As before, for the lesson, I referred back to the fabulous Master Sommelier, Andrea Robinson (see link to her site below). We did our second tasting for body but this time based on alcohol content. Who knew the alcohol content of a wine could make such a difference?! And who knew that the sunnier the growing location, the higher the alcohol content of the grapes??
First, we compared 2 Rieslings. This first one is German and only has 9% alcohol. Not everyone liked this one, but those that did thought it would be mighty good on a warm day. This bottle of Leonard Kreusch cost $9.49 at Wegman's. We have to remember this for next summer!
The second Riesling is from the Alsace region of France. This had 13% alcohol and man, was it too much! This went into the dump bucket for most of us. Yes, you really can smell the alcohol in wine. My MIL said this one smelled like butterscotch liquor or a buttery rum. This bottle of Trimbach Riesling cost $16.99.
We tasted the Rieslings with spicy Kung Pao chicken (well, except for our vegetarian - she ate crackers and cheese).
If you are going to taste for body based on alcohol content, you have to be fair and taste the whites AND the reds. While whites have a larger range for alcohol content, reds do not. That didn't stop us from knowing which was which. We were tasting Merlot for the red.
This first bottle is a French Merlot from Bordeaux. It came from Saint Emilion which is one of the 33 vineyards that has a Grand Cru rating. Based on the price of this one, I don't really think it was a Grand Cru. I took a picture of the cork because there was sand on the cork and the neck of the bottle when I opened the bottle. I had to decant the whole thing through a wine sieve. Still don't know what the deal with the sand is. This bottle had 12.5% alcohol and cost $19.99 at Wegman's.
We tasted our Merlots with meatballs in sauce and also with Twix and Kit Kat candy bars (YUM).
It is sparkly, but I am not a good enough photographer to capture it so you have to trust me.
The second Merlot was a Cali Merlot. I am not generally a Merlot fan, but this was kind of yummy. Made me want a steak too. This Gnarly Head Merlot has 14% alcohol and cost $8.99 at Wegman's. I will keep this on hand for when my Dad comes to visit again cause I liked this better than his 14 Hands Merlot (sorry, Dad).
Now that we are 4 bottles in, it is time to move to the next flavor to taste for. We have 2 pictures of Chardonnay here and we have already done a tasting for oak, so it seems logical that we were tasting for butter. Personally, I think that the only white that is synonymous with "butter" is Chardonnay. We tasted these with brie and olives.
Oh boy, more French labeling. Well, it is a French Chardonnay which means it is a white Burgundy (why they can't just put that on the bottle is beyond me). Louis Jadot has made appearances at our wine tasting before (and will again, well, cause I really like it). This is a Macon-Villages Chardonnay. The great thing about French Chard is that they generally don't oak it. This was ever so yummy and creamy and nice, but not so buttery on the nose. This bottle cost $11.99 at Wegman's.
For butter, we head to Cali. This Columbia Crest Grand Estates Chardonnay smelled very buttery but was SO oaky! Do oak trees even grow in Cali? I don't think I have ever seen one there. Maybe that is why they are so darn hung up on them. Chardonnay labels usually will mention "barrel" or "oak" or "steel" on the label. If it has the first 2, then you know it will be woody. Steel is the best word on a bottle of Chard - IMHO. This bottle cost $8.49 at Wegman's.
Next, we tasted for grassiness. I knew that would send us to Sauvignon Blanc. I personally hate this grape. I mentioned in a previous post that it makes me think of green grapefruit. Well, it also smells like a whole meadow is in there. I bought this bottle at Wegman's instead of Rick's and got it for a savings of more than $10. This one only cost $22.99. Still too much money for wine I pour down the drain.
We ate goat cheese with it.
We had to taste for spice. Tasting for spice involved 3 different bottles - 1 white and 2 red. There is only one grape in the world called "spice grape," so we had to have some. This particular bottle is almost always in my house just because it goes down very, very easily. We tasted this bottle with the Kung Pao and also some Boursin cheese. If you haven't had Boursin cheese in a while or ever, go buy some. You will thank me.
This little bottle of Fetzer Gewurztraminer cost $5.49 at Wegman's. I finished the bottle.
Spicy reds means Syrah or Shiraz (same grape - 2 names - Shiraz comes from Australia). We have had some great luck with Pepperwood Grove wines (OMG - their Pinot Noir is actually from Chile and is so good and so cheap!), so I decided to take a chance and try their Syrah. This is a Cali Syrah and was very drinkable. It only cost $5.99 at Wegman's so I will probably keep some of this on hand during the winter. We had more meatballs in sauce and some sharp cheddar with these reds.
We compared the spice in the Pepperwood Grove Syrah to the spice in this Peter Lehmann Shiraz (Aussie). they were both good, but as one person said last night, if you can have 2 of the first kind for the price of 1 of the second, go for the 2. But since they were both open, she took one for the team and had more of the second :0) I really love my friends! This bottle of Shiraz cost $13.99 at Wegman's.
Last bit of the lesson was tasting for floral. When I read over the tasting notes that Ms. Robinson did for this Moscato d'Asti, I chuckled when she mentions that the smell might make you want to "dab some of this behind your earlobes." Wow, she was totally right! This is from the Muscat grape and it is a "lightly sparkling" wine. It smelled like a perfume store or a flower shop - both work here. The taste was very light and refreshing. Most of the group liked it. I would rather have Prosecco or Champagne or a real sparkling as I thought this was a little too sweet on the tongue (but I drank what was in my flute). We had this white chocolates (can you say Lindt). This bottle was about $14 at Harris Teeter (explanation below).
Here's the $13.49 Prosecco that I bought at Wegman's. I was looking at Moscato d'Asti and I was looking for one that Ms. Robinson mentions in her book. I knew the Moscato d'Asti was blending into the Prosecco on the shelf and I had checked myself a couple of times. Finally, I saw the name "Mionetto" and grabbed the bottle, triumphant! Got home and put everything in the wine fridge and started prepping for wine club. As I was marking the wines in the book so that I knew what we were tasting and how much it cost and everything, I grabbed this bottle and went to mark it on the floral page and got so mad at myself. It was now a Friday morning and I had a bunch of things to do before the tasting and NOW I had to go find a bottle of the right stuff for that night. OH - take a lesson from me - Safeway does NOT carry Moscato d'Asti and Harris Teeter has 1.
As for this Prosecco, I wouldn't buy it again. It was way too dry and not at all refreshing. Stick with Lunetta for Prosecco.
Next month will be interesting as we are bringing our spouses and opening all the bottles that are left over from our previous tastings (that doesn't mean that we didn't like the wine, just that we could bring ourselves to open the second bottle most times). I will share the hits and misses and hopefully some new insights on some previously discussed wines. I should probably take a before and after picture of the wine fridges too as I am almost out of room for wine (tragic, I know).
Until then,
Cheer,
Kitti
