Wine Tasting - Butterfly Kiss Moscato

Name: Butterfly Kiss Moscato

Variety: Moscato

Region: Chile

Country: Chile

Year: 2012

Price: $6

Outside Reviews: 

"Aromas of honeydew and apricot, gently kissed by orange blossom, candied pineapple and a hint of lime zest." -Vintage Cellar

My Review:

This moscato is very yellow in color. The aroma smells just like caramel; the scent can only be described as thick, sweet, and chewy. It tastes very sweet, sweeter than any moscato I've tried before now. The flavor is initially very fruity, followed by an intense pang of sweetness, which mellows out and becomes more floral.

Wine Tasting - Purple Paws Zinfandel

Name: Purple Paws Zinfandel

Variety: Zinfandel

Region: Lodi, California

Country: USA

Year: 2012

Price: $8

Outside Reviews: 

"It smells like ripe boysenberries and cherries, and tastes generous and broad without being too full bodied. It finishes with more fruit notes and those who love a little spice and smooth tannins will be happy." -Vintage Cellar

My Review:

This zinfandel is a lighter red in color, and it has a faint smell of woodiness and campfire to it. Upon tasting, the dry, woody, smoky campfire essence is more apparent. This wine is very smooth initially, but the taste of the alcohol became slightly pronounced in the aftertaste.

Wine Tasting - Purple Paws Cabernet Sauvignon

Name: Purple Paws Cabernet Sauvignon

Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon

Region: Lodi, California

Country: USA

Year: Non Vintage

Price: $8

Outside Reviews: 

"If a Cabernet can be smooth and creamy, this one is. It offers plenty of fruit flavor, smooth tannins that coat the mouth in a good way, plus a plush texture that keeps it from being even a bit harsh. With light body, a soft mouthfeel and lingering finish, there’s much to like."

-Vintage Cellar

My Review:

This wine is a very deep red in color and has a sour, woody, almost smoky smell to it. The taste is immediately of sweet cherries, which mellows off into a simpler, slightly peppery flavor. Never before has the cherry flavor in a wine tasted so strong to me; I highly enjoyed it!

Wine Tasting - Rosemount Chardonnay

Name: Rosemount Chardonnay

Variety: Chardonnay

Region: Southern

Country: Australia

Year: 2013

Price: $6

Outside Reviews: 

"This world-renowned wine shows peachy tropical fruit and melon characters on the nose, with a hint of citrus freshness and judicious use of oak. The palate is generous and soft with full, ripe tropical flavors folded into a creamy backdrop that is beautifully structured with a long satisfying finish." 

-Vintage Cellar

My Review:

I pride myself in being a good sniffer, but I could hardly get any scent out of this wine. The aroma is very mild. On the tongue, this wine is very sweet and almost buttery. It coats the tongue, but the flavor only lingers fleetingly. My novice tongue wasn't able to pick up the tastes on the three palettes. I'll have to give it another taste someday soon.

Wine Tasting - La Lejania Sauvignon Blanc

Name: La Lejania Sauvignon Blanc

Variety: Sauvignon Blanc

Region: Central Valley

Country: Chile

Year: 2015

Price: $10

Outside Reviews: 

"A light, refreshing, balanced sparkling wine with fruit flavors and aromas of citrus, pear and peaches, followed by a nuance of spice. Enjoy this sparkling wine as an aperitif, or with salads and spicy dishes, especially those using citrus fruit. For dessert this wine pairs well with fresh berries or a fruit tart." -Vintage Cellar

My Review:

This wine is a dark golden green color, and has a very sharp, crisp aroma of fresh grapes. I really enjoyed the initial tartness. The mid palette is more bitter and has almost a metallic, coppery taste, but the aftertaste is very mellow and pleasant. This is one of the most complex wines I've tasted yet; I was really able to differentiate between the three different palettes. I liked it so much I bought a bottle!

Wine Tasting - Insomnia Sauvignon Blanc

Name: Insomnia Sauvignon Blanc

Variety: Sauvignon Blanc

Region: California

Country: USA

Year: 2013

Price: $10

Outside Reviews: 

"Pale. Intense floral aroma, matched in flavor but with slight bitterness mid-palate—that was a surprise. And soap as the wine opened up again where it was initially bitter—yet another surprise!"

