Tasting - Simply Naked Unoaked Moscato

Name: Simply Naked Unoaked Moscato
Variety: Moscato
Region: California
Country: United States
Vintage: 2011
Price: $9 on Sale
ABV: 10%
Winery's Review: Simply Naked Moscato is a sweetly balanced wine with floral notes and flavors of orange marmalade, peach and honey.
My Review: Nose: Sweet with hints of fruit, honey, and flowers.
Taste: Sweet with apple and pineapple flavors. Had an underlying bubblegum taste with a sweet finish.

I rate this wine a 3/5

Tasting - Cupcake Sauvignon Blanc

Name: Cupcake Sauvignon Blanc
Variety: Sauvignon Blanc
Region: Marlborough
Country: New Zealand
Vintage: 2013
Price: $9
ABV: 13%
Winery's Review: Sourced from the South Island of New Zealand, this Sauvignon Blanc exhibits complexity and a vibrant zing. Flavors of Meyer lemons and Key limes integrate with hints of grapefruit, gooseberry and citrus, culminating in a long, creamy finish. Long, cool seasons in New Zealand’s Marlborough region allow our grapes to mature slowly and gain character and complexity. The grapes are harvested at night and gently crushed before undergoing cool fermentation in stainless steel tanks. An extended fermentation sur lie adds richness and softness, complementing the fruit’s natural zest and acidity.
My Review: Nose: Very Tart with hints of green apple. Taste: Semi-dry, crisp and acidic. Primarily tastes of apple with some hints of grass and earth. Has a sweet/sour finish which I enjoyed.

I give this wine a 3.5/5

Tasting - Bota Box Shiraz

Name: Bota Box Shiraz
Variety: Shiraz
Region: California
Country: United States
Vintage: 2012
Price:  $20
ABV: 13.6%
Winery's Review: Our Bota Box Shiraz is a medium bodied, succulent wine offering complex aromas of blackberry, plum and white pepper.  On the palate, the wine forms a soft, supple mouth feel, bursting with blueberry jam and cherry. 
My Review: Nose: Strong nose primarily smelling of black cherries and flowers. Has some earthy components with a slight hint of alcohol. Taste: Slightly hot with a full body. Slightly sweet with hints of cherry and berry fruits.

I rate this wine 3.5/5.

Tasting - Yellow Tail Pink Moscato

Name: Yellow Tail Pink Moscato
Variety: Moscato
Region: South Eastern Australia
Country: Australia
Vintage: 2013
Price: ?? (Gift)
ABV: 7.5 Percent
Winery Review: This wine displays bright strawberry flavors with hints of sherbert and delicate floral notes. The wine has a fine and enticing fizz... just for fun!
My Review: Nose: Sweet sweet fruit predominantly strawberry and apple. Taste: Sweet with strawberry and other tree fruits. I hated this wine because it was really hollow with no real flavors. Sweet fruit at first and then nothing.

I give it a 1/5

Tasting - Oliver Camelot Mead

Name: Oliver Camelot Mead
Variety: Mead
Region: Indiana
Country: USA
Vintage: ??
Price: $9
ABV: 10%
Winery's Review: The wine that put us on the map! We have been making Camelot Mead since 1972, and have learned all the tricks to make a rich flavorful classic mead.  Give it a taste!
My Review: Nose: Very light on the nose, with a strong smell of flowers with hints of honey
Taste: Very sweet, with honey and grape being the main flavors. Hints of flowers. Mildly warm in the taste but no burn.

I give it a 2.5/5

My Fork and Cork Experience

My girlfriend Kristin and I attended Fork and Cork this year for the first time. Overall it ended up being a fun experience, though the sunburn is definitely affecting my judgement today while I write this. We arrived at 11:30, in time to be close to the front of the line to get in, which was totally worth it since we were able to sample 3 wineries with practically no line.

Us waiting to get into the event (while burning)

 In total we ended up sampling from 5 of the wineries, all of which had some really great wines. It was a great chance to taste a lot of different wines from different wineries and really see how different wineries have such different styles.

Me standing in line after the lines started building.

The wineries we ended up sampling from at Fork and Cork were:

Notaviva Vineyards

Ramulose Ridge Vineyards

Peaks of Otter Winery (Had the most unique wines I tasted)

Hill Top Berry Farm & Winery (My Favorite of the Day)

Savoy-Lee Vineyards

Now onto some individual wine reviews:

1) Notaviva Vinyards  2012 "Vierzig" Blaufrankisch - $24
Winery's Review: Melancholy yet beautiful, delicate yet complex, Mozart’s “great” G-minor symphony is considered one of the supreme compositions of all time. Often interpreted as a personal revelation, the brilliance of this work was matched only by the intensity of his inner turmoil. Best paired with Wolfgang's 40^th 85% Blaufrankisch, 15% Cabernet Franc
My Review: A really solid red wine. Smooth on the pallet with some tannins that really bring the finish together. For me this would be a really great grilled steak wine.

