Wine Tasting - Schmitt Sohne Libfraumilch

Name: Schmitt Sohne Liebfraumilch

Variety: 100% Riesling
Region: Rheinhessen

Country: Germany

Year: 2020

Price: $6.99

Wine Critic Review: 

What a surprise! Really didn’t excpect this when I was buying this wine for 2.99€ !!! It’s not only decent, it’s actually good! On the nose - Green apple, pear, bird cherry tree blossom, lime. On the palate - Asian pear, honey, green apple, a hint of orange. It starts sweet and ends slightly acidic. Finnish is short, but pleasant. A very nice mid-day wine to drink on it’s own. Will definitely stock up on this wine! Vivino Wine Review (May 2020)

Wine Folly: Riesling Guide Page

There is no information on Liebfraumilch besides that it it is 'a cheap white sweet wine'. This wine is made of Riesling grapes from Germany.  I get the pineapple and pear fruity flavors and citrus blossom aroma.  I did not get any apple or apricot flavors.  I did drink this wine chilled. 

My Review: This wine was a wonderful sipping wine! It was very sweet and had very fruity but also sour flavors due to its acidity.  It was medium-bodied and had a pleasant smoothness.  I did not pair this wine with food I just drank it on its own.  The main smells I got were floral scents and the main taste was that of lemon and pear. 

Wine Tasting - Santola Vinho Verde

Name: Santola Vinho Verde

Variety: Blend of Louriero and Pederna
Region: Minho

Country: Portugal

Year: 2019

Price: $8.99

Wine Critic Review: 

Acidic and dry but at the same time fruity with notes of green apples. Enjoyed with a chicken goat cheese salad in Litehouse in Lichterfelde West, Berlin - Vivino Wine Review (July 2020)

Wine Folly: Page 184 - Vinho Verde Wine Page

This wine was a still fruity white wine. Wine folly states that it has ore acidity then anything else and that is definitely something I noticed with this wine - a noticeably dramatic acidity. I get the lemonade, lime zest and white blossom flavors.  Something I was missing was a pink grapefruit flavor and I got apple flavor, however, I tasted more green apple then yellow apple.  I did not drink this wine chilled as recommended in wine folly. 

My Review: I thought this wine was alright.  The smell of this wine was a little bit vinegary and zesty.  The wine tastes like green apple with a little bit of lemon and sugar.  I do feel like the wine was a little bit too acidic which caused me to experience a lack of balance in the wine.  I paired this wine with shrimp tacos since and I think the wine complimented the shrimp and brought out the cilantro in the tacos. 

Wine Dinner Blog Report #1

During this wine dinner, 3 friends and I had a meal with different sides as well as dessert and paired our meal with 3 different wines.  The main course meal was Chinese meal consisting of Chicken fried rice as a main dish and Broccoli with Chicken and General Tso's Chicken as sides.  The wines paired with the main meal were a Riesling as well as a Pinot Noir.  For dessert, my friends and I made cookie sundaes and paired this dessert with a Chocolate Cellar Dessert Red Wine. 

For the main meal, the first wine paired with the meal was a German Riesling called Landshut with a vintage of 2020.  This Riesling was semi-sweet on its own.  It smelt of tarte peach as well as hints of orange zest and tulips.  This wine paired excellently with the Chinese food. The softness of the wine allowed for all of the flavor of the food to still be experienced while sipping on the wine.  The General Tso's Chicken was spicy, and this wine allowed for the spice to be mellowed out, yet not completely cancelled.  The soft body of the Riesling really complimented the soft tastes and mild spices in the fried rice.  The acidity of the wine seemed to compliment the food and actually bring out the flavors of the meat more.  The food did not effect the taste of the wine negatively and the wine was a perfect sweetness to compliment the flavors of the Chinese food. 

Also with the main meal, a 2020 Dont Mind If I Do Pinot Noir was paired.  This wine was a very heavy-bodied and dry red wine.  Sipping on this wine left a puckering sensation in my mouth.  The wine smelt of oak and burnt wood as well as hints of black cherry.  The wine tasted a bit to dry to determine flavors without food pairing.  Once this wine was paired with the food, the dryness was tolerable and actually quite enjoyable with the saucy chicken and brocolli.  The dryness of the wine brought out extreme flavors of the food.  Drinking the wine after the food was a bit too overpowering to the food being eaten, but eating the foot after drinking the wine was perfect!

A Chocolate Cellar Dessert Sweet Red Wine was paired with our cookie sundae dessert.  This wine was extremely sweet and tasted like dessert on its own.  It smelt like chocolate covered strawberries and tasted like dark cherry with a lick of dark chocolate! This wine was a bit too sweet to drink on top of our extremely sweet cookie sundae.  The wine overpowered the dessert a little bit and vice versa.  If I were to buy this wine again, I would drink it with a more fruity and less chocolaty dessert.

This wine tasting experience was awesome.  Being able to talk about wine and drink wine with friends while enjoying an amazing meal was an awesome social and educational experience! 

