Tasting - Emeri de Bortoli Sparkling Shiraz

Name: Emeri de Bortoli Sparkling Shiraz 
Variety: Shiraz 
Region: South East
Country: Australia
Year: N/A
Price: $9.95

Shop Review: A relatively light, fresh style of sparking Shiraz, with berries and hints of chocolate picking up just a touch of sweet vanilla on the finish (Vintage Cellar).

Personal Review: This was very very interesting.  I had never had a sparkling Shiraz before so i was very excited to try it.  There were definitely flavors of berries and a bit of chocolate.  I would love to have this wine with a dessert dish like a piece of chocolate cake.  

Tasting - Tres Ojos Garnacha

Name: Tres Ojos Garnacha

Variety: 50% Garnacha, 50% Tempranillo
Region: Calatayud
Country: Spain
Year: 2011
Price: $6.95 

Shop Review: This wine has a brick red color with a bouquet of red raspberries, spice and white pepper. The palate is incredibly concentrated and rich. The modern styles of Garnacha in Spain are continuously being perceived worldwide as wines of extraordinarily good quality. This wine is fruity, juicy and shows a great depth, ripe tannins, length but yet with wonderful elegance and lightness. Enjoy with sausages, roasted meats, aged cheeses etc. 

Personal Review: I really liked the Tres Ojos Garnacha.  There was a bit of a spice taste, but not too much which I really liked.  I also really enjoyed the raspberry flavors that were in this wine.  For 6.96, I definitely think this wine is a steal.  

Tasting - Montebuena

Name: Montebuena
Variety: Tempranillo
Region: Rioja
Country: Spain
Year: 2010
Price: $8.95 

Shop Review: Ripe cherry and blackcurrant on the nose and in the mouth. Pliant and seamless in texture, with good heft and back-end energy. Finishes smooth and sweet, with fine-grained tannins providing shape and grip. Still on the young side but this wine drinks very well with an hour or so of decanting; it's an excellent value for Rioja. 

Personal Review: The Montebuena Tempranillo had a great smell.  It had smells of cherry and blackberry.  Definitely could taste a lot of berries and cherries.  I really did not love this wine, but i would love to see what it tastes like after decanting.  

Tasting - Sainte Victoire Cotes de Provence Rose

Name: Sainte Victoire Cotes de Provence

Variety: Grenache, Syrah, Cinsault

Region: Provence

Country: France

Year: 2011

Price: $8.95 

Shop Review: Bright salmon pink; typical of the fresh but warm Provence style. Refined and complex on the nose, with summer fruit and floral notes. Dry and crisp, with a delicate flavor and full texture.

Personal Review: This was a very interesting wine.  The pinkish color was definitely the first thing I noticed about it.  It had a very strong smell but could not really pick out a distinct smell.  It had very fresh flavors and had great fruit flavors as well.  

Tasting - Canyon Road Chardonnay

Name: Canyon Road Chardonnay 

Variety: Chardonnay 
Region: California 
Country: United States 
Year: 2011 
Price: $6.95 

Shop Review: Medium-bodied wine with notes of crisp apple and ripe citrus fruit with a hint of cinnamon spice. Delicious complement to grilled chicken, lighter pasta dishes or mild cheeses.

Personal Review: I thought this Chardonnay was a very good wine.  It was not very strong to the nose.  Definitely a lot of fruit flavors.  A bit of a citrus taste to it as well as a little bit of strawberry.  I can definitely agree with this shop review about this wine tasting well with a pasta.  I definitely want to try that.  

Dinner - Wine and Food in our Apartment

My friend Jake and I had a great dinner in our apartment with some great wines.  This was one of the first times I really focused on drinking wine and how it tasted with different types of food.  I thought this was a great experience.  We decided to go to the Vintage Cellar to pick up a few bottles of wine for the tasting.  We grabbed a Mapie Malbec and a Villa d'Orvieto to add to the Arrow Creek Cabernet Sauvignon which we already had in our apartment from the week before.  

We looked up these wines and what types of food would be a good pairing with each of them.  The Malbec said that it would go great with meats.  We decided to have BBQ ribs with a side of mashed potatoes.  The Orvieto said that seafood would be a great pairing so we decided to have sushi with it.  Lastly, the Cabernet Sauvignon said that it would pair well with desert so we had a couple pieces of pie with that.  

