Upcoming Wines

We went wine shopping again.  Here's what's we got:

Carchelo 2009 - $15
Xplorador Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 - $7
Xplorador Malbec 2010 - $7
Xplorador Carmenere 2009 - $7
Turtle Run Traminette 2008 - $11
Chateau Ste Michelle Sauvignon Blanc 2009 - $11
Veramonte Pinot Noir 2009 - $15
Delas Saint-Espiry Cotes-du-Rhone 2008 - $14

Chateau Ste Michelle Chardonnay 2009

The Wine
Region: Columbia Valley, Washington State

Vineyards: Chateau Ste Michelle(?)
Grapes: Chardonnay

Oak: yes, but i don't know for how long

Price: $13

Tasting Notes
Look: pale yellow

Smell: pear, alcohol

Attack: spicy
Evolution: sweet and spicy

Finish: wet, lingering

good.  actually pretty good for a white wine.  may get again, but it didn't blow our socks off.

Flipflop Merlot 2009

The Wine
Region: California

Vineyards: California
Grapes: Merlot
Oak: ???

Price: $5

Tasting Notes
Look: medium-dark red

Smell: alcohol, slight berry

Attack: dry
Evolution: plums and mocha (so says the bottle). we can't tell.  plum maybe, mocha not so much.

Finish: not too long, but good.

I quote our review of the Cab Sav: "Surprisingly good for $5 bottle of wine.  We will probably buy again."  Also, Niki says :"This isn't bad, for cheap."  As usual, she's right.

Indy Mini

The Indy Mini Marathon is on Saturday.  Since we ran (rather, barely survived) our half marathon back in October, we have trained a grand total of 20 minutes.  This weekend will likely be going very badly.  Also, the forecast is thunder storms.  A part of me is hoping the race gets cancelled.

Flipflop Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

The Wine
Region: California

Vineyards: California
Grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon
Oak: ???

Price: $5

Tasting Notes
Look: dark red

Smell: berry

Attack: dry, berry
Evolution: pepper, blackberry, cherry

Finish: lingering, good

Surprisingly good for $5 bottle of wine.  We will probably buy again.

Upcoming Wines

This will be a new type of post to help us remember what wines we will be having and how much they cost (because, despite my obsessive receipt saving, I can never find the wine receipts).  I'll do this every time we restock our wine.

$5 Flipflop Merlot 2009
$5 Flipflop Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
$15 Solanera Yecla 2005

Campo Vieja Reserva 2005

We have not been taking notes about the wines we've been having lately.  It's only been 2 or 3.  But this one was worth noting after the fact.  It was GREAT!

WS 89. very good. will buy again if we can.

Mas Donis Barrica 2007 Old Vines

The Wine
Region: Montsant, Spain

Vineyards: Capcanes
Grapes: 85% Grenache, 15% Syrah
Oak: 9 months in American and French Oak

Price: $12

Tasting Notes
Look: dark purple

Smell: black and red berried

Attack: very dry, blackberries
Evolution: medium, not too bold

Finish: nice aftertaste, a little bitter.

good.  RP 90.

Luigi Bosca Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

The Wine
Region: Maipu, Mendoza, Argentina

Vineyards: El Paraiso
Grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon
Oak: 14 months in Oak

Price: $16

Tasting Notes
Look: dark burgundy, almost maroon

Smell: blackberry, berries, currant

Attack: very dry, not much flavor
Evolution:dry, bitterness as it lingers, cannot distinguish much taste

Finish: nice aftertaste, nothing noteworthy

smells better than it tastes; meh.

Indy Half Marathon

We ran the Indy Half Marathon back in October. We actually did worse this time than last time.  Well, Niki did.  I still managed to haul ass for the last 3 or so miles in order to beat my Geist time by 5 minutes.  Lack of training really killed us.  It wasn't nearly as much fun as Geist was, but I can't point to anything that made it un-fun.  Except the cold.  That was un-fun.  Seriously, we started the race with numb feet.  It took about a mile before our feet thawed enough for us to feel the ground.  We'll probably do it again, if we can.  We'll not stay in a hotel, though.  We'll just drive down the morning of.  It'll save a ton of money.

We signed up for the Indy Mini in May.  We get to run a lap on the Indy Motor Speedway.  And, we get free tickets to opening day of the track.  Also known as the Indy 500.  At least, I think that's what is happening on opening day.  Not a NASCAR fan, this guy.

Anyways, we're obviously going to fail at our goal to make it to 1000 miles by the end of the year.  So, no more of that, we're just going to track the cumulative number of miles we run in training and races and when it gets to 1000, we'll have a party or something.

Pacific Rim Organic Riesling 2008

The Wine
Region: Columbia Valley, WA

Vineyards: Pacific Rim Vineyards
Grapes: 100% Organic Riesling
Oak: Stainless Steel

Price: $11

Tasting Notes
Look: pale yellow

Smell: crisp, pear, maybe slight apple

Attack: SWEET.
Evolution: pear, not dry, very sweet

Finish: not much to consider.  not bad.

overall, too sweet for our tastes (there's still half a bottle left, it was so sweet).  but, not bad if you're into sweet girly wines.

Marathon, Shmarathon

We quit!  The marathon, that is.  We moved to the half marathon because we have diagnosed ourselves as "not even close to being ready to run a marathon".

