Wine Week Four Tasting at Vintage Cellar ( Dom Michel, Riebeek Cellars, Tonnino Syrah, Vina Galana Alicante Bouchet & Crane Lake White Zinfandel)

Hello Fellow Wine Connoisseurs ,

This week I tasted 5 new wines at the Vintage Cellar in Blacksburg, Virginia. I will rate the wines in order from worst #5 to the best #1. I did not eat anything with these wines.

The first wine that we drank was called Dom Michel Thomas Pinot Noir, Sancerre Rose 2013. It is regularly priced at $32 a bottle and its sale price is $8.95 a bottle. This wine originates from Loire, France. This wine was served cold, and was a light pink or peachy color. The smell was alcohol, mixed with something metallic and very acidic. The taste was a zing, with a crisp, quenchy, mixed with pepper. The after taste was a peachy peppery taste. I ranked this wine as #3 out of the wines tasted this week.



The second wine we tasted was called Riebeek Cellars Viognier 2015. It is regularly priced at $12 and goes on sale for $7.95 a bottle. This wine hails from Swartland, South Africa. It was served cold. The color was clear with a small touch of yellow. The smell was tangerine, fruity and flowery. The taste was apple, tangy and it was ok. The after taste was fruity light and citrusy. I ranked this wine #2 out of the wines tasted this week.




The third wine tasted this week was Tonnino Syrah 2013, regularly priced at $14 and goes on sale for $7.95. It was born in Sicily, Italy. It was served warm. The color was blood red,like vampire juice. The smell was pepper, cherry, leather, and rubbing alcohol. The taste was pepper, cherry, dry, and rubbery. The after taste was peppery rubber. I ranked this wine as #4 out of the wines tasted this week.






The fourth wine that I tasted this week was Vina Galana Alicante Bouchet 2012. It is regularly priced at $15 and goes on sale for $9.95. It originates from Spain. It was served warm, and was ruby red in color. The smell was of tequila, pepper, and lime. It smelled terrible. The taste was rubber, cherry and pepper. The after taste was rubber mixed with pepper, and it was very dry. I ranked this wine as #5 out of the wines tasted this week, it was truly something terrible.




The final wine that we tasted this week was Crane Lake White Zinfandel 2013, priced at $5.95 a bottle. This wine hails from California. It was served cold, and was light pink in color. The smell was peach and lollipops. The taste was peach deliciousness and sweet strawberry. The after taste was fruity mango and apricot. I really enjoyed this wine and ranked it #1 out of the wines tasted this week.







Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed! Have a wonderful week!

Cheers!

~Michelle

My Third tasting at Vintage Cellar (Tonnino Grillo, Palacio de Bornos Verdejo, Indwe Pinotage, Codirosso Chianti, & Crane Lake Gewurtzraminer)

Hello fellow wine lovers, friends and whoever is reading this,

This past week was filled with five new wines. I did not have any food paired with these wines. I still have a lingering cold however, I think this week I could really taste things a little better this time. Or at least maybe pick up some more flavors. I plan to rate the wines I tasted this week in order from 1-5. One being the best, and five being the worst. My personal preference is still sweet wines.




The first wine I tasted was Tonnino Grillo 2014. It is regularly priced at $14.00 and goes on sale at $7.95 a bottle. It hails from Sicily, Italy. This wine was served cold, and had a light yellow color. It smelled light, airy, with a hint of apricot. The taste was crisp, it left a tinge on your tongue, with pear. It left a delightful after taste of fruity pear. This wine ranked at #3 and was my third favorite for the week.

Next up I tasted Palacio de Bornos Verdejo 2013. Regularly priced at $12 and goes on sale at $5.95 a bottle. It originates from Reuda, Spain. This wine was served cold, it was about the same yellow as the last wine. It had a apple, tangy, smell that smelled utterly delightful. It tasted crisp, fruity, and appley. It left a light apricot or mango flavor on your tongue. I really enjoyed this wine, and basically decided that it was number two out of the wines I tasted this week. I really thought it was second best. Although it is difficult to rank wines that are completely different.


 

Next I had Indwe Pinotage 2013. It is regularly priced at $12 and was on sale for $5.95. This wine comes from South Africa. It was served at room temperature. It was a ruby red color with a hint of black. It smelled peppery, cherry, something oak like, and like acetone. It tasted dry, cherry, it wasn't that bad, but wasn't something I could sip on. It tasted peppery, and like sun dried leather. The after taste was rubber and pepper. I ranked this wine at five, which means I thought it was the worst this week. 

