Tasting- Baglio di Pimetto Catarrato

Name: Baglio di Pimetto Catarrato
Variety: 100% Catarratto
Region: Sicily DOC
Country: Italy
Year: 2021
Price: $15

Winery Review
Sensory Profile

With its straw yellow colour, our Catarratto displays forward notes of citrus and blossoms, enriched with fragrant lemon zest, orange blossom, and jasmine. On the palate, a zesty acidy complements full, rich flavours.

Pairings

This is the perfect wine to pair with seafood, as well as with poultry, veal, and grilled vegetables

Wine Folly

This varietal is not mentioned in the latest edition of Wine Folly, so I gathered information from winefolly.com instead

Winefolly.com

I definitely noticed the dryness and tartness first. I also got notes of peach and apple during my tasting, but didn't expressly notice the lemon or or honey that are mentioned.

My Review

The wine was golden in color with medium viscosity. This translated to a slight tinge of alcohol on the palate, accompanied my medium tartness as well as light fruit and peach notes. This wine was more dry than I generally prefer, and its flavor was somewhat muted. Through the wine was pleasant, I would not buy it again. 

The wine was served alone without any food.   

 

Tasting- Reserve du Naufraget Vauvray Chenin Blank

Name: Reserve du Naufraget Vauvray Chenin Blank
Variety: 100% Chenin Blanc
Region: Loire Valley
Country: France
Price: $17.00

Year: 2020

Description at Store

Produced from 100% Chenin Blanc This off-dry wine gives a sweet sensation with a dry finish on the palate. A concentration of rich flavors develops fruity aromas such as orange peel, honey and ripe quince. It has a great long finish with a slight honey taste. Delicious!

Wine Folly

Page 241-Chenin Blanc 

I got notes of honey and tropical fruit, as mentioned. I also noticed the mild body and alcohol that is characteristic of the variety. This wine fell more into the "lean and dry" category mentioned in the book. The wine was served chilled from the refrigerator, maybe a bit colder than suggested. 

Page 511-Loire Valley Chenin Blanc

I noticed the floral (honeysuckle) notes mentioned for the Loire region. 

My Review

I enjoyed this wine. Medium-straw color with notes of honey, flowers, and tropical fruit. I specifically noticed pineapple. Light mouth feel and low alcohol taste but with strong acid. Finish is long with a hint of sweetness. I would have this wine again. It fits well into my taste, not too dry and not too sweet. 

The wine was served by itself with no food.    

Wine Tasting 1/17/2023

Wine Details 

 Name: Klinker Brick Winery Old Vine Zinfandel

 Variety: Zinfandel

 Region: Lodi, California

 Country: United States of America

 Vintage: 2018

 Price: $20

Review from Wine.com (https://www.wine.com/product/klinker-brick-old-vine-zinfandel-2018/877755#closePromoModal)

Winemaker Notes 

This, Klinker Brick's flagship zinfandel, is made from vineyard blocks up to 120 years old. Delta Breezes and the associated fog allow us to retain above average acidity for the region, providing notes of dark cherry and spices. Barrel fermentation brings additional structure to thin skin varietal. The extremely low yields of century old vineyards bring notes of rhubarb and cranberry, with a hint of black pepper. The result is a balanced and complex Zinfandel perfect for both Summer barbecues and Fall fire pits. 

My Review

On Tuesday 1/17/2023, a couple of friends and I decided to do our first wine tasting for this class. We swung by the store and chose Klinker Brick Winery's Old Vine Zinfandel. We chose this wine mostly because we recognized the variety and the price was affordable for us. We poured the wine directly from bottle into our glasses, no aeration or decanting, and the bottle was at room temperature. We tried the wine by itself, with no food or other wines.

The wine was a medium to deep garnet color, mostly opaque and with light edges, indicating the expected young age of the wine. Wine had a medium viscosity, which corresponds to the tasting notes. On the nose, their was a bit of alcohol along with light notes of red fruit, primarily raspberry and cherry. Upon tasting the wine, I noticed a balance of sweetness and tartness. Acidity was low, and tannins were mild, requiring thorough swishing to feel and astringency. Body was mild, with little mouth feel and muted finish.

Overall, I like this wine, but it does not stand out to me. I would give it a 6 out of 10. It was somewhat muted, with no flavors or scents that jumped out to me. This could very well be due to my inexperience with wine tasting, so I am looking forward to trying more wines and expanding my pallet in the coming weeks!

First blog post-My wine story so far

My name is Max. I am a senior in systems biology. I took this class not only because I wanted to drink wine for school credit, but also because I am genuinely interested in the history, process, and ritual of making and drinking wine. I wanted to take an elective I would truly enjoy, and that would help me learn about something outside of my major, something that would enrich my life outside of my career. I am excited to begin this class, my wine journey, and to have this blog as a record of it!

As far as my experience with wine, I would say I'm a noob. Since I have become of legal drinking age, I have mostly been exploring the world of craft beer, and it has become my go-to alcoholic beverage. I was attracted to beer as I was somewhat familiar with it, and there were plenty of good stores to by single bottles of beer in Blacksburg. I hadn't been drinking much wine until recently, as the wine I had tried previously I didn't much care for, and I don't like having to commit to buying a full 750mL bottle if I wanted to try a wine from the store, not knowing whether I would like it or not. However, my friends who are into wine have offered some to me while visiting them or as a gift, so I have been trying more wine in recent months. Generally, I have been drinking wine with my friends when visiting one of their homes. One of my friend's mother has a wine subscription, and we get to drink some of the stuff she doesn't think is interesting. These wines have been from all over the world, and were generally less than $20 per bottle.  We normally drink wine that has been stored in the wine cooler, and we use wine glasses, so I would say the tasting experience has been decent at his house. 

As far as my tastes go, I would say that I like wines that are in the middle when it comes to dryness versus sweetness. Most of the wines I have tried have been reds, and those that were very dry I did not like. The few white wines I have tried I have generally enjoyed, but I still didn't like those that were very dry or sweet. Besides from that I don't know much about my taste in wine. That is something I hope to learn more about in this course!

From this class, I hope to learn more about how and where wine is made, and how that influences the wine itself. More specifically, I am curious about how the grapes and aging combined contribute to flavor. Does the type of grape used determine how the wine should be aged? I want to learn how to better enjoy wine and how to pair it with meals. What tastes in wine pair best with what foods? I want to be able to design my own pairings, not just read about them online. But most of all, I want to spend time enjoying wine with mu friends during my last semester of undergrad here at Virginia Tech! 

Picture of me (right) with Ringo (left), the best officer on the VT Police force.