Last week Friday my wine club had their Holiday splurge on wines. We all pitched in $25, and there were about 13 of us, so that gave us a generous budget to work with. All wines were purchased at Waterford Wine Co., (located on Milwaukee’s Brady Street) under the advise of Ben. Here’s what we tasted:

Henri Goutorbe Cuvee Prestige Champagne, Premier Crue, Brut. Approximately $50. This was devine, and I wish I could provide you a link, but I can’t quite find this exact champagne for you. From my tasting experience, I believe this champagne was made from the pinot noir grape. It’s from Champagne, France, which is where all champagne is from, if it’s not made there, it must be called sparkling white wine.

Jean Francois-Mercieau Sparkling White Wine. $18, from Frances Loire Valley. It was not nearly as good at Goutorbe, and I believe it was made from the chardonnay grape.

Kistler Les Noisetiers Chardonnay, 2006. Approximately $40-50. This wine came from California’s Sonoma Coast. It was buttery and delicious (as far as chardonnay goes, I’m not a huge fan), and definitely was oaked in french barrels. This was a limited vintage, and our bottle was #68,591 of 92,220. In fact, I checked their website and this wine is produced to be sold only to restaurants with limited sales in stores. I believe I’m going to pick up a bottle for my husband so he can experience chardonnay the way it was meant to be.

Kali Hart Chardonnay, 2006. Approximately $20. Produced by Robert Talbott Vineyards in Monetary, California. This wine had tropical notes and was fermented in both oak and stainless steel. Barrelling in stainless steel gives wine a mineraly taste, whereas barrelling in American oak will give it a bold and robust taste, and French oak givs it a buttery taste.

Bishops Peak Pinot Noir, 2006. $50. Produced by Talley Family Winery in the Central Coast Region of California. This was our fourth wine of the night, and sadly, I wrote down nothing about it.

Woodenhead Pinot Noir, 2004. $20. From the Russian River Region in California. While this was the less expensive pinot noir, I remember it being the only one we felt was better than the expensive selection.

Isley Cabernet Sauvignon, 2003. $50. I knew this was a winner when I saw it was produced in the Stags Leap District. This wine was excellent, and by far my favorite. I haven’t tasted wine this good since the 2001 Smith-Madrone Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa.

R. Collection Cabernet Sauvignon, 2003. Approximately $20. Produced by Raymond Estates in Napa Valley, California. This was a worthy red, silky with flavors of blueberries and blackberries.

While we enjoyed the more expensive wines the most, you can definitely purchase a good wine for $20 or less. Not everyone is able to splurge on a $40-50 bottle of wine, myself included. That’s why I love my wine club so much, not only have I made friendships over the last 2-1/2 years that I value, I’ve also learned quite a bit about wine and I’m not purchasing something based on how cute the picture on the label is anymore. (Yes. That is how I used to pick my wine.)

Here are some great holiday suggestions from my own wine tasting journal in the $10-20 price range:

Gnarly Head Old Vine Zinfandel, $16

Duck Pond Pinot Noir, $19 (my husband found this at Whole Foods)

Solane Santi Ripasso Classico Superiore Valpolicella (an Italian red, similar to Chianti), $14

Columbia Crest Reserve Chardonnay, $15

King Estate Oregon Pinot Gris, $14

Crush Pad Red, $14 (a blend of red grapes)

Cathedral Cellar Shiraz, $16

Bogle Petite Syrah, $10-12 (all time favorite!)

(Also posted @ Thoughts Outside My Head)

If you'd have asked me what a roof rake was last week, I wouldn't have had the first clue. That all changed this week. It started when I arrived at work on Tuesday and my mom asked me if I had icicles on my house (remember, I work with my family), and I do, so then she told me how I needed to get the snow off my roof. I gave a half-hearted nod of agreement, then turned to my newspaper. There, on the front page of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Metro section was a huge article about how roofs are under attack of the snow and the readership must get the snow off the roof, or else.

Okay, so maybe I'm being a bit dramatic, and perhaps it didn't exactly say that -- but that's how it felt to someone who had never really given much thought to the snow pile-up on her roof before. And to add to the urgency, I was told that all the stores were sold out of these roof rakes.

Ha! How unlikely, I thought. Really? All the stores?

So at lunch time I visited Wal-Mart, Menards, Fleet Farm and even Steins. I was able to find a roof rake extender at Fleet Farm, but that's about it.

Okay, so maybe they really are sold out.

