Wine Week Seven Wine Tasting at Vintage Cellar (Tonnino Pinot Grigio, Maipe Torrontes, Georges Duboeuf Nouveau, Crane Lake Shiraz, & Crane Lake Riesling)

Hello Wine World,

This is week number 7, hard to believe. I wish the weather would pick a season. Regardless, I got to taste 5 new wines this week at the Vintage Cellar in Blacksburg, VA.  I did not eat any food with these wines. I also ranked these wines between 1-5. 1 being the best and 5 being the worst. I realize these are all different varieties and are difficult to really compare to each other.

First up I got to taste Tonnino Pinot Grigio 2014. It is regularly priced at $14 and goes on sale for $7.95. This wine comes from Sicily, Italy. This wine was served cold. It was yellow in color. The smell was a fruity pear or apple. the taste was tart and bitter. The aftertaste was a peppery tartness. I thought it was ok, but not great. I ranked this wine as number 5 out of the wines tasted this week. Meaning I thought this one was the worst wine out of the bunch I tasted.
Here is a picture of this wine: 


Second I got to taste Maipe Torrontes 2014. This wine is regularly priced at $14 a bottle and goes on sale for $7.95 a bottle. This wine originated in Mendoza, Argentina. This wine was served cold. It was pretty clear in color. The smell was a flower, with some sort of berry, I couldn't put my finger on the exact scent but it was very pleasant. The taste was a tangerine/citrussy flavor, it was bitter, and fruity. The aftertaste was fruit, it was very pleasant with fruity notes. I ranked this wine as number 2 out of the wines I tasted this week, meaning it was the second best wine I tasted.
Here is a picture of this wine:

Next up I got to taste Georges Duboeuf Nouveau 2015. This wine is regularly priced at $12 and goes on sale for $5.95. This wine hails from Beaujolais, France. This wine was served warm. It had a burnt red center, but was ruby red, sort of magentaish in color. It was pretty. The smell was not of roses but maybe hydrangea with strawberry. I had a hard time trying to think of what flower it was that I was smelling but it smelled like a flower of some sort. The taste was cherry, leathery, spicy, and sour. This wine had a leathery after taste, with hints of cherry. I thought this wine was not bad. I ranked it as number 3 out of the five wines tasted this week. Here is a picture of this wine(the bottle was so pretty!): 

The fourth wine I got to taste this week was called Crane Lake Shiraz 2013. It is priced at $5.95 and comes from California. This wine was served warm. The color was a burnt orangish red. The smell was leathery, rubber, pepper, and strawberry. The taste was cherry, pepper, rubber and spicy. The aftertaste was spicy and dry. I ranked this wine as number 4 our of 5 for this weeks wine tasting. Here is a picture of this wine: 

That is all I have for this past weeks wine tasting. I look forward to this weeks wine tasting! I hope you all have a fantastic week! Thanks for reading!

~Michelle

Wine Week Six Vintage Cellar Tasting(Aveleda Praia;Tenuta le Velette;Bolla Bardolino;Castello Sonnino;Peter Mertes)

Hello Fellow Wine Connoisseurs!

This past week we finally got a taste of spring! Which was glorious. I also got to taste 5 new wines at the Vintage Cellar in Blacksburg, Va. I did not eat any food with any of the wines I tasted. I will rank the wines that I tasted for this week 1 being the best, to 5 being the worst. I realize that these wines are of different varieties so it is hard to truly compare them to one another. I still prefer sweeter wines, although I would like to think that I am beginning to become more open minded toward red wines.

The first wine that I tasted this week was Aveleda Praia Vinho Verde 2013. This wine is regularly priced at $10 and goes on sale for $8.95. This wine is a blend of 40% Arinto, 30% Loureiro, 20% Trajadura and 10% Azal. It comes from Vinho Verde, Portugal. This wine was served cold. The color was a tinge of yellow. It smelled a little like a metallic pear. The taste was bitter, crisp apple. The after taste was a fruity apple. I thought this wine was alright. I ranked this wine as number 2 out of the wines I tasted this week, meaning that it was the second best wine I tasted this week. Here is a picture of the wine: 

The second wine I tasted this week was Tenuta le Velette Orvieto Classico 2011. This wine is regularly priced at $18 and goes on sale for $6.95. This wine hails from Orvieto, Italy. This wine was served cold, and was a darker yellow than the first wine. The smell was delightfully filled apricot and apple. The taste had hints of pepper, was very crisp, and fruity. The aftertaste was dry with crisp fruit hints. I thought this wine was O.K.. I ranked this wine as number 3 out of the wines I tasted this week. Here is a picture of this wine: 