The next wine I tasted was Codirosso Chianti 2014. It is regularly priced at $13 and goes on sale for $7.95 a bottle. It was born in Tuscany, Italy. It was served at room temperature. The color was even redder than the last wine. It was a ruby red, with red color. It smelled like cherry, strawberry, light pepper hints, light acetone hints, and rubber. It tasted like cherry pepper, maybe strawberry or raspberry and rubber. It was not that bad to drink it. It left an aftertaste of pepper and fruit. I ranked this wine as number four of the five wines I tasted this week. This red was one of the best reds I have ever tasted. 

The final wine that I tasted was Crane Lake Gewurtztraminer 2013. It is regularly priced at $5.95. This wine originates from California. It was served cold. The color was a light orange. The smell was filled with pineapple, kiwi, sweet pea, light tropical smells, pear, and mango or apricot. It tasted sweet, with a blast of delicious pear mango combo with tangerine. It left an after taste of fruity flavors on the tongue. This wine I ranked at number one, it was my favorite wine out of the five that I tasted.  

That wraps up this weeks tasting! I look forward to what wines we get to try this week! I hope you all have a wonderful week!

~Michelle

Tasting Number 2 at Vintage Cellar ( La Lejania Chardonnay; Les Clos Francs Vouvray Chenin Blanc; El Cortijillo Tempranillo; Crane Lake Petite Sirah; Peter Mertes Platinum Riesling 2014 Magnum)

Hey everybody!

This weeks wine tasting was fun! Again we had 5 wines to taste. We did not eat anything with any of the wines. All of these wines were tasted at the Vintage Wine Cellar. Again I must apologize, I have a cold still and am not entirely sure if I tasted everything correctly. This week I am going to start rating the wines based off the other wines I tasted that day. So number one is my favorite for the week, whereas number five is the worst.

The first wine on the list was a white, La Lejania Chardonnay 2015. It is regularly priced at $10 and was on sale for $6.95. This wine originates from Central Valley, Chile.

This wine was served cold. It was clear in color, with a mild yellow tinge. The smell was fruity, and sweet. The taste was crisp, fruity but bitter. It left a strange, dry, sour after taste. I thought this was the third best wine I tasted this day.

This wine looks like:

The next wine was a white wine called Les Clos Francs Vouvray Chenin Blanc 2013. This wine originates from Loire Valley, France. Its regular price is $21 and the sale price is $7.95.

This wine was served cold. It was clear in color. This wine smelled very fruity, like the good kind of fresh fruit. I also smelled like an earthy volcanic rock smell, it smelled almost metallic. The taste of this wine was sweet, ripe, flavorful, grapefruit. It left a delightful light taste on the tongue. I rates this wine as number two for this week.

This wine looks like: 

Next up we went into some reds. The first red was El Cortijillo Tempranillo 2014. It originates from La Mancha, Spain. It is regularly priced at $9 and it's sale price is $5.95.

This wine was served warm. It was deep red in color with a slight purple tinge. The smell of this wine was very peppery, spicey, burnt something and vinegar. The taste was bitter and dry. I did not like this wine. It left a dry, mouth quenching for water feeling in my mouth. I rated this wine as a 4 our of the 5 tasted this week.

This wine looks like:

The next red wine was Crane Lake Petite Sirah 2013. This wine originates from Lodi, California. It is regularly priced at $5.95.

This wine was served warm. It was redder than the last wine, and it really coated the glass. It smelled like rubber, leather, and nastyness. It tasted so dry, I believe it needs cheese or something to make it less horrible. The rubbery leather that was maybe fruit once lived here. The after taste was a mixture of horse manure and musty cardboard. I basically hated this wine. I gave it a 5 out of 5 for my rankings and that means it is in dead last place for this weeks wine tasting. I really wouldn't recommend this wine to anyone who prefers sweet like me.

This wine looks like: 

Finally, we tasted a white wine. It was called Peter Mertes Platinum Riesling 2014 Magnum. It originates from Germany. This wine is regularly priced at $18 and is on sale for $9.95.

