Posted on July 5, 2009 by Sonadora
Especially after a long hot horseback ride in the Tennessee Mountains! On our recent vacation, this bottle met my criteria of being low alcohol and supposedly having a cork I could remove without a corkscrew. Well, that last bit was TOTALLY wrong, but the rest worked out! I removed the foil from the bottle only to discover that it had a real cork, not a Champagne closure! Oops! Thankfully I found a corkscrew in the cabin. The wine I picked as a pick-me-up after a tiring day? The NV Riondo Prosecco Frizzante from Italy. It clocked in at 10.5% alcohol by volume and cost me $12.99 at a shop close to work. I see you can buy it for $10 on the internet, which is a fabulous deal!
On the nose I got flowers, lemon, honey, pear, apple, and bread. In the mouth I found pear, green apple, a touch of honey, and apple cider. This isn’t a complicated wine or one to ponder but for $10, it’s a great sparkling wine at a low alcohol content that would go great as a before dinner drink or just to sip on the porch on a hot day. Drink up!
Filed under: Italy, Prosecco, Sparkling wine, White, Wine | 1 Comment »
Posted on July 4, 2009 by Sonadora
Hope everyone has a safe and fun Independence Day! Back to your regularly scheduled wine reviews tomorrow!
Filed under: Misc | Leave a Comment »
Posted on July 3, 2009 by Sonadora
21 Days!! Only 21 Days until the Wine Blogger Conference in Santa Rosa! Last year was a blast and I am very much looking forward to sipping a few glasses with my fellow wine blog authors again this year! Thanks to companies like Travessia Urban Winery, and their generous contribution to the Wine Blogger Conference Scholarship Fund, I, and everyone else, will get to enjoy the company of 11 wine blog folks who wouldn’t have been able to make the trip otherwise. We are all quite grateful for the support of Travessia Urban Winery and others.
I had actually come into contact with Travessia Urban Winery before they donated to the Scholarship Fund. I offered some (free) thoughts on wine clubs when they were working on developing their wine club! Travessia is located in New Bedford, MA and makes wines from 100% MA grown grapes! Now, I’ve never had a wine from MA, so that’s pretty interesting to me! Travessia is a relatively new winery, having just opened to the public this past December. Travessia is looking to expand in the future by purchasing land in MA to grow their own grapes!. So head on over to the website and check them out!
Many thanks to Travessia Urban Winery for their generous support of the Wine Blogger Conference Scholarship Fund!
Filed under: WBC | 1 Comment »
Posted on July 3, 2009 by Sonadora
Now, in general, I don’t rant one way or another on high alcohol wines. In my mind, as long as the alcohol is in balance with everything else, it’s a-ok with me. However, there are times when I specifically seek out lower alcohol wines. Among those times is the summer…I often want to enjoy a glass or two with friends in the backyard in the middle of the afternoon and I don’t want to be drinking something at 16%+ at say 4pm. Also, if I’m going to be physically exerting myself but still want some wine, I’d prefer something with lower alcohol. As you may or may not know, since I’m not sure I mentioned it here, Matt and I went off to the Smoly Mountains this week for a summer vacation. We hiked, tubed, horseback rode, swam, basically just found outselves being much more active than we usually are. But we were on vacation and still wanted wine, so I sought out low alcohol wines to take with us. The first? A 2008 Sincerely Sauvignon Blanc from South Africa. It had a screw cap, clocked in at 12.5% alcohol by volume, and I paid $10.99 for it at a shop in DC whose name escapes me at the moment.
On the nose I found lime, green pepper, grapefruit, tropical notes, gooseberries, lemon, and white pepper. In the mouth I got lime, pepper, lemon, kiwi, gooseberry, and grapefruit. This wine worked perfectly for my purposes: relatively low alcohol, crisp, refreshing, and really good after a day of hiking in 94 degree weather! I give the wine two thumbs up as an after-hiking wine!
Filed under: Sauvignon Blanc, South Africa, White, Wine | 1 Comment »
Posted on July 2, 2009 by Sonadora
*Disclaimer: I received this wine as a sample from Gallo Family Wines.
I felt like a Syrah the other night. So I rummaged around in one of the sample boxes and came up with the 2005 Clarendon Hills Liandra Syrah. I didn’t even look at the associated information until I had already pulled the cork. Then I saw: Suggested Retail Price $85 and my eyes bugged out of my head. First, it was a weeknight and second, I don’t think I’ve ever had an $85 Syrah. Ever. I’m sure the price has something to do with the huge scores this one received from various traditional media sources. I see you can find it on the internet for about $66. But still, WOAH!. The wine had a real cork closure, clocked in at 14.5% alcohol by volume, hails from Austrailia, and only 500 cases were made.
The nose on the wine jumped out of the glass and smacked me across the face. I could smell the fruit from across the room. Literally….Matt had the bottle near him, about 6 feet from where I sit and I could smell berries and plums wafting across the divide. On the nose I found berries, plums, pepper, blueberry, violets, chocolate syrup, and other dark fruit. It smelled juicy, if that’s possible. In the mouth I got blueberry, blackberry, dark fruit, licorice, chocolate syrup, red berries, spice, pepper, raspberries, black currants, black plums, and blueberry pie. The finish on the wine went on and on and on, carry the creamy lush fruit along with it and ending with just a hint of tart red fruit. Matt loved this wine. I was still pondering my first glass and sips and he had already come back for seconds. In terms of the price though….a little too rich for my blood!
Filed under: Australian, Red, Syrah, Wine | 1 Comment »
Posted on July 1, 2009 by Sonadora
*Disclaimer: I received this wine as a sample from Gallo Winery.
