Tasting - Columbia Valley Riesling

Name: Chateau Ste Michelle Riesling
Variety:  Riesling
Region: Columbia Valley
State: Washington
Country: USA
Year: 2017
Price: $10

Winery Review: "The wine offers crisp apple aromas and flavors with subtle mineral notes. This is our "everyday Riesling" that is a pleasure to drink and easy to match with a variety of foods."

My Review: Me and a friend decided to have this Riesling while we watched the wine movie for this week, and we wanted to get close to the suggestion. We went for a Riesling that was a little less sweet, but not totally on the dry side. I thought it was a pretty good wine, and a good first impression on Riesling. It had a light body with a high acidity that balanced pretty well with the sugars. When thinking about the aroma, it had the same fruity nose that I remember from a Sauvignon Blanc that had a few weeks prior. It didn't taste much like that wine as it incorporated pear and citrus flavors along with earthy characteristics that resembled soil. This was a very refreshing and easy to drink wine that has left me looking into getting another Riesling down the road.

Tasting - Owl's Leap

Name: Owl's Leap Chambourcin
Variety: Chambourcin
Region: Shawnee Hills
State: Illinois
Country: USA
Year: 2010
Price: It was a gift! (Finding the price is difficult due to the winery's website not telling me...) It might be $15.99

Winery Review: 

I looked hard to find the winery review or any other in depth review and I was not coming up with much. The winery's website doesn't have much information on their wines because it looks like that part of the site is down. This is what was on the bottle, "Owl's Leap is a wonderfully full bodied, dry red wine that expresses the spiciness of Chambourcin grapes and oak barrel aged for a full year."

My Review:
This was my first try of my hometown local wine from southern Illinois in the Shawnee Hills AVA. It was a gift from back home, along with a few other local wines that will have reviews coming, and it was my first try of a hybrid. Lots of the wines there are produced with hybrids and Chambourcin seems to be one of the more popular varieties there. With this, it was fairly different and really good when compared to European varietals. The aroma was the first thing that jumped out as different. It had a sort of spicy, peppery combination with maybe tobacco. It was definitely full bodied and had a unique mouthfeel that I hadn't seen before. In the palate, cherries predominated with leathery flavors and spiciness. Despite it being different from the other wines I've tried, I really liked it. I had to stop myself from having more because I knew it would be a while before I could get my hands on more of it. Here's to hoping the other hybrids live up to this new expectation.

Tasting - Frescobaldi Tuscan Blend

Name: Remole Toscana

Variety: Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon 

Region: Tuscany

Country: Italy

Year: 2017

Price: $8.99

 

Winery Review: "Remole 2017 has a deep, brilliant and intense violet-red color. The nose reveals decisive cherry and raspberry aromas, followed by spicy hints of black pepper. Its main characteristic is its pleasantness, which combines elegance with balance and a pronounced softness."

My Review: I had this at an Italian restaurant with a few friends. It had good fruit flavors with hints of spice as well. There was a mild tannic structure with a good finish. The best part of the wine was how it paired with my main dish. I had a sausage penne in vodka sauce and the two matched very well. The fats of the sausage and thickness of sauce brought out more of the fruit flavors and some spicy notes from the wine. The higher amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon was interesting and I would try this again, as well as trying other Tuscan blends. 

Tasting - Alamos Malbec

Name: Alamos Malbec
Variety: Malbec
Region: Mendoza
Country: Argentina
Year: 2018
Price: $10

 

Winery Review: "Our flagship wine, the rich and flavorful Argentinian Malbec thrives in Mendoza’s Uco Valley, where our unique growing conditions give our Malbec incredibly concentrated fruit flavors of plum and blackberry."

My Review: This wine started off with raspberry and vegetal aromas which moved into blackberry, cherry and vanilla on the palate. The cherry expressed itself later into the finish which was long in itself. It had a light body with light tannins and because of this, it was very easy to drink. I didn't have it with any food and I don't think that it demands food at all either.

Wine Dinner - October 4

My wine class friends and I decided to have our wine dinner for this month at Volare on Campus Corner for lunch. I have always loved their Neapolitan pizzas and Italian cuisine so it only felt right to show them some love for this wine pairing blog post. We went at lunch which was interesting to us as having wine is usually thought to be more of an nighttime affair but then we thought, "Why not a lunch too?"

When we sat down to eat, we thought about splitting some bottles of wine or getting individual glasses of different wines, but settled on the extremely convenient wine flight option. It was still enough wine to do a tasting, but not break the bank. I got a flight of American reds with a Pinot Noir, a Zinfandel, and a Cabernet Sauvignon/Syrah blend. The Pinot was from Elizabeth Rose, the Zinfandel from 1000 Stories, and Cab Sauv/Syrah was from Charles and Charles. 

Our first dish was basically seven different foods because of the nature of the charcuterie board. There were two different cheese, what we thought was a Parmesan and was most certainly Mozzarella. The meats were soppressata, salami, and prosciutto. Olives and bread were also on the board.

I tried to pair each food with one wine along the lines of what might pair best, but I kinda tried different wines if the first pairing wasn't so great. To begin, I paired the Pinot Noir with the cheeses (and also my dessert, not telling what just yet), but specifically with the Parmesan. Before the cheese, it had a super light body and light tannins, but there was a surprising amount of acidity. That acidity was cut down when pairing with the Parmesan which made it a lot better, in my opinion.

