Tasting - Wine Men of Gotham Chardonnay Semillon

Though this was listed as the second wine on the tasting's itinerary list, the Wine Men of Gotham Chardonnay Semillon was actually the first wine I sampled Thursday. The Vintage Cellar employee that hosted the tasting said it worked better progression-wise among the other wines. This 2008 wine is from the Southern region of Australia. This wine has a blend of two grape varieties, Chardonnay and Semillon, both of which originated from different areas in France. The Vintage Cellar has this wine bottle priced at $5.95.

As for the Vintage Cellar's review of this Chardonnay Semillon, they stated "Gotham's 2008 Wine Men of Gotham Chardonnay Semillon is a blend of 80% Chardonnay and 20% Semillon. It gives a moderate intensity of melon, guava, apricot and butterscotch aromas. The medium bodied palate provides attractive acidity along with plenty of tropical fruit flavors and a medium-long finish."

For my own personal review of this wine, I thought on the nose it smelled very fruity and open. The taste, however, did not provide the same descriptors. I definitely got the acidity upon first tasting it. It felt like a punch when it first hit my tongue. Other than that, it had a pretty flat, not fruity taste. No substantial flavor descriptions came to mind when drinking it. I didn't mind this wine overall, but it definitely did not "wow" me.

I did not have food with this wine.

Tasting - Beringer Riesling

Though this wine was listed as the first on the Vintage Cellar's wine tasting list, Beringer Riesling was the second wine I tried on Thursday. The Vintage Cellar employee who was hosting the wine tasting said he preferred the Riesling to be second to the Chardonnay because it was a better taste progression. This Riesling is from the California region of the United States and from the year 2009. The Vintage Cellar is selling this wine bottle for $5.95. The grape variety for this wine is Riesling, as indicated in the name.

In the Vintage Cellar's review of Beringer Riesling, it stated, "This wine is the perfect balance of honeysuckle and bright peach flavors. A perfect compliment to light fare, appetizers, or just sharing with friends."

As for my own personal review, I was pretty disappointed when I tried this wine. As I've stated in my previous posts, I'm a Riesling girl through and through. However, of all the Rieslings I've tried, this nowhere near makes the top ten. It was very harsh on the nose and had a bitterness to it, which are not very common descriptions I would give Rieslings that I've had in the past. I definitely tasted slight peach tones to the Beringer, but they were so muted that I could barely say they were there. It overall was not sweet at all, which is another big characteristic to most Rieslings. There was a slight carbonation to the Riesling, as well, which I think added a pleasant kick to it. Overall, I probably won't ever try this wine again.

I did not have food with this wine.

Tasting - Highlander Blush Chateau Morrisette

The fifth wine I sampled on Thursday at The Vintage Cellar's wine tasting was Highlander Blush Chateau Morrisette. This was not the original wine they planned to have us taste on Thursday. They ran out of the Bartenura Moscato Italy 2010, so this took its place. This wine is from the Danville, Virginia region of the United States. There is no year displayed on the wine, but I assume it is from 2013 due to the proximity of the winery to The Vintage Cellar. The Vintage Cellar has this priced at a whopping $3.95. This wine is obviously a mix of white and red grapes, but The Vintage Cellar employee did not note what exact grape varieties were found in the blend and I cannot find it anywhere on the Internet.

As this was not a planned wine on the Vintage Cellar's agenda, they did not have any of their own reviews on this wine available to us.

As for my own personal review on this wine, I thought it was very sweet, which I loved. It tasted almost like juice, I really couldn't detect much alcohol in it at all. Either it was well covered up by the sweetness or the alcohol percentage wasn't very high. Again, my palate is developed enough to know what individual fruits I could taste, but it there were definitely not any citrusy fruits. A surprising taste I discovered hidden under the juiciness was a spice. I'm almost positive it was cinnamon, but I could see nutmeg perhaps fitting in there as well. This was one of my favorite wines from Thursday's wine tasting and I would definitely buy it sometime, not only for its taste, but its very affordable price.

I did not have any food paired with this wine.

Tasting - Mars and Venus Chardonnay

The second wine I tasted at The Vintage Cellar's wine tasting on Thursday was Mars and Venus Chardonnay. It is a white wine from 2011. The grape variety for this wine is Chardonnay, as displayed in the name of the wine. It is from the Central Valley region of Chile, though it says it comes from Spain on The Vintage Cellar's review of the wine. The Vintage Cellar was selling this bottle of wine for $5.95, another incredibly low price.

The Vintage Cellar's review of this wine states, "A very nice value Chardonnay that comfortably over-delivers vs. its modest price tag. No oak here, just bushels of clean, crisp, Chardonnay apple and stone fruit with a hint of caramelized pineapple. Juicy and clean, this is a mid-weight white that's just perfect for parties or weeknight shipping."

