Tasting - Cabernet Sauvignon

 

Name: Mondavi and Family
Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon
Country: United States 
Region: California 
Vintage: 2020
Price: $5.99

Winery Review: Ruby red color, almost see-through you can see the bottom of the glass. Oak on the nose. Very sweet taste of bing cherry and oak notes. Medium tannins and acidity. - Review is done in Vinino by Yukiko Sugo. 

Wine Folly: Cabernet is one of the most popular wine varieties and normally has strong elements of tannins and is rich in flavor. Since this wine comes from California, it should give off characteristics of black currant, pencil lead, tobacco, blackberry, and mint. The California soil gives these wines a more distinct dusty and mineral character (pg 159). 

My Review: The first smell test goes not give me many aromas that are present in the wine, it is more of some decently high levels of acidity in it instead. Upon repeated smells, however, it becomes more apparent that there are some earthy elements that are in the wine from the smell test like some tobacco. The first taste test gives me a very full body feeling in the mouth that is extremely smooth and has a nice velvet finish to it. The wine has some medium tannins and low acidity on the tongue. I did not enjoy this wine with any food but if I were it would have to be another nice steak. 

Tasting - Cabernet Sauvgnon

Name: Nighthawk Black
Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon
Country: United States
Region: Manteca, CA
Vintage: NV (non-vintage)
Price: $17.99

Winery Review: Fruit-forward with little dryness on the backend. Subtle vanilla on the nose with rhubarb on the palate. As a boxed wine, never get tired of this wine. Good flavored wine to drink on a repetitive basis. Review from Vivino by AB. 

Wine Folly: The textbook states that this grape variety is one of the most popular grapes in the entire world. It has high tannin levels that will leave your mouth watering and asking for some rich flavors of food to be paired with it as well. Since this wine comes from California we should be expecting some black currant, pencil lead, tobacco, blackberry, and mint flavors coming from it (pg 159). 

My Review: The first smell test gives me some strong fruity smells of blackberry present in the wine. It also seems to have this tart aspect to it. I am also getting some underlying earthy elements present in the wine. The first taste test gives me a very full body with a nice and easy soft finish in the mouth. The tannins that are present in the wine are too aggressive and I would say are between middle and low levels of tannins. Almost no acidy that I can taste in the wine, and it seems to be balanced with not much sugar either. I did not pair this wine with any food but if I were it would be a nice steak that would pair well with the rich components present in the wine. 

Tasting - Barbera

 

Name: Bricco Del Tati
Variety: Barbera
Country: Italy
Region: Mombaruzzo
Vintage: 2017
Price: $7.00

Wine Review: "This is a young, fresh, lively Barbera with a persistent and attractive bouquet of black cherries and a bit of spice on the palate. It has few tannins which are typical of the Barbera varietal and a medium finish. Delightfully approachable, it is great with medium to strong cheeses, barbecue, and game." - Wine review done by vivino.com. 

Wine Folly: The textbook states that Barbera is the "everyday drinking red wine of Piedmont", and that this wine is very approachable with a decently high level of acidity. It suggests that you try this wine variety with some vegetable-driven dishes and that most of this wine is grown in Italy (pg 125). 

My Review: The first smell taste gives me the aromas of some strong tart cherries. The tartness of these cherries really comes alive on the nose, and I think I am also getting some hints of spices apparent in the wine. The first taste test was pleasant for one second until the rush of acidity hit my tongue, my god. The cherries that are present in the wine are the first things that I taste until the high levels of acid hit the back of my throat. It is kind of hard to distinguish much else from this wine because of how high the acid levels are. I did not pair any food with this wine but if I were to it would be food high in fatty and creamy levels in order to balance out that acid. 

Tasting - Cabernet Sauvignon

 

Name: Matthew Fox 
Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon
Country: United States
Region: California 
Vintage: NV (non-vintage)
Price: $4.00

Wine Review: "This cabernet sauvignon presents aromas of red raspberry and toasted oak. The wine is remarkably smooth with red fruit and vanilla flavors that linger through a pleasing finish. Matthew Fox cabernet sauvignon pairs well with beef and other full-flavored red meat entrees." - Review done by Roth's Fresh Markets. 

Wine Folly: The textbook states that this grape variety is one of the most popular grapes in the entire world. It has high tannin levels that will leave your mouth watering and asking for some rich flavors of food to be paired with it as well. Since this wine comes from California we should be expecting some black currant, pencil lead, tobacco, blackberry, and mint flavors coming from it (pg 159). 

My Review: The first smell test gives me some strong aromas of some distinct berries that are present in the wine. I smell some raspberries as stated in the winery review along with some more earthy elements. The earthy elements seem to be some tobaccoy flavors. The first taste test gives me a very smooth feeling went coming into contact with my tongue, and a little of a rough finish once it leaves the mouth. I get some pretty strong tannin components as well, leaves my mouth tingling and sort of salivating. I did not eat any food with this wine but if I were I think I would try a nice steak with it just because of how strong the tannin finish was on my mouth, the steak would go great with this wine. 

Tasting - Zinfandel

 

Name: Freakshow
Variety: Zinfandel
Country: United States
Region: American Canyon, CA
Vintage: 2018
Price: $20

Wine Review: "Adding a softer, sexier side to Michael David's band of Freaks, this medium bodied Zinfandel spotlights blazing huckleberry and oak aromas while flirting with notes of anise. Flavors of strawberry, pomegranate and clove amaze the tongue with a spice-laced and tantalizing finish. 

