Wine Tasting: Daniel Cellars Aurora: Chocolate Raspberry Wine

Name: Daniel Cellars Aurora: Chocolate Raspberry Wine
Varietal: Chocolate Raspberry Wine
Region: Barboursville, Virginia
Country: United States
Year: N/A
Price: $3.95
Wine Notes: "Aurora is a sweet red wine that Daniel Cellars have added Chocolate and Raspberries to. Chocolate is the dominate aroma and flavor with Raspberry accents. This is a perfect wine for chocolate lovers. Best served ice cold with a friend."
My Review: This wine had a strong chocolate and raspberry smell. The wine was extremely sweet and I could really taste the raspberry. The wine tasted like a raspberry tootsie pop. It was very good ,however, like most dessert wines a little bit goes a long way. I did not eat anything with this wine.

Wine Tasting: Estrella Cabernet Sauvignon

Name:Estrella
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon
Region: California
Country: United States
Year: 2014
Price: $5.95 Frontline Price: $17
Wine Notes: "Bright medium dark garnet color. Fruity, creamy, attractive aromas and flavors of berry and cherry custard pies, watermelon, and chocolate and floral honey with a silky, vibrant, fruity medium body and a smooth, interesting, medium-length spiced blueberries and cherries and vanilla custard finish with soft tannins and light oak. A very smooth, charming, and fruity cabernet crowd pleaser."
My review: This Cabernet Sauvignon was pleasantly and surprisingly sweet with an oaky, cherry flavor along with a bit of a "burnt" wood aftertaste. It did not have very many tannic and had a light body. It had a nice and good flavor. I did not eat with this wine.

Wine Tasting: Terre dei Savoia

Name: Terre dei Savoia
Varietal:Dolcetto
Region: Piedmont
Country: Italy
Year: 2011
Price: $6.95 Frontline Price: $20
Tasting Notes: "Violet, red berry and underbrush scents come together in this Dolcetto. Its savory, juicy palate evokes crushed blackberry, cherry and a touch of toasted almond alongside lithe tannins."
My Review: This wine had a strong cherry smell. The wine also had a strong cherry taste and you could clearly taste the tannins. It was not a full bodied wine, rather it was more medium bodies. It was also rather dry with very little sweetness. I did not try this wine with food. 

Wine Tasting: Terra Minei

Name: Terra Minei
Varietal: Treixadura
Region: Riberio
Country: Spain
Year: 2015
Price: $6.95
Wine Critic Review: "Firm and focused, this white supports the core of apple and pear flavors with flinty, steely and briny notes, accented with fresh herb and smoky details. Juicy acidity keeps this fresh and racy through the mineral finish."
My Review: This wine had a strong floral smell as well as orange. The wine has a smooth mouthfeel and though there is some acidity it is not overpowering. The wine was perfectly balanced with acid and sweetness and had a long finish. I did not try this wine with food.

Wine Tasting: J & P Matheus Pierporter Treppchen

Name: J&P Mateus Pierporter Treppchen
Varietal: Sauvignon Blanc
Region:Mosel
Country: Germany
Year: 2014
Price: $5.95 Frontline Price: $17
Tasting Notes: "The wine is fresh and lively with tropical fruits aromas, a hint of citrus and ripe and vineyard peach flavors. It has a multi-layered structure with a refreshing acidity with mineral notes."
My Review: This Sauvignon Blanc had a crisp lemon taste as well as other strong citrus flavors. It tasted high in acidity and left a dry mouthfeel following the tasting. This Sauvignon Blanc also had a powerful citrus smell as well as an almost chemical acidic smell. I did not taste this wine with food.

Canyon Road Chardonnay Wine Tasting

Name: Canyon Road Chardonnay
Varietal: Chardonnay
Region: California
Country: United States
Year: 2016
Price: $7.99
Tasting Notes: "Canyon Road Chardonnay brings aromas or ripe pear and stone fruit with balanced oak notes of vanilla on the nose. The rich fruit carries through on the palate with caramel and toasted oak sitting just behind the fruit." 
My Review: Canyon Road Chardonnay had a crips and light taste. It did not have the buttery taste that is common in Chardonnay instead it was smooth and refreshing. The Chardonnay had citrus undertones and a hit on sweetness. I did not eat food with this wine. 















Link to Tasting Notes:https://www.midvalleywine.com/wines/Canyon-Road-Chardonnay-2016-w8903962u3

My Personal Experience with Wine

I do not have much personal experience with wine at this point in my life. I enjoy drinking it on occasion with meals or drinking a glass of wine with a group of friends. I prefer white wine, my favorites are Pinto Grigio,Moscato, and Riesling. I tend to enjoy sweet wine rather than dry wine. One of the best wines I have ever had in my life was the Late Harvest Riesling from Trefethen Family Vineyards, it was a dessert wine which made it incredibly sweet but it was so smooth and favorable.  I do not like red wine, though I have only tried it 2 or 3 times ,however, I want to continue to try red wine and find one that I enjoy.

My experience with wine has mostly been informal and casual. Though I have been to tasting at vineyards a few times, I usually just have glass of wine at home with a meal or friends. I mostly drink wine because I like the way it tastes and often do not think about the grapes that it is made from or where in the world it is from. I have little knowledge on these subjects and it's not until I started watching lecture videos that I realized how important these elements are to the wine experience

Though I enjoy a nice glass of wine I have realized that I usually spring for the cheapest bottle I can find. I think this is true for many college students. However, following a recent trip to Napa Valley I realized how unique wine is and I became very interested in learning more about it. Though I loved my experience in Napa I also felt very intimidated by the knowledge that others in our tour group and the staff at the winery had on the subject. My goal for this course is to learn more about varieties of wine and how to speak the language of wine. In Napa as they described each wine I had very little understanding of the terms they were using and I hope that this class can help me so that way when I go back to Napa in the future I can be more informed about the wines I am tasting.

Me enjoying some sparkling wine at Mumm Napa