Sutter Home Merlot

On a nice relaxing night of movies and sitcom re-runs, sometimes a cheap glass of wine is the perfect addition to the night. And at those time the Sutter Home merlot is a pretty good choice. and it comes in a cute little four pack of baby bottles!

It's smooth and well rounded, but definitely not the fanciest wine. It feels a little watery and it's hard to pick out any distinct flavors.This is a low commitment wine that doesn't require a lot of thought, but it's perfect in its own way. It's easy to drink and doesn't need to be paired with any food. In fact, when pairing it with some dark chocolate, the wine loses most of its flavor. It feels more watery, and less flavorful. This is really a stand alone wine, something cheap college girls (like me) would drink. Even at 13% alcohol, you don't feel the burn of the alcohol.But with an alcohol content that high, it'll get the job done. The wine is relatively sweet and you can taste a nice berry flavor. It feels like I could drink a bottle of this wine and barely notice

.

Greystone Cellars Chardonnay

Tonight I'm drinking a chardonnay made my Greystone Cellars.This chardonnay is a 2011 vintage with some very well rounded and balanced flavors. The wine is light and fruity but not too crisp. It has a "warm" feeling to it. The back of the bottle mentions flavors of "vanilla and caramel apple" which lend to the balanced, well rounded taste of the wine. Overall this is a very enjoyable wine to relax with, and for only $10, it's something I'll probably pick up again. I would love to have this at a girls night in or with a big salad for dinner.

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.