Tasting - Beringer Main and Vine Rose Sangria

Name: Beringer Main and Vine Rose Sangria
Variety: Sangria
Country of Origin: United States
Region of Origin: California
Vintage Year: 2018
Price: $6

Winery Review: Rose wine with fresh and fruity flavors. Notes of melon and berry in a slightly sweet rose wine. Perfectly paired with fresh fruit and great friends!

Wine Folly: Once again, there is no dedicated section for Sangria in Wine Folly. However, this is a highly sweet wine, which means that there is 72+ calories per serving, according to Wine Folly, noted in page 16. This is the calories per 5 oz. or 150 ml. serving. Color intensity is that of a rose, which simply means that the wine was macerated in grape skins for a certain amount of time, according to page 25 in Wine Folly. This wine is also a bit on the acidic side, which contributes to a lighter body, according to page 20 in Wine Folly.
My Review: This was a TERRIBLE wine. It tasted like cough syrup, and I'm not exaggerating. By far the worst wine I have tasted, and luckily it was only $6. It was a very light bodied wine with fruity flavors. I detected melon and berries, but it mainly just reminded me of cough syrup. The wine's flavor hit first, and then a wave from the alcohol afterwards - the finish lasted for a while, longer than you would expect from a light bodied wine.. It is a unique wine, but definitely one that I would not want to try again. It was see through red - just like a rose.

Tasting - Beringer Main & Vine White Sangria

Name: Beringer Main & Vine White Sangria

Variety: Sangria

Country of Origin: United States

Region of Origin: California

Vintage Year: 2018

Price: $6

Winery Review: White wine with fresh and fruity flavors. Tropical fruit flavors perfect for any season!

Wine Folly: There is no dedicated section for White Sangria on Wine Folly. However, this was a very sweet wine, which translates to higher calories per serving than average wine (72+), this information can be found on page 16. On page 14, there is information about wine body, and White Sangria was a white wine, which means that it doesn't have those tannins. 

My Review: This was the better of the two of the Beringer Wines that we selected. This was actually decent for the $6 price tag. There was nothing too special about it. It was very sweet, and tasted of many fruits, like pineapple and oranges. It was very light bodied, and fresh. The taste was basically just fruity flavors and then the alcohol as well. Fruity, light, and refreshing. There's not much else to say about this wine.

Tasting - Rosemount Estate

Name: Rosemount Estate Diamond Label
Variety: Shiraz
Country of Origin: Australia
Region of Origin: South Australia
Vintage Year: 2018
Price: $9

Winery Review: This Shiraz is full-bodied, well-defined and juicy-sweet with blackberry, plum and cherry flavours complemented by the subtle richness of oak.
The 2013 Diamond Label Shiraz was recently awarded Double Gold at the 2014 San Francisco International Wine Show and the Gold Medal at the 2014 Royal Queensland Wine Show.

Wine Folly: I can find information about Shiraz on page 172 of Wine Folly. Shiraz is an alternative name to Syrah. Syrah is a "rich, powerful, and sometimes meaty red wine that originated in the Rhone valley of France. It's the most planted grape of Australia, where it's called Shiraz." Just like what Wine Folly said, this wine is from Australia and called Shiraz. It is big bodied, very dry, decent tannins, acidity, and alcohol.
My Review: It's a quite cheap wine, so I thought I would pick it up. As soon as I smelled it, it had a strong jam scent. Tasted of dark berries, and stays in the mouth for a while. It's on the dry side, but I've tasted drier wines. Very bold and big bodied, with medium tannins and acids.

Drink This Now: Lesson 1

Drink This Now! Lesson 1.
I used a port wine that I had - R.L. Buller & Son NV Tawny Port (Victoria). I know it isn't one of the wines listed in the book, but I have spent a lot of money recently, so I was hesitant to go out and buy another wine when I had a new one right here. This wine is a dark red, and it was see-through. I used the cheese from the wine and cheese pairings, and for the meat replacement, I used the food I got from the 7-11 mix and match 5 for $4 deal.

The first step is to open the bottle and try immediately & make observations. Here are my observations:

Name: R.L Buller & Son
Variety: Port
Country of Origin: Australia
Region of Origin: Victoria
Vintage Year: N/A
Price: $15

Wine Review: "This young tawny, actually garnet in color, is warm and supple. And although this easygoing tawny lacks a bit of complexity, it boasts ample, mouth-filling flavors of black cherry, plum and chocolate."

