Last Wine Tasting 4/15/23

I had tried a wine-to-go pinot grigio before for a wine and cheese but it was a different brand so I wanted to try another brand and see if there were any differences. I didn’t like the previous one because it lacked flavor.   

Name: Barefoot wine-to-go Pinot Grigio 

Variety: Pinot Gris

Country: US

Region: California 

Vintage Year: 2018

Price: 4

Wine Review: Surprisingly refreshing bottle. Dominated by citrus, apple and a hint of tropical fruit. Medium bodied. For the price, it's quite good!

Wine Folly: Page 149. This page talked about the grape variety. The description had some elements that were the same as the wine I tried. I think that if I had a pinot grigio from Italy a lot more characteristics would have been the same. 

My review: I was comparing this to one I had before that just tasted water down. This one definitely had more flavors. I could taste peaches and more tropical fruits. There were acidic components that helped add to the texture. I don’t think I will buy this one again, but I wouldn’t rule out getting a wine-to-go bottle.

Last wine tastings 4/15/23

 Name: Amboscato Sweet Red 

Variety: Ancellotta Emiliana, Bracchetto Piemontese

Country: Italy

Region: Emilia-Romagna, Piemonte 

Vintage Year: 2021

Price: 10

Wine Review: Aroma: Rich and fresh nose, bringing back notes of wild strawberries and other red berries. Palate: Fresh, slightly sparkling, sweet and fruity (notes of red currants and raspberries). Food suggestions: As an aperitif, with pasta, pizza or as a dessert wine.

Wine Folly: Page 256. I found the region of Italy this wine was made in and found a lambrusco. This is a sparkling red, but it had all the flavors of the Amboscato. The text listed cherry, blackberry, violet, and cream which could all be found in the wine. I am excited to try this wine and see if there is difference. 

My review: The color was medium red. This wine was sweet, but not overly sweet where it tasted like grape juice.I could taste a lot of fruit flavors like raspberry, cherry, plum. When I smelled it, there were hints of chocolate and raspberry. The alcohol content was only 5% so me and my boyfriend finished the bottle that night. I will be buying this wine again. 

Dinner Blog 4/15/23

I had dinner with my family including my mom, my aunt and my little sister, along with my boyfriend. My mom and my aunt are both wine drinkers are open to try anything. My boyfriend hasn't had that many wines so he was very new to this. And of course my sister was just there for the food.  

Cythina (aunt, white shirt), Wanda (mom, blue shirt), Hunter (boyfriend), Leah (sister) and Me

Appetizer was chips and red salsa. The wine paired with this was Peter Mertes Riesling. 

Mom and Aunt

The wine before eating: I tasted sweet pear with hints of mango. This wine was also acidic and left some tingles on the tounge, 

After eating the chips and salsa: The wine was not as acidic, it felt smoother. The taste was sweeter and even a little bit fruiter. 

Overall I like this wine more after eating the chips and salsa. I think it brought out more texture and flavors that I wouldn't have tasted without it. My mom also agreed on this one saying she liked it better after eating. 

Main Course was steak, potatoes and green beans. The wine paired with this was a Blackstone Merlot. 

Before eating: The wine had high tannins and was very plumy. I wouldn't normally drink this wine without having some to snack on. There were bold flavors and textures. 

After eating: the steak cut out on the tannins and brought out more plum flavors, along with some rasberry flavors.  

I think that if I had made a full steak instead of chopping it up, the wine would have tasted even better. Overall, the steak and the merlot paired very well together. My aunt is not a red wine drinker and she enjoyed this wine so much she poured herself a second glass after the meal. 

Desert was apple pie. The wine paired with this was Stella Rosa Moscato D'asti.

All of us about to eat the apple pie

Before eating: This wine was a little bubbly, there were hints of apples and pears more tree fruits than acidic fruits. We all enjoyed this wine even before eating the pies. 

After eating: The apples in the pie brought out the apple in the wine, the wine was less acidic as well and more smoother. I thought the wine after was better than drinking it before. 

