Vivacious Vino - Review of New Age Rose

Name: New Age Rose***
Variety: Malbec Blend (70% Bonarda and 30% Malbec)
Region: San Rafael, Mendoza
Country: Argentina
Year: Did not say, but my guess would be 2013
Price: $19.99 (At Green's in downtown Blacksburg) ($9.99 on Thursdays)
Alcohol Content: 6% 
With/Without Food: Had with their chicken skewers and it complimented the pineapple and peppers, as well as the flavorful and savory pieces of chicken.

Wine Review: Experience the magic of New Age, refreshingly sweet possessing the juicy freshness of just-picked cherries, and raspberries, perfume of roses and violets. 

My Review: After swirling the smell was fabulous! Very fast legs. I think since the alcohol percentage was so low, it wasn't harsh at all. Smelled almost just like the grape juice that they serve at churches during communion. Definitely tasted the cherries, maybe a little black current, and raspberries and blueberries. Even a little cinnamon taste, but not a lot. Almost had a sparkling wine feeling when tasted, but not so many bubbles. Very good and definitely a dessert type wine. 

Extra Notes: After the wine tasting at The Vintage Cellar, my friend and I couldn't just stop there, so we decided to go to a place we hadn't tried yet downtown and we settled on Green's since we heard that they had half-off bottles of wine on Thursdays! A great atmosphere and a small, but tasty selection of wines. We each ordered a bottle and shared. My friend ordered a Riesling, which was also sweet and tasty for our mid-afternoon adventure!

***I got this Rose... I think that the owners actually miss named this wine. They said it was a Rose, but I believe it was a red blend. The back of the bottle said New Age Red, so I think they might have just not looked at it or tasted it. (Either way it was good!) I also looked online for more information on this wine because the region and variety were not on the bottle and it is definitely a red blend.

Vivacious Vino - Review of Ecco Domani Pinot Grigio

Name: Ecco Domani Pinot Grigio
Variety: 100% Pinot Grigio
Region: Tre Venezie
Country: Italy
Year: 2012
Price: $12.99
Alcohol Content: 12.5% 
With/Without Food: Without Food

Wine Review: Ecco Domani Pinot Grigio showcases delightful floral and tropical fruit aromas, with a flavor that is elegant and crisply refreshing.

My Review: Let's start with the legs! With this Pinot Grigio, the legs were very slow to form. Like most Pinot Grigios, this had a very fruity and citrus smell. With both the taste and smell I got hints of pineapple and mangos. During the taste I also pulled out raspberries and a lime taste. I really liked this bottle of wine. It was tasty and not too sweet or dry, it was a very good mix of the two. I liked how crisp the taste was and there wasn't really a bad after taste to it either! Definitely a good Pinot Grigio for those looking for a decently priced bottle of wine!

Vivacious Vino - Review of Oak Leaf Vineyards Pinot Grigio

Name: Oak Leaf Vineyards Pinot Grigio
Variety: 100% Pinot Grigio (Didn't say, guessing though from their website that it isn't a blend.)
Region: Ripon, California
Country: USA
Year: Didn't say, but guessing 2013
Price: $2.97 (Yes, $2.97... big mistake)
Alcohol Content: 12.5% 
With/Without Food: Without Food

Wine Review: This light-bodied, crisp Pinot Grigio has a vibrant citrus nose, hints of apple and peach, and a refreshing finish.

My Review: Not the best, in fact one of the worst Pinot Grigios I've had. I think this is one I will try again and try to keep an opened mine to it, but it was harsh. Very chemical and harsh in smell and taste. Will say that after smelling it I wasn't too keen on the tasting portion, but I did and at first it just tasted like extremely watered down Barefoot, but then you get the flavors, and the aftertaste is harsh. As with all Pinot Grigios you can taste the green apple and peach, but the "refreshing finish" and "vibrant... nose" not so much unless you think refreshing is a kick to the mouth and the vibrant nose is a whiff of pure punishment. Also, even though the bottle said it was 12.5%, the legs went super fast (almost immediately after swirling), I guess this is one of the times that legs represent an exception.

