Ullage!

Use this word around your wine drinking friends and they are sure to be dumbstruck by your impeccable viticulture knowledge. Ullage is the space in a wine bottle containing no wine, the distance between the bottom of the cork and the wine. Furthermore you can watch their heads cave in when you let them know the word comes from the latin oculus, meaning eye. Even more the Romans used it figuratively for the bung of a barrel. Now watch your friends eyes glaze over as they contemplate your bad ass snobbery. Pat yoursef on the back,  you truly are an indispensable source of haughtiness.

Now for a review.


A few years ago, I for the first time tried a malbec. It was bought on a whim from the local grocer, was very affordable, I was impressed and have tried many since. The malbec grape hails from the Bordeaux region of France and is used as blending grape for the wines of the region. More recently it is a prized varietal in Argentina. The bottle up for review is Colores Del Sol vintage 2009 from Mendoza, Argentina and can be had for $9.99 a bottle.


Soon after peeling away the wrapper, I of course noticed the ullage.  Three eighths of an inch by estimation. Pour, swirl, sniff, inhale. Spice and black berry immediately jump out.  Sip, swish, savor. Black berry and pepper are the first flavors I notice followed by jam and plum with the slightest note of cola.  Earthy tannins and a long not so clean finish make for a rustic yet pleasant wine.  This offering has enough body to stand up to summer BBQ or even spicy Mexican foods. Overall I am still impressed with this wine and at $9.99 you can't go wrong.

Wine Finery?

That's right, mind blowing wine finery! What exactly is wine finery you may ask yourself. Wine finery is many things. To name a few it is the art of classy boozing, unique musings, brazenly biased criticism and devilish quackery. But mainly it's about the best thing ever hatched from the scientifically mad egg known as the human brain. As any owner of a well educated palette knows, the world's finest wines reside on middle to lower shelves in dust free bottles and generally command seven to twenty two dollars a bottle. Rarely have I allowed a wine outside this exclusive category pass my lips and allow their dastardly tannins to pillage my expertly calibrated tongue. With that being said....... I will be educating the swill drinking masses through confounding snobbery and astounding arrogance.

stay tuned

Stay tuned for mind blowing wine finery!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!