I would drink this wine with or without the apple pie. I think the apple pie brought out flavors, but it was good to begin with. Everyone poured a second glass of this wine. 

We all were stuffed and feeling good from the wine. After we ate we enjoyed the rest of the afternoon going to antique store. 

Drink this now lesson 4/10/23

 I did lesson 2: Glassware 

I did this lesson with Leilani Scott. Coming into this I didn't think that the glassware would make a difference. 

I used a shot glass, a short juice glass, a tall glass, a wine glass, a mug and a pyrex container.  And we had homemade bread to cleanse our palate. 

The white wine we tried first was Licia Albarino. 

Shot	Smell: Citrus, musty, dry and definitely not sweet Taste: Acidic, strong and then nothing, not much fruit flavor.
Juice	Smell: Cheesy or moldy
Tall	Smell: Moldy, more acidic than other two before, cheesy
Wine	Smell: Acidic, apple, pear, no cheese smell Taste: strong acidic, lemon zing, powerful body, its light and then it hits your mouth
Mug	Smell: faint citrus maybe pear
Pyrex	Smell: hard to get a clear smell, but hints sweet pear  Taste: water-like, less flavor, not strong after taste

Moving from the shot glass to the pyrex glass the flavors were too intense, just right and then barely there. It was interesting how the shape of the wine glass is perfect for drinking wine. I couldn't believe how bad the wine tasted and smelled in the shot glass. It smelled exaclty like a dirty rag. Then it smelled so sweet and fruity in the wine glass. It was very suprising that each glass had the same wine in it. 

Albarino in the glasses

The red wine we did was Jacob's Creek Shiraz. 

Shot	Smell: It was a very strong vinegar  Taste: no flavor really, just a warm substance, wasn’t as bad as the white wine
Juice	Smell: I got hints of earthy smells, maybe dirt, grass and sweet hints
Tall	Smell: vanilla and a little sweet as well
Wine	Smell: cherry, vanilla, sweet, smelled good Taste: had lots of tannins, bg cherry flavors, and an after taste of vanilla
Mug	Smell: small notes of cherry, clean maybe like steel
Pyrex	Smell: super faint, but still could smell the cherry Taste: less flavors of cherry, tannins still present but not as forceful

This was a little bit different then the white wine. I didn't tast many flavors in the shot glass, it could have been that I drank it too fast. Then again that why we don't drink wine out of a shot glass. I did get the most flavors out of the wine glass. I did enjoy the wine a lot when it was in the correct glass. 

Shiraz in the glasses

Overall, there was a big difference between all the glasses even the size varied by a little bit. I now understand the importance of drinking wine out of a wine glass and will never drink it out of anything else. 

Winery Visit 4/2/23

 

I went to AmRhein's Wine Cellars with 3 of my friends and one is in the class. This was all of our first times going to a vineyard. This winery is located around 50 minutes from Christiansburg. 

The first thing we did was have a wine tasting with the owner Paula AmRheins. We were able to try 10 wines she has available. All of her wines are made sweeter. She even let us try a wine that is not available to the public yet. She also gave us a little background on the winery. It orginiated in 1999, she has vineyards in franklin county, and this is the only tasting vineyard. She has to fortified wines and most of the alcohol levels are 13.5%.

All of the bottles we tried lined up

The list of wines we could taste

The list of wines we could taste

 

There were two wines she made us pay close attention to. They were the 2019 blush wine and the 2019 rose wine. These were made from the same grape except the Blush was fermented with the grape skins, plus some sugar was added. It was cool to see the difference of how much the skins impact the taste. I personally like the blush better than the rose because it was a little bit sweeter and had more fruity flavors. 

The Blush and Rose 

Then after the tasting me and my friends at lunch at the winery and took in the pretty views. 

The grape vines

Grape Vines shaped into Olympic Symbols

After we ate lunch she took us on a tour of the machinery. She didn't have much time to show us, so she just went over the basics. She told us that the grapes come straight from the vineyard into the crusher destemmer. Then after that they go into the press. 