When I got back to work I googled 'roof rake' on my computer. I could order one online, but it might not arrive before Christmas. Darn Holiday!

The more unavaible they were, the more I wanted one! Are you familiar with this feeling?

Since I work in manufacturing, I have shelves full of industrial supply catalogs. I was able to locate one at Grainger Industrial Supply, I'd have it the very next day.

On Wednesday my roof rake arrived, it was fairly simple to assemble, and after dinner I trooped outdoors and pulled snow down from my roof. I didn't expect it to be nearly as enjoyable as it was. Perhaps it's was because the handle was so long (17') and I was reaching up and into places that I couldn't see. Or maybe it was because sometimes I could dislodge huge blocks of snow that would creep slowing down the roof and then crash into a powder of snow as they fell.

In an odd sort of way, I found that removing the snow was kind of like working a puzzle. Only this time it was a puzzle that I didn't want to put back together.

On Wednesday I finally closed our checking and savings accounts at Mid-America Bank. If you are following my banking saga you'll remember that my husband and I recently switched to Landmark Credit Union. The process (at Mid-America) I had to go through to close the account was minor, and after all the security issues I had with Landmark I was appalled that I didn't have to show any identification to prove that I was indeed Kimberly G. Laczniak. All I had to do was spell my last name, and then choose to either have a check written for the balance, or receive cash. 

Seriously, I could have been ANYONE, and they could have just given ANYONE all of my money, and closed my accounts too. They are pretty darn lucky that it was really me closing my accounts.

I arrived home, check in hand, to find a letter from Landmark Credit Union waiting for me. What's this? What have I done now?

It was a letter from the Vice President of Marketing, who read my blog entry The Other Landmark Credit Union, from November 3rd. To sum up the letter she apologized for my troubles in locating the correct LCU website and wrote: "I have alerted our staff to this problem and hope from now on that they will highlight our Web address as well as warn members about the Web sites of other Landmarks."

Wow. I'm so impressed with Landmark Credit Union. Someone took the time and initiative to write me a letter, and to apologize for my inconvenience (even though I think it's pretty darn clear that the inconvenience was 100% my fault). Pat, if you are reading this, Thank You!

I asked my husband if I could consider this letter my first piece of fan mail? He said yes. So there ya go. I've got fan mail.

(Cross posted @ Thoughts Outside My Head)

The latest photo hunt picture is from the top of the building that the US Post Office is in on the corner of Shady Lane and Appleton Avenue, or St. Francis and Appleton Ave, depending on where you turn. A few of you emailed in that it's located at Colonial Plaza, which is further down Appleton Avenue towards Main Street. I have to admit, all the replies that it was Colonial Plaza really stumped me, which is why this reveal is so late. Congratulations to Debbie for finding it!

So it's a snow day today, and the timing could not be be more perfect! Yesterday, Home Depot delivered to my house a brand new snowthrower! It's a two stage, and has 208cc engine -- which I guess can be converted to horsepower, but I try my best to not do any extra math, so I'm just going to say it's got Super Hero Power. AND, this is the best part, TODAY is my husband's birthday! What more could a guy ask for? First, a snowthrower, then a snow storm in which to use his brand new snowthrower! Although, I did have to use it this morning already. He left for work before there was enough snow to clear, so I took care of it before I left for work. It was awesome!!

Happy Snow Day!

Here is the next photo hunt! Do you know the location in Menomonee Falls where this photo was taken?

To play either leave a comment with your guess (note: I'll hold all correct comments in moderation as to not spoil the fun), send me an email to winelush@gmail.com, or just play along at home. I'll reveal the location on Friday Saturday (since I have no idea what happened to my picture and I had to insert it again).

This is highly unusual for me, but I seem to have spent the entire weekend watching the Showtime series Weeds. It all started out rather innocently last weekend when the season 1, disk 1 arrived from Netflix. My husband wasn't even interested in watching the show. By the second episode we were both hooked. I don't even want to count how many episodes I've watched since I popped disk 2 in my DVD player on Friday night, but let's just say that this morning we finished season 2 and at 10:00 a.m. I was on the phone to Time Warner Cable impulse-subscribing to Showtime. I cleaned the family room while I watched Nancy fish her weed out of her suburban swimming pool --- hey, it made me feel like I was doing something productive. The last time I watched a tv series in a marathon-like manner Puck was living in the Real World house in San Francisco.

We are on episode 29, I think, and from what I can tell we need to pace ourselves, because I have no clue when season 4 begins. Do you?