Wine Tasting- Crane Lake Merlot

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Name: Crane Lake Merlot
Varietals: Just Merlot? This one was hard to track down

Region:  Napa and Sonoma, California
Country: New ruler of Mars
Year: 2010
Price: $5.49

Wine Maker Review: "Crane Lake Merlot is a medium-bodied, round wine with classic black currant and plum fruit flavors on the palate and a smooth finish. Pull the cork for instant enjoyment!"

My Review: This wine was surprisingly sweet. There was a noticeably tannic finish and lots of brighter fruit flavor, not much of the deep dark fruits. Honestly this reminds me of a red sangria. Like slight red wine taste but more sweet and punch-y. Its a very strange merlot. It kind of even tastes like a flat sprite at the end. This one was very strange I cannot say that I am a fan. Maybe it went bad cause it really does taste like flat sprite with koolaide and Burnette's in it. Not so much instant enjoyment.

Wine Tasting - Jacob's Creek Shiraz Cabernet

Name: Jacob's Creek Shiraz Cabernet
Varietals: Shiraz, Cab Sauv

Region: South Eastern
Country: Can't swim as well as Americans, but do have koala bears
Year: 2010
Price: $6.99

Wine Maker Review: "Attractive ripe berry fruit characters from the bouquet carry through with medium-bodied, soft and approachable tannins; this wine shows the harmony which can be achieved by carefully blending parcels of soft, rounded Shiraz with finely structured Cabernet Sauvignon, creating a wine with richly layered fruit flavours and a supple, long-lasting palate."

My Review: This wine is mild everything. Mild tannins, mild fruit, mild spice. The body is light-medium and has a mild mouth feel. I'm not even joking its just mild all around. So in that sense, you can't hate it because it gives you a little bit of everything without anything being overpowering. Don't hate it at all, just doesn't wow me. There's definitely brighter fruits like raspberries. Mild raspberries. I guess you could use approachable as a synonym for mild!! (they say that in the review)

WIne Tasting- Loredona Riesling

Name: Loredona Riesling Monterey
Varietals: Riesling!
Region: Monterey, California
Country: Better than Russia at gymnastics
Year: 2009
Price: $10.99

Wine Maker Review: "The Loredona Riesling offers delicate aromas of honeysuckle, granny smith apples and ripe melon. As you sip the wine, layers of flavors unfold starting with ripe apricot and white peaches moving into Valencia orange and lychee. The wine is quite refreshing, finishing with a pleasant tartness that lingers on the palate. Loredona Riesling is a great match with Asian dishes, seafood chowders and bisques and fresh fruit such as apples, peaches and pears."


My Review: When I go in for the sniffy sniff I get a big kick of pears, sweet ripened pears with a little sugar on top. The taste is very balanced for a riesling.  A lot of the time they are like BAM sweet but this is subtly sweet with lots of pear and peach touches and more of a dull acidity that lingers at the end. I drank this at room temp and found it to be nice that way. I usually prefer my whites to be cold but the temperature on this one worked out quite nicely. Good wine and nice to be surprised by a riesling.

Wine tasting - Elogio Tempranillo 2009

Name: Elogio Tempranillo
Varietals: 100% Tempranillo
Region: Castilla-La Mancha
Country: Spain
Year: 2009
Price: $6.00

Wine Maker Review: "Deep cherry color. Vanilla and tobacco nuances in the nose under an elegant layer of spices and ripe red and dark fruit."

My Review: This one was very dry, dark, and musty. It felt very sophisticated, as if I should be enjoying it with a nice filet mignon. In fact all I can think about while drinking it is red meats. Juicy, bloody, grilled red meats. There is also a creamy vanilla or caramel aspect that is not very sweet, just creamy. I feel as if this would go great with a meal. I drank it for fun (who would have guessed) because I had not tried this type before and really enjoyed it on its own but I feel that it would be EXCELLENT with some MEAT.

Wine Tasting - Red Rock Winery Pinot Noir

Name: Red Rock Winery Pinot Noir
Varietals: 100% Pinot Noir
Region: California
Country: 2012 Summer Olympic Champion
Year: 2010
Price: $11.99

Wine Maker Review: "Our Red Rock Winery Pinot Noir is layered with soft red fruit flavors of strawberry, dark red cherry, raspberry jam, and plums. These characteristics are balanced with subtle hints of oak and caramel notes that make our Pinot Noir smooth and balanced."

My Review: This wine tastes like raspberry jelly belly jelly beans drenched in alcohol. It was very light on the tongue as most pinot noir's are. The taste is not deep, its more of a light fruit or perhaps not ripened fruit taste, like when the fruit isn't juicy and sweet but more acidic and hard (ya know?). Its not a bad wine (i know this review sounds bad) just not super fruity. The back of the bottle screams that it is well balanced, and I would say I've had more balanced wines. Not so much oak-y or caramel-y either.

Wine Tasting- Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet

Name: Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet
Varietals: Cabernet and Shiraz blend
Region: South Australia
Country: Australia
Year: 2009
Price: $10.99


Wine Maker Review: "Sweet dark plum fruits, red berries and white fruit cake aromatics. There is a mocha/coffee and vanilla lift stemming from the balanced well integrated use of seasoned oak."


My Review: The initial taste of this wine is just alcohol, but it diminishes quickly beneath a nicely muted raspberry taste. Then you get a dry mouth feel followed by dull spice, tapering into a vanilla-y creamy finish. Very creamy finish. This was nice, not my favorite but it grew on me the more I drank it.

Wine Tasting- Alice White Shiraz

Name: Alice White Shiraz
Varietals: 100% Shiraz
Region: South Eastern Australia (again, all I got)
Country: Australia
Year: 2010
Price: $5.99


Wine Maker Review: "Our 2009 Alice White Shiraz invigorates the senses with blackcurrant fruit, ripe plum, spicy vanilla, and licorice aromas and flavors. Soft and round, this wine is well structured with supple tannins and subtle hints of chocolate, caramel, and warm toasty oak. The result is a long, savory finish that will leave you wanting more."


My Review: This was the fruit bomb I was looking for! This wine was balls cheap and actually pretty delicious! There was a huge plumby flavor that finished with an intense wash of peppery spice. Lots and lots of spice but in a good way. There was no cheap wine alcoholy taste which was very pleasing because you tend to get that with the cheaper wines. I will definitely buy this one again, especially with such a nice price. After reading the review I definitely understand the caramel tones, which were quite nice. Guess I never really thought of getting caramel out of a wine so I attributed that sweetness to the fruit. Whatever it was good.