Crusher Destemmer

And made into grape juice, then stored in the stainless steel fermentation tanks. She also noted they use more stainless steal than oak barrels. She said this was because they only use them to oak red wine which they don't do very often. 

Stainless Steel

Oak Barrels

She had a lab area where she would do the tasting and figure out what tastes the best. It was nice to see all the machinery in person instead of in pictures and videos. 

Left from a tasting

Tasting Jars

Testing Room

At the moment they also have to store all the bottle wine in the warehouse as well. 

Cases of their wines

 I ended up buying a wine called Ruby. I made notes on all of the wines as we drank them to see which one I liked the best and it was between two and I ened up going with the Ruby. There labels are drawn by two local artists. 

Ruby

Ruby

I ended up having a great time that day. At the end of our visit we got a picture with the owner. She was great host and I'm sure I will be back when the vines have flowered. 

Paula AmRhein, Me, Leliani Scott

Cheese and Wine 3/29/23

My first paring was Vendamge Chardonnay and Asiago cheese. The smell of the chardonnay was freshing, clean and a faint citrus. Before the cheese the taste was tangy, cutrus, slight acidity. After the Asiago cheese it was super tangy in the begining and then faded to more citrus. Overall I liked it better before the cheese because it was tangy for me with cheese. 

My second pairing was Vendamge Pinot Grigio and Asiago. The smell of the pinot grigio was tropical, maybe cococunt but overall sweet. The taste before the cheese was dry, pear and not much flavor at all. After the Asiago the wine was less dry, but it cut out the little flavors that were present. This wine was almost water-like so I think with a differnt pinot grigio the pairing would have been different. 

My last pairing was Cabernet Saivignon and Gouda. The cabernet smelled like vinegar with a sharp acidic zing and also a hint of something sweet like a cherry. The taste before the cheese very tannic, but also left a burning sensation on my tounge, there were hints of cherry and maybe even leather. After the gouda the wine felt warmer, there was a bite at the begining but didn't last long, the wine was less dry and there were hints of oak as well. I think drinking this wine with a steak would have been better.

Wine Tasting 4/5/23

 Name: 19 Crimes Cali Rose

Variety: 75% Zinfandel, 20% Grenache, 5% Pinot Noir

Country: United States

Region: California 

Vintage Year: 2020

Price: 12

Wine Review: As mentioned, strawberry, melon and another aroma I couldn’t place were plentiful. 19 crimes haven’t made a really bad wine yet and this is no exception.

Wine Folly: I got a taste of mushroom and I was wondering how or why I tasted it. I looked on page 150 about Pinot Noir and this variety can give off a mushroom taste. I know this wine only had 5% Pinot Noir, but I still got that flavor. 

My review: The color was a pink tint with a little bit of orange. The smell is sweet, fresh, flowery, outdoorsy.  This wine was very light and I got a cherry hint at first but then a weird aftertaste almost tasted like eating a mushroom. I like mushrooms, but it did not taste good in this wine. I was hoping I liked this wine, but I was disappointed that I didn't. 

Wine Tasting 4/5/23

 Name: Castello Del Poggio Moscato

Variety: Muscat grapes

Country of Origin: Italy

Region: Gambella, Italy 

Vintage Year: 2021

Price: $3.50

Wine Review: On the palate, it is sweet and lively, with a balanced acidity that keeps it from being cloying. The flavors are intense and persistent, with a perfect balance between the sweetness and acidity. The wine is well-rounded, with notes of peaches, apricots, and honey, and a long, refreshing finish.

Wine Folly: On page 193, the moscato d'asti was the most similar to the one I tried. There were hints of peach, orange and a very sweet aroma. This type of moscato is made in Italy as well. The ABV was a little higher than what is stated in the book, but not by much. This wine was a 7% ABV so it was lower than most wines. 

My review: The color was light yellow with light bubbles. I smelled apples and peaches. Overall it smelled sweet. I could taste the apple, and it was also acidic because I could feel bubbling on my tongue. I really enjoyed this wine. I didn't try it with any food, but I would love to see what I could pair it with.