Girasole Organic Zinfandel `07 (not TJ's) $19.99 ***

K and I have a symbiotic friendship when it comes to food.  If she is cooking Sunday dinner, I'll show up with salad fixin's and throw together a salad. I have been known on occasion to visit on the day of a dinner party and make corn pudding; if she serves a giant ham, she'll give me the left over bone and two pounds of split peas and we'll all share the split pea soup after I've cooked it.  Last night, she hosted Sunday night dinner; we had a great time and some nice port.  A friend of hers had given her five pheasant breasts & five duck breasts.  While I was throwing together a salad, she asked me if I wanted to cook with them.  Well, who am I to give up a chance to cook (and open a bottle along the way).

The next day with the duck and pheasant in the fridge, I started looking for a substantial bottle of red to use in my "Game Bag Stew".  I remembered this zinfandel from a tasting at Bacchus.  I chose it for cooking today because it is a good, flavorful red wine and is organic & vegan. (If you are offended by hunting or cooking game birds, it would do you well to skip to the next paragraph)  Disclaimer: I am sick and twisted in such a way that if something is labeled "organic & vegan", I am going to add it to my "hunted & shot on Saturday" duck and pheasant.  If you got to this post because you were Googling a vegan, organic wine, well, sorry if you are offended but I thrive on irony.  If it is any solace, JPH got a piece of bird-shot when he was chewing at dinner tonight! (I really did clean the meat as best I could, and I didn't feel any shot as I was cubing the meat, but that one got away from me).

Back to the wine:

Girasole Zinfandel, from Mendicino, California, is bright, with blackberry flavors and a subtle layer of mocha with a medium oaky finish. It was great to cook with, as it added the berry flavor and the lushness of the oak and mocha to the stew.  It was nice to sip as I was cooking too. It had some tannins, BUT:

After the Vinturi, this became a lush and smooth wine that was very easy to drink. The tannins just disappeared after aerating, and the wine just became berry like by full flavored - not so layered and easily defined.  I really liked it aerated.  Definitely worth decanting.  This is also a pretty good stand alone wine to just sip at the end of the day.  Pairing it with food just makes it all the more enjoyable. And... it is certified Organic & vegan to boot!   : )

Did I mention that K's house if famous?  Well it is.  They have shot commercials and fashion layouts in it.  My all time favorite is this "Viva Viagra" commercial.  From the attic to the front living room, this is a house that I have many happy memories of - I get a chuckle every time I watch a stranger walking down those stairs in a powder blue tux, then we hear about Viagra in the font living room! (Racier conversations have been had there, I can assure you!)