I started off with the sushi and the Orvieto.  I'm absolutely love sushi and was so excited to try this white wine with it.  The Orvieto and the sushi paired very well together.  It was very cool being that this was the first time I really tried to pair a wine with a food.  The wine sort of had a slightly different flavor to it when taking a sip after eating a piece of sushi.  It was always a very refreshing sip and I really enjoyed the wine. 

After I finished up the sushi, I moved on to the BBQ ribs with the Maipe Malbec.  These also paired very well.  I thought the ribs tasted absolutely delicious, and the Malbec just helped the taste.  Taking a sip of the wine in between bites definitely made the ribs taste much better.  I have never really been a huge fan of red wines, but I definitely enjoyed this wine when having it with the ribs.  

The last wine that I paired was the Cabernet Sauvignon with a piece of chocolate pie.  This was once again a great pairing.  I never thought that any wine could pair well with something chocolaty.  The pie was very rich and very strong.  Taking a sip of the wine was very refreshing after a bite of the very strong pie.  It really helped keep the pie from being extremely rich.  Definitely a fantastic wine to end our meal with.  

This was such an awesome experience.  I'm so glad I did this and cannot wait for the next opportunity to do it again.  I definitely want to go to a restaurant next time and try it again with different pairings.  I would love to see what a restaurant would offer.  Overall, this was a great experience and definitely a lot of fun.  I am also very excited to try this again very soon with different types of wines as well as different foods.  

Tasting - Cortenova Pinot Grigio

Name: Cortenova Pinot Grigio 
Variety: 100% Pinot Gris 
Region: Veneto 
Country: Italy 
Year: 2012 
Price: $7.95 

Shop Review: Brilliant straw color with emerald reflections. Fresh and floral bouquet with a hint of pears, apricots and bananas. Fresh and inviting with bright fruit and an easy drinking style with a pleasing hint of almonds in the aftertaste. Pairs well with seafood dishes, risottos with scampi, spaghetti with clams, sole in white wine Perfect also as an aperitif (Vintage Cellar).

My Review: One of the first things that stood out to me about this wine was its very light color.  It was very fruity but didn't really have any outstanding flavor to the nose.  It seemed to be a very light wine.  I could definitely see myself enjoying this wine while eating a plate of seafood.  

Tasting - Maipe Malbec Rosé

Name: Maipe Malbec Rosé 
Variety: 100% Malbec 
Region: Mendoza 
Country: Argentina 
Year: 2011 
Price: $7.95 

Shop Review: Intense pink color with violet hints. Fresh red fruit bouquet, strawberry and cherry flavors, balanced acidity, dry and lingering finish. Excellent with tuna or green salad, pasta, spicy Asian dishes (Vintage Cellar). 

My Review: I thought that this very sweet wine was very tasty and very flavorful.  Lots of fruity flavors including tastes of strawberry and cherry.  The cherry flavor seemed to be the most dominant.  I really enjoyed this wine and would definitely consider having it again.  

Tasting - Tinto Figaro

Name: Tinto Figaro 
Variety: 100% Garnacha 
Region: Calatayud 
Country: Spain 
Year: 2009 
Price: $6.95 

Winery Review: Figaro is 100% Garnacha, made from a selection of the best grapes grown in the oldest vineyards. While not truly an “oaked wine”, a short stay in oak barrels provides a nice spicy flavor boost. Bright violet. Dark berry and cherry aromas show a jammy aspect. Supple and gently sweet, with good lift to its black raspberry and boysenberry flavors. Smooth and broad on the finish, leaving behind a hint of spiciness. Extremely easy to drink and an excellent value (Vintage Cellar). 

My Review: I really liked this wine.  It had quite a fruity taste, but was not too sweet.  There were great flavors of berries and cherries, but was not too strong.  

Tasting - Domaine de Grange de Payan

Name: Domaine de Grange de Payan
Variety: Grenache (Majority)
Region: Cotes du Rhone
Country: France
Year: 2011
Price:  $8.95

Winery Review: Intensely spicy and precise, with lively red berry flavors and a hint of black pepper. The Grenache, which makes up the majority of the wine, is deeper and more powerful, offering cherry and black raspberry qualities lifted by zesty minerality (Vintage Cellar).

