Tasting - "Fonseca Bin 27 Port"

Name of the Wine: Fonseca Bin 27 Port

Grapes in the Wine: Unknown specifically, but ports often have touriga franca, tinta barroca, tinta roriz, or many others

Country of Origin: Portugal

Region of Origin: Gaia

Vintage Year: N/A

Price: $21.99 per bottle

Review of the Wine: TotalWine.com says, "This sweet wine shows fresh, rich blackberry and cassis aromas. On the palate, it has a well-knit structure, with a velvety, luscious mouthfeel and smooth tannins.""

Wine Folly: Page 154: Port

Tastes present include black plum, dried cherry, chocolate, raisin, and cinnamon. It definitely has the presence of cherry in the taste, but most of all, it tastes like raisin. It almost seems like liquid raisin.

My Review: This wine is very strong compared to other wines that I have had, and you can even smell the burn of the alcohol. It is dark, almost black, and seems to be thick as well. As I mentioned above, it tastes very much like raisins. I'm not sure if I actually like the fact that it tastes like raisins, because in a way, the whole thing reminds me of the filling of a fig newton: it's sweet with a dark taste, and has that strong aroma of dried fruit. I don't taste any chocolate in it, but I can see how there is some present because it would definitely blend some of the other tastes together and make a stronger, more full flavor and scent.

Tasting - "Moutard Pét' Mout' Pinot Noir Rose Petillant Naturel"

 

Moutard Pét' Mout' Pinot Noir Rose Petillant Naturel

Name of the Wine: Pét' Mout' Rosé

Grapes in the Wine: Pinot Noir

Country of Origin: France

Region of Origin: Burgundy

Vintage Year: N/A

Price: $5.95 per bottle or $3 for 5 oz glass

Review of the Wine: The Vintage Cellar says, "100% Pinot Noir from Burgundy, this is a traditional method of making sparkling wine that is, in fact, the world's most ancient. The Rosé gives a dark pink color. It's a lively wine of subtle red berries and powerful aromas of flowers which goes perfectly with light fare and brings freshness on the end of a meal."

Wine Folly: Pg 150: Pinot Noir

Flavors include cherry, raspberry, clove, mushroom, and vanilla. I didn't taste vanilla in this at first, but I do think I can taste it now that I have read about its presence. The cherry and raspberry tastes are stronger, though they are far more tart than the two fruits when you eat them. It almost seems like there are more flavors in it, such as perhaps pineapple. It seems to almost attack your taste buds with acidity, the way that pineapple does.

My Review: I really liked this wine, but similar to other wines, I didn't like it at first. My friends liked it more than me, so we bought a bottle after we went to the tasting. I think that the flavor definitely grew on me the more that I tasted it, especially because I liked the smell. The smell was a bit floral, and when detached from the tartness and acidity, it was a bit sweet. I could see some things settling in the bottom of the bottle and floating in my glass, which is interesting. It was just light enough that you could see the darker pink particles. 

Tasting - "Uncorked Chardonnay"

 

Uncorked by Cosmopolitan Chardonnay from The Vintage Cellar.

Name of the Wine: Uncorked Chardonnay

Grapes in the Wine: Chardonnay

Country of Origin: United States

Region of Origin: Santa Maria, California

Vintage Year: 2019

Price: $7.95 per bottle or $4 for 5 oz glass

Review of the Wine: It is listed as a 90 by wine.com. The Vintage Cellar says, "A balance of acid structure, fruit, and oak makes this buttery Chardonnay a stunner. Lemon meringue and chamomile strike up a friendship with toffee and nougat. Delish!"

Wine Folly: Page 96: Chardonnay

This wine has medium acidity and body, with relatively low sweetness. The flavors include yellow apple, starfruit, pineapple, vanilla, and butter. I don't think I tasted any butter in this, it tasted a bit more fruity to me, the butter was very subtle. I did definitely taste some pineapple.

My Review: This was my favorite wine from the tasting today. Even though it wasn't very sweet, I loved the fruit flavors and thought that it paired especially well with the apple slices on the charcuterie board. Even though apples are an ingredient, I didn't know that when I tasted it with them. I also tasted it with some salami and thought that it was great, even though Wine Folly says that it pairs best with subtle spices and flavors like seafood. I didn't think it tasted very good with cheese, because the fruity flavor clashed a bit too much with the dairy in my opinion. I thought it was light but still stronger than other similar wines, which I really liked. It had a stronger alcohol taste than some of the other wines I have tasted (it was 14.1%). However, I thought that the flavor of the wine made it an enjoyable experience despite the strength of the alcohol.

Tasting - "Santola Vinho Verde"

 

Vinho Verde wine from The Vintage Cellar's free Saturday wine tasting today.

