Judging a Bottle by it’s Cover: 2004 Jezebel Pinot Noir
This is my first ever Wine Blogging Wednesday event. Yay! I’m actually pretty excited also because I normally pick out wine by the label! Derrick at Obsession with Food picked the perfect topic, as far as I am concerned.
Though I considered many, my final choice for WBW16 was a 2004 Jezebel Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley. It was bottled by Daedalus Cellars in Dundee, Oregon and is a second label project between Peter Rosback of Sineann and Aron Hess of Daedalus. The wine can be purchased online at AvalonWine.com — a really good resource for Northwest wines (if you don’t live in this area).
Why I picked it:
I think the thing that first drew me to the bottle was the giant, red “J” against the black backdrop. There’s a very graphic type feel to the label that I just love. It’s very eye-catching. Plus, “Jezebel” — a great name. It’s slightly evil sounding, yet quite stylish — intriguing! Who wouldn’t want to drink it? I sure would. Oh wait, I did!
What we thought:
The wine itself was very good. A little heavy and spicy for a pinot (does that sound too hoity-toity?), but we both liked it. We ate it with some goat cheese and arugula stuffed chicken breasts (yet another big dinner practice meal), wild rice pilaf and some sautéed green beans.
The fine print:
Here is the back of the bottle for anyone curious about that kind of stuff.
The Wall of Wine or Good Drinks:
I wasn’t kidding when I said that I pick wine by the label. You can buy label savers from The Wine Enthusiast (plus, I’ve seen them in Linens ‘N’ Things too). You just tape it down over the label, rub a wooden spoon or something like it over the tape, to make sure it’s all stuck down and then pull it off. It works cleanly about 70 percent of the time. Not all labels come off well, but, as you can see, I’ve had a pretty good track record.
I have been doing this for the last few years.
We’ve drunk a lot of wine over the last couple of years that has had interesting labels. Oh! Here’s one — I liked the Papio a lot. Monkeys! I found that at the Fred Meyer by our house for about $6 a bottle. I loved the label so much, I just had to take it home. It was pretty good too. I think we got the Merlot and the Cabernet.
The Annapolis Winery is a cute place up on the Sonoma Coast by the town of Gualala, where I hope to pick up some more wine in a couple of weeks, when we’re up that way for Christmas. hint, hint. Their Zinfandel is all peppery and spicy — both jwa and I really like it.
Wrapping it up…:
So, that sums up my WBW16 post. We liked the Jezebel Pinot label, as well as the wine. It was a little in your face for a pinot but not in a bad way. So, really, I’ll probably continue to pick out wine by the label — it works for me! Thanks again, Derrick, for hosting such a fun topic for WBW16.
Technorati tags: wine blogging wednesday |wbw | wine
Funny! We both have wine blogs today! It’s like we’re psychically connected.
I saw that…I thought it was pretty amusing!
I love the idea of WBW. Thank you for the great idea. But since this CA has been wine-ing I thought I would take the other side of that and do Whine Blog Wednesdays. Check me out….I’m whiiinnnnnning!
Michelle, I am amazed at how in-depth and intricate each of your blogs are. I mean, you write A LOT every day! I don’t know how you have the energy. But, as always, you are an inspiration.
I wish I had come up with the wine blogging thing, I’m just joining in!
It’s actually a monthly event, once a month that a lot of people join in. I forgot who thought it up originally, but this month it’s hosted at Derrick’s site (I have a link in the beginning of my post) and people who want to participate post about the topic on their blog that day.
It’s fun! You and Christy should participate sometime. 🙂
http://www.ismyblogburning.com/ lists most food blogging events that happen…
PS: And thanks for the compliments on my content — somedays it’s a struggle to get my post up, but I’m still really enjoying it!
I LOVE your wine label wall. You have encouraged me to start one.
Thanks for the recommendation on the Papio, I’ve been curious about it for some time but never picked one up.
Thanks, Jennifer! You should definitely start a wine wall — everyone should start a wine wall!!
Yep, the Papio’s pretty good — especially for the price!
Have you had the Jezebel Blanc or Jezebel Rouge? I think the Blanc is my favorite of the line; it’s a very nice white blend.
mithrandir –
I have not tried that one — now I want to 🙂
Wonderful write-up and I’ve been inspired to try a wine. I saw the bottle as well, but thought it was a bit bold for my visual pick this time.
Your wall is intriguing. So far I’ve spotted more than a few wines that I have tried and liked. Especially the Ca’del Solo Big House White. =) Now I think I’ll have to start saving my labels as well, since saving the entire bottle is getting cumbersome. =)
Hi there! It’s so funny how I found your web page…I goggled Pinot Evil and your page popped up. I just picked up a bottle last night, never had it before and wanted to read about it. It’s from Monterey County… I live in the Bay Area reading that you’ve lived here too..use to live in Portland..funny..I love to cook too. I enjoyed your site and seeing what kind of things interest you…I like a lot of the same. We both have really good taste.
Take care, Kim
Wow! Small world. I did the exact same thing (found your cool blog by googling PINOT EVIL, which I just picked up because I couldn’t resist the funny label, and it was only $5.99!) And we also started blogging our wine tastings – not to be snobbish, but to help us remember what we liked and what we didn’t, and WHY. It really wasn’t meant for public consumption, but mainly a personal “diary” but anyone is welcome. The URL is http://www.robertmiller.org/plog/
A bit of advice; if you fill your empty wine bottle with very hot water, it will quickly melt the glue that holds the label on allowing you to just peel it off like a sticker and put it where you’d like.
It also works more that 70% of the time and costs nothing.