Tasting- One Hope Cabernet Sauvignon

After the DeLoach, I tried the One Hope Cabernet Sauvignon.  This is another wine from the One Hope company that donates a portion of  the profits from their wines to different causes. For this wine, the 50% of the profits go to help families with autistic children.
This wine is also from the Napa Valley in California and made from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes picked in 2010 and is again pretty inexpensive at only $11.95 a bottle.
They said the bouquet of this wine has "aromas of lush black cherry, cassis, and a hint of tobacco." It has "complex layers of spice" and "soft tannins."
I thought this wine was delicious and I want to try it again. It was woody and oakey with noticeable tannins. It smelled like wood and blackberry to me. This would be a great wine to eat with dinner one night.

Tasting- DeLoach Pinot Noir

The DeLoach Pinot Noir was the third wine I tried at the Vintage Cellar on Saturday. This wine is made from Pinot Noir grapes picked in 2009 in the central coast region of California. This is another affordable wine at only $12.95. 

The Vintage Cellar described the smell of this wine as "smoked meats and fragrant herbs...ripe berries," with flavors of "liqeur-soaked dark cherries, with pancetta and rosemary." This is a pretty good description of the wine. It was definitely a wine that would go better with food and was just a little to much to come on its own. To me it tasted bready and woody and I noticed a lot of tannins.It smelled smokey and woody too.

Tasting- Bolla Soave

On Saturday at the Vintage Cellar, I sampled another six wines. I first tried the Bolla Soave. This wine is from the Veneto region of Italy and made from Garganega and Trebbiano grapes that were picked in 2010. The Vintage Cellar sells this wine at $10.95 per bottle, which is a pretty good price for this wine. The Vintage Cellar said that this wine has a "soft floral bouquet and clean pear and lemon flavors" and a "delicate almond aftertaste."

This wine was a little sparkling, and it made the tip of my tongue tingle. It was a little "bitey," but definitely tasted like citrus and I could smell the floral qualities too. Overall I liked this wine a lot.

Gallo Family- White Zinfandel

This wine I tried at home was a Gallo Family White Zinfandel. This wine is from an area near Modesto, California. I chose this wine to try because my godmother used to work for the Gallo family and I had never tried their wine before. And it only cost like $4.99 at Food Lion!

This wine is pretty interesting. It's very fruity and more bold than the white wines I've been trying. It has flavors that taste a lot like red berries, like strawberries in particular. 

I drank the wine while eating Greek yogurt with honey. The yogurt was not particularly fatty or too sweet so the wine tasted pretty acidic, but not tannic or dry. In fact the wine is pretty sweet, but also very crisp. I like this wine a lot and for the price it is definitely worth it!

Dinner- Palisades: South Africa

 This Thursday, I went to dinner at the Palisades restaurant with a few other students in the class.The theme for this week's dinner was South Africa.This was a really fun experience! The Palisades restaurant was a really cute little place that kind of looked like an old fashioned bookstore and it was nice and quiet. The drive there was definitely an adventure. We thought we were lost on back roads for like 25 minutes and almost hit a few deer, but we got there safe and sound. and luckily got home safe too!!
We tried three different wines from South Africa:  the Mulderbosch~ Chenin Blanc 2010, Ken Forrester Petit Pinotage 2010, and Graham Beck~ Game Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2009. Along with these wines, we tried some South African style food. They served us pumpkin fritters, biryani with beef skewers, and apricot chutney.
The first wine we were served was the Mulderbosch~ Chenin Blanc, of the chenin blanc variety, made with grapes picked in 2010. This white wine is from the Stellenbosch region of South Africa. The Palisades described this wine as tasting of "apricot, pineapple and lychee...peach pit and almond... floral and ginger spice." You can buy this bottle of wine for about $12 depending on where you buy it. This wine smelled fruity and I noticed that it smelled like apricot. Without food, it tasted a little earthy, but still fruity, though not as sweet as it smelled. It was also tart and a little tannic. With food, it had a dry aftertaste. With the pumpkin fritter, the wine tasted smooth, woody, and a little oakey. With the apricot chutney, the wine was spicier and I tasted ginger and pepper. This was probably very affected by the chutney because the chutney itself was very spicy and peppery. When I drank the wine while eating the meat and rice, it tasted like anise and I could feel a little more heat in the wine.

The Ken Forrester~ Petit Pinotage 2010. This is made from Pinotage grapes picked in 2010. The Palisades noted that this grape was "bred at the University of Stellenbosch in 1925 as a cross between Pinot noir and Cinsaut." They described the smell as "mulberry, plum pudding and cherries, supported by smokey bacon nuances." The Palisades described the tastes as "Juicy and accessible with soft palate and delicious fruit concentration." This wine smelled smokey and peppery to me and tasted earthy, woody and tannic. It definitely dried my mouth out kind of like black tea, and I could taste a little bacon. With the pumpkin fritters, the wine tasted smokey, oakey, and sharp.  With the chutney, it was more peppery, and tasted of cloves and fruit.With the meat and rice, the wine was spicy,oakey, peppery and lost all of the tannic qualities.

The final wine we tried was the Graham Beck~ Game Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine is made from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes picked in 2009. The Palisades review described this as "black berry fruit, dark chocolate and cassis on the nose, well supported by spicy mineral and cigar box flavors." I definitely smelled the chocolate aromas, and also noticed that it smelled kind of spicy and peppery, and reminded me of barbecue and tobacco. This wine was pretty tannic, and I kind of felt like I was getting a headache when I drank it. It was really bold, fullbodied, and oakey. When I drank this wine with the pumpkin fritters, it was still tannic and spicy. It was rich and mouth coating, and I could taste a little chocolate. With the chutney, the wine was a little hot, spicy, and fruity. With the rice and meat I tasted a lot of black pepper and spice.
This was a really great way to get a well rounded experience with these wines and I would definitely go again!!