Name: Primo Amore
Variety: Muscat Blanc
Region: Puglia
Country: Italy
Year: N/A (2012?)
Price: $8.95
Winery Review: Color:
Straw-yellow with golden reflections and a delicate mousse.
Bouquet:
Fruity and very inviting, with intense scents of peaches and exotic fruit. Flavor:
Fresh and pleasantly sweet with a taste that reveals its varietal characteristic. -
Grand Wine Cellar 01/31/2013
My Review: Extremely delicious, almost a dessert in a bottle. The aroma was very fresh and sweet, like an expensive, summery soap. The taste was sweet, almost creamy, like a piece of candy. Thought I feel the wine is a tad overly sweet, it is by far the best Moscato I have tried thus far!
Food: I did not try this wine with food but am eager to.
Name: Finca del Castillo Tempranillo
Variety: Tempranillo
Region: La Mancha
Country: Spain
Year: 2011
Price: $4.95
Shop Review: Rooty, spicy and baked on the nose, with aromas that lean towards raisin. The palate is more gritty and acidic, with raisin, cola, and spic flavors. Darkens up on the finish, which is long and peppery, with adequate juiciness and a final note of tomato. - The
Vintage Cellar, 01/31/2013
My Review: Though I wasn't particularly fond of this wine's taste, its smell was quite interesting. The aroma was extremely fruity, which reminded me of juices I drank as a child. I also detected a spicy hint of something I wasn't able to put my finger on. Though I was not accustomed to its bitter taste, I would like to try it again in order to figure out why its smell is so familiar.
Food: I did not try this wine with food.
Name: Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau
Variety: Gamay
Region: Beaujolais
Country: France
Year: 2012
Price: $3.95
Shop Review: Bright and tangy, offer a classic banana note on the nose, with flavors of raspberry, wild strawberry, and light spice. Modest finish. - The Vintage Cellar, 01/31/2013
My Review: Smooth red wine with aromas of strawberries and banana. Faintly able to detect the flavor of banana from the smooth texture. The wine surprisingly didn't taste as sweet as its scent alluded, thus I moderately like this wine and may decide to try it again.
Food: I did not try this wine with food.
Name: Mars and Venus
Variety: Chardonnay
Region: Central Valley
Country: Chile
Year: 2012
Price: $5.95
Shop Review: A very nice value Chardonnay that comfortably over-delivers vs. its modest price tage. No oak here, just bushels of clean, crisp, Chardonnay apple and stone fruit with a hint of caramelized pineapple. Juicy and clean, this is a mid-weight white that's just perfect for parties or weeknight sipping. - The Vintage Cellar, 01/31/2013
My Review: Has a heavier smell than other white wines, with a hint of pineapple juice. The wine has a smooth, light feel when drinking it and fruity taste. This wine was not one of my favorites, it's drinkable, but not something I would invest in.
Food: I did not try this wine with food.
Name: La Cappuccina Soave
Variety: Garganega
Region: Veneto
Country: Italy
Year: 2011
Price: $7.95
Shop Review: Bright straw yloow in color. Delicate on the nose, with notes of flowers and almonds. Dry, well-structured and delicately fruity, with hints of bitter almonds on the finish that is typical of Garganega-based wines. - The Vintage Cellar, 01/31/2013
My Review:
Wine had a golden color with and unexpectedly sweet smell. The taste was very dry, crisp and tart. It was fruity, yet refreshing enough to enjoy the glass. I was unable to detect hints flowers and almonds, but enjoyed this wine. I will be purchasing this soon!
Food: I did not have a chance to try it with food.
Though I don't consider myself a regular wine drinker, I have tasted a variety of different types. When I began drinking wine, I stuck to sweeter white wines like Moscato and Reisling. After drinking these wines for a while they became too sweet for me, so I began to experiment with other, less sweet, white wines. After increasing the bitterness of the wines I drank, I began to enjoy Pinot Grigio and Savingon Blanc. Though the crisp, tangy flavor, of a nice white wine appeals to me, I have yet to try many red wines aside from Sweet Red's. The first time I tried red wine was in church during communion, and its flavor has detoured me from it ever since.
Thus far, I have little knowledge on how to pair wine with food. I have cooked with wines a few times making dishes with chicken or seafood in it. My understanding of wine-food pairs is limited to matching red wines with dark meats, and whites with white meat or seafood. Using wine to cook with added flavor incomparable to recipes involving spices alone. Though I have experimented with using wines to cook, I have not tried to pair it with food. I tried a cherry wine instructed to be paired with chocolate. The wine itself tasted terrible; it was bitter with a strong alcohol content. When paired with milk chocolate truffles, the combination of the two brought the cherry flavor out of the wine, and made the truffles more decadent. This was the moment I first noticed the effect wine has with food when carefully paired with it.
Aside from this cherry wine, I haven't experimented with any other wine-food pairs, but it spiked my interest in discovering how. From this course, I hope to gain an appreciation and taste for good wine, and the knowledge to pair foods with it. My greatest interest is in learning to love the taste of red wine as I have with white, an distinguish the flavors within. With the numerous positive health benefits associated with moderate wine drinking, developing a taste for different types of wine has become important to me.