Name of the Wine: Santola Vinho Verde

Grapes in the Wine: mixture of Loureiro and Pederña grapes

Country of Origin: Portugal

Region of Origin: Minho, Portugal's northernmost wine region (also called the 'Vinho Verde region)

Vintage Year: n/a

Price: $8.95 per bottle or $4 for 5 oz glass

Review of the Wine: It is listed as an 86 by Wine Enthusiast, and the Vintage Cellar describes it as, "soft and creamy, although with just the right Vinho Verde bite, this is a crisp and clean wine, boasting light pear and pink grapefruit flavors. Off dry and very fresh." The Vintage Cellar Free Wine Tasting Handout 1/21/2023

Wine Folly: Page 184: Vinho Verde

Lemonade, pink grapefruit, lime zest, yellow apple, and white blossom flavors. Fruity and can be found as white, rosé, and red. Pairs well with fish, mango salsa, and anything that has cilantro and limes. It can be made with many different types of Northern Portuguese grapes, such as alvarinho, arinto, trajadura, loureiro, espadeiro, and padeiro to name a few.

My Review: I went to my first wine tasting today with some other friends from the class, which was held at The Vintage Cellar. The white Vinho Verde was the first wine on the list today it was light and a bit acidic. I didn't quite like it at first, I thought it was too tart. However, I thought that it tasted interesting with this cheese that the store had on the charcuterie board to taste with it. It had some kind of berry mixed into it, and I thought that paired very well with the grapefruit and apple tastes present in the wine. It was very fruity in general, but somehow that did not translate into a very sweet taste. This is interesting to me because even though I have tasted fruity foods that aren't sweet (certain candies such as sour patch kids leap readily to mind), I think I had a kind of bias in my mind where fruity = sweet. I did taste some pear in it, but all of the flavors are blended together and I didn't quite taste anything specific except maybe the grapefruit and lemon. I liked it better with the cheese, but after I became more used to the flavor, I liked it on its own as well.

My Personal Experience with Wine (So Far)

    Welcome to my wine blog! My name is Leslie, and I have almost no experience with wine. What? Really? Yes, and that is exactly why I'm here! Growing up, I watched my grandfather (who is one of my favorite people in the whole world) drink wine all the time, and he is really the reason why I am interested in learning more about it. I would love to be able to share that passion with him, and he is also excited for me to take the class as well. My first personal experience with wine was when I took a microbiology lab class for my biology degree, and we made wine in the class. It was an awesome project and they told us at the beginning that we would be able to taste our own wine when it was done (exciting!). Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to taste it after someone accidentally contaminated theirs with a bacteria called Pseudomonas aeruginosa (we were using it for a different assignment), which can cause pneumonia, blood infections, and in some cases, even death. We couldn't really be sure if it was growing in everyone else's wine also, so our TA put his foot down and said no one could try it. I suppose that loss of privilege was understandable!

    Recently, I went to the Blacksburg Wine Lab for the first time with my boyfriend and we tried two of the flights there. The waitress recommended the 'Slightly Sweet' one, which we both loved, and the 'Old World' one, on which we had pretty mixed opinions. At this point, I don't know if I've developed my palate enough to appreciate some of the dark flavors of the Old World flight, but I certainly liked the Slightly Sweet flight (especially the Principe Verdejo, which was blue!) because it was lighter, and tasted almost like less carbonated soda. I believe that I need to get more used to the taste before I can dive in and love the taste of more 'stereotypical' wines.

Last night, I had my second personal experience with wine. I attended a party hosted by my college for graduating seniors, and they gave us two drink tickets. We tried the Black Stallion Cabernet Sauvignon, and I felt much the same about it as I did the Old World flight at the Wine Lab-- it was too heavy for me. However, once I started taking very small sips, I started to appreciate it much more. I suppose I was diluting it a bit by only having a tiny amount at a time, but the more I tasted and smelled it, the more I liked it (which was in direct opposition to one of my friends who kept telling me to 'chug it' because I was taking longer to drink it than they did, haha). Although, that same friend also has a grandfather who loves wine, and he recommended that I try a port. His grandfather gave him a bottle for Christmas and he said he really liked it. Perhaps my first experience with port will be a later blog entry!

All-in-all, even though I have described myself as having almost no experience, and I seem to not enjoy most of the wine I've tried thus far, I am incredibly excited to embark on a journey to appreciate one of the world's oldest and most beloved drinks. I hope that I am able to come away from this experience armed with the knowledge of my likes and dislikes (because I'm sure I don't only like the Principe Verdejo), and maybe even learn to love darker, more full tastes, just like I did with the Cabernet Sauvignon. Most of all, I want to connect more with my grandpa on something that I know he loves. I can't wait to read about, learn about, write about, taste, and love wine!