My Review: This was not one of my favorites.  This wine had a very strong and unpleasant smell.  There was a good amount of spice in the taste along with hints of raspberries and cherries.  Overall, this is not a wine that I would ever want to try again.  

Tasting - Potluck Sweet Malbec

Name: Potluck Sweet Malbec
Variety: Malbec
Region: Mendoza
Country: Argentina 

Year: 2010
Price: $7.95

Winery Review: Deep red brilliant with violet hints. Complex, fruity, and predominant red fruits. Easy to drink, round with persistent sweetness, very well balanced with sweet tannins (Vintage Cellar).

My Review: This was a very nice wine.  It was not very strong of a smell, but had a very smooth smell to it.  A bit fruity of a taste, but again not too strong.  I really enjoyed this red wine mainly because it was not too strong and it seems like a wine I can definitely see myself purchasing.  

Tasting - Monte Aman

Name: Monte Aman
Variety: 100% Tempranillo
Region: Arlanza
Country: Spain
Year: 2009
Price: $5.95

Critic Review:  Fermentation of selected grapes in stainless steel tanks at controlled temperature. Aging in American oak casks for 5 months followed by 3 months in the bottle before being released in the market. Inky ruby. Ripe cherry and plum on the nose. Smooth and fleshy, with deep dark fruit flavors complicated by bitter chocolate and anise. A spicy quality adds lift and focus to the weighty fruit. Offers an appealing mix of power and energy and drinks very well right now.

My Review: I was not a fan of this wine at all.  There were hints of cherry flavor as well as an interesting spice.  The spice is what i disliked the most.  There were some great flavors, but the spice taste  just adds a whole new interesting flavor to it.  

Tasting - Cortenova Montepulciano d'Abruzzo

Name: Cortenove
Variety: 100% Montepulciano d'Abruzzo
Region: Montepulciano d'Abruzzo
Country: Italy
Year: 2010
Price: $6.95

Critic Review:  100% Montepulciano d' Abruzzo. Deep ruby red color with violet highlights and a pleasant and fruity bouquet. Full bodied, soft tannins and good acidity. Excellent with pasta dishes and red meats.

My Review:  This wine was fantastic.  It was a very dark red wine that had a great balance of acidity.  I did not have this wine with any food, but i can see it going well with a steak.  

Tasting - Maipe Chardonnay

Name: Maipe Chardonnay
Variety: 85% Chardonnay, 15% Viognier
Region: Mendoza
Country: Argentina
Year: 2012
Price: $7.95

Critic Review:  Made from 85% Chardonnay, 15% Viognier. 30% malolactic fermentation, 30% was aged in French oak barrels. Brilliant yellow golden color with green hints. The wine is crisp and filled with white peach, pear, green apples flavors, toasty vanilla. Elegant and luscious wine, well balanced. Crisp and long finish. Pairs well with creamy soups, pork, veal, vegetables.

My Review: This wine was kind of sweet but not too sweet.  Could definitely taste green apples flavors as well as a slight hint of vanilla. I would love to try this wine again with a pork or veal.  

Tasting - Villa d'Orvieto

Name: Villa d'Orvieto
Variety: Grechetto, Trebbiano, Malvasia
Region: Orvieto
Country: Italy
Year: 2011
Price: $6.95

Critic Review:  It’s a blend of Grechetto, Procanico (Trebbiano), and Malvasia. Fresh and crisp, it has a beautiful, floral bouquet. It is wonderful with appetizers, fish, chicken, and salads.

My Review: I loved this wine.  It was not too fruity or sweet, but had great flavors to it.  I can absolutely see this wine going good with seafood.   

Tasting - Dibon Cava Brut Reserve

Name: Dibon Cava Brut Reserve
Variety: 25% Xarel-lo, 30% Parellada, 45% Macabeo
Region: Penedés
Country: Spain
Year: NV
Price: $9.95


Winery Review: Light gold with plenty of bubbles, this wine has aromas of apples and pears with pleasant floral notes. Crisp and light-bodied on the
palate, stone fruit flavors are accompanied by a mild minerality and balanced acidity. A delicious sparkler for a great price!

My Review: I thought this was a very interesting wine.  It was somewhat bubbly and had a slight taste of apples.  The bubbles made this wine taste very good.  It was not too acidic.