Wine Folly: According the to the textbook Zinfandel is the ideal Turkish, Moroccan, and Arabic cusine, which brings out the grape's spice like flavors. This wine should exihibit some fruity flavors with a nice full body and should have some higher alcoholic levels (pg 243). 

My Review: The first smell test gives me some real jammy flavors like some kind of raspberry and some sweeter aspects to it as well. I also am gettings some stronger peppery smells from underneath all the other smells present in the wine. The first tastes give me some decently strong tannins presesnt in the wine, almost similar to some cabernets that I have tried. It has a decent body, but it kinda of gets slightly ruined by some weird acidic tastes on the back of my tongue. The jammy flavors are kinda of hidden under layers of some peppers in the wine. I did not try this wine with any food but if I were I think it would go good with some smoky foods. 

Tasting - Cabernet Sauvignon

Name: Black Box 
Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon
Country: Chile
Region: N/A (Does not say)
Vintage: 2020
Price: $5.00

Wine Review: "A light, very fruity Cabernet with notes of dark purple and red fruits on the attack. Mellows out into a slightly burnt coffee roastiness at the finish. There' sort of some bell pepper as well, but it's so fruity it's barely detectable. The aftertaste is a little bit cardboard-y, which is fair, is to be expected with Black Box wines." This review comes from the website "Outside the Wine Bottle" and is written by Rachel. 

Wine Folly: Cabernet is one of the most popular wine varieties and normally has strong elements of tannins and is rich in flavor. Since this wine comes from Chile, it should show characteristics of blackberry, black cherry, fig paste, baking spices, and green peppercorn. Chile is also known for making full-body Cabernets (pg 159).

My Review: The first smell taste gives me some nice fruity aspects to it. There are some different berries present in the wine that I cannot really distinguish well, probably something like blackberries. It also seems to have a very rich profile to it. The first taste test really gives me a pleasant full-body, which is common for most cabernets, but this one is very smooth almost like velvet. It also does not seem to have a lot of tannins compared to other cabernets that I have tasted, but instead has more of the richness present. I get more of the peppery taste than the fruity taste when the flavors are in my mouth. And it has a nice finish to it. I did not eat any food with this but I can imagine it would go good with some rich lamb or steak. I am realizing after tasting so many of these cabernets why they are one of the most popular grapes because they are so good. 

 

Wine and Cheese - Cabernet Sauvignon, Rose, Chardonnay

 

I was really excited for this day to come, this time my friend and I are doing some nice wine and cheese pairings. I am already a big fan of eating cheese by itself so being able to throw some wine on top in order to get more flavors sounds like a win-win to me. I honestly never understood how people figure out that these two things go together, but I always see it in movies so I got to figure that it is a good combination. 

Name: Vendange
Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon
Country: United States
Region: California
Vintage: NV (non-vintage)
Price: $5.49

The cheddar cheese by itself has a nice sharp taste, with a nice after taste. The smell of it does not really produce anything to talk about. The Cabernet had a nice earthy smell to them and a rich aftertaste. The wine leaves my cheeks with the dry sucked feeling because of the tannins as well. The two paired together almost gave the cheese an entirely new profile, instead of it having that distinct sharp flavor it became almost sweet and had a really nice finish. This combination really was something that I did not expect and would definitely do it again. 

Name: Woodbridge 
Variety: Rose
Country: United States
Region: California
Vintage: NV (non-vintage)
Price: $5.49

The Havarti cheese is this fatty cheese that has a lot of creaminess to it and has almost a buttery taste. In this one, it has almost has this nutty aspect to them as well. The rose had a nice sweet taste to it and a decent body. The sweet aftertaste of the rose lingered on my tongue for a while, and it was really expressing the floral components of the wine. When the two were combined together the fattiness of the cheese brought down the sweet element of the wine and made the nutty flavors of the cheese to get expressed even more. The wine itself kinda fades away almost like the cheese cancels out the sweetness in order to bring out the nutty flavors of the cheese more. This combination was pretty good, but I probably would not go out of my way to try it again, Havarti cheese was not my favorite. 

Name: Woodbridge
Variety: Chardonnay
Country: United States
Region: California
Vintage: 2018
Price: $5.49

The final cheese that I tried was called Brie. This cheese is kinda similar to the Havarti cheese. It has an almost buttery taste and has some really fatty components. The only real difference is that even though they are both considered creamy, this cheese was not as tough as the Havarti and could almost melt in your mouth. The Chardonnay wine has this dry body to it and also gives off a medium acidic feeling in the mouth. When the two were combined together it really felt like the acidic nature of the wine almost helped express the way the cheese melted on your tongue making it seem like it dissolved even faster. Also, the acidic component really paired well with the fatty parts of the cheese to bring out more flavors. Even though I am not a big fan of the Chardonnay wine, this combination worked very well together and I would definitely do it again. 

This was a cooler pairing experiment when compared to the food one because in my mind the cheese has a simpler flavor profile compared to all the different ingredients that can be in food. So when you pair the cheese and wine together you can almost distinguish the little things happening, but compared to the food one it seems like, maybe just for me, that too many things are happening at once. They were both really excited to do and I am looking forward to the next time I get to eat some more cheese.