Posts Tagged ‘Australian Wine’
Varietal: 100% Pinot Grigio
Region: South Eastern Australia
Cost: $7 (SRP)
Winemaker’s Notes: Light bodied with ripe peach and tropical fruit flavors. Pairs well with Korean BBQ ribs with spicy tofu soup, Teriyaki chicken with a side of pork or vegetable potstickers. An excellent wine to enjoy with our without food.
My Review: I’m somewhat hit or miss on Pinot Grigio, so when some samples showed up and there was a bottle of Pinot Grigio included I’ll admit that I hesitated. However, when the tasting notes recommended potstickers, my wife pointed out that we had some chicken potstickers that we’d been putting off cooking up and that at the very least we’d have something to pair the wine with, so that’s just what we did.
In a more perfect world I would have made some pointed and in-depth piece about what bottles of bubbles I was opening for the friends I was having over to my house on New Years Eve. We do not live in such a world. While I did come across tweets and pieces about people opening $100 bottles of sparkling wine and champagne, I just couldn’t justify that, in no small part because I knew exactly how the evening was going to descend (into a raucous good time).
I do, however, feel as though I owe it to the new year, and to the bottles that I opened, to show the bottles that I provided for the evening. Friends brought over others, but here’s a picture of the bottles that I provided for the festivities.
Varietal: Chardonnay
Region: South Australia
Cost: $11
An unwooded Chardonnay, offering crisp flavors of apple and citrus. Pairs with chicken, pork, seafood, or light appetizers.
Recommendations: My wife is not a fan of oaked Chardonnay, so when we saw this in the store, we thought we’d give it a try. The initial flavors of the wine are crisp with plenty of citrus and granny smith apple both on the nose and on the palate, which was perfect for the grilled chicken dinner we paired it with.
However, I found the finish of this wine to be a bit rough. It’s certainly not as rough as the Mirassou Chardonnay that I’ve already reviewed on here. That being said, the finish eventually began to bother me, especially after we had finished our food and were just sipping on the wine. Maybe with a juicy piece of pork it wouldn’t be as noticeable, but with the chicken (that I’ll admit I overcooked), it just wasn’t as enjoyable as I would have hoped.
If you liked the Mirassou Chardonnay you’ll like this, but if you’re looking for a crisp finish to your unoaked Chardonnay you’ll want to pass on this one.
Get Razor’s Edge Chardonnay at WineZap – Click Here
Varietal: Chardonnay
Region: Australia
Cost: $7.99 – $9.99
Deep straw coloring leads into a light to medium-bodied white with a floral bouquet and an almost tart finish. Pair with grilled white meat for best combination.
Recommendations: Far be it from me to say that Yellowtail anything is some type of earth-shattering life-altering wine. Now, with that out of the way, I can say that Yellowtail Chardonnay is a good gateway chardonnay. By that I mean that if you’ve been afraid to really get into chardonnay because you’re not a fan of the buttery finish of oaked chardonnay, Yellowtail can help you ease into it.
With just enough buttery/oaky finish to it, the Yellowtail chardonnay will pair well with a range of white meats with the possible exception of some of your more delicate fish meals. Grilled chicken and pork are a good pairing. While this isn’t even approaching my favorite white wine, if you’re throwing a party, this is a good one to grab for your white as it’s affordable and will appeal to a range of white wine drinkers.
With summer upon us, Whole Foods Market is rolling out a selection of wines for summer that are priced to make their way into your home for parties, cookouts, or just for a night with a special someone. Starting at just $9, these whites and reds should be a welcome addition to any home.
Whites
Presto Prosecco - Brighten up your summer brunch with the fruity effervescence of this popular Italian Sparkler. Crisp, clean and refreshing with flavors of tropical fruit, it’s content on its own, in mimosas or as a cheerful contrast to hollandaise-topped egg dishes, stone- and tree-fruit salads, light fish or the rich and buttery Fromager D’Affinois.
Rudolf Müller “Bunny” Riesling - Floral, fruity and flirtatious with crisp peach, pear and light acidity, this drier-style Riesling is a splendid apéritif and the perfect match with lighter seafood and salads, Asian spiced cuisine or firmer cheeses such as Hirtenkase Aged. Read the rest of this entry »
Target Wine Cubes
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz (50% Cabernet Sauvignon/50% Shiraz)
Region: California – USA/Australia
Cost: $15.99
Fruit forward Cabernet Sauvignon has a hint of pepper from the Shiraz on the finish. Dark berry flavors present a very mild red wine with low tannins. Will pair well with sauce heavy pastas or as a contrast to heavily seasoned red meats.
Recommendation: For now I’m going to ignore the pros and cons of boxed wine (that will be another post at date soon to come) and look more at the wine. The Target Wine Cube Cab/Shiraz blend is very fruit forward, enough so that if I didn’t know it was a 50/50 split on the blend I would think it was more Cabernet than Shiraz. This wine came camping with my wife and some friends, and for enjoying in the great outdoors with some food cooked over an open flame, it was more than adequate.
I’m not going to delude myself into thinking that Target is now the purveyor of some amazing wine, but for anybody looking for a basic table wine, you really can’t argue against what they’re offering, especially when you consider it’s 4 bottles of wine for under $20. I wouldn’t serve this at a dinner party, but it’s certainly worth keeping on hand for anybody that just drinks wine by the glass.
