How about reviews on a Monday?
Books
Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
Great book, though not quite as good as Portrait in Sepia. It has the same character set more or less as Sepia, but set two generations earlier. I think Sepia is probably the better novel - it comes out more polished and the use of memory and the creations of are much more elegant. Fortune is good, but it reads in a more straightforward fashion, more like a biography than the spinning of a tale. The characters come off as a little more "flat" than in Sepia as well. Still great characters, but again not quite as much literary oomph.
Currently reading In the Forests of Serre by Patricia McKillip. Very good though it took me a while to switch literary gears; it's been several months since I've read "pure" fantasy. Beautifully written, a delightful blend of fairy tales. Has a Baba Yaga character too who features quite prominantly. Good stuff. Should be finished in the next couple of days.
We have been borrowing books left and right from friends, so it looks like our library account will get a bit of a rest. =) I'm hoping to start on Allende's Eva Luna this week.
Film
We also watched Collateral for the first time on Saturday night. I have been wanting to see this one for some time, so there was a bit of a fear that it wouldn't live up to expectations. Some really fantastic camera work gives you a good feel for the pulse of the city and links the scenes together quite well. The ending was a bit of a disappointment. It felt like they had gone over their time allotment and just wanted to wrap it up quickly. It could have spent just another scene or two and enhanced the film substantially, but as it is leaves you feeling a bit unfulfilled.
We have disk 5 of Noir waiting, which we may go through while doing some laundry. We're not turning over films as quickly as what we used to, hopefully that will change as our new postman gets used to deliveries and such.
Wine
Went to City Beverage for a wine tasting last Friday, which didn't turn out the oodles of fantastic vintages as usual; good wine, but very few that made one sit up and take notice. There were two, however, that we fell in love with:
Cousino-Macul Dona Isadora Riesling 2004
His notes - The winery name is a combination of the founder MATIAS CUSINO and the area of the original winery MUCUL (in native 'Quercha' means Right Hand). Grapes have been cultivated in Macul since 1564, when the king of Spain granted the 'Hacienda Macul' to Juan Jufré, a Spanish "conquistador", who grew wheat, barley and vinifera grapes on this estate. In 1856, the Macul estate was purchased by Matías Cousiño for the sole purpose of producing wine, in 1863 in the midst of rebuilding the estate, he died leaving his only son, Luis to complete the job. He travelled to Europe just prior to the phylloxera devastation, to purchase original French rootstock. The sixth generation is now running the company and it has become one of the very best quality wine producers in Chile. Macul is in the Alto Maipo, which are the foothills of the Andes to the South East of Santiago it is here that Luis Cousino built the first winery in 1870, designed by French architects who were well versed with oenological construction, using bricks and limestone that that were made and mined on site. This wine is another of the rootstock brought back to Chile by Luis Cousino in the late 1870's this time from Germany and some of the only remaining pre-phylloxera Riesling still being grown.
(What is Phylloxera?)
My notes - I generally like Rieslings, so that I liked this one shouldn't have been a surprise, except that it was even more fantastic than most. A very light taste of apples and minerals that can either be served very chilled or at nearly room temperature. As it warms up you get a bit of an herby taste, but nothing offensive or overly challenging. Still, it gives you a bit to think about *and* goes delightfully with food. We dined on Chicken Kievs with potatoes and green beans, and it went a treat.
Orzada 2001 Cabernet Franc (85% Cabernet Franc, 15% Merlot) 2001
His notes - Over 20 years ago, the pioneering Norwegian Armador, (ship owner) Dan Odfjell discovered and fell in love with a small corner of the famous Maipo Valley, Chile. Born of rain in Bergen, Norway, he could not resist the attraction of the sun in this perfect setting. When he founded the winery, he embarked upon an adventure filled with challenge and promise. 'Orzada' is a nautical term for sailing up against the wind before setting a direction this wine reflects the winery staking a course in pursuit of beautiful and memorable wines. Intense deep and dark red colour with violet reflections. The nose offers lots of complexity and intense and plentiful aromas of mature fruit and a touch of mint and eucalyptus. On the palate this is a powerful wine and has an excellent structure, showing fresh fruit integrated with elegant oak, and with fine spicy notes. A very long and persistent finish sums up this wine with plenty of character and power. this really is my style and not everybody's 'cup of wine', (Brian's especially), but it had such impact and it will get softer and more approachable the more bottle age it has.
My notes - first thing you smell is roses, which from my experience is very odd in red wine. But roses it is, with just a touch of berry and spice. The color itself is also delightful, imagine the deepest red you've seen in a sunset and then blend it with purple. Not too heavy in the mouth and smooth as silk. The finish is just lingering enough to matter and just enough kick that it doesn't feel flabby on the way out. One of the most interesting wines that I've tasted in several months. Stuart is right that this one is just going to get better with time. We bought a few bottles and plan to taste them at 6 month marks as our first real experiment in how wines age. We may have to go get one or two more just to drink for fun as well. ;)
Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
Great book, though not quite as good as Portrait in Sepia. It has the same character set more or less as Sepia, but set two generations earlier. I think Sepia is probably the better novel - it comes out more polished and the use of memory and the creations of are much more elegant. Fortune is good, but it reads in a more straightforward fashion, more like a biography than the spinning of a tale. The characters come off as a little more "flat" than in Sepia as well. Still great characters, but again not quite as much literary oomph.
