Red Tasting: 7 Deadly Cab

Name: 7 Deadly Cab

Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon 

Region: Lodi 

Country: California 

Year: 2019

Price: $12

Winery Review: Abundant dark fruit and toasted vanilla. Arrays of aromas include sweet sweet tobacco, black cherry, clove, and cinnamon.  

Wine Folly: pg. 88 mentions that cabernet sauvignon is a natural cross between cabernet franc and sauvignon blanc. The wine has a lot of body and tannins to fulfill the customer's taste buds. With flavors revolving around black cherry, cedar, and baking spices. 

My Review: Strong aroma of dark cherry or black cherry along with a touch of oak. The color of the wine looks like a dark red with ---- consistency. It tastes like a cherry with hints of vanilla extract that you may use in baking or cooking. Smooth aftertaste with a puckery taste that makes the mouth a little dry but not overwhelmingly dry. 

White Tasting: Kim Crawford

 Name: Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc 

Varietal: Sauvignon Blanc 

Region: Marlborough

Country: New Zealand  

Year: 2021

Price: $12

Winery Review: With aromas of intense tropical fruit and fresh-cut grass notes. Palate bursts with passionfruit, citrus, and ripe stone fruit flavors. Delicious with seafood, goat cheese salad, or on its own.

Wine Folly: pg. 165 talks about the strong herbaceous flavors that are derived from compounds called methoxypyrazines, which are also found in bell pepper. High amounts of acidity within the wine that goes well with salty cheeses and light meats. With primary flavors of gooseberry, honeydew, grapefruit, and white peach. 

My Review: Extreme fruity aroma of tropical and citruses. With a pale yellow color to match the fruitiness of the aroma. The tastes come from a light passionfruit to a hint of honeydew and cantaloupe. It's a light taste with a very smooth aftertaste. Also, has a grassy taste from the soil the grapes were grown on. 

Drink This Now: Lesson 1

During this lesson, I was experimenting with my tastes of some new red wines as I described the aroma, foods that go with the wine, along taste change over time the red wine. When I went to the store, they did not have any wine on the list but ended up suggesting Generation 1905 Grenache. In addition, I used a variety of cheese from aged cheddar to Dutch gouda.

Step 1: Open the wine bottle and try it immediately.

As I tried the wine, the aroma of oak with hints of cherry hit my nose before I took my first sip. The taste of the wine represents aspects of red cherries along with dashes of cranberry mixed together. The wine has a smooth overall taste with a slightly tannic aftertaste to cover your palate. 

Step 2: leave the bottle of wine to decant for 2 hours, then try again.

After letting the wine sit for two hours, as it decants. Before my next sip, I received a more tannic and higher presence of tannins in the aroma of the wine. As I tasted it, I could decipher a stronger tannic flavor throughout the entirety of the tasting, with an explosion of cranberry that overwhelms the previous taste of cherry. However, after tasting, my mouth felt a little drier compared to the taste test hours before. 

Step 3: Try with food

• The Cheeses

○ Aged cheddar
Made the wine a lighter taste. No acidic aftertaste. Smoother than without food
○ Jarlsberg
Is Not a great taste in general. Neither the wine nor cheese mix well together. You lose the taste of the wine because of the cheese
○ Creamy Havarti
Pairs well. The subtle hints of the flavor of the cheese are good. Silky and smooth. The wine becomes slightly elevated due to the creaminess of the cheese.
○ Dutch Gouda
No real change in taste or flavor from the wine or cheese. The cheese lighted up the tannins slightly. The wine is the dominant taste by far compared to the cheese. It just doesn't flow with the wine compared to creamy Havarti

Step 4: Try many hours later

The aroma smell is pretty much the same as it was after 2 hours. The wine taste itself is dry with much of the fruitiness flavor being cranberry. The aftertaste of the wine is a tad bit more bitter than it was earlier in the day with tannins still being prevalent in the mouth. 

Red Tasting: 1000 Stories

Name: 1000 Stories 

Varietal: Zinfandel

Region: Mendocino County, California

Country: U.S

Year: 2020

Price: $16

Winery Review: Charred vanilla, dried herbs, and a hint of caramel. Flavors of red and black fruit, vanilla, and sage. Aged in French and American oak and finished in bourbon barrels, which provides a flavor of clove, vanilla, and earthiness 

Wine Folly: pg. 189 mentions that Zinfandel is a bold red that is known for its jammy fruit and smoky, spice, and exotic flavors. It pairs well with Turkish, Moroccan, and Arabic cuisine. Flavors of blackberry, strawberry, cinnamon, and sweet tobacco. 

