Wine Dinner: Palisades- Old World, New World, March 29. 2012

Free noms :)

 This Thursday Lizzie, Rachel and I went to the Palisades for another delicious wine dinner! The them was Old World, New World, like it is on the last Thursday of every month.All of the wines we tried were different types of Pinot Noir. The first was wine the Closerie des Lys 2010. The next was Ponga, which also was a 2010 vintage year. The final wine was called Rainstorm, which was a 2009 vintage.

So much wine!

The food this week was also the best we've had yet! We got a free appetizer of pita bread and hummus, and for the main appetizers, we had a poached pear with cherries and walnuts, herbed goat cheese  crostini, and mushroom stuffed chicken.

 The first wine, Closerie des Lys, was a very clear, ruby color and smelled like currants, and red berries, and was a little nutty. It was a little hot, and pretty light bodied. It definitely tasted spicy and fruity. With the pear, the wine just tasted like sugar, and was still very light, but felt more alcoholic, and the strawberry flavors were very noticeable. With the herb crostini, all I tasted was herb! It was very earthy and tangy, and they complemented each other very well. Finally, with the chicken, the wine felt fuller, smoother, and tasted oakey and spicy. Even though it seemed to get better with food, it also seemed to get less bold as we ate more.
The Ponga, which was the second wine we tried, was almost exactly the same color as the first wine. It was a dark pink, ruby color, and again very clear. It smelled very sweet, and I could smell apple, and blood orange. It tasted  very sweet and alcoholic, and tannic. I also tasted blackberry in it. With the pear, it was sweet, but tannic, and tasted like fruit juice. With the crostini, the alcohol really showed itself! And with the chicken, it was fruitier, and not as sweet, but still very tannic.


Rainstorm was the final wine we tried and it was very different from the other two. The color was a lot darker and fuller, and was more of a garnet color. The smell, was dark, deep and seductive.
 It tasted tannic, and very oakey, with noticeable blackberry flavors. With the pear, the wine was very fruity and the berry flavors stood out. With the crostini, the wine tasted sugary, and sweet, kind of like fruit or berries with sugar on top. With the chicken, the wine was more alcoholic and very oakey.
This was my favorite wine of the bunch, and the Palisades was great time!

Beringer Red Moscato

I bought this Beringer Red Moscato because I have never seen a red moscato before. It was only $5 at Kroger, so it was a pretty good price. The vintage of this wine is 2010, and the beringer website says "This innovative blend is the perfect harmony of Moscato, Zinfandel and Petite Sirah. It brings together the vivid aromas and flavors of the Moscato grape with the classic red berry characteristics of Zinfandel and ripe black cherry flavors of Petite Sirah."
The grape varietals in this wine are moscato, zinfandel, and petite Sirah.
You can definitely tell that this wine is a lot more complex and full than the other moscatos I've tried.
It smells very fruity and it tastes like red berries, mostly like cherries. The alcohol in this wine is a lot more noticeable than it has been in other moscatos that I've had before. Overall I think it's pretty good, even though I probably would rather drink it with food than just on its own.

Rex Goliath Moscato

This bottle of Rex Goliath Moscato I bought from Kroger for only $5! This wine does not have a vintage year, and was made in Rex-Goliath Winery in Acampo, CA.
The description on the back of the bottle reads "Our moscato is like sipping on liquid gold, deliciously sweet and refreshing with pretty floral aromas." Their website has a quotation from Nebraska Beverage Analyst describing the wine as "a flavor of perfumed aromas, medium sweet with stone fruit and citrus flavors."
I definitely agree with the "floral" tastes in the wine. It almost feels like I am drinking flowers and it smells like perfume. It's also very, very sweet.
It's a pretty simple wine, but delicious and easy to drink. I would probably drink this wine again.

Mirassou- Reisling

 This Reisling I bought mostly for fun since we watched the Gary V. video about Reislings. This was pretty inexpensive at around $8 from Kroger and the vintage year is 2009. www.mirassou.com says this wine is

"Our Mirassou California Riesling is distinctly soft and approachable yet crisp and fruit-forward. The wine offers aromas of peach, apricots, and spice with intense fruit flavors of red apple and peach." 

To me the reisling just smells kind of sweet and floral. It seems to be more fragrant when it is room temperature rather than just straight out of the fridge.The alcohol in this wine is more noticeable than I would like, but it is not too bad. It is very fruity and I can taste the apple flavors the website mentioned, but like the smell, none of the flavors are particularly pronounced. This wine is ok, but I'm not sure I would buy it again.

Gallo Family- Pinot Noir

I bought this wine so I could get a little more experience with drinking red wines with dinner at home. This is a Pinot Noir made by the Gallo family winery in California. It costs about $5.50 in Food Lion. Winediva.com describes this wine as "Black cherry and crushed purple floral aromas, cedar chips and fine spice with vanilla... flavors of berry fruit... roasted coffee bean, cedarbox and fine spices."
This is a pretty ambitious description of this wine. To me this wine just kind of tastes like red wine. It is pretty thin, and dry but not overly so. I can taste the oakey/ woody flavors described. I would not go so far as to say I can smell purple flowers though....
With bruschetta,  the wine is much more flavorful and almost a little sweet.  I think it tastes pretty good though, especially for the price. This wine is much better quality than the price would lead you to believe, and even though it isn't amazing, it is well worth the price.