Posts Tagged ‘alcohol finish’
Varietal: Pinot Noir
Region: California – USA
Cost: $10
Deep garnet coloring with a slight floral aroma. Smooth on the palate with flavors of ripe fruit. Pair with pasta, steak, or well seasoned salmon.
Recommondations: I picked this up because it’s from California and my wife and I are going to California on vacation in just a few days. I’ve had Smoking Loon wines before, but had yet to try their Pinot Noir. The color on it was very nice – not too dark, but certainly not light. The aromas were mostly alcohol, but I did get a bit of a floral scent coming through. The flavors were smooth, with fruit flavors being the most prominent, though certainly not overwhelming in the way that some California reds can be, and lead into alcohol finish. Read the rest of this entry »
Varietal: Blended Red Wine (51% Syrah; 26% Zinfandel; 12% Sangiovese; 6% Carignane; 5% Merlot
Region: California – USA
Cost: $20
Dark purple coloring that is essentially opaque. A medium-bodied wine with aromas of ripe cherries, berries, and plums.
Recommendations: When I first poured out some of this wine, I liked the deep purple color of it. I did catch the aromas of some of the ripe fruit, but there was a aroma of alcohol that I’m starting to associate with California Syrah.
The wine itself was fairly smooth, about what I was expecting given the varietals present in the blend, but there was a bit of alcohol on the finish that nearly overwhelmed the subtle fruit flavors and soft tannins.
Having had this problem with a previous blended red involving California Syrah, my wife and I paired this wine with a meal of pasta with a red meat sauce. This definitely helped. The sauciness of the pasta helped to cut some of the alcohol finish on the wine, making it much more enjoyable.
If you don’t like to taste alcohol on your wine, you might want to pass on this, but if you do get this wine, I would highly recommend pairing it with a saucy pasta dish to cut the alcohol flavors.
Special thanks to the International Wine of the Month Club for providing the wine.
Varietal: Red Table Wine
Region: Portugal
Cost: $15
Deep red color with just a hint of ripe fruit and alcohol on the nose. Very smooth on the palate with a touch of oak and a mix of tannins and alcohol on the finish.
Recommendations: I had actually bought my father this wine for his birthday as his family is originally from Portugal, and this wine is actually imported into the town he grew up in (New Bedford, Mass.). Not getting to enjoy it with him, but hearing that he and my mother liked it very much, the wife and I decided to pick up a bottle for ourselves.
The first thing I noticed after taking a sip of the wine was how smooth it was. Just a hint of oak on the palate gave it just enough flavor, but it’s not bursting with flavor either. A touch of tannin and alcohol on the finish is actually welcome, especially when paired with a sauce-heavy dinner of pasta like we had. There’s a bit of fruit on the nose, though to be honest I couldn’t pinpoint it.
My only real complaint with this wine is that it may be too mellow for somebody that prefers their wine to have big, bold flavors. If that’s what you’re in the market for, pass on this wine. But, if you’re looking for a nice mellow red that you can pair with a lot of different things, this is definitely worth the $15 you’ll spend on it.
2007 Moulin de Gassac Rouge
Varietal: Rouge (30% Syrah, 30% Grenache, 25% Carignan, 15% Cinsault)
Region: France
Cost: $19.50
Red and black fruits and smooth French oak on the palate. A combination of tannins and alcohol on the finish for a medium-bodied red wine that will pair with rich pasta dishes, pork, lamb, roasted chicken, and spicy vegetarian dishes.
Recommendation: I’ll be the first to admit that my expertise in wine does not lie in French wine. That’s not to say that I don’t enjoy it when I manage to get my hands on it, but I probably have the least experience with the region. Because of this I was both excited and slightly intimidated when I received this wine.
My wife and I drank this medium-bodied red with a meal of fried salmon cakes and while I was somewhat worried that the wine would overpower the meal at first, the richness of the cakes actually did a good job of pairing with the wine. The flavors of the wine were good, but I do have a complaint – the finish. Maybe it’s the food I paired it with, but I got a very distinct alcohol flavor on the finish that while not overwhelming, wasn’t something I was expecting. Perhaps it’s the Carignan or Cinsault, two grapes that I’m unfamiliar with, and maybe pairing the wine with something richer like a piece of lamb or some pasta would have complimented the finish, but I did find it distracting. I would recommend that you try this wine with a richer dish than I did.
Special thanks to the International Wine of the Month Club.