Extra Notes: In all fairness, I was bias because I knew where I purchased the bottle and the price, so my initial thoughts weren't good. I will say that the only reason I purchased it was because I was intrigued and wanted to see what Walmart had to offer (I know, I know... whoopsy-daisy). I will also say that I was hoping this $3 wine would be good! If it had been though, let's be honest, my wallet would have loved it, but my liver wouldn't have been too happy! I think when buying such cheap wine, I should have had a few types to taste during the same tasting period, and had someone else pour the glasses and not know which we were tasting. A blind test might have produced better results for me and my taste (prices and where I get wine do unfortunately make my taste biased). Because of this, I called for my friend, who did the first couple tastings with me, to come over and try a few more! (She is always game for a wine tasting afternoon!) I did not tell her about this wine before pouring her a glass, but immediately she wasn't a fan. It's a very harsh wine. Overall, this is definitely a case of you get what you pay for!

Vivacious Vino - Review of Fancy Pants Pinot Grigio

Name: Fancy Pants Pinot Grigio
Variety: 100% Pinot Grigio
Region: Napa County, California
Country: USA
Year: 2012
Price: $9.99
Alcohol Content: 13.15% 
With/Without Food: Without Food

Wine Review: Fancy Pants Pinot Grigio is gently harvested in the early morning and handled with the utmost care. It is immediately sent to press for gentle processing, minimalizing the extraction of unwanted color and astringency from the seeds and skins. The clean juice, bursting with Pinot Grigio essence goes immediately to stainless steel tanks to develop bright, clean fruit character.

My Review: Crisp and light! So good!! Little citrus zest taste and smell to it. A little tart like most Pinot Grigios. Definitely peach undertones, and a little bit of mango taste. Medium legs, not too fast or slow, although a little slower than Barefoot's. One of my cheap favorites, for sure. 

Extra Notes: As with Barefoot Pinot Grigio, we did a tasting of this at the same time so that my friend and I could compare and contrast them. We definitely liked this one more. Besides the stylish bottle (which matters a little to us college gals!), we thought the taste wasn't as tart or harsh as Barefoot's Pinot Grigio. Love the fact that Pinot Grigios don't have much tannin, I am not much for that feeling after drinking wine!

Vivacious Vino - Review of Barefoot Pinot Grigio

Name: Barefoot Pinot Grigio
Variety: 100% Pinot Grigio
Region: California
Country: USA
Year: 2011
Price: $7.99
Alcohol Content: 12.5% 
With/Without Food: No food

Wine Review: Tart green apple flavors get down with a white peach undertone. Floral blossoms and citrus aromas do the tango. Light-bodied with a bright finish.

My Review: Crisp citrus smell, you can smell the tartness. Taste was tart, you can definitely taste the green apple and maybe lemon and grapefruit. Medium legs, not too fast or slow.

Extra Notes: Did the first tasting with a friend, she loved learning about swirling and sniffing. She actually pulled out the green apple smell before I did! This wine is at first very tart, almost harsh, and then as you continue to drink is sweeter. This is a wine we have quite often, but are now looking into different types of Pinot Grigio!

Vino, vino, everywhere! Not a drop to spare!

First off, SUPER excited to finally take this class and get back into one of Boyer's classes! It's been since freshman year since I took World Regions and as a senior I know that no one should ever go that long between Boyer courses! 

I am a lover of wine! The cheaper the better because let's face it I'm in college and have no real knowledge on taste or types of wine! Give me a bottle of Barefoot's or FancyPants' Pinot Grigio and I am a happy, and chatty, girl! I have for the past year or so participated in Wine Wednesday at Boudreaux's in downtown Blacksburg. There I always get Conde Villar's Vinho Verde which is sort of a bubbly white wine. We always compare it to Champagne and Pinot in one epic combination... it's delicious and light! Besides the great wine, as we talked about during the first lecture, I love that you can get a huge group of friends together and go get a couple bottles and talk for hours! So social and so fun!

As far as my tastes goes, I am a fan of white and rose wines. Red has never and will probably never be a friend of mine! (You can thank the Dominican Republic's drink of choice Mamajuana, which is a combination of red wine, dark rum, and honey left soaking in wood chips for long periods of time. During study abroad it was a favorite of ours... hint: "WAS".) I am not a fan of really sweet or super dry whites which is what makes Pinot Grigio a favorite!

So, what do I want to get out of this class? I want to learn the basics about wine, I want to learn how to pick out wines, I want to learn what makes the same wine different between producers. Basically, I want a crash course about wine, learning a little about a lot of things! I also think that this blog will be a cool thing to have and continue after this course! Overall, super excited to get started!