Oak Leaf Moscato

Oak Leaf Moscato

This week I tried an Australian wine called Moscato. I have never had this type of wine before. It was a white wine which I had while watching a movie this Sunday night. It has a very clear color with a light body. When I went for the sniff and swirl it smelled like a fruity car freshener. Upon tasting it the first time I felt blasted with a water flavor blast. I feel like this was the most fruity tasting wine I've ever had. I have now experienced two very different sides of the wine spectrum the last two weeks. Last week's Merlot displayed exactly how the tannin's are very prevalent in red's as opposed to this white wine. However, I felt that this wine had a little more of a pucker than I've been accustomed to with other reds I've been trying. This wine did not seem as "hot" either, which makes sense as its only a 10% alcohol content. Overall, I don't believe this is the wine for me. I think this was a little too fruity for me. I didn't feel as though I was getting the full taste of the grapes in this wine. It maybe some time before I retry this type of wine.

Oak Leaf Merlot

Oak Leaf Merlot 

         This week I decided to try Oak Leaf Vineyard's Merlot from California. This is the first Merlot that I have blogged about and I am very excited about this because Merlot is a wine that I have enjoyed in the past and it is one that I am very fond of. However, this is a cheaper Merlot so I wont get my hopes up for a really delicious wine... I will keep an open mind though. I chose this wine because it had an interesting flavor profile on the label that intrigued me. It describes the wine as "medium-bodied, soft Merlot... blackberries, and ripe plum." I was curious to whether I would taste the plum flavor and what that may bring to the wine.
         Upon pouring the first glass I noticed it had that dark purple-black color that is distinct for Merlot. As I did the sniff and swirl i smelled the blackberries and raspberries along with a little plum. It seemed like the body of the wine was a little thin and watery. I confirmed this once I tasted the wine. It didn't really leave any bitterness as an after taste and I didn't taste much very acidity. Making this wine not very "hot" to the taste. It also had a small smokey taste combined with a little oak. I also decided to get a little fancy with my experience and had a couple different cheeses and a few crackers with the wine which I enjoyed. I'm not sure how different my experience with this wine was because of the food. I would like to think though that the food did make it taste better. Overall, I think this is a very easy to drink wine that didn't really bring any complex flavor pairings which was a little disappointing but also expected. For the price of this wine I think it was a very good purchase and one that I could see myself maybe making again.

Rosemount Shiraz 2012

Rosemount Shiraz 2012

For my first wine tasting on my own I chose to try a type of wine I had never had before. The Shiraz flavor was now something I was accustomed to and I found it very pleasant how easily it was to drink. As wines go for me personally I find the bitterness defines how easily I personally think the wine is to drink. This wine was much less bitter than previous Merlot and Malbac wines I have had before. This was a cheap purchase as the wine was only eight dollars but it had won over 230 awards making it an intriguing choice to me.

I unfortunately have a poor sense of smell that seems to get worse each year. However, starting with the sniff and swirl I found the fruity aromas to be the first smells that I recognized. Next, after tasting the wine i could taste some blackberries, raspberries, and an oak wood finish to it. This wine seemed to be a little more watery than most, with a lighter purple color. I am still however training myself to look for slight variations during the mid-pallet when tasting wines.

My final conclusions about this wine is that as easy as it was to drink a Shiraz is not my favorite kind of wine. While it lacked the bitterness of other types and had a very easy to drink fruity flavor I felt like it lacked a little bit in the alcoholic "punch" one may taste when drinking red wines. I will look to explore this type of tasting in the future with this weeks wine purchase and tasting. I will also experiment with different foods that may go good with these wines.

Journey to Wine Appreciation 2/1/14

Journey to Wine Appreciation

The start and maturation of my wine tasting pallet

Geography of Wine

By: Shane Brandon

Prior experience and exposure to wine:

Recently I just became of age (21) to start legally consuming alcohol and have decided to take my pallet through the lifelong journey of tasting different types of wines. However, my experience with wine first began when I turned 13 and tried wine, beer, and coffee for the first time. Which by the way, I was not a fan at first of any of the three and have since learned to love and enjoy each drink. (for most part responsibly) I truly believe it takes an acquired taste to learn to like these beverages. Wine however was the last of these drinks for me to learn to really enjoy.

Prior to taking this course I had yet to understand that all wines are very different and that is what makes wine so personal and intriguing. I also had no understanding to the process and what it takes to produce a barrel of wine. After the first two weeks of class I have already gained an idea of the process it takes to create wine and the correct etiquette to open and consume this complex beverage. 

Over this past month I have started to try different types of red wines my family drinks at dinner. This was a great treat as I got a chance to taste some really nice dinner wines, and thanks to my mom and dad I was able to learn a little bit about what they look for in a wine as well as their personal preferences. As I start to make those same choices for myself I am very excited to learn to taste the different complexities to these wines. My choice of wines are unfortunately limited due to my budget to cheaper wines, however as I progress through life I will be able to try nicer wines and should form a greater appreciation for those wines.