♥ Wine Club 44: Spanish Wine with a German Name

Date: May 8th, 2013
Host: Andrea
Served: Chicken noodle soup, club sandwiches with sweet potato fries, dessert
Bonus Bottle (from the host's personal inventory): Makulu Iswithi Pinotage 

Vigne di San Martino Gavi di Gavi 2011 (Italy) Cortese grape, 12% alcohol, $15 at Otto's

Andrea says (14): Clear wine, the color of champagne. Smells nice and sweet, honey, pear, floral, and a little bit of plastic smell. Tart, acidic taste. Had flavors of honey, grapefruit, herbal, and grass. Thin body, left something to be desired.

Christine says (14.5): Light lemon yellow. Floral, honey, peaches and pears in the nose. Smelled good! Wasn't as fruity as expected: bright-tasting, acidic and grassy. Good with the soup. I didn't like it as much as the less-expensive Principessa Gavi we had earlier.

Kim says (11): Well, my seasonal allergies were bothering me this night so that may have had an effect on how I scored this wine in Aroma and Bouquet. Oh, who am I kidding... I always need help in those categories! Anyway, for a split second I caught some sort of smell that made me think, "Adhesive," but then it was gone. I swirled my glass and was instantly transported back to my childhood, watching my mom curling off apple skins until there was a heaping pile of them in the sink (and warm, homemade applesauce would follow). That's all I could smell with this wine... raw apple skins. It also had a very thin body, especially in comparison to the Principessa Gavi which was nice and full. This Gavi di Gavi was also very acidic and the finish- although long- was pure citrus. Not impressed.


♥ Blau Red Wine 2010 (Montsant, Spain) 50% Mazuelo + 25% Syrah + 25% Garnacha, 14% alcohol, $13 at Otto's
♥ Love love love ♥ : This wine scored 18 or higher with each of us.

Andrea says (19.5): A dark burgundy color with clear edges. My first smell was of alcohol, then chocolate, tobacco, raspberry, blackberry, vanilla, and pepper. I loved the smell. The taste was really nice! Berry flavors, nice tannins, good balance, nice body. I think that this wine would go really well with a lot of foods. I docked it half a point for the finish, but easily could have given it the full 20! I would definitely get this wine again, I thought it was very drinkable for being so high in alcohol.

Christine says (20): Very pretty intense burgundy color with magenta edges. Visible alcohol that floats on top and falls down the side of the glass in sheets. Bouquet had peppercorns, tobacco, alcohol, berries and a little fresh mint leaves. BIG taste! Good and perfect tannins. Rich, round mouthfeel. Fruity, but not a sissy wine. A lot of personality. I considered docking it 1/2 point for finish, but I decided to give this wine a perfect score since I wanted to give it greater than max points for its amazing body. Win! It was good with the Andes candies-like brownies. Another delicious 2010 Spanish wine.

Kim says (19): Okay, I take back all the bad things I may have said about Spanish wines! I had recently become disillusioned with them but Herr Blau has solidly reestablished their rightful place in my Top Five! This red blend had a pretty, cranberry meniscus and thick color. Smelled like black pepper and brown sugar; had a wonderful taste, perfect balance and nice, strong tannins. If possible, I would have scored them higher than the maximum allowed in Body and Balance! The missed point was in Bouquet.




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Makulu Iswithi Pinotage NV (South Africa) 13.5% alcohol, $4 on sale at Discount Liquor-Manitowoc

Andrea says (17): Burgundy colored, transparent, with clear edges. Smelled like caramel, plum, and currant. Tasted fruitier than it smelled. Very jammy, tasted like strawberry and vanilla. Good body and good tannins. I great deal at $4.00!

Christine says (18): Deep claret color. Smelled like plums, berries, currants and alcohol. Thinner body, but nice. Good fruit. Nice tannins and a long finish that included tobacco. Would be great with barbecue ribs.

Kim says (18): I smelled alcohol and raisins. Although there was no vintage, I did detect a slight tinge of brown so possibly approaching its peak. Regardless, I very much enjoyed this wine... perfect scores in all the technical and subjective categories except Bouquet.

For dinner I made my mom's chicken dumpling soup, baked club sandwich rounds, sweet potato fries and mint brownies.

