Tasting- The Collection Prosecco

Name: The Collection Prosecco DOC Extra Dry
Variety: Glara
Region: Veneto
Country: Italy
Year: unknown
Price: $3.99 (split)
Winery review: The Collection Prosecco offers refreshing flavors of citrus, stone fruit, and green apple with elegant acidity for a crisp, refreshing finish. The perfect sparkling to any occasion. The Collection combines the best of carefully harvested grapes and perfectly balanced wine bringing together a delicate compilation of pure winemaking artistry (https://www.target.com/p/the-collection-prosecco-wine-750ml-bottle/-/A-54659062).
Wine Folly: Proseccos tend to be dry, light-bodied, have medium-high acidity, and no tannins. They include flavors like green apple, honeydew, pear, lager, and dream. They're best served chilled and not decanted. They pair well with cured meats, almonds, and sushi (https://winefolly.com/wines/prosecco/).
My review: Much like the Rosé from this brand, this is a bit over-carbonated, but I was prepared this time. The smell is very mild but crisp. I can smell apples and honeydew. The apples carry through to the flavor with some pear and citrus. It's very dry, which makes it great for mimosas. The carbonation also gets diluted when mixed with orange juice. I wouldn't buy this one again just to drink, but I'd choose it for mimosas again!

Tasting - The Collection Prosecco Rosé

Name: The Collection Prosecco DOC Rosé
Variety: Glera
Region: Veneto
Country: Italy
Year: 2022 millesimato
Price: $3.99 (split)
Winery review: The Collection Prosecco Rosé has delicate notes of ripe red berries and rose petals with elegant acidity for a crisp, refreshing finish. With delightful notes of ripe red berries, peach, and rose petals. The Collection combines the best of carefully harvested grapes and perfectly balanced wine bringing together a delicate compilation of pure winemaking artistry (https://www.target.com/p/the-collection-prosecco-ros-233-wine-187ml-bottle/-/A-79234528).
Wine Folly: Proseccos tend to be dry, light-bodied, have medium-high acidity, and no tannins. They include flavors like green apple, honeydew, pear, lager, and dream. They're best served chilled and not decanted. They pair well with cured meats, almonds, and sushi (https://winefolly.com/wines/prosecco/).
My review: I was taken aback by the cap. It was a screwcap shaped like the classic sparkling cork. I've never seen that! It made for very easy opening. The wine smells floral with hints of grapefruit. The first taste reveals nothing more than excessive carbonation. It takes a few sips for your tongue to adjust and start tasting again. It's an extra dry prosecco, but it almost goes too far, bordering on sour. There's a hint of strawberry and crisp apple. Overall, not great, but about what I expected. 

Tasting - Woodbridge Pinot Noir

Name: Woodbridge Pinot Noir

Variety: Pinot Noir

Region: Acampo, CA

Country: USA

Year: unknown

Price: $6.99

Winery review: “Our pinot noir displays elegant notes of ripe cherries with a hint of chocolate and a smooth, velvety finish” (bottle).

Wine Folly: Pinot Noir tends to have flavors like raspberry, cherry, mushroom, vanilla, and hibiscus. It’s a pale red with a medium body, low tannins, medium-high acidity, and is dry. It’s best served just below room temperature and pairs well with salmon, duck, and mushrooms (https://winefolly.com/grapes/pinot-noir/).

My review: Holy cow the tannins are tannining in this wine. It’s almost too physically dry to taste anything. The aromas are cherries, blackberries, and raspberries. The flavors are just kinda… alcohol and dryness. I tried some with Oreo cheesecake and the creamy cheesecake held off some of the tannins to allow for a moment of cherry before intense bitterness hits. There’s a reason this wine was so cheap. 

