Saraceno Negroamaro Rosato

    This wine is called Saraceno Negroamaro Rosato by Saraceno Italian Estates and is made with 100% Negroamaro grapes. The place of origin is the Puglia, Italy with a vintage year of 2019. This wine costs $7.95.

  Vintage Cellar has this to say about the wine: "Soft pink-rose. Essence of geranium and rose combined with strawberry and cherry. Sweet and nuanced on the nose, with noteworthy tenacity. The wine's impressive alcohol is balanced by its delicate flavors and light, bright freshness, elegance, and persistence."

    On page 143 of Wine Folly, this is said about Negroamaro: "A red wine that grows in abundance in Puglia (and almost nowhere else), producing wines with rich black fruit flavors with a distinct finish of dried herbs. Caramelized foods seem to bring out the sweetness in this wine. So, try Negroamaro with foods like barbecue chicken pizza, pulled pork sandwiches, and teriyaki." This wine should be served in an oversized glass at 60-68*F, decanted for 30 mins, and spend 5-10 years in the cellar.

 I did not have this wine with any food. The color of this wine was a soft orangey pink with a slight hint of rose on the nose. It is slightly acidic with barely any dryness, slightly sweet with no alcohol heat. It had a medium light body with flavors of refreshing apple, strawberry and raspberry, and an aftertaste of apples.

In conclusion I give this wine a 8/10.

 

Oxford Landing Pinot Grigio

 

Oxford Landing

    This wine is called Pinot Grigio 2020 by Oxford Landing and is made with 100% Pinot Gris grapes. The place of origin is the South Australia with a vintage year of 2020. This wine costs $9.95.

  Vintage Cellar has this to say about the wine: "Pale straw in color. An intense mixture of feijoa, apple skin and poached pear with hints of lychee. The poached pear and lychee flavors find their way into the medium-bodied palate."

    On page 149 of Wine Folly, this is said about Pinot Gris: "Pinot Gris (aka Pinot Grigio) is a pink grape mutation of Pinot Noir that's most famous for its zesty white wines that range in style for dry to just plain sweet. Pinot Gris makes an excellent pairing with white meats, seafood, and food with a  fruit element, such as lemons, oranges, peaches, or apricots." It should be served in a white glass at 45-55*F and spend 1-5 years in the cellar.

 I did not have this wine with any food. The color of this wine was nearly clear with a yellow tinge, and had a nose of apples and slightly floral. It was acidic, not tannic, slightly sweet with no alcohol heat. It had a light body with flavors of apple, rose, and pineapple and an aftertaste of pineapples (but not quite so acidic).

In conclusion I give this wine a 7/10.

 

 

Ricasoli

    This wine is called Ricasoli by Antico Feudo Toscana IGT, and is made with Sangiovese 60%, Cabernet sauvignon 25%, and Merlot 15%. The place of origin is the Toscana IGT, Tuscany, Italy with a vintage year of 2019. This wine costs $18.95. https://www.foliowine.com/wine/ricasoli-toscana-igt/

   This wine received a score of 95 from Decanter, which had this to say about it: "Sweet oak spice, cream, vanilla, and white chocolate notes, toast, refined tannins. Beautifully harmonious wine with lovely freshness of the finish. Clean but with rustic and earthy notes. Charming and well poised. Soft, opulent, plummy and ripe. Full-bodied with ripe tannins. Black cherry and red plums. Plush mid-palate. Ideal with spicy cuisine, and duck."

    On page 162 of Wine Folly, this is said about Sangiovese: "Sangiovese is Italy's most planted grapes and the key variety in Tuscany's renowned Chianti. It's sensitive, tasting quite different depending on where it grows. The high acidity allows Sangiovese to match well with all manner of well-spiced foods. It's one of the few wines that will not get lost when paired with tomato sauce." It should be served in a red glass at 55-60*F, decanted 30 mins, and spend 5-25 years in the cellar.

 I did not have this wine with any food. The color of this wine was a deep ruby red, with a nose of vanilla and red berries. It was slightly acidic, very tannic, not sweet with a medium alcohol heat. It had a medium body with flavors of vanilla, red grapes, oak, and apples. It left an aftertaste of harvest apples on my tongue.

In conclusion I give this wine a 6/10, I really enjoyed the 'fall vibes' and vanilla flavors in this wine.