Wine Club 27: Blue Fin Viognier, Panilonco Carmenère Reserve

Date: October 31st, 2012
Host: Christine
Served: Beemster cheese, easy meatless manicotti, pear cranberry crisp


Blue Fin Viognier 2011 (CA, USA) 12.5% alcohol, $7 at Trader Joe's

Christine says (17): Pale honey with slate edges. Smelled of apricot, floral, honey, light must, lemon and honeydew: a light and clean smell. Pear taste with a honey finish. Medium body, not as bright-tasting as expected.

Andrea says (17): This wine was a pale, golden color. The smell was great, I gave it full points for aroma and bouquet. I had a long list of scents for this Viognier: pear, honeydew, bubble gum, honey, apricot, pineapple, and lemon. My first taste was of alcohol, then lemon and pear. This had a light, bright floral taste. Good buy for $7.00!

Kim says (18): Wow... great bouquet on this one! I picked up dust, citrusy melon, honeydew, roses, fresh-cut grass and if possible, it actually smelled rich and smooth. The taste was surprising... contrary to what it smelled like, this Viognier tasted of minerals and lemon, bright and clean.


Panilonco Carmenère Reserve 2011 (Colchagua Valley, Chile) 13.5% alcohol, $7 at Trader Joe's

Christine says (18): Very dark intense red; a lot of legs. Bouquet was of vanilla, raspberries and cherries. Tobacco and berry flavor, smooth, with a long finish from the alcohol. Slightly tart and bitter mid-palate, like plum skins. Super for the price.

Andrea says (18.5): I really loved this wine! I thought it went great with Christine's manicotti. Yum! A nice ruby, cherry color that was rich and thick. The smell was musty and smokey, but then smelled like spices, blackberry, raspberry, vanilla and grape. The taste was fruity and jammy, blackberry flavor. Delicious! I would get this again to have with tomato based Italian food, very good together.

Kim says (12): Hmm... well, my comments were kind of all over the place on this one. Apparently, the overriding aroma was berries (I wrote "cranberry-raspberry-cherry-blueberry some berry that's juicy with a skin that says POP")! Also smelled a bit of must and overall, felt this wine was a bit anti-climactic and tame.

I used fresh spinach and regular reduced-fat cheese in the manicotti. I used dried cranberries in the crisp. Otherwise, no changes!

Wine Club 13: New Age White, Valckenberg Gewürztraminer

Date: May 23rd, 2012
Host: Kim
Served: Edamame, baked sweet and sour chicken over basmati rice, assortment of ginger and almond cookies

New Age White NV (Argentina) 90% Torrontes + 10% Sauvignon Blanc, 9% alcohol, $9

Kim says (18): At this time, we were using the second version of our rating forms, so 18 might be a little out of context. Regardless, the two missed points were in Bouquet... probably because I couldn't actually put a finger on anything specific. But it had good body, a nice finish and of course, frizzante is always fun!

Andrea says (17):A delicious frizzante Torrontes. Sweet and fun. Would make a nice summer wine. I only docked it in the 'Bouquet' and 'Overall' catagories.

Christine says (15): Really frizzante, with a slightly foamy head. Pale and watery color. Smelled of honey, peaches and slight floral. It was good. Sweet, foamy and refreshing with some tartness mid-palate. Perfect summer wine! A good aperitif, and would be popular even with those don't drink wine. It would make a good cocktail with peaches or peach liqueur in there...like a funky take on Bellinis. I liked this wine more than my score of 15 indicates. The zing of acidity actually hurt my jaw, though, and that cost it a point.

Valckenberg Gewürztraminer 2009 (Germany) 11% alcohol, $13

Kim says (12): While I acknowledge Gewürztraminer as being my "gateway" white, I think I need to put some serious effort into determining what exactly it is that made me fall in love with it in the first place... it will be hard work but I am dedicated! I think maybe this is one of those wines that can be extraordinarily good, but can also be extraordinarily bad. This particular Gewürztraminer had the faint aroma of sweat but was well-balanced and had good appeal.

Andrea says (17): The aroma of this wine was sweet, which is par for the course on a Gewürztraminer, but also musty, smokey, oaky, and sweaty, which I found very unique for this type of wine. Overall I liked it very much. I gave it full marks in body, balance and finish. A nice wine that went well with the ginger cookies you can see me enjoying!