2) Hill Top Berry Farm & Winery's Mountain Apple Wine - $14.95/Bottle - $4.00/Glass
Winery's Review: This semi-dry wine made from a blend of apple varieties is the best cheese and crackers wine! Makes great mulled wine. Pairs with pork.
My Review: Was really surprised by this wine. The apple came through really strong but wasn't overwhelming. The sweetness and acidity were a perfect match, it really reminded me of a pinot grigio I have had before. They state that it is semi-dry, though I would say it is more on the sweet side instead of the dry side in my opinion. Also it was the wine that I had with my lunch below.

3) Hill Top Berry Farm & Winery's Dragon’s Breath - $21.95/Bottle - $8.00/Glass
Winery's Review: Unique sipping wine made from hickory smoked hot peppers and honey. Slight heat with lots of flavor, this will be your new favorite cook out wine.
My Review: I thought this was really interesting, especially compared to the other pepper wine I had earlier (below). To me instead of being a chili pepper wine it more reminded me of like a green bell pepper. Not really something I enjoyed or would drink again.

4) Hill Top Berry Farm & Winery's Hunter’s Moon - $21.95/Bottle - $7.00/Glass
Winery's Review: Our Spiced Pumpkin Mead is just the trick to treat your taste buds! Slightly sweet with pumpkin pie spices, this is a great holiday wine and delicious all the time! 
My Review: My favorite wine of the day by far, mainly because I am crazy about pumpkin flavors. It was a little sweet for drinking regularly, but I think it would make an awesome dessert wine or after dinner wine. I would recommend this wine to anyone who likes pumpkin pie.

5) Peaks of Otter Winery's Kiss the Devil - $15
Winery's Review: Made from 30 varieties of peppers, including ghost, better for basting than tasting, super hot
My Review: From reading their description, I would definitely listen to their recommendation that it isn't a great taster wine (which they still served anyways). It was HOT, HOT. It actually choked me up a little bit after drinking it, like drinking a clear hot sauce. They also gave out stickers for this wine (you can see the sticker above on the left side of the picture), not sure if it was fair compensation or not.

6) Peaks of Otter Winery's  Salty Frog  Margarita - $15
Winery's Review: take a cut lime - rub on glass rim - dip rim into salt - add 2 cubes of ice-- fill glass with chilled Margarita wine and Violia!!!
My Review: Not being a fan of margaritas this really wasn't something I enjoyed, but I can appreciate the attempt. Had a strong lime taste that was identical to a stereotypical margarita, I would say anyone who is a fan of lime or margaritas would really like this wine. The woman who was pouring said she used it as a base for her margaritas, adding tequila to the wine.

 7) Peaks of Otter Winery's Chili Dawg - $15
Winery's Review: 97% apple blended with 3% chili pepper wine, tastes like a pepper jelly
My Review: I was surprised that this was based off apple wine, since it more tasted like green peppers. They served this with spray cheese, which I wasn't expecting at all. I could see where they were attempting to go with this, but like the Margarita wine, it wasn't my cup of tea.

Side Note: Even though the three wines I reviewed for Peaks of Otter winery I didn't really like, they also had 3 or 4 other fruit based wines that I enjoyed, but were a little too sweet for me. I reviewed those three because they were their most unique wines and really stood out to me the most. Their Strawberry wine was super sweet, but was strawberry in a glass in my opinion. They also had a blueberry muffin wine which was sweet, but a perfect expression of blueberry flavor, though I didn't really get any "muffin" taste.

Wine and Food Review:

After having wines from Hill Top Berry Farm & Winery's wines we decided to sit down to have lunch. I bought their Mountain Apple Wine to have with my lunch, not because I had a specific food in mind, but because it was the most drinkable of the wines I tasted at that point. Bull and Bones were set up selling food, and of course I had to get food from them since they are my favorite restaurant in Blacksburg. 

Picture of us under the dining tent

 (Why did I take a picture of us and not the food and wine? I have no idea....)