My Review: One of the bigger body wines I have tried. I would say that it is between medium and full bodied, which makes sense because it's a port wine, with the highest alcohol percentage of any wine I have tried so far, at 18% alcohol content. It is quite sweet, and the alcohol is quite strong. I detect cherries, and it is fruity overall. It has a unique, fruity smell. I would describe it as a fruity, chocolate sharpie smell. While the wine is very sweet, it is rich & intense, which is what I think other port wines would share in common characteristics. It is definitely powerful, and my girlfriend didn't want to finish it. I found it to be enjoyable, but definitely strong.

The second step is to wait two hours for the wine to "open up" and try it once again. After waiting for two hours with the alcohol exposed, it seemed a bit faded, not as strong as I remembered. It was fruitier, and less strength of alcohol. Definitely smoother, with less effects overall, and easier to taste. Still tasted fresh, with good acidity. The wine still shared the same characteristics as my review above, it was just less vigorous.

The third step was to try the wine with cheese. I did this step by starting with eating the cheese, and then sipping the wine, and mixing the flavors while continuously chewing and tasting the flavors. As soon as I started chewing the mozarella balls, my palate was yearning for wine. I wanted a sip, because the cheese was quite tasteless. I tried it with other cheese and it produced a similar result. The cheese makes the wine easier to taste thoroughly, it also made the cheese flavorful. Overall, the wine fulfilled the desire for anything more, it was a satisfying combination.

The fourth step was to try the wine with food. I drank the wine with food from 7-11, specifically a chicken taquito. I did the 5 for $4 mix and match deal to buy a couple hot dogs and taquitos. The Port and the Taquito did not overpower one another. The taquito had individually strong flavors, and so did the port wine. The port wine along with the taquito made my mouth water, but then dry up at the end. Overall, the wine made the taquito sweeter, but the taquitos saltiness was also quite apparent. I could only taste the majority of one or the other at certain points.

The fifth step was to let it sit for several more hours without the cap on the bottle. I left the wine out overnight, and then some. I tasted it and my immediate reaction was that it tasted worse. While it had a smoother mouth feel, it tasted stronger in a different way. If I had to explain it, it would be like drinking apple cider vinegar, but not that extreme.

Dinner and Food Pairing #1

On the same Friday night, after I did the wine and cheese pairing, I enjoyed the wine dinner pairing. The party consisted of me, my girlfriend, my roommate, and his girlfriend. It was a double date, and we all followed through the same order of wine and food pairings. My girlfriend drove down from Maryland for this event, but we drive to see each other basically every weekend.  I bought 8 wines, including the three for this dinner blog. My girlfriend helped me buy the dinner, so big shout out to her for helping out! Sadly, we didn't take a group photo, but the entire group went through the sniffing, evaluating, tasting, and enjoying the process & steps. Pictured below: My roommate and his girlfriend.

We bought the wines for the dinner blog from the vintage cellar as well! Afterwards, we went to the Kroger right next to the vintage cellar to buy our foods. We had plans to buy certain foods, but we ended up changing the Asian BBQ to the spring rolls because of ease of preparation and availability. For the wine and food pairings, we did White Zinfandel with Pulled Pork, Riesling with Spring Rolls, and Gewurztraminer with Dumplings. Specifically, the wines are a Canyon Road White Zinfandel from California with the vintage year of 2018. As for the second wine, it is a Weinhaus Max Ferd. Richter Mosel Riesling with the vintage year of 2018. The third wine is a Kaltern Gewürztraminer from Italy with the vintage year of 2018. All of the wine's vintage years are from 2018, and have now been consumed in February of 2020!

I was quite hungry that night, so I wanted food that would be somewhat on the easier side of preparation difficulty. For the food, we had Jack Daniel's Pulled Pork, Vegetable Spring Rolls, and Pork Dumplings from Kroger, which was next to the vintage cellar. The first dish we ate was the Pulled Pork, with the White Zinfandel for the wine. Onto the actual pairings & tastings, I'll start with my notes on the White Zinfandel. It was definitely fruity, I detected cherry upon tasting it. Another fruit that I detected was strawberries. These were the main two that I could sense, and I was pleased to read the label afterwards and see that it has hints of strawberry, cherry, and watermelon. I am definitely learning, along with my girlfriend and my friends who have shared the meal and wine with me. The smell was floral. Specifically, it smelled a bit like roses, but that might be due to the pink color of the White Zinfandel. Overall, the White Zinfandel is kind of like a mix between fruity and floral wines. With the pulled pork, the strawberry of the White Zinfandel comes out a lot more in the taste while eating the bbq pulled pork. The sweet flavors goes very well with each other, and aren't overpowering one another. It was a nice overall complement that added an extra layer of crisp fruitiness to the sweet and rich pulled pork.