Christine says (17): Very dark honeyed gold color. Pretty! It smelled like sweat, minerals and slightly of alcohol. The flavor was complex, balanced and good, with a kick of petroleum. I liked the wine and marked it a buy-again. Though it suffered in bouquet points, it made up for it everywhere else.

Wine Club 43: Hahn GSM 2011 & Caesar Salad Toast

Date: April 26th, 2013
Host: Kim
Served: Shredded Caesar Salad on Toasts, Hungarian Goulash

Domaine Robert Chevillon 2008 (Bourgogne Passetoutgrain, France), Pinot Noir + Gamay + other grapes, 12.5% alcohol, $13 on sale at Waterford

Kim says (14): Festive color and fairly translucent. Smelled like grape juice... mmm! But swirl at your own risk! I don't mind the "wet leaves in autumn" rot but swirling this wine brought out horrible decay and death rot smells. Very thin body and very high acid but overall impression of fruit. Appeal? I liked it.

Andrea says (13.5): Brick red in color, transparent edges but opaque in the center. My first smells I could pick up raspberry, jam, brown sugar, it smelled rich and smooth and I didn't smell alcohol. After giving the glass a good swirl I could smell the earthy stink that Kim was talking about. To me it smelled like bad breath, gingivitis. Definitely better before I swirled it...  The taste was tart and fruity like cranberry and pomegranate with kind of a minty, or chemical note? I thought it was thin in body and high in tannins. It went ok with the goulash, clashed with the salad.
 
Christine says (13): Reddish, somewhat murky appearance (thick-looking, like the Marginal we recently had, but not as thick. The Marginal looked like blood). It smelled rich, with red fruit, vanilla, peppercorns and earthy, slightly sweet beets. It was surprisingly tart! Thin body. Bracing for a Burgundy. Andrea picked up on pomegranate, and I agreed. Going back after tasting the other wine and enjoying some dinner, I also picked up on green pepper. Note: I didn't realize until later that Passetoutgrains is actually a blend of Pinot Noir, Gamay and other grapes...so of course it wasn't the elegant, graceful Burgundy I was expecting!


Hahn Winery GSM 2011 (Central Coast, CA, USA) 59% Grenache + 37% Syrah + 4% Mouvèdre, 14.5% alcohol, $10 at Discount Liquor

Kim says (15): Even more festive color, deeper and less translucent. Smelled like strawberry flavoring... strawberry Runts? Nice silky body and tannins were pleasantly strong. This went amazingly well with the shredded Caesar salad and Andrea's right... this seems like a very versatile wine. So while it may have suffered a bit in the technical categories, it shined in the subjective categories. I would definitely buy and serve this Hahn again!

Andrea says (18): Another Hahn wine I really liked, mark it as a win! A berry, fushia color, dark and opaque. I had the crazy glass this night that always make the wine smell different than it does in any other glass. Before swirling I really smelled licorice, somehow both red and black licorice, and some berry smell. After swirling it smelled a little like chemicals and plastic, smokey, but still kind of fruity. Tasted very smokey and earthy, sweet and strawberry. Well balanced, good body, nice tannins. Really good with the salad! I preferred this one with the goulash too.

Christine says (16): Intense deep berry magenta color. Smelled like Windex and crayons! After swirling, I could also smell "strawberries" ... as in strawberry roll-ups or strawberry flavoring. The wine was pretty tannic, but the tannins were nice. Good body. Smoky taste. Would be versatile with a lot of foods. Incredible amount of sediment (see the photo, left). Sugary sediment that dissolves between the fingers. Is it due to the wine's high sugar content? Because even though it's super-high in alcohol, the wine was still very fruity. Definitely a buy-again at $10. It was amazing with the garlicky Caesar salad appetizers. I think this was my favorite pairing so far!

I thoroughly enjoyed the Shredded Caesar Salad on Toasts although I might go a little light on the lemon juice next time... a definite keeper! On the other hand, the recipe for the goulash was promptly tossed in the recycle bin. If I wanted to serve an anti-climactic beef stew tonight, that's what I would have made.