Let me lay it out for you. It’s a Thursday night and work was awful. You had three deadlines today, one at 10:15, one at 2:00 and one at 3:30.  How did you do?  Well, you pretty much got there, but you’re still not flying high.

Yes, you are correct - you’re far too old for malt liquor (although there is a time and a place), and shots of jaegermeiter just don’t feel quite right for a Thursday.  What to do?

Enter RH Phillip’s Night Harvest Cabernet Sauvignon, preferably in a magnum.

At $9 for the 750ml, and around $17 for the mag - your night is looking up.

RH Phillips claims that their grapes are harvested at night, and that “…this concentrates the flavors in the fruit…”  I think that there is a legitimate chance that this may actually be true, although it may just be that somebody important liked the label and the marketing department was forced to invent a story to coincide.  Or maybe not.

Whatever the reason for the label and the name, the wine is very decent.  It’s a fairly dry, fairly average cab with a fairly average price tag.  While this doesn’t sound too exciting, The Night Harvest isn’t overly exciting, and it doesn’t beat you up like a couple bottles of zin might.  However, it seems like just the ticket for most week nights at home - when you want to hit it hard, but you know that you shouldn’t.

Please don’t mistake this last thought for maturity; I assure you that there is a 40oz of OE 800 somewhere in my future.

Live it up,
Ryan

Back we go, to the Finger Lakes region of New York to sample a bottle from one the area’s most interesting wineries: Bully Hill.

It would be tough to be from upstate NY and to have not heard of Bully Hill, as they are one of the most distributed wineries of the region.  While they don’t claim to have high end, elitest wines, they do serve their wine “with laughter”.  My only issue Bully Hill is that I can only find their sweet wines out here in Cincinnati, and they currently are not currently shipping to Ohio.

I’ve been to their tasting room on several occasions, and I have never had a bad time.  The only tough part about Bully Hill is that their pours can be devastating - I would recommend going on a slow day, you definitely will not be disappointed.

From the start, they ask you to grab your glass in a Genny Light Death Grip and slam their first pour.  They do not screw around at Bully Hill.  Personally, I’ve never thought that this was a bad way to start a tour, but it gets better.  One of the tasting room staff was taking requests to sing songs while impersonating Chad Kroger from Nickelback.  My favorite of the concert was “Come Sail Away”…like Chad Kroger.  Maybe you had to be there after a few glasses - but it was pretty damn funny.

Bully Hill knows their market, and they keep their wines very reasonably priced.  Whatever your taste, from Sweet Walter White, to the Meat Market Red to the Bulldog Baco (noir) - Bully Hill produces some very reasonable everyday bottles of wine.

Their 2005 Merlot weighs in at about $8 and hits you really hard right out of the bottle.  While this merlot is on the lighter side, it has a really intense nose and taste.  The dark fruit cracks you pretty hard right out of the bottle (blackberries?) and transitions to a raspberry on the palate.  While I did enjoy this bottle with a pasta, I would almost recommend pairing it with something a little stronger, like a steak, as it did tend to overpower the meal.

As they say at Bully Hill, a magnum of their Grower’s Blush (chilled) is the perfect single serving size for mowing your lawn.  Some might scoff, but I’m telling you, don’t knock it ’til you try it. It’s even more fun with a riding mower.

-Ryan

This bottle was sweet - I dearly lament its recent demise and I’m already going through withdrawal.

Tonight’s Barbera was picked up at Fresh Market for $13, and was a complete Hail-Mary.  Why so dramatic? I’ve never heard of the vineyard, had only limited experience with barberas (less than 10 - 15 in my life) - I really didn’t know what to expect.

As it turns out, I was very pleasantly surprised.  Out of the bottle, the wine appeared fairly thin as it was being poured into the decanter.  After being decanted, undisturbed for 45 minutes, the wine was liberated and dinner was served.  The barbera was happily paired with homemade “gnocchetti all’ amatriciana”, or to the layman, gnocchi with pancetta in a red sauce.

This turned out to be an awesome dinner.

The gnocchi was so light, I felt like I was devouring a cloud.  The wine complemented the gnocchi very well…so well that I started to think about how spoiled I really am, for one fleeting moment.

On the nose, I picked up strong scents of cherries and vanilla, and down the hatch all I got was bright red berries…and it’s so smooth.  Sooooooo smooth.  The flavor is very vibrant, while still remaining a lighter wine.  I am really impressed with this one - nine-ish out of ten would be my rating.

I would be interested to hear if anyone else has had any other wines by Michele Chiarlo.  Do let me know if you’ve run across any others worth trying.

Ciao!
Ryan