For the next pairing, I had the Riesling with the Spring Rolls, which is pictured above. Sadly, I did not take as much photos as I would've liked of everything, but on to the wine tasting: Riesling is definitely my favorite out of the 8 wines I bought that entire night. I didn't notice it because my palette was getting worn out as the night progressed. However, once I tried it with a bit of a break, I realized its potential, and enjoyed it a lot (IT WAS INSANELY GOOD). As for my notes, I wrote that it was quite fruity, and I detected pineapple. While sweet, it was also a bit sour and acidic. To add to that, it was zesty and citrusy. Overall, it was super sweet, which I like currently, and I found that it taste sweeter than it smells. The Riesling was also slightly bubby. I ate it with the Spring Rolls, which came with a sweet and sour sauce. The Riesling and the Spring Rolls with the sauce were an amazingly sweet pairing that added a crunchiness with the Spring Rolls, which we oven baked. The combo didn't overpower the other, but rather created a delicious fusion. I would've enjoyed the food or the wine separately as well. The wine affected the sweetness and salt by making it sweeter, and that made my mouth water.

Onto the third pairing, I had Gewürztraminer with Pork Dumplings. The Gewürztraminer was SUPER floral. I have never smelled a wine that was more floral than this one. It was very rosey, but also it smelled like straight perfume. Definitely the most flowery smelling wine I have ever had. Several people found it hard to finish, due to its powerful effect on the nose. There was a very faint bubble feel. The wine was a very light yellow, with a gold tint. Because no one finished it, I have been sipping on it this afternoon, and finishing the wine. It definitely has a powerful effect on the mouth that is equivalent to a punch, but I have gotten more accustomed to it. As for the dumplings, we had them with soy sauce. I would say individually, the dumpling has a saltiness that leaves you wanting, and the Gewürztraminer fills that void. It adds a fullness that leaves you satisfied with the meal, I would say the Gewürztraminer is somewhat overpowering to the dumplings. However, the dumpling had a strong taste that allowed it to become a complement with the Gewürztraminer. The pork dumplings and the soy sauce made the Gewürztraminer overall less bitter.

Overall, my favorite wine and cheese pairing is, without a question, the Riesling and Spring Rolls. I just love the combination of flavors, and also the Riesling is just awesome. I really hope to get more Riesling, I'll definitely pick it up if I come across it.

Tasting - Red Sangria

Name: Black Box
Variety: Red Sangria
Country of Origin: United States
Region of Origin: California
Vintage Year: N/A
Price: $20

Winery Review: Dusty garnet color. Tropical, sweet aromas and flavors of concord grapes, banana taffy, aromatic bitters, vanilla cream, and peach-pineapple pie with a soft, crisp, moderately sweet light-to-medium body and a smooth, crisp finish with accents of tangerine. A fun n’ fruity sangria to drink now.

Wine Folly: I could not find any dedicated section for Red Sangria/Sangria in the Wine Folly. However, this is a medium sweet wine, which means there are about 21-72 calories per serving, which can be found on page 16. On page 14, I found information about wine bodies. Red Sangria is a red wine, which means that it contains tannins. Also, the sweetness increases the body of wine, which makes sense because this wine is medium sweet (on the sweeter side) but it also tastes of medium tannins, and has medium body. I would say that it is a bit on the acidic side, which contributes to a lighter body, I found this on page 20 of Wine Folly.
My Review: This is the first wine that I consumed & enjoyed on a regular basis for a time. The box of wine was quite inexpensive, it was only $20 for the same amount as four 750ml bottles, so I was able to have it for some time. The box claims that it can last to up to 6 weeks after opening. I did not pair it with food, unfortunately, but it was good without food. At first sniff, it definitely smells fruity and sweet. When I drank it, it had a medium body, and an initially sweet taste that diminished into a sort of dryness. It is overall medium sweet, which I realized when I tried another sweet alcoholic beverage. The flavor is just overall fruity, maybe some oranges, but definitely a mix of many fruits.