Tasting - Broadbent Vinho Verde

Name: Broadbent Vinho Verde

Variety: 50% Loureiro, 40% Trajadura, & 10% Pedernã

Region: Vinho Verde

Country: Portugal

Year: unknown (blend)

Price: $9.99

Winery review: “The freshly sliced apple fruitiness combined with citrus acidity give this fruity wine an attractive lively character. It is tangy, crisp and ready to drink” (https://broadbent.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/NV-Broadbent-Vinho-Verde-fact-sheet.pdf)

Wine Folly: Loureiro is one of the four major grapes used in Vinho Verde wines. They have aromas of peach, citrus, and blossom with flavors including grapefruit, lime, blossom, and bay leaf. They tend to be dry, light-bodied, high in acidity, and low in tannins. They’re best served chilled with fish or Portuguese cuisine (https://winefolly.com/grapes/loureiro/). 

Trajadura: these tend to be light-bodied with fruity, lemonade flavors, melon, and gooseberry (https://winefolly.com/deep-dive/what-wines-to-drink-from-portugal-by-region/).

Pedernã/Arinto: these wines tend to age well and develop into flavors with beeswax and nuts. They also tend to taste like lemon zest, grapefruit, and chamomile. They’re very dry, medium light-bodied, highly acidic, and have no tannins. They also pair well with fish and lemon zest (https://winefolly.com/grapes/arinto/).

My review: This wine has a light floral scent. There aren’t many initial flavors that jump out besides “white wine.” There's a mild sweetness and citrus that compliments the herbal undertones. I used this wine to make a sauce for dinner. I reduced the wine and stirred in honey, minced garlic, and herbs. As promised, pairing wine with food cooked in wine was a hit! It also went well over the roasted potatoes. I’ll look for this wine again if I need something mild and dry.

 

Tasing - Bee You Riesling

Name: Bee You Riesling
Variety: Riesling
Region: Monterey County
Country: USA
Year: 2022
Price: $8.99
Winery review: "Refreshing and smooth. Bee You has flavors of juicy peach and wild honey with a perfect touch of sweetness." (bottle)
Wine Folly: Rieslings cover a wide range from very dry to very sweet. They include flavors like lime, beeswax, green apple, and jasmine. They tend to have high acidity, a light body, and no tannins (https://winefolly.com/grapes/riesling/)
My review: I picked up this Riesling as a backup to the chardonnay for our wine dinner. The fun label and promise of peach and honey drew me in. It's a pale straw color and the honey is the strongest smell. The honey takes a back seat for the initial taste, with apple, mild citrus, and peach taking center stage. As the flavors fade, the sweet honey lingers. It's crisp, refreshing, and well-balanced. This is my first riesling, so I don't have much to compare it to, but I find it to be a happy medium between the creaminess of a chardonnay and the earthiness of a sauvignon blanc. I ended up pairing this with a creamy caesar salad by chance and it bought out the herbs in the dressing. I'd definitely like to try more Rieslings! 

Wine and Cheese Pairing #1

Wine and cheese pairing

I’m not big on exotic cheeses (and by exotic, I mean not Cheddar, Jack, or American), I could not be convinced to do this one at home. We took to the Blacksburg Wine Lab for flights and cheese. My two friends and I each ordered a flight and a cheese we thought would pair well and then traded cheeses to get the full experience. Staying true to my mission to learn to like red wines, I went for the Radiant Red Flight, with the Palacio Cabernet Sauvignon, Vina Galata Garnacha, and Catena Vista Flores Malbec. I ordered pimento cheese and tried out my friends’ goat cheese and gouda. 

First, I tried the Cab Sauv alone. My senses were still warming up, so I didn’t smell much other than “red wine.” I tasted florals and a delightful balance of pepper and sweetness in a deep creaminess. With the pimento, the spice in both was brought out; the wine was smoother and the cheese was sharper. With gouda, I tasted more sweetness and the acidity took a front and center seat. Now, the goat cheese, I want you to know, was not my idea. In the spirit of trying new things, I agreed to taste it, but I don’t like goat cheese. This is important context for each time I’m about to bring up the goat cheese. When I paired the Cab Sauv with the goat cheese, it was like the wine was gone. All I could taste was sour, bitter, armpit. 