My Review: It has a tannic scent of aroma along with a hint of either bourbon or whiskey. The taste of the wine relies on some cherry fruitiness that makes the mouth dry after tasting it. in addition, the taste of the wine has dashes of whiskey aftertaste that doesn't overwhelm the fruitiness of the wine but makes itself prevalent after tasting.

Red Tasting: Generation 1905 Grenache

 Name: Generation 1905 Grenache 

Varietal: Grenache

Region: Vin de France

Country: France

Year: 2019

Price: $13

Winery Review: Strong aroma of red cherry and cranberry, with a white pepper ascent. Loaded with acidity and gentle tannin, with dashes of vanilla to fulfill the Grenache.

Wine Folly: pg. 117 mentions that Grenache is used to produce rice, along with red wine. With a deep ruby rose red, its varietal is used in Rhome and Chateauneuf-Du-Pape blends. Grenache goes with roasted meats and vegetables.

My Review: With a ruby red color, the aroma represents a cherry with subtle tannins. it tastes similar to the smell from a red cherry and cranberry aftertaste along with tannins of the ruby red. Smooth overall taste, not too acidic or too tannic to overwhelm to cherry fruit flavor from the red wine. 

White Tasting: Starborough

Name: Starborough

Varietal: Sauvignon Blanc 

Region: Marlborough 

Country: New Zealand 

Year: 2021

Price: $16.00

Winery Review: From the sun-soaked shores of Marlborough, a balance of land, sea, and sky. Tastes of juicy citrus and the scent of fresh-cut lemongrass. Flavors of passions fruit, guava, kiwi, all come together for a citrus framework. 

Wine Folly: pg. 165 mentions the unique taste of the sauvignon blanc white wine with describing the wine as string herbaceous flavors that are derived from compounds called methoxypyrazines. On pg.27, the book talks about the color-coding of the white wine as being a medium yellow. 

My Review: Strong smell of herbs along with a fruitiness that can be described as green apple. It tastes like a green apple with a lack of sourness to fulfill a smooth aftertaste. Hints of acidity with a sweetness of light white wine.

Red Tasting: Chateau Saint-Antoine Bordeaux Superieur

Name: Chateau Saint-Antoine Bordeaux Superieur

Varietal: Merlot and Cabernet Franc

Region: Bordeaux

Country: France 

Year: 2016

Price: $15

Winery Review: Complex wine, rich in both tannins and dense fruit. With juicy berry flavors and consisting of a balance of acidity to go with the solid structure 

Wine Folly: pg. 86 talks about the cabernet franc grape that is the parent grape to the cabernet sauvignon and merlot. Consists of strawberry, raspberry, bell pepper, and chili pepper as its flavors. Has a high acidic component which makes it pair well with tomato style dishes. pg. 131 represents Merlot and how it is known for its black cherry flavors and supple tannins. 

My Review: Before indulging into the bottle, the texture and color of the wine represented a dark ruby red, with oak, and touches of blackberry smells. The overall experience of drinking the wine was smooth, with a dry taste, but not overwhelming dry. Tastes similar to how it smells from a blackberry smell to blackberry taste, however not much oak in the taste in comparison to the smell. 

White Tasting: Tegernseerhof Durnstein Gruner Veltliner Federspiel

Name: Tegernseerhof 

Varietal: Gruner Veltliner 

Region: Wachau

Country: Austria

Year: 2019

Price: $18.80

Winery Review: Rich, peach, with mingles. Dry, acidic, with hinges of green apple and flinty. Pairs well with seafood such as white fish. Also, known as Austria's greatest dry white wine. 

Wine Folly: pg. 120 references the Gruner Veltliner grape and how it has a rich history in Austria regarding dry white wines. They are lean, herbaceous, pear, and peppery. With this grape being used in a variety of different tastes, it allows it to be versatile in palate cleansing. 

My Review: It has a smooth texture, with a golden hue color, along with a fruity and acidic wine scent. The fruits smell like a combination of both oranges and pineapples. The taste of the wine was good. It contained a sweet first taste to a slightly sour aftertaste. Seemed like a more watery taste to the white than the smell entails with touches of pineapple flavor.