Wine and Cheese Pairing #1

On Friday night, I did a wine and cheese pairing with my girlfriend, my roommate, and his girlfriend. It was a double date, and we all went through the wine and cheese pairings together. My girlfriend and I went to Kroger to get the cheese, and the vintage cellar to get all the wines. I bought 8 wines that night, and it cost me nearly $100, and my girlfriend also spent around that amount. It was an overall very fun night, my girlfriend loves cheese. We started our night with the wine and cheese pairings. Sadly, we didn't take a group photo, but we all did the tastings and learned a lot about what wines and cheeses we like.

We bought the wines at vintage cellar! It was cool to see the store in person after seeing it in the wine IQ quizzes. We even saw the guy who did the lecture with Boyer. As for the wine and cheese pairings, we did Chardonnay and Gruyere, Pinot Grigio, and Mozarella,  and Pinot Noir and Brie cheese. Specifically, it is a Mars and Venus Chardonnay 2017. We've been wanting to try a chardonnay for a while, since it is one of the most popular wines of all time. The Chardonnay was a product of Spain. As for the Pinot Grigio, it is a Santa Julia Pinot Grigio from 2019. It came from Mendoza, in Argentina. Our third drink is a Meiomi Pinot Noir, with a vintage year from 2017. This Pinot Noir comes from California, with a fraction of each coming from 3 different counties in California.

My girlfriend really likes cheese, so she selected some of her favorite cheeses and we paired wines based off of that. We ended up with Gruyere cheese, Mozarella cheese balls, and Brie cheese. Onto the actual pairings & tastings, I'll start with my notes on the Chardonnay. We used the wine wheel, but these are my notes, all of us detected things with variations overall, but also a lot of similarities with each other. For the Chardonnay, it was quite fresh. It was very herbaceous and it just pretty much smelled something like freshly cut grass. It was also sharp. When I first drank the wine, it really had a sharp and crisp taste that quickly went away after the first taste. I also wrote down that it was tangy/acidic. It had a slight sting and burn associated to it. Onto the pairings, the Chardonnay was initally sweeter than the cheese at first. However, once I chewed the cheese, the cheese itself became way sweeter and pulled through with flavors over time. There was a balance that reminded me of a seesaw. Overall, an enjoyable pairing that I would compare to a playground in my mouth, like a swing. The creaminess of the cheese came out once I was chewing more.

Onto the next pairing, which was the Santa Julia Pinot Grigio with the Mozarella cheese balls. I found the Pinot Grigio to be floral. It smelled like a flower, specifically roses. It was about medium floral smell strength. I also thought it to be quite fruity. I detected pears specifically, but also some others, like pineapple. Overall, a wine that wasn't very fruity, but one that you could detect a lot of varieties of fruit from. I found the flavor to be quite dry, it reminded me a bit of straw - like hay. It is a white wine with a medium body. The pinot grigio had way more flavor than the mozarella. The mozarella basically had no taste, and the pinot grigio was quite overpowering. Also, the pinot grigio tingles and the tongue, and definitely stings the nostril. Basically, the pinot grigio was the only thing I could taste, but the mozarella was a nice addition because I was quite hungry. Overall, the wine was too overpowering and I think this is not an ideal pairing.

For the next pairing, I had 2017 Meiomi Pinot Noir paired with the Brie cheese. As for the pinot noir, I detected that it was quite earthy, and reminded me of dust. This was our first red wine, and it was also a medium bodied wine. It tasted like soy sauce, and caramel. A bit salty, yet sugary at the same time. It had a lot of contrasting flavors, which all balanced each other. I found it to be nutty, like a walnut flavor, with the smell as well. The brie was extremely buttery, and the pinot noir brought out that butteriness. The pinot noir was a lot harder to finish than the other wines, because it wasn't nearly as sweet. I think it went well with the buttery brie cheese, but I would rather have had a sweet wine to enjoy the butteriness with the wine. The flavors were quite contrasting. I definitely tasted both, with the wine flavor being overpowering, while the brie's texture was overpowering. I think the pinot noir would've went better with a salty cheese that makes the mouth water, to contrast its somewhat drying effects.

Overall, my favorite wine and cheese pairing is definitely the chardonnay and the gruyere. They had the best balance out of the three, even though individually they wouldn't shine as bright as the other wines and cheese.