Text 22338, 51 rader
Skriven 2012-03-12 05:50:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: tastes 367
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The Path - this is Wegmans' house wine. It's okay at $6 a
bottle. I was poured some and decided this: solid cheap
California Pinot Noir, 09 vintage, well made and not too
cloying, probably a Sebastiani product. Investigation showed
all the above except the Sebastiani part (it's made by Don
and Sons, which broke off from Sebastiani a few years ago)
and the not too cloying part, as I could barely choke down
two glasses. Still, I've paid more for less.

Santa Rita 120 Cabernet Sauvignon 10 - this was for a long
time one of my standard airplane wines, and I saw it at
Wegmans for only $7 a bottle, so I snapped it up. Darkish
red, medium body. Cherries and menthol on the nose, cherries
and strong clove on the palate. Clove finish. Didn't like this
version.

Le Altane Pinot Grigio - this is another Wegmans' house wine.
Clear, watery appearance; mild grapy aroma with a little
citrus and herbs. Acid forward but a little Thompsonish
cloyingness. Okay for $6 a bottle; would not pay more, and
Beringer is better for less money.

Long Trail Hibernator - the convention is that double bocks'
names end with -ator: Salvator, Triumphator, Optimator, and
so on. I guess that in Vermont you don't have to obey
convention! This was a standard American pale ale, moderately
malty, above average hops, medium body, above average but not
huge alcohol. Beer Advocate thinks this is a Scottish ale.
It's not.

Long Trail Hit the Trail Ale - said to be an English-style
ale; clear, rich gold; thin body, a taste that I call "ryelike,"
even though there's likely no rye here, but the taste reminds
me in a bad way of sour rye bread. No finish. Mild hopping.
Really dull. Beer Advocate likes it - user rating 82%, site
rating a whopping 92: ratebeer.com's estimation is more like
mine - 42%.

Planters deluxe whole cashews with pure sea salt tasted
against Wegmans whole roasted cashews (salted). One had
a strong peanut aroma with peanut oil almost obscuring
the cashew taste; it was also very salty. The other was
close to the perfect nut - crisp; nice round cashew flavor;
mildly salted with very fine salt, persistent cashewy finish.
Guess which was which? Wrong. The Planters was superb; the
Wegmans product quite coarse by comparison, a bit of a
disappointment, especially the dominance of the peanut oil.

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