Patricia Thomas's Profile
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I am passionate about great food, great drink, and about a whole lot of other things...basically, I love experimenting with, and experiencing, life. My lifetime mission? To learn and experience everything that I possibly can before I "kick off"--so I am always off on a quest for something, and always up for a new adventure. I may be a wine newbie (<3 years casual experience) but I love the stuff! I generally drink affordable (<$30/bottle) medium to full-bodied reds (Shiraz, GSM blends, Tempranillo, Carmenere, Merlot, Cabs, Ripassa-style wines, and our fantastic Missouri Norton reds), although I also ADORE dry and sweet Rieslings, fruity Sauvignon Blancs, yeasty high-quality small producer Champagnes, as well as Pinot Blancs, Tokajis, Eiseweins, and Sauternes....they're ALL mmm, mmm, GOOD!
Location: St. Louis, MO, United States
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Recent Reviews & Comments
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2004 2 up Shiraz
(2007-08-07 03:45:09 UTC)
2004 2 up Shiraz
84/100
Less than I hoped after hearing the hype. Extremely purple wine (think, plum skin purple), slightly jammy but more fresh fruity dark berry nose. For some odd reason, initially and again after 2 more days, I tasted a distinct saltiness on the palate. This wine is med. bodied, and I liked the acidity component, but overall I did not like the "new worldness" of this wine. Just too much like blackberry jam for my taste...
Thanks for the add....I can see that you're a man of varied tastes, cellar red-wise. I generally drink more red, although I LOVE dry and sweet Rieslings, as well as Pinot Blancs, Tokajis, Eiseweins, and Sauternes...
The problem with all of these whites I've listed is $$$$. Therefore, I tend to buy and enjoy more reds, because I've noticed that I can almost always find an excellent bottle of red wine that I like for far less money than I can a bottle of white wine (for all of my wines, I prefer those that are fuller-bodied, are rich, have a pleasant and interesting taste profile, and that have a long, or at least, some sort of, finish).
To get a good white wine that meets these terribly unreasonable standards :-), I often find that I have to go ahead and fork up the big $$$, if I'm gonna be able to partake... :-)
2004 Carmen Carmenère
(2007-07-13 03:23:49 UTC)
2004 Carmen Carmenère
85/100
Nose--cherries, a bit hot
Taste--Oaky, tannic, tobacco, dark berries. Also this wine clearly has a Zin-like spiciness. I suspect that it would go well with BBQ, since it has smokiness, tannins, and spice.
Body--This wine has a rich, silky mouth feel. This is not due to the alcohol, for that's at a reasonable 14.5%. The wine has a medium body.
The heat that I smelled? Yes, I could taste it, but it didn't throw things off too much.
2005 Theo Minges Riesling
(2007-07-09 01:47:51 UTC)
2005 Theo Minges Riesling
92/100
Finally! The best Riesling that I have had all year. I drank it with my boyfriend and his friend, and we all loved it. Had the "classic" Riesling nose and taste profile, the flavors were so variegated and changing within my mouth before I swallowed that the wine seemed to be frissant (bubbling), although the wine was NOT bubbly. It's just that the wine had so much fruit complexity that I had a hard time settling upon just what the "main" tastes of the wine were that I was experiencing (I'm no wine expert). All that I know is that I have been buying Rieslings all year long, and this one at $19.99 is a home run for me. Bonus? It has a nice a lonnnnnng finish. My palate was clear when I tasted it--I had had no food nor drink before this stellar wine experience.
2003 Torres de Anguix Ribera del Duero Barrica
(2007-05-22 09:37:30 UTC)
2003 Torres de Anguix Ribera del Duero Barrica
87/100
Imagine this: For whathever reason, your nose is nestled in your significant other's musty, funky, armpit. Said armpit has been slathered with wet mud, crushed black currants and other dark berries, and a dash of cologne has been half-heartedly thrown upon it (to help disguise the funk :-). If you can imagine this scenario, it is exactly the "nose" that you will experience when you have a whiff of the 2003 Torres de Anguix Ribera del Duero Barrica. It is, by far, mostly musty and funky and foul-smelling, but it does have some underlying berry and floral notes. It is definitely an old-world styled wine, for it had lots of soil and grit on the palate along with the aforesaid dark berries. I found it to be a bit hot, but not to the point that my mouth burned, rather I felt the burn in my throat as I swallowed. It's the color of pomegranate juice in the glass, it is medium-to-full bodied, and it has a decent finish. I'd say that it is a decent wine at this price point, but it was just not MY ideal everyday sippin' wine...found myself wanting to move on, wine-wise.
trishdadish, I had a delightful Muller, Kabinett, Riesling, Forster Mariengarten, 2005 at a San Francisco Asian/French fusion restaurant the other night. Very playful, lovely fruit, refreshing residual sugar. Res. charged $35 which means it is far chearper in stores. I found at least one store on Winesearcher.com with a retail price of $15!
I, too, love Rieslings, but am on a budget. I'll do a little research for quality cuvees under $25. Get back to you in a bit.
Let me quickly add two domestic producers: Sheldrake Point and Dr. Konstantin Frank Vinifera Wine Cellar, both out of Finger Lakes, NY. Excellent Rieslings, under $20!
2004 Immich-Batterieberg Rotschiefer Riesling Feinherb
(2007-05-16 09:12:58 UTC)
2004 Immich-Batterieberg Rotschiefer Riesling Feinherb
89/100
This Riesling was suitably complex, with a musty odor on the nose, but with different tropical fruit flavors like bananas and peach on the palate (nose-palate disconnect :-) This wine was a Feinherb, which I was unable to find anything about online, but basically it tasted rather Kabinett-like in terms of its sugar level. The finish was decent--not extremely long, but long enough to definitely call it a very good finish for a white wine. This is a quality Riesling. It is quite different from the sugar water Rieslings that I've been experiencing lately. Despite this, I am not sure that I would pay a whopping $19 for this again---better examples in the $20-$25 range are out there, I just know it!
2005 Gnarly Head Old Vine Lodi Zinfandel
(2007-05-16 09:05:24 UTC)
2005 Gnarly Head Old Vine Lodi Zinfandel
88/100
Great medium-bodied red, very tasty, with just a hint of pepper but not extremely pepper-y like some Zins. Overall, I was impressed by this more for its quality as a good every day red choice than I was by its being true to its varietal characteristics. I could tell it was Zin by the pepper, but if someone wanted to know what Zin typically tasted like, I send them to a more austure example. I definitely plan to stock up on this wine, I enjoyed it very much.
2005 Domaine de Gournier
(2007-05-16 08:59:54 UTC)
2005 Domaine de Gournier
87/100
Very aromatic, with lots of citrus apparent on the nose, primarily grapefruit and lime. This wine is straw-colored, and its body is heavier than that of a Saugvignon blanc but lighter than the typical oaked Chardonnay. I'd call this a light to medium-bodied white. The wine's predominant taste profile is grapefruit, lemon, and lime flavors, with acidity to match. However, the body of the wine helps to balance this acidity and keep it from being too cutting. The wine's finish is fairly short, but there was a hint of a finish for just a few seconds (about 5-10)...I am not at all sure that I'd bother buying this wine again, when I know that there are so many good-priced value whites and Rose wines out right now, for the same price.
Meagan Warncke
Tatyana Gann
Chad Fennell
yogitea01
(2007-08-15 19:34:38 UTC)