I had their pulled pork sandwich with chips and some of their house bbq sauce on the side. The pork and wine themselves really matched perfectly (which is an awesome coincidence reading the wine description from the winery's site, I can totally see their recommendation now). When adding the sauce to the pork, I thought the wine really showed itself. Though it didn't really unveil any new flavors, the acidity of the wine really complimented the thick bbq sauce. Also, the salted chips really went well with the sweetness of the wine (sweet and salty, who doesn't love that?). It ended up being a perfect match, and I would definitely like to try this again in the future.

Favorite Wine of The Day:

 If it wasn't evident from my individual wine reviews above, my favorite wine can be described in one picture:

By far my favorite wine of the day was Hill Top Berry Farm & Winery's Hunter’s Moon (as I said, I absolutely love pumpkin flavor), as evident by me purchasing a bottle of it. I plan to save this for moving home in the summer to share with my family.

Tasting - Sutter Home Sweet Red

Name: Sutter Home Sweet Red
Variety: Red Blend
Region: California
Country: USA
Price: $6
ABV: 12.5

Winery's Notes: The perfect blend of our trusted favorites, this wine gives you its all, with the perfect combination of bright, creamy and lush flavors. Not too formal, with just the right amount of whimsy, it will surprise you with how balanced the fresh cherries and juicy peaches can be in one pour.

My Notes: The nose was composed of a sweet fruit, primarily apple. The Taste was very sweet, almost overwhelmingly sweet. Only flavor that came through was strong fruit flavors. This wine was almost too sweet for me so I give it a 2.5/5, but would probably be enjoyed by anyone who really likes super sweet wines.

Tasting - Chateau Morrisette Sweet Muscadine

Name: Chateau Morrisette Sweet Muscadine
Region: Virginia
Country: USA
ABV: 10.5%
Price: $9

Winery's Notes: Aroma: Fruity. Palate: Effervescent, light, sweet. Finish: Crisp, refreshing. Southern Muscadine grape, unique flavor.

My Notes:  The nose was sweet with sweet berry fruits. The taste was overwhelmingly sweet but still somewhat crisp. The primary flavors that came through were blueberry and grape. The wine was a little too sweet for me so I give it a 2.5/5. People who really enjoy sweet wines will love this wine.

Tasting - Jacob's Creek Shiraz

Name: Jacob's Creek Shiraz
Variety: Shiraz
Region: South East Australia
Country: Australia
ABV: 13.2%
Price: $6
Vintage: 2011

Winemaker's Notes: Displaying aromas of spicy red and black fruits, with hints of chocolate and well-handled cedary oak.
The palate is medium-bodied with  vibrant fruit flavors and a spicy, liquorice-like edge, reflecting the cooler 2011 vintage. It has an attractive sweet mid-palate and soft, silky Shiraz tannins through to a long, satisfying finish.

My Notes:  The nose was semi-sweet with a toasted oak and berry-fruit components coming through. The taste was primarly black cherry. Full bodied, the wine was smooth with a buttery finish. I give it a 3/5.

Tasting - Clos du Bois 2012 Chardonnay

Name: 2012 Clos du Bois Chardonnay North Coast
Region: California
Country: USA
Vintage: 2012
Price: $12
ABV: 13.5%

Winemaker's Notes: This wine has a brilliant silver straw yellow hue. Intense aromas of apple blossom, ripe pear, and sweet lemon drop are complimented by toasty oak, spice and cream. The silky texture of the wine is overlaid with bright and juicy flavors of rich ripe apple and pear finishing in a long fresh aftertaste.

My Notes: The nose was sweet with apple being the overwhelming component. The taste was sweet apple with hints of other tree-fruits such as pears. Full bodied with the finish being strongly oaked and buttery. I give it a 3.5/5. 

Tasting - Matthew Fox Cabernet Sauvignon

 Name: Matthew Fox Cabernet Sauvignon
 Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon
 Region: California
 Country: USA
 Price: $4.50
 ABV: 12%

 Winemaker's Review (From label): This Cabernet Sauvignon presents aromas of red raspberry and toasted oak. The wine is remarkably smooth with red fruit and vanilla flavors that linger through a pleasing finish.

My Notes: The nose was very pleasing, slightly sweet with a berry component coming through. The taste was mediocre. Had some slight fruit flavors coming through with a toasted oak finish. For the money though, this was a good wine and a wine that I will purchase again just to see if it is consistent. 

Wine Dinner - Italian Theme (Food)

For this weekend's wine dinner I decided to come up with an Italian themed dinner, even though I didn't really have any experience with cooking Italian. For an appetizer I decided to make a mozzarella stuffed arancini (rice ball), for the main course I made a Cajun shrimp Alfredo, and for dessert I made tiramisu cupcakes. All of the wines that I bought for the night were under $10, which I thought was pretty great because I ended up enjoying each of them.

