You know what goes well with Wednesday? A wine list! Turns out a wine list also  goes well with remodeling seeing as how we’ve managed to acquire a few new favorites in the last three weeks over here. Since we started Project Snow Job (aptly named because as you well know if you’ve ever remodeled – one task quickly prompts another one you didn’t see coming), I have made a point to keep track of the wines I’ve been enjoying whilst dining on our beautifully executed new flooring – golf claps to my winemaker. There have been one or two disappointing ones as well (wines, not winemakers) but I won’t mention those because I try to only share lovely things that don’t make me sob over money calories wasted on bad wine. And to be fair, not all wines taste delicious paired with fresh paint and air compressor dust clouds.

A Wino’s Wine List: Part 2

(For Part 1, check out this post.)

• Weingut-Heinz Riesling Hochgewachs

My niece got to spend the first month of her summer in Germany and upon her arrival back home she greeted us with some wine from her travels. I was very excited to try it but also a touch skeptical about German Riesling, only because I had anticipated it’d be syrupy-sweet. I should know better than to judge, especially since we make an off-dry Riesling ourselves. And the Germans do know Riesling. This one was light, dry (not super sweet) and sparkling-like. It went well with fireworks on the 4th of July during 100 + temps. And then the following week it went perfectly with a dinner-time picnic in our front yard (which consisted of store-bought sushi) while our house was in the initial phase of Let’s-Tear-Stuff-Down-And-Not-Get-Tetanus-While-Doing-It.

• Charles Smith Boom Boom Syrah

This one’s actually not new to us. This is the second bottle of wine my winemaker and I bought at a restaurant back when we were dating (if you’re curious about the first bottle we had together you should ask him, he likes that story). We enjoyed it then and we buy it often as our go-to “cheapie” Syrah. Not that it’s Trader Joe’s cheap, but the price point is accessible for sure. This time we drank it with grilled-everything and paint in our ears.

• Rodney Strong Sauvignon Blanc

You may know by now that we’re not huge white wine drinkers, but we do enjoy them now and again. It was HOT the week we brought this out. Honestly I could have poured the entirety of the cold bottle over my head and called it a day. Again, completely doable price point and goes well with homemade fish tacos while day dreaming about walking into Home Depot and actually getting some friggin’ help next time.

• 2013 Fortuna Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon

You know me and my subscription services. I even subscribe to one that sends wine picked out according to my taste profile. “Yah Crystal, that’s called a wine club.” And you’re right, except it’s more than that. Tasting Room is an online service that will send you an initial tasting kit where you’ll rate each wine you receive (it’s super cute – little mini bottles that really should go in my purse for emergencies) and from there you’ll be sent 6 or 12 bottles (your choice) every 3 months (or every other month if you chose) of wines the folks running the wheel think you’ll love. I was admittedly a cynic but was very happy with my commitment when we opened this first bottle of red. And the kicker: Each wine averages about $12/bottle before shipping. Want a free tasting kit to try it out? Tell ’em I sent you by using this referral link.

And if you’re curious, here are a few pull quotes from my red wine taste profile:

Here’s another Tasting Room find. This is actually the first wine we drank on our new floor, so it makes sense that this wine tasted just right, as its description on my account profile reads: “Elegantly structured and beautifully balanced.” The wine is, too. I hope you don’t just come here for the jokes…

• Russell Creek Syrah

We actually ordered a case of this off the Russell Creek website a while back based on our friends’ recommendation (and the winery was having a big wine sale, which I’m a sucker for). It didn’t disappoint with it’s lovely oakey-ness (which I’m also a sucker for). The even better news: We’re headed to Walla Walla wine country in October and looking forward to hitting this place up in person with our friends. You know, because it’s “research.” Pretty sure we paired this with a juicy helping of “It’s Friday!”

If you have any wines you’ve been loving this summer, do tell!