We went for a 13 mile walk sometime ago, a week ago I think.  It wasn't all that bad, took us 5 hours and left me with a nasty blister on my toe.  But, the fact that it took a lot out of us just to walk for 5 hours is a good indication that we would not have been able to run for 5 hours.

Now that were are running the half, we feel much better.  We know we can go 13.1 miles because we've done it before.  We are going to try to beat our previous time.  It took us 2:45 in May, we want to finish in 2:30 next week.

Cuatro Pasos Mencia 2007

The Wine
Region: Bierzo, Spain

Vineyards: ?
Grapes: 100% Mencia
Oak: 2 months in French and American Oak

Price: $11

Tasting Notes
Look: medium burgundy

Smell: berries

Attack: subtle, slightly dry
Evolution: smooth, medium body

Finish: not short, but not long.  tasty.

quite nice.  would definitely have again.

Bivio Italia Tuscan Red 2006

The Wine
Region: Gaggiano di Poggibonsi in the heart of Chianti Classico, in the province of Siena, Italy

Vineyards: "Highly acclaimed vineyards in southern Tuscany"
Grapes: 65% Sangiovese,  20% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 15% Merlot
Oak: 8-12 months in barrels

Price: $14

Tasting Notes
Look: medium-dark red

Smell: fruity, strong overtones of alcohol

Attack: dry-ish, but otherwise unremarkable
Evolution: smooth, medium bodied

Finish: short, meh.

an OK table wine. not impressed.

Agricola Falset-Marca Etim Seleccion 2006

The Wine
Region: Priorat, Spain

Vineyards: Agricola Falset-Marca
Grapes: 60% Garnacha, 30% Carinena, and 10% Syrah
Oak: 6 months in seasoned French and American oak

Price: $15

Tasting Notes
Look: Very dark purple

Smell: very big, blueberry

Attack: berries, dry, pepper
Evolution: smooth slightly dry

Finish: very nice, long lasting, mouthwatering


very good.  would definitely buy again.

Clos De Brague Bordeaux Superieur 2005

The Wine
Region: Bordeaux, France

Vineyards: Clos De Brague
Grapes: Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon
Oak: ??

Price: $??

Tasting Notes
Look: Dark purple

Smell: deep red fruits, plum

Attack: very dry, more red fruit
Evolution: dry, downhill from first taste

Finish: not that great (or at all), slightly bitter

not good.

Parker Station Pinot Noir 2006

The Wine
Region: CaliforniaVineyards: Parker Station 
Grapes: Pinot Noir
Oak: ??

Price: $??
Tasting Notes
Look: Light burgundy, light maroon

Smell: berries, grape juice, cherryAttack: quick to the punch, but not very strong
Evolution: not much, semi-dry, unremarkable, meh

Finish: not great, slight aftertaste doesn't leave me wanting more, more meh

Not good.

Weight Update

Phil
143.5 lbs (+0.5)
BMI 20.09


Niki
121.3 lbs (-0.6)
BMI 23.81

Marathon Training Day 224

Phil
8.01 miles / 1:40:10.05
12.505 minutes / mile

Niki (running)
4.38 miles / 56:16.92
12.850 minutes / mile

Niki (elliptical)
33 minutes

We're BACK! Well, sorta. (Marathon Training Day 222)

We have resumed training.  A mere 7 weeks shy of the Indy Marathon, having not run since the Geist half marathon in May (which, by the way, was AWESOME! 13.1 miles in about 2hr45min for a pace of 12.595 minutes / mile.).

We ran on Tuesday and Thursday, the same route both days (and both at night).

Phil & Niki

3.45 miles / 50 minutes

14.493 minutes / mile

Phil & Niki

3.45 miles / 46:41

13.531 minutes / mile

So, we're back to running, but we are nowhere near back to our previous level of fitness, as I see that in April we could have run this same distance at a pace of more than 3 minutes per mile faster.

In addition to not keeping up with running, we've not been keeping up with the wines either (but we have been drinking them).  We'll start doing that again, too.

This weekend we have plans to do a lot of work on the house (I want to bamboo a bedroom which still has carpet and stuff in it).  Also, we have to do homework, study for quals and run.  We want to run for 2 hours on Saturday (during the day, this night running is not fun).  HW and studying will take about the same amount of time.  And the rest of the day will be spent on the floors.  This weekend is going to suck.

Anyways, back to plans for running and whining wining.  We have 7 weeks (including this one) to prepare our bodies to run 26.2 miles.  It usually takes about 18 weeks to train from the ground up for a marathon.  We have 7 weeks.  So, the plan is to run further sooner.  The week day runs will gradually get longer, while the weekend runs will rapidly get longer.  Here's the plan now:

week 1: weekday runs: 1 hour each, weekend run: 2 hours

week 2: weekday runs: 1.5 hours each, weekend run: 3 hours

week 3: weekday runs: 2 hours each, weekend run: 4 hours

week 4: weekday runs: 2.5 hours each, weekend run: 5 hours

week 5: weekday runs: 3 hours each, weekend run: 6 hours (marathon distance)

week 6: weekday runs: 2 hours each, weekend run: 4 hours

week 7: weekday runs: 1 hour each, weekend run: 6 hours (at the Indy Marathon)

It'll be tough.

Also, I bought a Garmin Forerunner 305 to track our runs (HR monitor and GPS).  Very cool device.

Phil