March 24th, 2013

 Big, Bold, Beautiful.

 Well, if you cannot tell by the title, this wine hit me the right away.  When I saw it in the store this afternoon I was certain that I would like it, however it has taken me a long time to understand what I like and dislike in wines.  Don't let anyone tell you what wine is good or bad, everyone has different tastes and likes. So here we go... 

Wine #7

Label: Umani Ronchi (haha its not)

 
Year: 2010

Style: Montepulciano (Abruzzo-location)

Origin: Italy

Cost: 12.99 (NSLC)

Body: Full

Mouth Feel: Dry, and bold.  Fills and covers your mouth with ripe fruit and berries (plum and current) while leaving a lingering dryness on the sides of your cheeks.     

Aroma: Soft and oaky nose with rich smells of dried currents.

Colour: Deep Purple

Rating:  5 out of 5.  A great full bodied wine with lots going on.  If you enjoy a chewy bold red wine, this is or you.  Great alone or would be awesome with a spicy roast or peppercorn steak, or someone special ;)
Awesome, go get one.

March 17th 2013

Brother and Sister

Welcome back!  Tonight's flight will consist of two wines from Ontario, in particular the Niagara region.

Both of these wines are made by the Crush wine company.  This is a VQA, thus should be particularly good.  VQA stands for "Vintners Quality Assurance", for anyone who doesn't know. This means that it has been sampled by a panel of "judges" on the overall quality and presentation of the wine.

So here we go.

Wine #5

Label:Crush

 
Year: 2011

Style: Pinot Grigio

Origin: Canada

Cost: 12.99 (NSLC)

Body:Light 

Mouth Feel: dry and crisp.  The tart citrus taste lingers on your tongue keeping the pleasant fruit taste and not the harsh acidity.   

Aroma: Soft fruits like pear and melon, some floral hints.

Colour: pale apricot

Rating 5 out of 5.  This Canadian holds its own.  Very easy drinking white wine.  Great for summer parties or very tasty with a ginger salmon dish. Fruit forward and easy on the throat tannins and acidity.   Great Value! 

Wine #6

Label: Crush 

Year: 2011

Style: Merlot 

Origin: Canada

Cost: 12.99 (NSLC)

Body: Light to Medium

Mouth Feel: Dry on tongue and sides of mouth initially but the dryness disappears on the finish.  Pleasant sweetness of cherry and raspberries cushioned by a pruny flavour.

Aroma: oak, deep rich fruit. Very soft nose.

Colour: Deep Ruby

Rating: 4 out of 5.  Great easy sipping wine.  Packs a big dry punch for a Merlot which can be a little scary for someone who depends on the soft fruity palate of a traditional Merlot.  This will be great to have with ribs or barbeque chicken wings.    Great!

 White, White, Baby

March 3rd, 2013

As a red wine drinker by trade, white wines are more of a challenge for me. I'd better try the whole bottle just to make sure.  ha.

Wine #4

Label: Wyndham Estate

Year: 2011

Style: Chardonnay

Origin: Australia

Cost: 13.99

Body:Light to Medium

Mouth Feel: Dry, long finish. 

Aroma: Green apple and citrus

Colour: pale wheat

This Aussie white was a great way to end my weekend.  Its intense citrus finish (grapefruit) helped balance the melon and apricot flavours. It has just enough acidity that it appears as a lighter body white wine like a Pinot Gris or Sauvignon Blanc. This makes it great alone but it is also complex enough to pair with a meal such as BBQ chicken or smoked salmon.

Great wine!

5 out of 5

Double Corked 

February 24th 2013

Tonight's flight will consist of two wines (lucky me).  The first is from Nova Scotia and by request, the second is an NSLC special.

Wine #2

Label: Rapture Muir Murray Estate Winery

Year: 2011

Style: Merlot

Origin: Nova Scotia

Cost: 20.00

Body:Light to Medium

Mouth Feel: Dry, clings to roof of mouth, quick finish.

Aroma: light American oak, ripe berries such as blackberries, raspberries. 

Colour: Deep purple. 

The Muir Murray Rapture showcases a classic style of wine.  This Merlot has a smooth silky finish topped with a fragrant nose of fresh ripened  berries and light oak.  This wine stays calm on your palate due to the prune and raisin jammy taste.  A very nice wine for red wine drinkers and a great beginner wine for the red virgin.  5 out of 5

Wine #3

Label: McGuigan Black Lable

Year: 2011

Style: Shiraz

Origin: Australian

Cost: 10.99

Body:Light to Medium

Mouth Feel: Dry, fills sides of cheeks, soft finish.

Aroma: Very cherry, soft oak.

Colour: Burgundy 

This great Aussie wine comes complete with  smooth tannins, currants and cherry on the palate, and a mild spice on the sides of the mouth.  A very great wine for the price, would be great with milk chocolate or a tomato based dish.  4 out of 5

Next week will be a white wine. Stay tuned.

Uncorking my blog.

February 17/2013

Uncorking my Blog

Not that I needed any excuse to have a glass of wine, but I decided to start writing about the wines I try.  So here is the scoop.......

Every week I will purchase two bottles of wine from my local NSLC. One I will store for a year, the other I will have.  For the bottle that I try, I will follow a guide each week, this will help me to keep consistency in each taste test.

Here are my guidelines: 

-Same glass/style of glass
-Tasting done after supper
-Glass of wine must sit for 3-4 minutes before trying
-Must finish bottle.......hehe


Here is what I will look for in each tasting:

-Body
-Mouth Feel
-Aroma
-Colour
-Possibilities of a Pairing
-Rating out of 5

Each week I will try to find the wines that the LC are pushing as sale/cheap wines.  These are constantly misunderstood due to their low price range which suggests that they are not very good bottles of wine.  Wine is only as good as you allow it to be. It is you who decides what is good and not good and not the price or anyone else for that matter.

So here we go...........


Wine #1 

Label: Solaz

Year: 2010

Style: Merlot Tempranillo Blend

Origin: Spain

Cost: 10.99 (NSLC)

Body:Light to Medium

Mouth Feel: Dry, clings to the back of tongue and roof of mouth, acidic through tannins.

Aroma: oak, dried berries like currants and unripened blackberries.

Colour: Ruby

Rating: I give this wine 3 out of 5.  This wine gave the impression that it had more Tempranillo grape in it than Merlot due to the earthy and  'muddy' taste.  The dryness is subtle and the tannins are at the high end making the wine a harder wine to drink if you are just starting to drink red wines.  This wine is a decent wine for the price and would be great with bitter or salty cheeses like parmigiano reggiano or an aged swiss.