This wine was clear. It was served cold. The smell was light, airy, and fruitlike. The taste was dry, crisp, flavorful pear. This wine was something I could really sip on. It left a pleasant fruity like pear on the pallet. In my opinion this wine was the best out of the bunch. I rated it #1 out of the five wines tasted this week. It comes in a gigantic bottle compared to the others. I also bought myself a bottle of it to sip on later.

This wine looks like: 

I look forward to next weeks tasting!

~Michelle

My First Tasting at Vintage Cellar with "Dynamite Sauvignon Blanc, Be. Bright Pinot Grigio, Yellow Tail Cabernet/Merlot, Beringer Smooth Red Blend, and Yellow Tail Red Moscato Bubbles Non Vintage"

Hey all,

So this past week I got to go to my first wine tasting at the Vintage Cellar. It was definitely different than getting a tasting done at a winery. The main difference in my opinion is: first at a winery they will most of the time give you a little more than what they poured at Vintage Cellar, although there are always stingy wine pourers out there, and two they will describe the wine in great detail,as if they eat, drink, and binge on the wine for eternity. Also of course at most wineries you must pay for your wine tasting, it's normally not that much money and a lot of times you get to keep the glass. Overall, it was a pleasant experience at the Vintage Cellar.  Also I must apologize in advance because I had a cold this week, and I'm sure my smell and taste buds were slightly off, so I just did my best to describe what I thought it smelled and tasted like. I also did not have any food with any of this wine.

First up on the tasting list:

1. "Dynamite Sauvignon Blanc", a white wine that originates from Lake County, California. It was made in 2012. This wine's regular price is $13.00 a bottle and was on sale(not sure if that was just for that day or this week) for $5.95.

This white wine smelled very flowerly, it was a light scent that was quite pleasant. The taste of this wine had a zing when it went across your palate. It was very crisp, and kind of dry. However, it did leave a nice fruity after taste on the palate. I really didn't like this wine that much to be completely honest.  I really do normally like Sauvignon Blancs, yet it just was not my cup of tea.

Here is a picture so we are on the same page: 



Second on our tasting list:

2. "Be. Bright, Pinot Grigio". 2013, hailing from California. This wine retails for normally $10.00 a bottle but was on sale for $5.95.

This white wine had a very light, airy smell to it. The taste of this wine was okay, but very tart. It left you with a weird urge to want something else to drink, not necessarily more of that wine, but it left you quenching for water. It really wasn't that great, but it was better than the first wine in my opinion.


Here is a picture: 



Now we diverge into dryer reds=yuck.

Number three was the "Yellow Tail Cabernet/ Merlot Blend. 2014"  This red wine retails for $10.00 but was on sale for $4.95. It was born in Australia and is a mixture of 60% cabernet and 40% merlot.

The smell of this red was very peppery, leathery, and did not smell all that appealing to me. The taste was bitter. It was dry, Peppery. It left a dry after taste. It was gross but not terrible.


Here is a picture so that I can be certain to never purchase this wine for myself: 



The Fourth wine was "Beringer Smooth Red Blend." Originated from California, in the year of 2012. This wine is regularly priced at $15.00 a bottle and was on sale for $5.95.

The Smooth Red Blend is a mixture of Cabernet, Merlot, Syrah, and Petite Sirah. The smell of this wine is very peppery. The taste of this wine is peppery filled bitterness. The taste of something dried up and dead for centuries. It left such a dryness over the palate that was slightly overwhelming. I really did not enjoy this wine, for not only did it leave a terrible peppery taste in my mouth, it was just so dry. Talk about needing water in a desert of pepper.


Here is a picture if for some reason after reading this you want to get it, or if you just want to avoid it like the plague: 



Finally onto something sweet, Number 5:

"Yellow Tail, Red Moscato Bubbles" Non Vintage. This Moscato hails from Australia. Not entirely sure what year it was made. However, it is regularly priced at $10.00 a bottle, and was one sale for $5.95.

First I want to comment on the name, who doesn't like bubbles? Seriously, they had me sold with bubbles. The smell of this one was sweet and fruity, very pleasant. The taste was very bubbly and sweet. It was a cherry taste or some sort of fruity flavor that filled up your tongue.

Here is a picture so that you too can enjoy in this deliciousness:



I hope you all have enjoyed reading about this weeks wine tasting! Looking forward to the next one!

Until then have a great week!

~Michelle