Currently reading In the Forests of Serre by Patricia McKillip. Very good though it took me a while to switch literary gears; it's been several months since I've read "pure" fantasy. Beautifully written, a delightful blend of fairy tales. Has a Baba Yaga character too who features quite prominantly. Good stuff. Should be finished in the next couple of days.
We have been borrowing books left and right from friends, so it looks like our library account will get a bit of a rest. =) I'm hoping to start on Allende's Eva Luna this week.
Film
We also watched Collateral for the first time on Saturday night. I have been wanting to see this one for some time, so there was a bit of a fear that it wouldn't live up to expectations. Some really fantastic camera work gives you a good feel for the pulse of the city and links the scenes together quite well. The ending was a bit of a disappointment. It felt like they had gone over their time allotment and just wanted to wrap it up quickly. It could have spent just another scene or two and enhanced the film substantially, but as it is leaves you feeling a bit unfulfilled.
We have disk 5 of Noir waiting, which we may go through while doing some laundry. We're not turning over films as quickly as what we used to, hopefully that will change as our new postman gets used to deliveries and such.
Wine
Went to City Beverage for a wine tasting last Friday, which didn't turn out the oodles of fantastic vintages as usual; good wine, but very few that made one sit up and take notice. There were two, however, that we fell in love with:
Cousino-Macul Dona Isadora Riesling 2004
His notes - The winery name is a combination of the founder MATIAS CUSINO and the area of the original winery MUCUL (in native 'Quercha' means Right Hand). Grapes have been cultivated in Macul since 1564, when the king of Spain granted the 'Hacienda Macul' to Juan Jufré, a Spanish "conquistador", who grew wheat, barley and vinifera grapes on this estate. In 1856, the Macul estate was purchased by Matías Cousiño for the sole purpose of producing wine, in 1863 in the midst of rebuilding the estate, he died leaving his only son, Luis to complete the job. He travelled to Europe just prior to the phylloxera devastation, to purchase original French rootstock. The sixth generation is now running the company and it has become one of the very best quality wine producers in Chile. Macul is in the Alto Maipo, which are the foothills of the Andes to the South East of Santiago it is here that Luis Cousino built the first winery in 1870, designed by French architects who were well versed with oenological construction, using bricks and limestone that that were made and mined on site. This wine is another of the rootstock brought back to Chile by Luis Cousino in the late 1870's this time from Germany and some of the only remaining pre-phylloxera Riesling still being grown.
(What is Phylloxera?)
My notes - I generally like Rieslings, so that I liked this one shouldn't have been a surprise, except that it was even more fantastic than most. A very light taste of apples and minerals that can either be served very chilled or at nearly room temperature. As it warms up you get a bit of an herby taste, but nothing offensive or overly challenging. Still, it gives you a bit to think about *and* goes delightfully with food. We dined on Chicken Kievs with potatoes and green beans, and it went a treat.
Orzada 2001 Cabernet Franc (85% Cabernet Franc, 15% Merlot) 2001
His notes - Over 20 years ago, the pioneering Norwegian Armador, (ship owner) Dan Odfjell discovered and fell in love with a small corner of the famous Maipo Valley, Chile. Born of rain in Bergen, Norway, he could not resist the attraction of the sun in this perfect setting. When he founded the winery, he embarked upon an adventure filled with challenge and promise. 'Orzada' is a nautical term for sailing up against the wind before setting a direction this wine reflects the winery staking a course in pursuit of beautiful and memorable wines. Intense deep and dark red colour with violet reflections. The nose offers lots of complexity and intense and plentiful aromas of mature fruit and a touch of mint and eucalyptus. On the palate this is a powerful wine and has an excellent structure, showing fresh fruit integrated with elegant oak, and with fine spicy notes. A very long and persistent finish sums up this wine with plenty of character and power. this really is my style and not everybody's 'cup of wine', (Brian's especially), but it had such impact and it will get softer and more approachable the more bottle age it has.
My notes - first thing you smell is roses, which from my experience is very odd in red wine. But roses it is, with just a touch of berry and spice. The color itself is also delightful, imagine the deepest red you've seen in a sunset and then blend it with purple. Not too heavy in the mouth and smooth as silk. The finish is just lingering enough to matter and just enough kick that it doesn't feel flabby on the way out. One of the most interesting wines that I've tasted in several months. Stuart is right that this one is just going to get better with time. We bought a few bottles and plan to taste them at 6 month marks as our first real experiment in how wines age. We may have to go get one or two more just to drink for fun as well. ;)