Wine Tasting - House Wine Spritzer

Name: House Wine Old Fashioned Lemonade

Variety: Fruit Blends, Chardonnay
Region: Washington

Country: USA

Year: 2020

Price: $5.00

Wine Critic Review: 

Good but super sweet. I won't buy again, just too sweet for me but not bad at all. -Total Wine Review (January 2021)

Wine Folly: Page 96 - Chardonnay

This wine is best served cold in an aroma collector glass to get all of the scent and aromas of the wine.  I drank this wine out of a can, which limited my ability to properly aerate and sniff the wine while drinking and tasting.  In this wine, I tasted very strong citrus and yellow apple flavor with a little bit of vanilla.  I did not get any buttery smoothness or taste and did not taste pineapple flavors. 

My Review: Although initially turned off by the idea of drinking wine from a can, this house wine surprised me.  I have had House Wine from the bottle and have liked it in the past and this one from the can was very tasty and seemed to be blasting with flavor and sweetness, which is good for my palette.  I enjoyed the size of the can too, as it allowed me to open a can and finish it in one sitting and not worry about it sitting out for too long.  I drank this wine alone, as it was very tasty and didn't seem like it was missing any food pairings. 

Wine Tasting - Seaglass Sauvignon Blanc

Name: Seaglass

Variety: 100% Sauvignon Blanc
Region: Central Coast California

Country: USA

Year: 2020

Price: $13.99

Wine Critic Review: 

Light straw yellow color. Aromas of grass and lime. Relatively soft attack but with lots of acidity. Smooth with flavors of grapefruit and lime. Short finish. Light and refreshing. More on the elegant side than the party side sauvignon blancs. - Vivino Wine Review (January 2022)

Wine Folly: Page 165 - Sav Blanc Wine Page

This wine is best served in a white wine glass chilled.  I drank this wine chilled, however, I did drink from a stemless wine glass, which could have slightly effected my experience.  I definitely get the white peach and grapefruit flavors in taste and the passion-fruit scent of the wine. This wine is high in acidity and semi-sweet, which is something that I am not surprised about after tasting. 

My Review: I so enjoyed this wine that I went back and bought it a few times after initially trying it.  Sauvignon blanc is typically my favorite wine and this one specifically is one of the best ones I have had.  It smelt floral with a hint of fresh grass and grapefruit.  The taste of the wine was a grapefruit with a hint of herbal flavors. I paired this wine with ramen which was a wonderful pairing because the wine brought out the herbal tastes of the ramen.  

Wine and Cheese Pairing #1

In this pairing, 3 different cheeses were each paired with 3 different wines.  The Wines picked out for this tasting were Moiselle Sweet Red Wine, Vina Robles Sauvignon, and Giretto Pinot Grigio.  These wines were paired with Jalepeno Havarti, Brie, and Applewood Smoked Gruyere cheeses. 

This wine and cheese pairing was done with 3 of my friends and it was overall a great experience both educationally and socially.  Each wine was paired with each of the cheeses and while some wine-cheese pairings worked really well, others not so much.  

Wine/Cheese Pairings

The Moiselle wine is a Sweet Red wine that is typically drank as a dessert wine but my friends and I decided to pair it with some cheese and see how it worked out.  It turns out that this wine paired well with all of the cheeses.  The sweetness of the wine was cooled down by the saltiness of the Applewood Smoked Gruyere.  The smoothness of the wine became very apparent when paired with the soft Brie cheese. The sweet red wine paired best with the Jalepeno Havarti cheese. The sweet wine with the spicy cheese gave a tangy sensation and brought out the fruity, sweet flavors of the wine even more.  

The Vina Robles Sauvignon Blanc is a semi-sweet white wine that has a very apparent taste of tarte green grapes.  This wine did not pair so well with the jalepeno havarti due to the fact that wine was not bold enough to mellow down the spice of the cheese.  The Sav Blanc paired exceptionally well with the brie cheese, as the soft taste of the Brie cheese really complimented the soft tarte taste of the grapes in the wine. As far as the gruyere cheese, this wine actually made the cheese taste a little bit better.  Before being paired with this wine, the cheese was a little too smoky for my palette.  Once paired with the sav blanc, the cheeses smokiness was mellowed down with the lightness of the wine.  

The Giretto Pinot Grigio is a dry white wine that I happened to not be a fan of at all.  This wine had a very charred smell to it and the taste of it seemed to be acidic and vinegary rather than tarte and fruity like typical Pinot Grigios.  Although I did not like the wine, it seemed to pair fine with the cheeses.  The charred smell of the wine paired well with the smoky taste of the Gruyere cheese and the cheese brought out a little bit of the smoky taste in the wine.  The presence of vinegary taste in the wine was brought down after pairing the wine with a soft brie cheese coating the mouth.  The pinot grigio was actually a good drink to wash down the spice of the jalepeno cheese due to its strong taste.  

The cheese eaten and paired with the wines was presented all together on a plate with an assortment of crackers as well as a few slices of prosciutto.  My friends and I snacked on the cheese and crackers while drinking the wines and discussing each of our experiences along the way. What a fun time!