes before I tasted it. At first, I got a slight whiff of alcohol, followed by bright red fruit. I tasted bright red fruit, cranberries and pomegranate with a touch of bitterness on the finish that I wasnt’ expecting from teh previous taste. I went back to taste out of the Riedel after about 30 minutes and I still tasted that bitterness. This was not a good outcome, surprisingly.
In the standard glass, I smelled brandied cherries, sour plums, and something slightly off at the first whiff. I tasted soy sauce and underdone meat, with a bitter note again. After 30 minutes, the funk had gone away, but ti was still very astringent and not so enjoyable without food. It tasted very much like the wine in the Riedel but after 30 mins – 1 hr i couldn’t tell the difference.
After a full hour, the Eisch sample was full bodied, focused, and full of dark fruit, coffee, leather, figs and burnt toast. At this point the Ridel was starting to match the Eisch, and was opening up to all black fruit, figs, burnt toast, and smoke. I didn’t like the wine in the standard glass at all, and I would avoid it if were served in that glass. After one hour and fifteen minutes, there is no difference between the Eisch and the Reidel so for impatient drinkers it’s awesome
The moral of this story is two fold:
- Glassware matters! I’ve always believed this, and force my friends and family to do mad scientist experiements to prove this point. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on good stemware, but it does make a difference.
- The Rockaway is a beautiful wine, but it needs a good hour of decanting to enjoy properly.
- You would probably enjoy this wine more with food.
- The Eisch Breatheable Glass is an excelletn idea that works far better tahn I anticipated. if you are a drinker that is in a hurry the $20 per stem price tag is well worth it.
Rockaway is an allocation only wine, but I would suggest that you get on the list if you are a Cabernet lover, as it is apt to sell out quickly.
The Rockaway Cabernet and the Eisch Breathable Glass were sent as Press Samples. However, I did put the Eisch glasses on my holiday wish list so I could round out the set of 1 I currently have! There are no rocks in the Rockaway, but it might Rock you Away.
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Pulling The Cork: Pulling The Cork Recognizes Breast Cancer Awareness Month
« Taste & Talk With Cindy Cosco Of Passaggio Wines – Part 3 | Main
September 30, 2009
Pulling The Cork Recognizes Breast Cancer Awareness Month
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM) and we are going pink in our main column and including the pink ribbon in our Pulling The Cork banner above to help raise awareness.
During the month of October we will be trying to raise awareness about breast cancer, encouraging regular and routine mammograms and the importance of early detection with wine related topics tied to breast cancer awareness. We are asking other wine bloggers to join us in raising awareness by going pink on their blogs during the month of October as well as retweeting and linking to the many posts we will publish that will focus on raising awareness with wine as the backdrop.
According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), a woman in the United States is diagnosed with breast cancer every three minutes. About 192,370 women in the United States will be found to have invasive breast cancer in 2009. About 40,170 women will die from the disease this year. Right now there are about two and a half million breast cancer survivors in the United States. Given these significant numbers most of us know someone – a friend, a family member, a spouse – who has been diagnosed with breast cancer or who has lost their life to this ravaging disease.
Since the NBCAM program began in 1985, mammography rates have more than doubled for women age 50 and older and breast cancer deaths have declined.
This is exciting progress, but there are still women who do not take advantage of early detection at all and others who do not get screening mammograms and clinical breast exams at regular intervals.
• Women age 65 and older are less likely to get mammograms than younger women, even though breast cancer risk increases with age.
• Hispanic women have fewer mammograms than Caucasian women and African American women.
• Women below poverty level are less likely than women at higher incomes to have had a mammogram within the past two years.
• Mammography use has increased for all groups except American Indians and Alaska Natives.If all women age 40 and older took advantage of early detection methods – mammography plus clinical breast exam – breast cancer death rates would drop much further, up to 30 percent. The key to mammography screening is that it be done routinely – once is not enough.
For more information about NBCAM, please visit www.nbcam.org. For additional information, please call one of the following toll-free numbers:
American Cancer Society, (800) 227-2345
National Cancer Institute (NCI), (800) 4-CANCER
Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization, (800) 221-2141
The National Breast Cancer Awareness Month program is dedicated to increasing public knowledge about the importance of early detection of breast cancer. Fifteen national public service organizations, professional associations, and government agencies comprise the Board of Sponsors, who work together to ensure that the NBCAM message is heard by thousands of women and their families.
Posted at 08:52 AM in Current Affairs | Permalink
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Comments
La Jolla Mom said…Thanks for doing this! It’s so important. My mother is a survivor too.
Michael Homula said…Thanks for commenting and for tweeting it out on Twitter. It is so important and we are excited to do what we can to raise some awareness.
We have some pretty interesting and cool posts scheduled for this month that are wine related AND help to raise awareness. Hope you can come back to check them out!
Michael
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I’m reposting this important message from my blogging friend, Michael Homula.
Think Pink, Drink Pink, and POST pink in October in recognition of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month!






















