We’ve taken it as a good omen that the first Weekday Wine post from our new home relates to a truly outstanding pick.  Folks, for the money, we could not possibly expect a better deal than the 2006 Qupé Syrah.  It’s just that good.Why?  Stunning aromatics of berry, flowers and smoked meat deceived us into thinking that the wine would be heavy, but we were delightfully surprised to find a gorgeously elegant body.

To put it the way our local merchant did: this is easily a $25 or $30 wine.  I mean, honestly, it really is.

Where to get it: We bought our bottle at Wine Impression in the Laurel Heights neighborhood of San Francisco.  You can also find one using the Snooth search function under “Wine Locator” in the right hand column of this page, or by visiting wine-searcher.com or winezap.com.

Wow, what a day. The move for which we’d been preparing all of last week finally occurred today, and as a consequence, we are writing this post on a blackberry while surrounded by stacks of boxes. Fortunately, we found a delicious (oh so delicious) $13 bottle of Gewurtztraminer over the weekend, and not surprisingly, we consumed the contents quickly this evening.

Check out the bottle for yourself: Thomas Fogarty Gewurztraminer 2006. Interestingly, the alcohol content (14.5%) was no predictor of what we could expect from this wine. We found lots of lychee and crisp acidity, which successfully tamed the relatively high alcohol content and somehow made the wine seem light! There was also a little bit of residual sugar that meshed beautifully with the acidity.

Alas, we’re not expecting to have internet service in our new apartment until Thursday, so it’s possible that this will be our last post of the week. We’ll see how it goes!

In the meantime, you can find the bottle described above at Plumpjack Wines on Fillmore Street in San Francisco, among other places.

Alas, we are about to move into a new apartment and, thus, have decided to take a break to focus on packing.  As such, we will be forgoing our Weekend Wine post for this week.

Tune in Monday!

See below for the events that we recommend for this weekend and beyond.  Click on its title to visit the official web site.

• California
  • Mendocino
    • Mendocino County Fair and Apple Show: September 12 - 14, 8 a.m. - 1 p.m.  We’ve never been to an apple show before, but we have visited the Anderson Valley.  It’s picturesque and low key, and we imagine that a county fair up there showcasing Mendocino wine (not to mention, apples and many other events) would be the perfect excuse for a spontaneous weekend trip.
• New York
  • Hudson Valley
    • Hudson Valley Wine & Food Festival: September 6 - 7, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. (Saturday) and 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. (Sunday).  Eventually, the weather in New York is going to S-U-C-K.  So why miss out on a chance to sample New York wine outdoors in the beautiful Hudson Valley?
• Virginia (approximately 3 hours from Washington, D.C.)
  • Rockbridge Food & Wine Festival: September 6, 12 - 5 p.m.  Taste Virginia wines in an outdoor venue built into the ruins of a 19th century lime kiln and quarry.  There’s buzz about the Virginia wine scene these days, so here’s a chance to judge for yourself.  We’d attend if we could…
• Atlanta and Philadelphia: Nothing of interest happening this week.  Tune in next Wednesday!