Our Wine For the Night

 Cooking was for the most part a breeze compared to last time, though the arancini gave me the most trouble. The rice was insanely sticky due to the egg/Parmesan mixture that was added to it. The pasta was quick and simple and ended up being super good. My girlfriend actually stepped in and made the cupcakes for me which really was a huge time saver.

Making the Arancini

Cupcakes Fresh Out Of The Oven

First up we had the arancini paired with the Ruffino Orvieto Classico 2012, which I thought paired OK, not really greatly but not badly either.

Starting with the Appetizer

Next up was the main entree for the night, a Cajun shrimp Alfredo (which I accidentally made a bit too spicy) which was paired with the Seaglass 2012 Sauvignon Blanc. I thought this was definitely the best pairing out of the entire night.

The Extra-Spicy Shrimp Alfredo

 For dessert I was originally going to make an actual Tiramisu; however, they are pretty time intensive having to make and set up, so I decided the next best thing was a tiramisu cupcake that my girlfriend had found a recipe for online. We paired this with ChocolateRogue Sweet Red Blend, which ended up being my least favorite pairing of the night. Overall it was a very fun night with my friends with some amazing food. My complete reviews are below.

The Delicious Tiramisu Cupcakes

(Side Note: My prices may be slightly off since my receipt was destroyed while cooking dinner, but I believe these prices are close to being correct)

Ruffino Orvieto Classico 2012 $8.50 12% ABV

Wine Maker's Notes: The taste is lightly sweet and smooth thanks to the balance between structure, acidity and fruity notes. The aftertaste is long and fragrant, with neat hits of fresh almond due to the chalky soil of the Orvieto production area.

My Notes: The nose had a very sweet floral component, with some apple undertones. The taste was mildly acidic, semi-sweet with strong green apple taste with some generic concord grape flavors as well.

Notes W/ Food: The sweetness of the wine came through more when paired with the cheese of the rice ball. The acidity was strong enough to really cut through some of the thickness of the ball and ended up being more of a smooth sweet wine.

Seaglass 2012 Santa Barbara County Sauvignon Blanc $9.99 13% ABV

Winemaker's Notes: Our Sauvignon Blanc has pronounced aromas of lemon, lime, grapefruit and fresh cut grass. On the palate, this distinctive California Sauvignon Blanc is clean and crisp with gooseberry and tangerine notes and a slight trace of minerality. The acidity is mouthwatering and zingy and is followed by a lightly tart finish. SeaGlass Sauvignon Blanc is the perfect companion to
oysters and light seafood pastas.

My Notes: The nose was really lacking for this wine in my opinion, with it mostly comprised of a strong acidity. The taste was strongly acidic with some citrus fruit flavors. Very smooth and sweet up front with a tannic aftertaste.

Notes W/ Food: This was a great pairing. The strong acidity really cut through the creamy Alfredo and helped to cut down on the spice. No real flavor changes were noticed in my opinion, but it was a great pairing.

ChocolateRouge Sweet Red Blend $9.50 12.5% ABV

Winemaker's Notes: Deliciously different, ChocolatRouge Sweet Red is a luscious blend of fine red wine and rich chocolate flavors reminiscent of chocolate-dipped red berries with a soft velvety finish.

My Notes: The nose was insanely sweet with overwhelming chocolate, like opening a hershey's bar and smelling it. The taste was super sweet with chocolate being the dominant taste. There were some red-wine undertones that really reminded me of a typical red-blend table wine.

Notes W/ Food: This was the weakest pairing of the night in my opinion. The wine didn't pair well at all, and really brought out the red-wine flavors which would have been OK if it was an enjoyable red-blend flavors, but for me it was not.

The recipes I used for dinner tonight are here:

Arancini: http://mymansbelly.com/2010/01/04/arincini-di-riso-ushering-in-the-new-year/

Shrimp Alfredo: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Peppered-Shrimp-Alfredo/Detail.aspx?evt19=1
(Don't use as much cayenne as the recipe calls for, it'll be inedible for most people)

Tiramisu Cupcakes: http://www.laurainthekitchen.com/recipes/tiramisu-cupcakes-/

Dinner - Homemade (No Theme)

This week my roommate and I decided to do a wine and food pairing. Thinking up the menu was basically almost just whatever decided to come to my head. I was in charge of the food, he was in charge of the wine, and I think it came down to a pretty great night. After selecting the menu for the night, I went to the store for food supplies and he went to the Vintage Cellar for some wine pairing recommendations.