 

 

 

El Cortijillo Tempranillo 2016

    This wine is called Tempranillo 2016 by El Cortijillo, and is made with 100% Tempranillo grapes. The place of origin is the La Mancha, Spain with a vintage year of 2016. This wine costs $8.95.

   Antonio Galloni of Vinous had this to say about the wine: "Vivid ruby. Pungent red berry and peppery spice scents show good focus and lift. Gently sweet and incisive on the palate, offering jammy raspberry and cherry flavors that tighten up slowly on the back half. Finishes taut and spicy, with supple tannins sneaking in late." https://vinous.com/ (displayed on an informational paper at Vintage Cellar tasting)

    On page 175 of Wine Folly, this is said about Tempranillo: "Spain's top variety, made famous by the wines of Rioja, where wines are classified by how long they age in oak. Fine Tempranillo ages 20+ years but costs a little more. Bolder, aged Tempranillo wines pair nicely with steak, gourmet burgers, and a rack of lamb. Fresher styles match well with baked pasta and other tomato-based dishes." This wine should be served in a red glass at 55-60*F, decanted 60+ minutes, and kept in the cellar 10-30 years.

 I did not have this wine with any food. The color of this wine was a browny blood red. It had a peppery and red berry nose. There was no acid, just peppery spicy notes with light tannins, no sweetness, and no alcohol warmth. It had a light body and flavors of red berries, peppercorns, and dark grapes with a pepper aftertaste.

In conclusion I give this wine a 4/10, I am not a huge fan of peppery red wines, I prefer them to be more fruity.

 

 Drink This Now! Lesson 5

     This week I did the Drink This Now! Lesson 5 content. The objective of this is to taste dry and sweet rieslings and to determine the differences from opposite ends of the spectrum. When I went to Vintage Cellar to acquire my wines, I was brought over to the FunF sweet riesling from Germany which was a perfect match to the book. However, even though they didn't have an exact match to any of the dry rieslings, they directed me to something very similar, which was the Schmitt Söhne Dry Riesling from Germany. I also went to Kroger and picked up some unsalted table water crackers in order to cleanse my palate between the wine tastings. 

    The first thing I needed to do (Step 1) was set aside a room temperature glass of each wine while the bottles went in the fridge to chill for 45-60 minutes. After chilling there should be 4 glasses of wine: each of the two wines will have a warm and chilled glass of wine.

    The first wine I set aside was Schmitt Söhne Dry Riesling, which is produced by Schmitt Söhne Family Wines along the Mosel River in Germany. There is no vintage year for this wine, and the price was $6.95. It uses 100% Riesling grapes.

Wine Review:

 

    The second wine I set aside was the FunF wine produced by Schmitt Söhne 5 Riesling in Germany. This wine has no listed vintage year, and the price was $6.95. It is made of 100% Riesling grapes.

 

Wine Review:

Step 2 was to take out the chilled wines and assess them for aroma and taste.

 Schmitt Söhne Dry Riesling: This wine had a slight nose of mandarin. It tasted of green apple, strawberry with an aftertaste of red grapes and was slightly sweet and acidic, mostly dry with no tannins and a light body.

 FunF: This wine had a slight nose of apples. It had an initially watery taste with hints of apple, pineapple, peach and an aftertaste of raspberries. It was sweet, acidic, slightly dry with no tannins.

Step 3 was to compare the warm wines to their cool counterparts and record all impressions.

Step 4 was to go back and forth a few times, continuing to cleanse the palate with crackers and water if needed.

 

Step 5 was to try and determine what changed between the warm and cold glasses of each wine and write out descriptors you picked out for each. 

    When assessing the glasses of dry riesling, I noticed that there were definitely more sour notes (green apple?) when the wine was cold. The warm wine was also more smooth and fruity. While cold, this wine seemed a lot more dry than when warm.

    For the sweet riesling I noticed that the cold glass had more notes of sweet pineapple and possibly peach, while the warm glass was more sweet, acidic, and had more appley-pear notes.

This lesson taught me a lot about the difference between sweet and dry wines, and I don't think I would've had this type of experience in the future had it not been for this lesson, allowing me to directly compare and contrast the two. The chilled and unchilled wines also really had a difference in taste and character, so I'm glad that was part of the lesson too. I'm excited to try more sweet wines in the future, because I noticed that I enjoyed the FunF wine a lot more than the Dry Riesling and I don't often go out of my way to buy sweet wines, but I'm thinking now that I should.