After some water, I moved on to the Granacha. It was also floral and smelled like grapefruit. It had a slightly more bitter bite and was very dry. The pimento brought out some smokiness. The gouda also added a smokey aspect, but it seemed to come from the cheese, as the wine flavor was masked. And the goat cheese, oh the goat cheese. It masked the flavor of the wine and added very strong armpit flavors to the equation. 

More water, then on to the Malbec. This was my favorite wine of the three! It was dry and had mild smells of orange and apple. The pimento added a slight sharpness and mild sweet quality that I wasn’t expecting from the spicy cheese. The gouda mostly just masked the flavor. The goat cheese… wasn’t actually as bad with this one. However, my taste buds may have just been quitting because this was the third time they were encountering armpit that night. 

With my taste buds ready to riot, I figured, why not continue to push them, and tried a bit of everything on the cheese board. This included garlic, jam, nuts, pickled onion, and, my sworn enemy, pickles. It was interesting to see how each one changed my last sips of wine. I even made it halfway through a pickle before it pickled too much for me and I had to stop. Overall, the night was a major success in both wine exploration and broadening (or affirming) my food boundaries! 

Wine Dinner #1

Wine Dinner! 

   The meal just before we dug in

At dinner, we had chicken Alfredo with cheese garlic bread. For dessert, we had chocolate cake. My task was to buy the wines and I tried to pick one that would pair with each dish. We started with the sparkling wine, Cupcake Prosecco, and dug into dinner. It was sweet, light, crisp, and appley. You probably could’ve convinced me I was drinking a new brand of hard apple cider. I found that the wine brought out the garlic in the Alfredo sauce and bread and enhanced the creaminess. I later tried it with cake and it was far too sweet, ruining both for a few bites. Next, we opened the Chardonnay from Billings Farm. The buttery smells were immediately evident. Alone, it tasted like pineapple, butter, oak, pear, and was noticeably heavier and bolder than the Prosecco. It deepened all the flavors in the chicken, particularly highlighting the butter in both the pasta and bread. It didn’t change the cake much or vice versa. Next, we opened the Billings Farm Cabernet Sauvignon. It smelled and tasted like cherry, pomegranate, blackberry, oak, and smoke. I bought this to go with the cake, so it was no surprise when it overpowered and masked the taste of dinner. However, it performed as promised with the chocolate cake. It perfectly dulled some of the sweetness to allow the rich chocolate and espresso to shine. It was great to have the comparisons between wines and dishes to see how a good wine pairing can enhance your meal, while a poor pairing could make you seem like a bad cook. I’m excited to do more of these, and not just because it gets me out of having to make myself dinner. 

Spotlight on the wines

   An unfortunate, but educational, pairing - Prosecco and cake

The aftermath

Tasting - Starborough Sauvignon Blanc

Name: Starborough Sauvignon Blanc
Variety: Sauvignon Blanc
Region: Marlborough
Country: New Zealand
Year: 2022
Price: $18.99
Winery review: Bright, approachable and refreshing, Starborough Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough, New Zealand is like wind-whipped seagrass on a warm summer day. It’s the perfect pairing for a casual catch-up and a quick bite. Touched with hints of Fresh Guava, Sweet Kiwi, Zesty Citrus, Tropical Passion Fruit (https://www.starboroughwine.com/our-wine.html)
Wine Folly: Sauvignon Blanc is known for having herbal flavors and high acidity. It typically has flavors like gooseberry, honeydew, grapefruit, white peach, and passionfruit, with a dry, light body, and no tannins. It pairs well with herbal sauces, chicken, tofu, and fish (https://winefolly.com/grapes/sauvignon-blanc/).
My review: I’m so glad I’m taking this wine class because it’s given me the vocabulary to express just how bad this wine is. Previously, I might’ve said something like, “ew I don’t like that. It tastes like windex.” It would have been met with “ugh, you just don’t like wine.” But I do like wine. The aroma makes me feel like I’m about to clean my bathroom and slightly burns my eyes. I thought “wow, I don’t want to taste this,” but continued anyway, my second mistake (the first was accepting this bottle). The main flavors are overpowered by the acidity and sourness that make you pucker. There might be some honeydew and grapefruit but I can’t bring myself to taste for a third time to be sure. It tastes like the wine maker only focused on adding alcohol and sugar and, at the last second, realized it was out of balance, and poured in straight acid to compensate. Somehow, it’s still out of balance. Was this my first experience with a wine that had gone bad or just a bad wine? The world may never know. 