After the appetizer we jumped straight into the main dish, and I took it upon myself to grab the delicious Il Diavolo pizza which is my personal go to. It is a spicy pizza with mozzarella, mascarpone, calabrian chiles, and hot nduja sausage. I paired this with the Zinfandel and Cabernet Sauvignon because I thought those would be the best match for this extremely fatty pizza. 

First off, the pizza was super good. As it usually is. The Zinfandel was pretty fruit forward with large plum/fig flavors and had light tannins. The Cab/Syrah was may more tannic with a blackberry flavor and good body. I tried the pizza with both wines and there were similar results. In the Zinfandel, the pizza brought out more of the flavors, most specifically the fruit flavors. The Cab/Syrah had a good starting tannic structure which the fat cut right through and opened it up to more acidity and flavors. This was probably the best pair and most appropriate pair. 

The last pair was my dessert with the Pinot Noir, which was easily the lightest and best choice to go with my canoli. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of the canoli because I was really looking forward to eating it. Because the Pinot Noir was a true dessert wine, it didn't pair super well and the canoli actually made it more acidic. 

Overall, the wines and food were super good and I was happy with it, until I realized how much I had ate. Next time I would try better to get specific wines that would pair with specific foods and then I would love to try a real apertif and dessert wine with the meal.

Cheese Pairing - Sept 24

For our first wine pairing, a friend and I decided to follow the cheese pairing guide in the Zraly book to help us find a few cheeses that might pair decently with different types of cheese. So we started off at Sprouts and looked at the various cheeses that both fit the description and that we knew we would like. Then we headed over to the Cellar and picked up some of the recommended pairings before trying them all out.

The first wine and cheese pairing was an Australian Shiraz with smoked Gouda (the wine and cheese on the far left of the picture).

Shiraz before Gouda: The Shiraz was full bodied with a high alcohol content that contributed to the body. It was coupled with a high tannic structure. There was a fruity flavor which was predominantly blackberry and it had specific spice tastes. 

After Gouda: The Gouda definitely dulled down the big spices of the Shiraz and due to this, there was more fruity flavor and less tartness with that spice. It had a less sharp and more smooth finish when coupled with the cheese. 

The second was an Argentinian Cabernet Sauvignon from Mendoza with an extra sharp cheddar which was said to possibly be a pair. 

Cabernet Sauvignon before Cheddar: The Cabernet had raspberry flavors on the palate with a short finish. Along with this, the tannins were not very light or very intense but they were noticeable. The body was surprisingly light and was coupled with a short finish. 

After Cheddar: This was probably the least appealing pairing of the three and it may have been more because of the cheese than it was because of the pairing between the two. Without the wine, the Cheddar wasn't my favorite and the sharpness was overpowering. This did play into the wine because it really toned down the flavors of the Cabernet and brought out more of the fruits, but the sharpness of the Cheddar still lingered and that was not very tasty.

The final pairing was our trip to the Old World where we tried to pair a Chianti Classico with a Parmigiano Reggianito, in truly Italian style.

Chianti before Parmigiano: The Chianti was left for last to try and open it up more with some slow decanting and it did end up being the most delicious of the three wines. It was the most fruity of the wines and also had some earthy qualities that were very appealing. The body and tannins where both on the medium side.

After Parmigiano: This didn't pair quite as well as I thought it would, but it was still good and was the best of the three pairings. The biggest thing that the Parmigiano did to the Chianti was mellow it down. After having a bite of the cheese, the tannins in the Chianti became much softer. This then made the wine smoother and helped to emphasize the fruit flavors as well.

Overall, the cheese paired fine with wines, and the wines themselves were very good. The classic Italian cheese and wine was the best pairing but it could be better, just as the other could be better. All of the cheese did affect the flavors of the wine and change what was represented. For the next time I really want to try out a Spanish cheese with some type of Rioja blend, as well as a French pairing. 

Tasting - Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc

Name: Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc
Variety: 100% Sauvignon Blanc
Region: Marlborough
Country: New Zealand
Year: 2018
Price: $11.98

 

Winery Review:
"Fresh, crisp and clean with zesty flavors of ripe tropical fruits, especially passionfruit and pineapple with subtle hints of green herbs. The wine is intensely flavored with balanced mouthwatering acidity and a generous finish."

My Review:
It is very refreshing wine with a touch of sweetness, but not too much and way less than in other white wine varietals. The nose is full of pear aromas and smells like white grape juice but specifically like sparkling white grape juice. There is definitely a good amount of acidity and some earthy/herb flavors as well. Green apple and lemon may also be present in the taste. It has a very light body and a moderately long finish. Tannins are low and the acidity can be sharp at sometimes, but it is otherwise balanced decently. I didn't have it with any food, but maybe it would have helped cut down the acidity.

Tasting - The Federalist Red Blend

Name: The Federalist Honest Red Blend
Variety: 55% Merlot, 30% Zinfandel, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon
Region: Northcoast
State: California
Country: USA
Year: 2014
Price: $18.99

Winery Review: "One might say our Honest Red Blend has a rich, round mouth feel with lush black currant flavor and the subtlest hint of North Coast, California spice"

My Review: This was a pretty good red wine with a few of the characteristics from each different variety. Overall, it was well balanced and has a medium tannic component with a good body. There is raspberry both on the nose and palate with a vanilla flavor as well. It didn't have an extremely short or long finish, but it was very satisfying. I didn't have it with any food.