Tasting-Simply Naked Chardonnay

Simply Naked-Unoaked Chardonnay 

--100% Chardonnay

--Acampo, CA

--USA
--Year Unknown
--$7.00

Review from Tastings.com: 

Lively aromas of melon, peach and lemon sorberts and praline with a silky fruity medium body and a juicy, tangy orange and pear finish. A lovely mouthwatering chardonnay that is sure to please. 

My notes: I was really interested in trying unoaked Chardonnay, definitely something I did not know existed until this class. The color was very light, almost a pinot grigio color. There was slight smells of apricot, honey, kind of your classic moldy Chardonnay smell. But overall very light smelling, very light seeming wine. 

It smell was honestly nice and dry. It had a great solid Chardonnay taste, it was super light, earthy, you can sense the slight apple and a little pear. It was a great white wine, something that definitely could just be an easy wine to drink. It was delicous, balanced and smooth. It would be great to pair and easy to pair with a lot. It was particularly good with my turkey, bacon and cheddar sandwich. It became slightly more complex. 

The thing was, it was not anything special but it was a solid, good Chardonnay that I could see myself drinking if I just wanted a light white wine with dinner. It was cheap and not very intense, I really enjoyed how the lack of oak actually made it lighter and more appealing to drink. 

Tasting- Man Pinotage

Mann Pinotage

--Pintoage 86%, 14%

--Perdeberg Hills 
--South Africa
--2013
--$7.95

So there were two reasons I wanted to try this wine: One because Boyer talked about it and I wanted to see if I noticed a burnt rubber (Spoiler: no burnt rubber!) and then Vintage Cellar was supposed to have it but they sold out before I got there, so I had to find another one to try. 

VIneyard Notes: The wine is a ruby-garnet red with a hint of purple. Our Pinotage shows pleasing aromas of mocha chocolate and roasted coffee beans, followed by juicy flavours of red-berries , nutmeg and vanilla spice on the palate. The sweet fruit flavours of this medium-bodied Pinotage make it an ideal match for spicy food, pizza, smoked pork and flavorful vinson dishes or delicious just by itself. 

My notes: It was thick in the glass, so thick that it was coating the glass. It was a very red wine but it was very dark. It had a chocolately, blackberry and vanilla smell. Great nose honestly, was exciting, not sweet and pretty good. The first thing you noticed though it the burn, the acidic alcohol burn. It was very oakey. There were some lit hints of liquorice. Once you got passed the burn there was a little chocolate, tobacco and tobacco box. It was growing on me as it airrated but the burn was just too much. 

Tasting-Vintage Cellar 26MAR

So I actually only had 3 wines on their list as they sold out and kept replacing others and they only did 4 wines total. Apparently they sold out early on Thursday.

Alvarez de Toledo
Godello, 2013
$7.95
Bierzo, Spain

Cellar Notes: Clean pale yellow color. Nose fruity, persistent and elegant aromas. Good backbone on the palate.

My notes: This one had a slight smell of Apricot, very fruity, a little sour and earthy tones. The taste was all tart, too tart. Once you got past the tart, it seemed watery. So I was not surprised when the description did not say much either because I completely agree. 


***The Vintage Cellar ran out of the Pinotage in place of a Rose, but the name/picture of the Rose is not posted to the Moodle yet so here are my notes**** I cannot find anything on their website matching what the pourer told us it was. 

It was Tempranillo Rose (believed to be from Spain) with a very sweet smell. The taste was classic grapey taste, kind of candy taste. Overall it was very acidic for a Rose, way too acidic and it was hard to get past.

Monte Degli Angeli
Sangiovese
2013
$7.95
Puglia, Italy

Cellar Notes: The aromas are rich and dark, with lots of black cherry and a hint of balsamic. In the mouth the wine is round and energetic, with cherry and black raspberry fruit complemented by hints of damp earth. If you like Sangiovese-based wines like Chianti or our best-selling Colsanto from Umbria, you'll love this! The wine is ripe, fresh, and fruit-driven with a wonderful dash of earthy complexity at the end. Buy it by the case and drink with pizza, grilled poultry, and pasta.

My notes: It had a sweet taste and overall was very thick. Much thicker than I was expecting. There were slight hints of almost candied cherry, like cherry pie filing. It just had a meh taste, got a little of the cherry taste. It's end was a grapefruit taste and the acid that you taste with grapefruit. 

Bolla 1.5L
Moscato
$9.95
Pavia, Italy

Cellar Notes: Loaded with juicy exotic fruit, mature apricot, yellow peach and tangerine flavors, this sweet and delightful wine is perfect for Sunday brunch or picnics.

My notes: It was not as thick as I was expecting. It had your classic Moscato smell. It was kind of Bland sweet though, good would pair nicely with many things, it almsot needed to be paired in order to give it more complexity.