Not too long ago, a giant box of wines arrived at my doorstep. Among them was the 2007 Sebeka Sauvignon Blanc. Now, I’ve seen it on shelves in the grocery store many times. It’s hard to miss with the bright yellow label and the cheetah on the front. Not to mention it’s often accompanied by quite the cheetah display. I don’t tend to go for the wines with critters on the front nor do I often (if ever) buy wine at the grocery store. Anyway. The 2007 Sebeka Sauvignon Blanc had a plastic (yellow with black spots) cork, it clocked in at 13% alcohol by volume, and can be found on the internet for as little as $5.54. It hails from the Western Cape of South Africa.
I’m not sure what kind of treatment this was given, but it smelled like vanilla, cream, lemon, S’mores, grass, sweet melon, and lime on the nose. I almost would have leaned toward Chardonnay if given this blind. In the mouth it had melon, lime, lemon, citrus, and grass. The wine displayed a full mouthfeel with just a tiny hint of the crispness I look for in Sauvignon Blanc. For $5, this beats a lot of other $5 wines I’ve had.
Filed under: Sauvignon Blanc, South Africa, White, Wine | 4 Comments »
Posted on June 30, 2009 by Sonadora
*Disclaimer: I received this as a sample from Lange Twins Winery
I love Viognier. LOVE IT! LOVE IT! LOVE IT! I’m always so excited to get Viognier in the mail, something a little bit different than the standard Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio that people tend to send me. I recently reviewed and liked the Lange Twins Petite Verdot/Petite Sirah blend, so I was happy to get a bottle of the limited edition 2008 Lange Twins Viognier in the mail a couple weeks ago. The wine had a screw cap closure (which I actually didn’t realize until I tried to use my foil removed on the foil and started cutting into the screw cap…), clocked in at 14.9% alcohol by volume, and retails for $16. (But it’s really limited, so you should go buy some. Now. It’s really good. Go. Now.)
On the nose I found peach, pear, flowers, nectarines, white pepper, tinned pears, honeysuckle, and lemon. This had a FABULOUS nose! I kept smelling and smelling and smelling and Matt kept draining his glass. In the mouth I got lime, honey, peach, pear, lemon, spiced pears, tropical fruit, and spice. The wine had a great round mouthfeel, but was still really refreshing. I could easily see how Matt’s glass had a hole in it!
Filed under: California, Viognier, White, Wine | 4 Comments »
Posted on June 29, 2009 by Sonadora
I recently found a butcher near our house and I am SO excited. I really missed having someone to order meat from and to cut what I want exactly like I want it to be cut. So I stopped by the butcher and picked up a couple fresh duck breasts. YUM! Matt played chef for the evening and made seared duck breast with a Zinfandel fig reduction sauce. We chose the 2004 Foppiano Zinfandel to both make the sauce and drink with out dinner. I purchased this at the winery in 2008 for $15, it had a real cork closure, and clocked in at 14.5% alcohol by volume.
This sat out on the table open for about 4 hours and it still seemed really hot right off the bat. It took a while for the alcohol to integrate into the wine. After a while, I went back to the wine and found brown sugar, blackberries, pepper, herbs, spice, grape hard candy, and vanilla cream on the nose. In the mouth I thought the wine was grapey. I also got berries, spice, pepper, vanilla, cedar, and chocolate. Overall, the wine was smooth and is probably at its prime.
Filed under: California, Foppiano, Red, Sonoma, Wine, Zinfandel | Leave a Comment »
Posted on June 28, 2009 by Sonadora
*Disclaimer: I received this wine as a sample from Don Sebastiani & Sons.
An entire line of wines name “The Crusher” showed up on my doorstep the other day. The premise behind the wines is a low cost good value line that you can drink every day. I have the whole line… Cabernet Sauvignon, the Viognier, the Petite Sirah, and the Chardonnay to tell you about in the next couple weeks. Tonight I chose the 2007 The Crusher Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine had a plastic cork closure, clocked in at 13.5% alcohol by volume and I see it available online for as little as $12. The whole second label lower cost wine is an interesting phenomenon and I have a bunch of others to talk about in the upcoming weeks!
On the nose I found vanilla, cream, blackberries, brown sugar, caramel, and strawberry candy. In the mouth I got flavors of maple syrup, caramel, bramble fruit, some blue fruit, brown sugar, coconut, and dusty baking chocolate. The syrup was really prevalent to me, it tasted like real Vermonth maple syrup and pancakes. So to me, this wine didn’t taste like Cabernet Sauvignon, it tasted like Syrah. A pretty tasty Syrah, but not a Cabernet Sauvignon.
Filed under: Cabernet Sauvignon, California, Red, Wine | 2 Comments »
Posted on June 27, 2009 by Sonadora
*Disclaimer: I received this wine as a sample from Mill Creek Winery.
Tonight I felt like a spicy white wine. Our weather is hot hot hot! And white wine is just the ticket for nights like tonight. I picked the 2007 Mill Creek Winery Gewurztraminer out of the basement to sip after dinner. We had leftover meatloaf and I didn’t think the wine and and the meatloaf would work so well together….this is my second Mill Creek Winery wine and I’m digging them! The Gewurztraminer (I have such trouble spelling that grape!) clocked in at 14.1% alcohol by volume, had a real cork closure, and retails for $18.
On the nose I find white flowers, spice, lychee, almonds, spicy pears, lots of flowers, the slightest hint of tangerine, and a touch of honey. I love the nose on Gewurztraminer. I could have kept smelling this one for hours, but Matt was eyeing my glass, so I thought I best get to it! In the mouth, the wine is crisp with a great spciy characteristic. I get the tangerine more in the mouth, with lychee, flowers, almonds, and exotic spices. This is a tasty Gewurztraminer, and if you are so inclined to eat spicy foods, this would make a great match!
Filed under: California, Gewurztraminer, Sonoma, White, Wine | 1 Comment »