Tasting - Journey and Discovery Pinot Grigio

Name: Journey & Discovery Pinot Grigio

Variety: Pinot Gigio

Region: Rubicone

Country: Italy

Year: 2021

Price: $3.99 (half bottle)

Winery review: The Journey & Discovery Pinot Grigio is light, dry, crisp, and endlessly refreshing. And it was made to be paired with your favorite seafood dish. Elegant aromas of apple, lemon, and peach are followed by a touch of minerality that showcases the complex terroir of Rubicone, Italy (https://www.journeyanddiscovery.com/pinot-grigio).

Wine Folly: Pinot Grigio (pinot gris) are high in acidity, don't need to be decanted, and should be served cold. The main flavors are white peach, lemon zest, cantaloupe, raw almond, and crushed gravel. They can range in sweetness and pair well with white meats, seafood, and fruity food (pg 149).

My review: This Pinot Grigio has a light, refreshing scent that’s slightly acidic. Some citrus shines through with peach. The first sip is, as promised by the smell, refreshing. With the first sip, it coats your mouth with acidity and is hard to place flavors. The second sip brings out deeper flavors. The apple is the strongest, with lemon and grapefruit bringing up the rear. I’m not a fan of this wine. It’s too acidic and sour for me. Don’t worry, it won’t be wasted; sunk cost fallacy is strong when it comes to wine. 

Tasting - Journey & Discovery Red Blend

Tasting - Red Blend

Name: Journey & Discovery Red Blend

Variety: Castelão, Aragonês, Touriga Nacional

Region: Santo Isidro de Pegões

Country: Portugal

Year: unknown

Price: $3.99 (half bottle)

Winery review: She’s a classic blend of three Portuguese grapes: Touriga Nacional, Castelão, and Aragonês. Together they create a bouquet bursting with blackberry, blueberry, plum, cocoa, and a touch of nutmeg. Dry, singing with dark fruit, and possibly too easy to drink, this wine is a match made in heaven for heavy stews, barbecued lamb, or burger night (https://www.journeyanddiscovery.com/red-blend).

Wine Folly: Castelão: this grape has flavors of red currant, plum, strawberry, dried meat, and mocha. It’s about in the middle in dryness, has a medium-body, medium-high tannins, medium-high acidity, and pairs well with chicken tacos and black beans (https://winefolly.com/grapes/castelao/).

Aragonês (Tempranillo): this grape is also about in the middle on dryness, has a medium-full body, medium-high tannins, medium-high acidity, and includes flavors like cherry, dried fig, cedar, tobacco, and dill (https://winefolly.com/grapes/tempranillo/).

Touriga Nacional: similar to the other varieties in this wine, this grape is central in dryness, full-bodied, high in tannins, and medium-high acidity. The primary flavors are blueberry, violet, plum, mint, and wet slate. It pairs well with steak and blue cheese (https://winefolly.com/grapes/touriga-nacional/).

My review: The cherry is the most dominant smell off the bat, but a smokiness lingers in your nose. It’s an inviting aroma that pairs well with the fruity flavor that hits first. That’s immediately followed by a sharp, slightly bitter tang as the wine coats your mouth. The aftertaste brings out some spice (maybe the nutmeg?) and plum. This wine is very acidic and leaves your mouth very dry. I enjoyed it, but I don’t plan to buy it again.