Tasting - WeinKeller Erbach Flonheimer Adelberg Silvaner

Name: WeinKeller Erbach Flonheimer Adelberg Silvaner

Variety: 100% Silvaner

Region: Rheinhessen

Country: Germany

Year: 2010

Price: Regular Price $18 Sale Price 4.95

Shop Review: "The fruity, mouthwater wine has a nice acidity-sugar balance and comes from the so called 'Rheinhessen-Switzerland', the heartland of the Rheinhessen. It has a floral bouquet and is full of lemon zest, hints of passion fruit, and smells like yellow fruit, lemon grass and greet tea, all wrapped around a pleasant creaminess and semi-dry profile. The finish is zippy and refreshing. Perfect for a party on the deck as it comes in a liter bottle!"

My Review: First off the bottle was on sale at the Vintage Cellar, a wine specialty store because of the granules of tartaric acid resting on the bottom. The bottles had been purchased whole sale from a grocery store where the patrons, unaware of what the granules were, simply refused to purchase the wine. The wine for me was not nearly as complex as described above. It was certainly creamy, with some floral notes, rose and passion fruit. Perhaps a very young white tea or an ice cold green tea. Very low on acid all around and i did not pick up on the citrus in the form or lemon zest and didn't notice any zip worth mentioning. It was however very smooth and I could certainly see it being refreshing.

Tasting - Montebuena Rioja

Name: Montebuena Rioja

Variety: 100% Tempranillo 

Region: Rioja

Country: Spain

Year: 2010

Price: $8.95

Shop Review: "(100% Tempranillo, raised entirely in American Oak): Vivid ruby. Ripe cherry and blackcurrant on the nose and in the mouth. Pliant and seamless in texture, with good heft and back-end energy. Finishes smooth and sweet, with fine-grained tannins providing shape and grip. Still on the young side but this wine drinks very well with an hour or so of decanting, it's and excellent value for Rioja." 
- Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar (September 2012) 90 pts.

My Review: Hot, mildly smokey, hints of spice, with the mid body of more smoke. Notes of blackcurrant came and went throughout. I drank it only moments after opening the bottle so there was not much time to breath. The body was mild to medium with a low alcohol feel. Perhaps after decanting like the review says the tannis would become more present and the fruit notes more clear. 

Tasting - Delaroche Cotes du Rhone

Name: Delaroche Cotes du Rhone

Variety: 50% Syrah, 40% Grenache 10% Mourvedre

Region: Rhone Valley

Country: France

Year: 2011

Price: $8.95

Shop Review: "This semi-opaque ruby, custom cuvée of 50% Syrah, 40% Grenache and 10% Mourvedre is made specifically for Fran Kysela. It exhibits very fresh, ripe dark red fruit with very good palate weight and depth and ends with rich fruit notes. Made from Organically grown grapes. Incredible value!" 

- I-WineReview (December 2013) 90 pts.

My Review: It starts of somewhat tart and jammy with definite red fruit notes carried throughout. In the mid palate the dark red fruit becomes so deep it is almost earthy with hints of mushroom. Definitely a good weight and body, medium dry, medium alcohol. 

Tasting - Maipe Torrontes

Name: Maipe Torrontes

Variety: 100% Torrontes

Region: Mendoza

Country: Argentina

Year: 2013

Price: $7.95

Shop Review: Spring like nose of fresh white peaches, pears, green apple, green melon, and hints of jasmine and rose petals. On the palate, it has a beautiful structure and acidity along with fruit flavors an plenty of body. Well balanced, this wine displays a pleasant freshness with citrus notes and a long finish. Best enjoyed in its youth either by itself, or as a wonderful partner with smoked meats, mild to medium-strong cheeses, seafood and a great partner for spicy food as well. 

My Review: Definitely very floral, the cacophony of fruits aromas ranges through flavors of honey, peach, pear and rose only to do a 180 as the sweet smells vanish on the palate leaving behind an interesting dry structure with a medium acidity and a drawn out citrus finish.

Tasting - Cortenova Pinot Grigio

Name: Cortenova Pinot Grigio

Variety: 100% Pinot Grigio

Region: Venezie, Veneto

Country: Italy

Year: 2012

Price: $7.95

Shop Review: Brilliant straw color with emerald reflections. Fresh and floral bouquet with a hint of pears, apricots and bananas. Fresh and inviting with bright fruit and an easy drinking style with a pleasing hint of almonds in the finish. Pairs well with seafood dishes, risottos with scampi, spaghetti with clams, sole in white wine. Perfect also as an aperitif.

My Review: Very herbaceous with floral notes, pear came forward as the dominant flavor. As the shop review says it was easy drinking which meant for me very low alcohol and very low acid. A simple wine with a smooth finish.