The Menu for the night was:
Buffalo Chicken Spring Rolls with Rubus Arlanza Old Vine Tempranillo 2011
Grilled Angus Hamburgers with 2010 Gotham Shiraz
Double Fudge Brownies with 2011 Notaviva Vinyards "Gitano" Chambourcin

I was set to work in the kitchen, being the only attendee who I actually trusted to do anything more than burn the entire kitchen to a crisp. Boiling chicken for the spring rolls and cooking some bacon to top the burgers.

Boiling Chicken With My Grill Plate Ready

Bacon Always Improves a Meal

 After about a hour (of me cooking and everyone else drinking.) dinner was ready to be served.

Dinner On the Table With the Wines

For the most part, the first two courses paired well. I was much more impressed with the buffalo chicken and Tempranillo pairing than the burger, but I'll go into details below. After dinner, dessert (or the main course as some would say) was ready.

The Brownies Were Basically Annihilated After Cooling

Dinner was a great success, but now for the specifics of the night, the wines!

Rubus Arlanza Old Vine Tempranillo 2011

Their Description: 
Sight: Dark cherry red with violet hues.
Nose: Subtle aromas of forest fruits, characteristic of Tempranillo grapes, on a light backdrop of hints of vanilla from wood ageing.
Mouth: Full of fruity aromas in the mouth, with a smooth, honest passage.

My Description:
Nose: Overwhelmingly Cherry,  Oakish components in the background.
Taste: Full bodied, strong tannins, dry finish, berry, concord grape, and a grassy/earthy/dirt taste as well.
                                          Taste W/ Food: Again, it was paired with the buffalo chicken spring rolls,          which I thought it did greatly. The dryness cut through the spice really well and almost left it with a slightly sweet aftertaste when compared to drinking it by itself.
 

2010 Gotham Shiraz

 Their Description: 
Deep dense dark and brooding in colour with a stunning rim of purple/red in the glass! The nose is rich ripe plums and loads of primary spices including fennel, black pepper, with mocha and coffee highlights. The palate has superb velvet tannins and incredible soft finish length. The wine is big and rich, yet elegant and silky

My Description:
Nose: Little warm, sweet berry, and oak.
Taste: Slightly Tannic, slightly warm, sweet, dark fruit.
Taste W/ Food: I thought it really didn't show any new characteristics, but it may have been the fact that I really didn't care for this wine at all. There was something with the taste that truly made me dislike this wine.

2011 Notaviva Vinyards "Gitano" Chambourcin

Their Description:
Exotic and sweet, our "Gitano" Chambourcin after dinner wine pays homage to the music of the nomadic Romani people. Let the distinct sounds of the phrygian dominant mode fill your ears as the scents of wildflowers, spice and black cherries leap from the glass. Best paired with starry nights, bonfires and fast Gypsy music.

My Description:
 Nose: Super Sweet, flowers, buttery, blueberry, berry.
Taste: Medium Body, super smooth, raspberry, blueberry, sweet. I was very Impressed with this wine.
Taste W/ Food: I thought this wine paired extremely well with the brownies, the smoothness really went well alongside the fudge brownie and overall the taste reminded me of eating a very good chocolate covered raspberry or berry-type fruit.

Again, overall it was a great night even though one of the wines really didn't click for me. My favorite of the night was definitely the Chambourcin and I believe the Tempranillo was my favorite wine and food pairing of the night. It was a wonderful experience and I had a great time with my friends as well.

My Experiences With Wine

Anyone who knows me knows I'm more of a beer guy. Not like cheap whatever is on sale, but crafts or imports (though I enjoy mass produced light beers too). Wine is more of a foreign concept to me, though I've drank it before. I'd say that there are some similarities between tasting wine and tasting a good beer, there can be layers of flavors and textures.

I know from tasting wine so far that I enjoy bolder fruit flavors and tend to go more towards sweeter wines instead of dry wines. Not to say I like them super sweet (moscato), but more of a slightly sweet if anything. As long as it isn't dry, chances are I will probably like it. Some types I know that I like are Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Chardonnay, and Merlot.

I'm taking this class mainly to broaden my knowledge of wine. As stated earlier, I know plenty about beer and I'm also somewhat of a bourbon drinker, but I want to be able to know my way around a bottle of wine as well. I think that not only is it a very important social skill, but that there is also plenty to learn about wine itself.

Also on a side-note, these default templates suck. Need to make this blog look better somehow.