 

 

Wine and Cheese Pairing 2

    For this wine and cheese pairing, I invited my friends Emily and Ayush. Emily is not a big wine drinker so she was here for the cheeses, but Ayush likes wine even more than I do!

 The 3 cheeses I chose were a Sharp Reserve Cheddar, an Elderflower Cheddar, and a Brie Fermier. I also chose to pair them with Nate's honey, sopressata salami, blackberries, strawberries, petit toasts, and crackers. 

 

  I accidentally left the brie in the microwave a *LITTLE* too long, so this is what we were dipping into for that cheese:

 

  The 3 wines I chose were a Lamarca prosecco, Stella Rosa low alcohol blueberry wine, and an Ogio Sparkling Rose.

    Here are my thoughts about the wine individually, and as pairings with each of the cheeses:

Lamarca Prosecco:

    Ayush said this wine tasted like a white claw. Carbonated with a light body, acidic, not sweet, and not tannic at all due to it being a sparkling white. It has a faint taste of white grapes and aftertastes of blackberries. Extremely light straw coloration.

     Brie:  This sparkling wine doesn’t compliment the brie, brings out the stinky sock flavor in the cheese and gets ride of the creaminess that makes it pleasant to eat. This doesn't make sense, because according to pg. 60 of Wine Folly, delicate, buttery cheeses like brie should pair well with sparkling wines.

    Elderflower: This wine does not compliment the elderflower well, it brings out the acidity in the prosecco and makes it overbearing. This doesn't make sense, because according to pg. 60 of Wine Folly, fruity, umami cheeses like cheddar should pair averagely with sparkling wines.

    Reserve cheddar: This wine compliments the cheddar well, cleanses the palate of the aftertaste but doesn’t completely mask the yummy saltiness of the cheese. For the assessments with Wine Folly for this cheese, I am going to consider it a "dry, salty umami" cheese instead of where cheddar is usually listed under "fruity, umami" cheese due to its crunchy and saltiness. This makes sense because according to pg. 60 of Wine Folly, dry, salty umami cheeses should pair well with sparkling wines.

Stella Rosa Blueberry Wine:

    Nose of blueberries, taste of red grapes and blueberries. Slightly sweet, slightly acidic, no tannic astringency, with a light body. This wine is pretty simple to assess because the taste is in the name- blueberries! Dark concord grape purple coloration.

    Brie: The blueberry flavor of the wine completely overpowers the flavor and creaminess of the brie, but not a terrible pairing, would be good as a palate cleanser. This makes sense because according to pg. 60 of Wine Folly, delicate, buttery cheeses like brie should pair averagely with light-bodied red wines.

    Elderflower: This wine is a good pairing with elderflower cheese, the flavors of blueberry and elderflower compliment each other well and it doesn’t detract from the creaminess of the cheese. This makes sense because according to pg. 60 of Wine Folly, fruity, umami cheeses like cheddar should pair averagely with light-bodied red wines.

    Reserve cheddar: This wine was a good pairing with the reserve cheddar, the flavors of blueberry and the saltiness of the cheese compliment each other well and the sweetness of the wine is not overpowering. This makes sense because according to pg. 60 of Wine Folly, dry, salty umami cheeses should pair averagely with light-bodied red wines.

 

Ogio Sparkling Rose:

    This wine was sweet, acidic, tasted like white grapes and strawberry with a light body. This wine is carbonated so there was very little nose other than the smell of the CO2. Very light mandarin/salmon coloration.

    Brie: This wine made me want to throw up with the brie, terrible pairing. I think it just increased the stinky flavor and clashes with the sweetness of the wine. This doesn't make sense, because according to pg. 60 of Wine Folly, delicate, buttery cheeses like brie should pair well with sparkling wines and averagely with rose wines.

    Elderflower: A good pairing, the flavors of the wine and cheese don’t overpower each other but compliment each other well and enhance the elderflower flavor of the cheese. This makes sense because according to pg. 60 of Wine Folly, fruity, umami cheeses like cheddar should pair averagely with sparkling and rose wines.