 -The Frugal Wine Snob

My Review:

This wine definitely wins the coolest label award! The patent-pending face label opens and closes its eyes depending on how you look at it. As for the wine, it is very light and crisp, and appears to be a bright yellow-green color. It smells citrusy and fruity, and it tastes pleasantly sweet and acidic. The aftertaste is very smooth, mellow, and balanced. I ate pasta with this wine, and that made it taste very sweet. I'm excited to try the other Insomnia wines.

Wine Tasting - Folatre Carmenere

Name: Vinedrea's Folatre Carmenere

Variety: Carmenere Reserve

Region: Curico, Chile

Country: Chile

Year: 2014

Price: $9

Outside Reviews: 

Scored 90 points with the Dionysian Society International

"The wine is a nice deep red in the glass, and on the nose I got some fruit but a good amount of green peppers and brambles that I didn’t experience the first time we opened one of these bottles. In the mouth I got more of the same that I got on the nose and a smoother finish than I remembered from my first try at the wine." -The Good Wine Guru

My Review:

This wine is a very deep, dark purple color and is very full and dry. It has a woody, smoky, campfire aroma, and it is almost peppery and spicy at first taste. I think this wine is very smooth, and eating pasta with it helped to cut some of the bitter smokiness. This wine is unlike anything else I've tried to date, and I enjoyed its uniqueness.

Wine Tasting - Gnarly Head Pinot Noir

Name: Gnarly Head Pinot Noir

Variety: Blend with Pinot Noir

Region: Lodi, California

Country: USA

Year: 2013

Price: $10.50

Outside Reviews: 

"Pleasantly surprised. A delicious fruit forward Pinot Noir that is sure to satisfy." -Snooth

"The Gnarly Head team sources grapes from all over the state (hence the broad "California" appellation) for this berry-rich bottling. It's on the richer side of the Pinot spectrum." -Eatocracy

My Review:

This wine is bright red in color and is light. It has a fruity, sweet taste to it, but it is dry. For someone that typically prefers the sweeter wines, this one is pretty good for the price, however, the alcohol taste is noticeable. I tasted this with and without food, and I think it stands well alone. The pasta bolognese I tasted it with definitely brought out more sweetness.

The Aspiring Wine-o

My favorite family dinners are the ones with my Uncle Brett and Aunt Carol, the family wine-o's. They are extremely passionate about wine; they are in a wine club, and they have traveled around the country and around the world to try different wines. They always bring a couple bottles to dinner to share with everyone, and the conversation that these bottles spark is amazingly interesting and entertaining. Uncle Brett loves to make a show of sniffing all of the aromas in his glass, and he always has a story to tell about where he got the wine, how so-and-so used a special technique to make it, and how he and Aunt Carol managed to get it home to Pennsylvania. For them, wine is a way of life, and they have met so many people and had so many unique experiences because of it.

I've tasted a lot of the wines that Uncle Brett and Aunt Carol have brought to dinners, and I've sampled a lot of the wines that my parents buy (they're pretty into wine too), but sadly I don't think I've developed much of an appreciation for any of them. At this point, they all taste pretty similar to me. I prefer whites to reds, and I can differentiate between dry and wet, but other than that, the subtleties of the wines I taste are lost on me.

When Uncle Brett pulls out a bottle of wine, he can say what region it came from, what grapes were used, and probably talk for hours about the history of the wine and the area it came from. This background makes the wine all the more special to everyone. Unfortunately, my knowledge of wine history and geography is limited to zero, so when I go to the store to buy a bottle to share with friends, I feel pretty overwhelmed by all of the options and labels.

I hope that by taking Geography of Wine at Virginia Tech, I will learn how to notice the subtleties in wines and how to speak intelligently about them. I hope that I can share the stories of the bottles that I open with friends and family and understand their history and geography. I would love to be able to join in on the wine conversations around the dinner table with my family, and I would love to be able to speak as passionately about my favorite wines as Uncle Brett and Aunt Carol do. I'm excited to begin my journey to becoming a wine-o this semester!