Tasting Blog 4 (Week 12)

This week, I will begin blog about a wide variety of wines, everything from a random cheap Riesling that my girlfriend and I picked up for dinner one night, to a Funf German Riesling to a much nicer Italian Montepulciano d'Abruzzo that I tried at a friend's house - the bottle of wine actually came from a wedding overseas. As I begin to take a look at the wide variety of wines, especially in retrospect, I'm realizing that I have taken a very keen interest in trying white wines, as opposed to reds. I'm noticing that I can notice the flavors in them a little more distinctly.  In my group of friends, a lot of us are enamored with the idea of going on wine tours or drinking a glass of wine on special occasions, but when we actually take a sip, we can't help but be turned off by the strong, dry taste or the tannins present in many wines. I'm really beginning to appreciate the flavors of all of the different wines, especially after getting past that initial "barrier," if you can even call it that.

So, let's dive right in to this week's five wines.

My first experience with Funf German Riesling was this silly picture. Check out the names of the wines - doesn't it just seem like a joke? Kind of like different flavor's of Burnett's Vodka in the ABC Store..

See the similarities?

But in any event, I did actually like this Riesling. This wine was extremely cheap if I remember correctly - definitely no more than $8.00.  The nose was a lot like peaches and honeysuckle - a scent that I really and truly do remember from growing up near Atlanta, Georgia in a little place called Peachtree, Georgia.

Let's stay more on track here - like I said, the note was very florally at first. After I tasted it, it was somewhat syrupy but didn't really taste a whole lot like how it smelled.  The finish was also very honeysuckle like, with an almost grapefruit or honeydew finish. The weirdest part about the flavors though was that they all combined to be quite tasty - even when I 'm not paicularly a big fan of those tastes, outside of wine.  Over the course of the semseter, I've noticed that most rieslings have some mineral notes that actually help tone down the sweetness a bit. Not this one, though. It was a true blue sweet, Riesling, dessert wine - but I sitll liked it.  Not to mention, the name means "five" in German....not particular sure why the fun begins at five for a bottle of wine. 

The second wine this week is this Cantina VillaFranca Frascati Superiore that I tried at the Vintage Cellar.  Coming from Italy in the year of 2010, this was a blend of several different grapes.  It was only 7.95, and I was actually pretty impressed by the price for how flavorful it was.  I did a little bit of research and learned that Superiore indicates that the wine was made according to higher legal production standards. Further, classico often means that the wine is made in a venerable style. Vecchio means old, secco is dry, and dolce or amabile sweet. So to know that this wine was made according to higher legal standards wasn't something I would really have realized unless it was printed on the label, as it was. The color on the wine was ... interesting.  It literally appeared as if it was some kind of household cleaning solution, as it was almost greenish. Seemed like it would have been paired great, though, with salmon or with talapia...that was actually what I went and grabbed for dinner right after the Vintage Cellar tasting. :)

Covey Run Columbia Valley 2008 Riesling

 So I tried this at a dinner with some friends, and holy cheese it was delicious with cheese!  From some knowledge I gained in Winery Tourism, I'm really starting to get into west coast US wines, especially from Washington State, and precisely Columbia Valley. This riesling had a pale gold color with aromas of baked peaches, apricot and pear - some tasting notes that I saw suggested that you should think caramelized pineapple upside-down cake - but that was a bit much for me. Light, well-balanced acidity keeps this refreshing wine from being way too sweet, like some light wines like this can get. Its sweetness and acidity are well balanced and lead to a a pretty tasty, well-rounded finish. The combination of high acidity with the residual sweetness gives the wine good body, flavor and intensity.

Italy Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 2008

Riserva, estate bottled, contains sulfates, product of Italy - talk about a crash course in an Italian wine label! n Italy, producers use the term Riserva to designate their better wines. We encounter the term most often with the wines of Tuscany (Chianti Classico, Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile de Montepulciano) and of Piedmont (Barolo and Barbaresco). Similarly, Italian wine law mandates that these wines must be aged for a longer minimum period than non-Riserva wines. This one was tasty and made me feel drunk after 2 glasses - it was a very serious, high tannins, high alcohol content kind of wine.  Like I mentioned earlier, the wine was actually tried at a friend's house, but they had gotten it at a relative's wedding overseas, which I thought made me feel pretty important. :) We made dinner and actually tried it with chicken with a tomato based sauce, and it was delicious, with tastes of cherry and other sweet red fruits, like pomegrantes.

And lastly, we have a 2009 Red Diamond Washington State Merlot. I had tried several Red Diamond wines, with their Cabernet Sauvignon being the most recent and one of my favorites.  This one was not ranked as highly by my pallate though. It had some graphite on the nose, with a little bit of spice. Very mild tannin, not much acidity, black cherry and smidge of oak on the palate (last week, at the Zeppoli's tasting, I finally learned that the oak monster is all about!) . It's got a medium finish. Not sure it's going to get much better over time, but it's decent now. It's a good daily drinker, but nothing to write home about. Interesting, but not interesting enough for me to make an 11:59 pm Kroger run just for it.