My own personal review for this wine is that I thought it was very delicate in both taste and smell. I didn't think it was bitter at all, which I personally appreciated. I don't like feeling like I was smacked in the mouth with the taste of a wine. Surprisingly, despite it's light taste, it wasn't very fruity to my palate. Even though this wine is fairly delicate, I felt as is the taste lingered in my mouth for a while after swallowing it.

I did not have any food paired with this wine.

Tasting - Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau

Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau was the third wine I tried at The Vintage Cellar's wine tasting on Thursday. It is a red wine from the year 2012. This wine is from the Beaujolais region in France. The grape variety for this wine is Gamay. The Vintage Cellar has this bottle of wine priced at $3.95, which is probably the cheapest wine I've ever seen in my life.

The Vintage Cellar's review for this wine states, "Bright and tangy, offering a classic banana note on the nose, with flavors or raspberry, wild strawberry and light spice. Modest finish."

For my own personal review, I would definitely say this is a red wine I could handle. The flavor wasn't as harsh as some of the other reds I've tried. The smell of the wine was a bit flowery to me. Upon tasting it, the wine felt heavy in my mouth, maybe because of its viscosity. I got a lot of fruity flavors from the wine, especially the grape flavor, which came through stronger than the rest. I'm still learning to pick out the different types of fruits among the flavors in wine, so I couldn't name indivdual fruits that I could taste, but I definitely tasted a lot of fruit overall. I also noted a bit of a bite upon first tasting the wine as well, but that may also be because I'm not as used to drinking red wines as I am to drinking white wines. Although I don't normally drink red wines, I would definitely consider drinking this one again. I appreciated its sweet fruitiness.

I did not pair any food with this wine.

Tasting - Finca Del Castillo Tempranillo

The fourth wine I sampled on Thursday at the Vintage Cellar's wine tasting was Finca del Castillo Tempranillo. It is a red wine from 2011. This wine is from the La Mancha region in Spain, which is also where the famous literary character Don Quixote is from. The grape variety for this wine is Tempranillo, as it says in the name. The Vintage Cellar has this wine bottle priced at $4.95, which is impressively low to me.

The Vintage Cellar's review for this wine states, "Rooty, spicy and baked on the nose, with aromas that lean toward a raisin. The palate is more gritty and acidic, with raisin, cola, and spic flavors. Darkens up on the finish, which is long and peppery, with adequate juiciness and a final note of tomato."

I attempted to not look at the reviews for any of the wines before writing my own critique of the wine, so looking at their critique now is interesting comparatively. My review of the wine is that when I first smelled it, the aroma of alcohol was pretty intense. I'm not sure what the actual percentage was, but I would imagine it to be higher than other wines based off of the smell. The employee who was doling out the wine also said that the wine had a lot of tannins, so that may be part of it, as well. I definitely got a grapey smell and taste from the wine, but it didn't seem as strong as other reds I've tried have been, so I guess it makes sense that the Vintage Cellar's review described it as more like a raisin flavor than a grape's. Other than the grape flavor, I didn't really detect any other fruits at all.

I'm not a big red wine drinker yet and this wine was pretty intense for me. I definitely think I would have to work my way up first before I could really consider enjoying a wine like this.

I did not pair any food with this wine.

Tasting - La Cappuccina Soave

This past Thursday, the first wine I tried at The Vintage Cellar's wine tasting was La Cappuccina Soave. The grape variety is Garganega and it's from the Veneto region of Italy. The year for the wine was 2011. As we learned in class, it is better for white wines to be more recent in year because they don't necessarily hold well with age. The Vintage Cellar has this bottle of wine priced at $7.95. As this is my first wine tasting, and really my first time in a store especially made to sell wine, I was surprised by how cheap a lot of the wines I tasted that day were.

As for The Vintage Cellar's review for the wine, they say it is "Bright straw yellow in color. Delicate on the nose with notes of flowers and almonds. Dry and well-structured and delicately fruity, with hint of bitter almonds on the finish that is typical of Garganega-based wines."

For my own personal review, I thought the wine was decent, but it wouldn't be one that I would personally buy for myself. Upon smelling it, I definitely got the dryness of the wine right away and the same goes for when I tasted it. I definitely tasted a bitter note in it, although I did not necessarily detect the bitterness as coming from an almond flavor, although my palate is not exactly mature just yet. Though the fruitiness of the wine was subdued to me, I definitely detected it upon tasting the wine. I think I may have gotten almost a muted grapefruit flavor out of it, which I personally believe is one of the best flavors to be found in white wines. Other than that, I thought the wine was kind of plain. It had nothing that made me necessarily want to try it again.

I did not pair any food with this wine.