    Reserve cheddar: When this wine is paired with the cheddar, it cleanses the palate completely of the wonderful saltiness of the cheese, which is why I personally don't like this pairing, while it isn't extremely offensive like the brie. This makes sense because according to pg. 60 of Wine Folly, dry, salty umami cheeses should pair well with sparkling wines and averagely with rose wines.

 

Wine Dinner Blog 2

 

For this wine dinner, I invited my friends Noah and Emily to join. Neither of them are taking this class, but I definitely wasn't about to make 3 courses by myself, so I told them each to bring a dish. The 3 courses were as follows:

 

To start we had freshly warmed pita with salt, olive oil and hummus, brought by Noah.  

Next we had the main course, a homemade crispy garlic gnocchi with cherry tomatoes, made by yours truly.

 

Lastly, dessert: an assortment of chocolate and vanilla chocolate chip muffins, homemade by Emily.

    Obviously we weren't going for any particular theme, so the wines are just about as random as the dishes. We had a Bay Bridge Peach Moscato, Sutter Home White Zinfandel and a concord grape Manischewitz Jewish wine.

    To start I will be talking about the Peach Moscato. 

 

Name: Bay Bridge Vineyards Peach Moscato

Variety: 100% Moscato

Region: Livermore and Ripon, California

Country: USA

Year: no vintage

Price: $2.99

My review by itself: 

    Peachy on the nose. Acidic and peachy with a slight aftertaste of mandarins, slightly sweet with a light body. No tannic component or astringency.

Review of the wine with the foods:

    Doesn’t enhance or detract from the pita or vice versa, the sweetness pulls through even though the bread absorbs most of the wine.

    The gnocchi doesn’t pair well at all, the sweetness of the wine clashes with the spicy and savory of the gnocchi sauce and makes it seem more acidic than it actually is.

    The sweetness and peachiness of the wine pairs really well with the chocolatiness of the muffin, wonderful pairing and almost makes the wine feel like it has a more full body.

Winner: Muffins

Loser: Gnocchi

  

 Second I will be talking about the White Zinfandel.

 

Name: Sutter Home White Zinfandel

Variety: 100% Zinfandel grapes

Region: St. Helena, California

Country: USA

Year: no vintage listed

Price: $5.99

My review by itself:

Orangey nose with a bit of peach. Slightly sweet and barely acidic, medium body with a taste of strawberry, peach and watermelon. No tannic or astringent component despite being a rose. Light body.

Review of the wine with the foods:

     Not great with the pita and hummus, the bread absorbs the wine and takes away the sweetness which makes the wine enjoyable.

     Terrible pairing with the gnocchi, took away all of the sweetness of the wine and left all of the acidity and alcohol aftertaste while distracting from the slight spiciness of the gnocchi sauce.

    Better together with the muffins than the other combinations, the sweetness of the wine and the muffin work well together and enhances the chocolate and strawberry flavors.

Winner: Muffins

Loser: Gnocchi

 

 Thirdly I will be discussing the Manischewitz.

Name: Concord Grape Manischewitz

Variety: no less than 51% concord

Region: Bayonne, New Jersey

Country: USA

Year: no vintage listed

Price: $8.99

My review by itself:

    Concord grape on the nose, smells just like regular grape juice. Tastes sweet and not acidic or tannic, with an overwhelming taste of regular ol' grape juice and blackberries, with a blueberry aftertaste.

Review of the wine with the foods: 

   The pita and hummus enhances the sweetness of this wine, leaves a pleasant aftertaste despite the wine being absorbed in the bread.

    The sweetness of the wine clashes with the slightly spicy gnocchi and leaves a strong unpleasant astringent aftertaste, which this wine does not exhibit nearly at all when on its own.

   The sweetness of the wine and the muffin enhance each other well and the fruity taste of the wine matches the chocolatiness of the muffin perfectly.

Winner: Muffins

Loser: Gnocchi

    This dinner went way better for me than the first one. I really overthought the first dinner, tried to stick with a theme and bought wines that I didn't have any expectation of liking. This time around, I let my friends bring whatever they wanted, made a dish that I myself love for the main course (even though it was the loser 3x over due to not pairing with the wine well) and had a great time hanging with people that I love. I learned that sometimes, the wines that you expect to like with certain things end up not pairing well at all, and muffins that were *accidentally* made without eggs might just come out on top.