The next wine I tasted was Bolla Bardolino Magnum 2013. This wine is regularly priced at $18 and goes on sale at $9.95. This wine originated in Bardolino, Italy. This wine is a blend of 60% Corvina, 30% Rondinella, and 10% Molinara. This wine was served warm. The color was a burnt red. The smell was filled with pepper, leather, cherry, and rubber. The taste was dry, with pepper, cherry, and rubber. The after taste was of rubber. I did not appreciate this wine very much. I ranked this wine as number 4 our of the 5 wines I tasted this week. This wine looks like: 

The fourth wine I had the pleasure to taste was Castello Sonnino Chianti Montespertoli 2010. This wine is regularly priced at $15 and goes on sale at $8.95. This wine comes from Chianti, Italy. This wine was served warm. The color was a sort of burnt orange-red. The smell was a rubber, pepper, leathery strawberry. The taste was sort of pukey. It was sour, bitter, pepper mixed with rubber. The after taste was of pure rubber and leather like some sort of horrible nightmare mixed with something awful. I really did not like this wine. I ranked this wine as number 5, the worst, out of the five wines I tasted this week. Here is a picture of the bottle: 

The final wine that I tasted this week was Peter Mertes Sweet Red Dornfelder 2014. The regular price was $12 and it goes on sale for $6.95 a bottle. This wine originated from California, Germany.  This wine was served cold. The color was a ruby red. The smell was a light airy strawberry. The taste was sweet, with hints of strawberry. The aftertaste was dry, but fruity. I liked this wine the best. I ranked it number 1 out of the five wines I tasted this week. It was a pleasant surprise after that Chianti that probably needed more time to breathe. Here is a picture of this wine: 

That is all I have for this past weeks wine tasting, I look forward to tasting more new wines this week! I hope you all have a wonderful week! Until next time,

Cheers!

~Michelle

Wine Week Five Tasting at Vintage Cellar (Quintas Melgaco Blue, Prime Brume Garaganega, Grand Cru, Velvet Crush, Dona Sol)

Hello Everyone,

This past week was filled with some more wine tasting! I got to taste 5 new wines at The Vintage Cellar, and did not have any food with any of the wines. I will be ranking these wines in order from 5 being the worst to 1 being the best. I am only comparing these wines to one another and not all the previous wines I have tasted. I hope you have all enjoyed the weather, as it has fluctuated to about all four seasons this past week. Personally, I am ready for it to be spring already.

First up I got to taste Quintas Melgaco Blue, Vinho Verde 2013. It is regularly priced at $10 and goes on sale at $5.95. This wine originates from Vinho Verde, Portugal. This wine was served cold, was light yellow and clear in color. The smell was filled with fruit, steel or some sort of metal, and citrus. The taste was bitter, metallic, with orange or a lemon flavor. The after taste was filled with fruit and oranges. I really didn't think this wine was all that fantastic and ranked it as #3 out of the wines I tasted this week.



Second I got to taste Prime Brume Garganega 2014. This wine is regularly priced at $11 and goes on sale for $6.95. This wine hails from Soave, Italy. This wine was served cold. It was clearer in color than the last, but still yellow. The smell was of lemon and fruit. The taste was a crisp apple, with lemon, and it was bitter. The after taste was bitter. It was not what I would call something I would prefer to sip on, but I ranked it as number one for this weeks wine tasting. Meaning that even though I didn't particularly like it, it was the best out of the bunch that I tasted.







The third wine I got to taste was the Grand Cru, Pinot Noir 2013. This wine is priced at $6.95 a bottle and originates from California, U.S.A.. This wine was served warm. It was red, ruby red in color. The smell was of cherry pepper, leather, and rubber. The taste was of cherry bitterness, with a dry rubberyness that filled your tongue. The after taste was of peppery dryness with rubber. This was definitely not something I liked and I ranked it as number four out of the 5 wines tasted this week.



The fourth wine tasted was Velvet Crush, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Sirah. This wine is regularly priced at $18 a bottle and goes on sale at $6.95 a bottle. It hails from California, U.S.A..The wine was served warm. The color was redder and darker than the last wine. It almost looked like there was a touch of blackness in the middle of it. The smell was sour, strawberry, pepper, mixed with rubbery leather. The taste was of cherry, it was very sour and bitter. The after taste was rubber over your tongue. This wine was the worst I tasted this week and I ranked it as number 5 out of the 5 wines tasted this week.




The final wine that was tasted this week was the Dona Sol Shiraz, Petite Syrah and Symphony. This wine is priced at $6.95 a bottle, and originated in California, U.S.A.. This wine was served warm, and it was burnt red in color. The smell was cherry, pepper and leathery rubber. However, the taste was of cherry and strawberry. The after taste was of fruity notes all over your tongue with a slight rubbery taste. I ranked this wine as #2 out of the wines tasted for this weeks wine tasting.




I hope you have enjoyed my perspective on the wines I tasted this week. I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Until next time,

~Michelle