Dinner - Blacksburg (Vegetarian Harvest)

We got together Sunday evening, several good friends and I, to compare and to pair our various wine selections and dishes. Now I am a self professed gourmand, though you wouldn't know it to look at me. (Skinny guy in the black shirt above) I am also no vegetarian but being democratically outnumbered I prepared, as best I could, a Garden Chedder soup. Typically a beef stock base I was hopeful, despite substitution of vegetable stock, that my soup would pair well with the 2010 La Grange de Piaugier Cote du Rhone I had brought. My friends had chosen to pair a Sweet potato Risotto with a 2012 White called El Sierro and a clutch of chocolate cover strawberries paired with a 2010 Cueva de las Manos Cabernet Sauvignon.

 First Course 

El Sierro White 2012 + Sweet Potato Risotto

Being a young white I was fairly certain it would be a somewhat closed palate. Alone it was smooth with almost no acidity. It had very distinct mineral notes and a fair hint of peach. Simple but straight forward. The finish was very light. When paired with the Risotto in my opinion it did ok. The Risotto had a heavy cream base from the cheese added to it and the onion bits were a little bit big and some what over powering the wine. I didn't think the acidity was enough to cut the creaminess of the dish and thus the peach flavor was almost entirely lost in the wine. I think due to the wines almost watery texture and very little sweetness the pairing simply needed more sugar. Either in the form of the dish with perhaps some cinimon sugar to coat the sweet potatoes or a little more expression in the wine itself. All and all it was a very delicious pair. 

 Second Course

La Grange de Piaugier Cote Du Rhone 2010 + Garden Cheddar Soup

Next came my dish. Truthfully I have had this red before so I knew somewhat to expect. Alone it opened with almost a buttery aroma quickly fading to jammy hints of plum or perhaps black cherry. On the palate it opened up a little giving more red fruits and a little spice. The finish was sharp coming in peppery but then leaving quickly, somewhat of a disappointment. The soup, normally a beef stock base but tonight a vegetable one, was a mixture of carrots, red onion, celery, tomato, garlic, parsley, mushroom and finally cheddar cheese. Unfortunately in my haste to cook the dish and deliver it to our party on time I neglected to check what type of cheddar I was grating into the soup and to my horror found it was Horseradish Cheddar. The soup normally calls for a sharp white cheddar. Luckily for me the horseradish mostly dissipated but served to bring out a very savory and shockingly meaty flavor from the mushrooms. The soup was exceptionally hearty and had a much more earthy tone than I had every made before. The only problem now was that I had intended the wine to pair with the original flavor. Now far more savory, the soup over powered the wine. If I had chosen a bigger wine with more body, higher tannins or perhaps complimentary notes of smoke, or meat or leather this paring would have been better. But again it was an ok pairing and I enjoyed it. 

 Third Course

Cueva de las Manos 2010 + Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Lastly came the simplest pairing of all and as it turns out the best pairing. Alone the wine was superbly smoky with a very savory and meaty aroma. A big cab sav, it hit all the high notes, intense red fruit, high tannins, and hot to the point that the alcohol almost burned. But despite it practically beating you over the head with all this noise when paired with the simple sugar of the dark chocolate and the strawberries the wine just sang. The tannins mellowed, the alcohol came into perfect balance and the fruity notes amplified in the presence of strawberries. I don't usually go for wines this loud they tend to crush most dishes and alone, for me, they seem imbalanced. But tonight it was most definitely the best pairing. 

Some of the pairs may have missed their mark but after three bottles of wine and good company the oversights on the part of the chef (me) I think can be over looked. Especially when good friends come to the rescue with such a simple move like chocolate, strawberries and wine. If there's a lesson to be found at the bottom of the glass I guess its this, keep it simple. At least at first. My soup had a lot going on and so did the wine I chose. Being a complete novice at pairing it was probably ambitious to think I could nail a pair like that right of the start. Lesson learned.

Cheers.

Tasting - Babich New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc

Name: Babich New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc 2012

Variety: 100% Sauvignon Blanc

Region: Marlborough

Country: New Zealand

Year: 2012

Price: $14.95

Shop Review: A juicy white, with bright acidity and lean lemon, lime and green apple flavors.  A note of fresh thyme graces the finish.  Drink now.

My Review: This wine of all the wines at the tasting was the one I came away with. For me it had the best balance and the most sublime mixing of flavors. Thyme was absolutely the most prominent aroma. Having cook with it countless times, no pun intended... this white fused the flavors of a great fall dish with lemon and lime. I will be pairing this with a dish in the near future. 

Tasting - Trentadue Old Patch Red Lot 36

Name: Trentadue Old Patch Red Lot #36

Variety: 15% Petite Sirah and 85% Zinfandel

Region: Alexander Valley, California

Country: United States

Year: 2011

Price: $13.95

Shop Review: This field-style blend of Petite Sirah and Zinfandel is super-jammy, with jellied flavors of raspberries, cherries, blueberries, blackberries and loganberries.  It’s a fun, fairly complicated wine that finishes dry and tannic.

