Winey Tasting Notes: The Empty Nest Series and Mother’s Day with Chloe

ByThe Winey Mom
maltese dog
Our Chloe

I have been writing an Empty Nest series of reviews for the past 8 months. The reason for this is that my Winey Household became an empty nest once our youngest left for college. All the wines in this series are dog themed. The reason for this is because the Winey Dogs are the ones who stayed with us and didn’t leave the nest. So my empty nest still includes the doggies, and I thought the series should honor those little sweeties.

Today I am going to review the last wine in the Chloe collection of wines. And it is fitting that I do it today, right before Mother’s Day. First off, any of these wines would be a great Mother’s Day gift. The folks at Chloe are suggesting the Chloe Pinot Grigio for the day (and they sent me a bottle of it to underscore that idea – smart people). I love the Pinot Grigio!  Let me quote from myself:

“This wine is crisp and lively. Flavors of peach and lemons lead to a touch of honeysuckle. The tangerine shows up again in the finish. Overall, this is a flavorful Pinot Grigio, as opposed to a tart Pinot Grigio. None of the flavors overwhelm the others, so you have a nice blend of sweet and citrus fruit and some flowers. You’ll like Chloe Pinot Grigio if you like a white wine that refreshes, but isn’t overly tart.”

I have also sampled Chloe Chardonnay and found it equally as yummy:

Chloe Red Blend No. 249“A classic Chardonnay: pear and vanilla and cinnamon with a touch of mellow oak to finish it all off. The finish was smooth and lingering and it felt creamy and full in my mouth. Another winner for Chloe. A little refresher course here: according to the Chloe Collection website, the word “chloe” is an ancient word that means “blooming”. That’s just what this wine did – it started off with the pear flavor and then bloomed into the vanilla and cinnamon spices and opened up fully at the end, adding in the oakiness. Another great one from the Chloe folks. And at $12.99, it’s very affordable. Buy this if you like your Chardonnay lightly oaked and full of flavor as opposed to big and oakey and buttery.”
The last wine in this collection is Chloe Red No. 249 (2012, 13.5%, North Coast of CA). The wine is a blend of Syrah, Merlot, Petite Sirah, Zinfandel, and Petit Verdot. Chloe Red starts off with a nose of cedar and a tinge of wood smoke. The taste is full of mocha java coffee, black plum and a hint of oregano. I would call it sort of fruit forward…not so much that it turns into a syrupy blend, but enough so that the kick of oak doesn’t hurt you – it just feels full and bold in the mouth. Oh, the number 249? That refers to the 249 wine lots that the winemaker tasted before making Chloe Red. Is that dedication or what?
So why is it so appropriate that I am doing the last bottle in the Chloe collection for Mother’s Day 2015? 
dog and wine bottles
Chloe was always willing to help me as
I worked on The Winey Mom blog!

A little history: Chloe is the name of the older of our two doggies. And just two weeks ago, after a long illness (I talked about it in the Chardonnay review), our sweet baby Chloe crossed the Rainbow Bridge and left us. She had been failing for so long and had reached that point where her pain was unbearable – for her and us and her little doggie sister, Rory. It broke our hears to say good bye to Chloe, who had been part of our lives for nearly 12 years. It was our honor to have her as part of our family and it is now our pleasure to have her as part of our happy Winey Family memories. I’m not sure when the ache will go away or when I’ll smile over little memories of her instead of tearing up, but I’m so glad that we had the privilege of loving her. I was so happy to be her Mommy. She was my faithful little buddy for many, many years. She loved to cuddle with me and kiss me and basically, she treated me like I was perfect. What else could a Mom (doggie or otherwise) ask for?

I know I’ll be buying wines from the Chloe collection for a long time. Great wines to toast a wonderful doggie with.
Cheers to the four-footed members of all our Winey Families. And Happy Mother’s Day to Winey Moms everywhere, whether your kids are human or doggie (or other cuddle friendly species)!

I was sent a bottle of Chloe Pinot Grigio for review purposes. The opinions and the love of my doggies are all my own.