Posts Tagged ‘red fruit’
Varietal: Carmenere
Region: Chile – Curico Valley
Cost: $8
Winemaker’s Notes: Dark garnet color or great intensity with an aroma of generous ripe red fruit and merged peppers with toasted French oak. A silky, flavorful mouth feel, creamy with great volume. Firm tannins provide an enjoyable finish. Best paired with light hors d’oeuvres and pastas.
My Review: My wife and I are always on the lookout for inexpensive wines that may not excite or inspire us, but are easy to sip on and are more interesting than cheap merlot or cabernet sauvignon from California, Australia, or New Zealand. Chile has become a favored region to get affordable wines that mix it up ever so much. When a friend recently brought over a bottle of Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon that he had picked up and we enjoyed it we decided to pick some up at the store the next time we went. They were out of the Cab Sauv, but had a healthy supply of the Carmenere that we decided to give a try to.
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon; Merlot; Syrah
Region: Virginia – USA
Cost: $12
Winemaker’s Notes: Our top-selling wine! Spice and fruit in the aroma give way to a soft, slightly sweet finish in this versatile red wine. Also great with BBQ and for picnics.
My Review: I’d nearly forgotten I had picked this bottle up at the Virginia Wine Expo back in February until this past weekend when my wife and I were looking for something to sip on in the evening while relaxing in our basement. Since we’d already started with some red earlier for dinner, we thought it would be a good idea to stick with it and popped this bottle open.
Varietal: 47% Zinfandel; 29% Merlot; 19% Cabernet Sauvignon; 5% Petite Sirah
Region: California – USA
Cost: $14 (SRP)
Winemaker’s Notes: Reddish purple in color with aromas of chocolate, deep rich blackberries, and red fruits that carry through to the palate to a creamy mocha finish reminiscent of a blackberry chocolate cupcake with mocha coulis. Pairs well with sweet and spicy Hoisin steak, BBQ bacon cheeseburger, or dark chocolate fondue.
My Review: I’ve had Cupcake Vineyards wines before, so when this sample showed up, I was excited to give it a try as it looks to be their first offering of a blended red. On a night when I was home alone cooking for myself, I decided to open it up and give it a try with a dinner of meatballs and rice with gravy. Nothing too fancy, but nice and hearty against the end of winter weather outside. Read the rest of this entry »
Varietal: Blended Red Wine (40% Prugnolo Gentile; 30% Cabernet Sauvignon; 30% Merlot)
Region: Italy
Cost: $21
Deep ruby red color with aromas of spring flowers, red fruits, minerals, and subtle earth tones. Fruit flavors are continued on the palate. Pairs well with lentil soup, minestrone soup, rotisserie chickens, or a bread and cheese platter.
Recommendations: This past weekend I was in Charleston, South Carolina visiting my brother-in-law and his wife and I took this bottle with me to share with family – something about Italian wine has always beckoned me to share it with others. While in the space between preparing dinner (hamburgers on the grill) and actually eating dinner, we opened up the bottle to help us relax after a long day.
I was instantly impressed by the color, being a sucker for dark red wines. Aromas of mineral and earth were very noticeable to me, with hints of fruit on the nose as well. The fruit on the palate was subtle, but I did a nice earthiness at the finish that I found very enjoyable. While we didn’t pair this with any actual food, I could definitely see pairing this with a range of foods, from a nice minestone soup to a more robust meal of either pasta or grilled meats.
When asked my opinion on it by the others drinking the wine, I simply said that it was Italian. It’s hard for me to really put into words what that really means, but the second I sipped the wine, I instantly got the image of sitting in Tuscany, sipping wine and munching on fresh baked pizza from a stone oven. My father-in-laws reaction to the wine was more along the lines of “mmm…I like it!” I like to think he means the same thing I do.
Special thanks to the International Wine of the Month Club for supplying the wine for this review.
Varietal: Syrah; Grenache
Region: France – Rhone
Cost: $20.50
Red and black fruit aromas dominate the nose with flavors of creme de cassis, herbs, and hints of pepper and spice. Pairs well with roast leg of lamb, ratatouille, grilled meats, grilled vegetables, tomato and cream based pasta dishes, and pizza.
Recommendations: If there’s one area of blatant weakness in my wine knowledge, it’s French wine. It’s not that I haven’t enjoyed it when I’ve partaken in it, it’s simply that I haven’t done enough with it to feel truly comfortable selecting it on my own in a store. Because of that, I was actually quite happy when the International Wine of the Month Club sent me a sample of the Guigal Cotes du Rhone Rouge.
Deep purplish red in the glass, I got some aromas of berry, but the 13.5% alcohol was very prevalent. Paired with a dinner of wheat pasta with tomato sauce and ground Italian sausage, the wine was quite enjoyable. Juicy is the best word I can use to describe it in the mouth, with some of the berry that was on the nose coming through and pairing nicely with the sauce from the pasta. Read the rest of this entry »
Varietal: Meritage (Merlot; Cabernet Sauvignon; Petit Verdot)
Region: California – USA
Cost: $22
Deeply colored and full bodied. Blackberry, cassis, and jammy red fruit flavors pair well with a variety of foods such as lamb chops, chicken marsala, Osso Bucco, steaks, pork, BBQ, or day old meat loaf.
Recommendations: First of all, I want to clear something up. It’s Meritage (as in “heritage”)…at the Virginia Wine Expo two weeks ago, where there were several Meritages, this became a topic of debate at several tasting tables. Ok…now on to the review.
The Surfrider Red is good. The alcohol on the nose did give way as the wine opened up more into aromas of fruit and cherry, and the red fruit flavor finished with a combination of bold tannins and earthiness that I rather enjoyed, especially since the alcohol that was on the nose didn’t come through on the palate.
Paired with a dinner of grilled BBQ chicken and some mixed veggies, the full-bodied, earthy flavor of the wine did a great job of enhancing the natural smokiness of the food without overwhelming the chicken or being overwhelmed by it. It did what wine is supposed to do – complimented the meal.
While this wine certainly isn’t life-altering in any way, it was very enjoyable both with the meal and after, and was perfect with the BBQ – something that I feel will be a bigger issue as the weather begins to warm. For those getting ready to start grilling, the Surfrider is definitely one to consider.
Special thanks to the International Wine of the Month Club for providing the wine for this review.