My Review: Perhaps because it was toward the end of the tasting or perhaps it was the Zinfandel grape but the most notable parts of this wine for me were the very dry tannic qualities. It was essentially a berry medley before that with no one berry flavor being entirely discernible.

Tasting - La Posta Cocina Malbec Mendoza

Name: La Posta Cocina Malbec Mendoza 2011

Variety: 100% Malbec

Region: Uco Valley

Country: Argentina

Year: 2011

Price: $14.95

Shop Review: The 2011 Cocina Malbec is from La Consulta, Altamira and Vista Flores in the Uco Valley and sees some French and American oak (20% new).  It has a tight nose of black cherry and boysenberry fruit with hints of violet.  The palate is medium-bodied with full tannins.  The finish is smooth and there are some pleasant mulberry and dark plum notes on the aftertaste.  This constitutes easy-drinking Malbec.  Drink now.

My Review: As the shop review says the wine had a very tight nose of black cherry but for me the woody note from the oak was very present early. It definitely had a medium body and the tannins left the mouth bone dry. Smooth would not have been a word a used to describe its finish but it did seem balanced after all things considered.

Tasting - Jean Baptiste Gewurztraminer Reserve

Name: Jean Baptiste Gewurztraminer Reserve

Variety: 100% Gewurztraminer

Region: Alsace

Country: France

Year: 2011

Price: $19.95

Shop Review: The wine has a light yellow hue and carries aromas such as pineapple, mango, acacia, as well as a hint of pepper and spice.  On the palate, the attack is smooth and deep, with flavors of sweet spice that intermingle with vibrant acidity and an overall freshness.

My Review: A sweet white that lead with fruits specifically pineapple and mango. It was delightfully tropical. After which follow a hint of pepper making for the sweet spice decribed by the shop review.

Tasting - Terre Rouge Enigma

Name: Terra Rouge Sierra Foothills Enigma

Variety: 44% Marsanne, 29% Viognier and 27% Roussanne

Region: Plymouth, California

Country: United States

Year: 2009

Price: On Sale - $19.95 (Regular $32)

Shop Review: Marsanne, Viognier & Roussanne aromas suggest wildflower honey and acacia blossom with hints of tangerine and papaya.  Flavors are creamy with peach, apple, and quince sensations competing for your taste buds.  The finish is crisp with classic white Rhone stone (peach) fruit pit flavors intermingled with mineral tones from this rocky site.  Enjoyable young, the wine also gains great complexity with bottle age.

My Review: To the inexperienced pallate (mine) this wine truly was an enigma. As a blend the Terre Rouge Enigma lead in with aromas of honey and flower blossoms with fruit following. For me It ended with a high mineral note.

Wine is a Journey

Before I could even drink I knew there was something special about this particular brand of volatile smelling grape juice. I had seen all the members of my family drink the stuff. My parents, both of whom were and still aren't big drinkers, drink it. My aunts and uncles, who boarder on the edge of snob and connoisseur, drink it by the case in prices ranging from twenty five to several hundred dollars. My grandparents drink their Santa Margarita Pino Grigio and obscure Chiantis every night just after cocktail hour into the late evening.  And even with all the differences in palates, life styles, and interests the drink still brings all of them together at one table once a week for a family evening. 

Fast forward to me, twenty three years of age and a dilettante in the world of wine. I too now get to take part in those family libations. I'm the new story at the table and my palate, life style and interests are just as different. 

For me there is an allure to drinking wine unlike any other beverage. From the second its uncorked and the aroma starts to permeate the air, to the way it flows, bottle to glass, with the color catching the light as it dances its way down. It's a sexy beverage. One that, in my imagination, only the social elite and intellectual giants ever consume and yet here I am drinking this mythic liquid. 

But that's what is so incredible about it. For the briefest instance when I uncork that bottle I am counted as a member of the social elite and the intellectual giants. At least that's the way three or four glasses makes me feel, And once the hangover of reality sets in and we all wake up to find that the intellectuals and socialites are right there with the rest of us. Wine, like at my family's dinner table, is a great equalizer. 

Wine for me is a journey, and for the few short years that I've been on it I've already progressed quite a bit. I can tell that my tastes have shifted from the loud, fruit forward and spiced reds of my yesteryears to more subtle and hidden flavors. The kind that tempt you, almost mock you to come and try to describe them. 

I feel that the only way I can continue on this journey is to become a better taster. I want to be able to find the subtleties and underliers and eventually I want to be able to blind taste like the great sommliers. I want to be able to smell the region. I want to be able to taste the history. I want to be able to tell a New World Merlot from and Old World. I want to be able to make the most informed decision about what wine to pair with what food. I want to drink wine. 

That's where I stand. Somewhere in the warm glow of a candle lit restaurant, the low light electrical hum of a wine bar or the last glare of the vineyard's evening sun. There are a few wines behind me and hopefully a lot more to come.