Wine Tasting: Dancing Flame 2024 Red Blend

 

 This wine tasting features Dancing Flame's Ojos del Salado 2024 Red Blend. This wine is from the Valle Central wine region in Chile. This bottle was purchased at Aldi for $5.99. 

Wine Folly, page 212, states that some of Chile's major red grape varieties include cabernet sauvignon, carmenere, and merlot. The Central Valley wine region has the most acreage of all the wine regions in Chile.  Carmenere has notes of raspberry, plum, green peppercorn, milk chocolate and bell pepper. The cabernet sauvignon tends to have notes of dried blackberry, black cherry, green peppercorn, pencil lead, and dark chocolate. 

This wine smells of dried raspberry, red currants, oak, paper, graphite, peppercorn. These notes cue me towards this blend possibly having carmenere and cabernet sauvignon in the blend. When tasting this wine, there is a medium acidity and a full body feel. It is dry with notes of raspberry, black pepper, dark chocolate, with a hint of herbs lingering.  

There are no reviews specifically on the 2024 vintage of this wine, so I am including a review of the 2022 vintage. Reverse Wine Snob, Jon Thorsen, notes that this bottle is 70% cabernet sauvignon, 20% carmenere, and 10% syrah.  He writes that the wine "begins with an attractive aroma of ripe blackberry and spice with touches of vanilla and a bit more green pepper in this vintage."  The flavors noted are dark fruit, spice, and a touch of green pepper with cola and spice.

I liked this wine because it was not too sweet, and I am liking the dried fruit flavor more than ripe.  For a $5.99 bottle, I think this wine has great depth and challenged my ability to pick up on different flavors than I have noted before. This would be a great bottle to buy again for a week night dinner or friend gathering.

Wine Tasting: Kim Crawford 2023 Sauvignon Blanc

Hello wine bloggers! This tasting features the Kim Crawford 2023 Sauvignon Blanc from the Marlborough region of New Zealand. This bottle is valued around $18.00 on the Wine Transit website. It is also valued at $24.99 on Shopwinedirect online. I did not purchase this bottle, a friend's parent gifted it to me, so I do not know their purchase price.  

I was super excited to try this sauvignon blanc because it was from New Zealand, and that is where the sauvignon blanc is known to be characterized by cat pee.  Wine Folly, page 166, discusses how sauvignon blanc is New Zealand's most important grape. Marlborough is also the top region for this grape.  The traits characterized for New Zealand on this page are passionfruit, kiwi, pea shoot, jasmine, and ripe pear.

Wine Enthusiast rates this wine an 87.  Christina Pickard says, "Intense aromas of peach, lime, guava and tomato leaf are followed by a dry, zippy palate with a ping of bright acidity and a slight creaminess to the mouthfeel." However, I had a very different experience of this wine.  

Personally, I thought this wine smelled like lemongrass, a hint of cat pee, melon, and honey.  The taste was not very sweet, with hints of lemon, honeydew melon, honey, and grass. The wine had medium-high acidity with low tannins.  This sauvignon blanc felt less buttery than the classic California ones, and I really enjoyed this wine because it was not very sweet at all.

Wine Tasting: Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2020

This wine tasting features Alexander Valley Vineyards 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine is from Sonoma County, California.  My friend's parents provided the bottle, and it is sold out on the Alexander Vineyard Valley website so I cannot find an accurate price currently, but it is definitely a $20 bottle or above.

Alexander Valley Vineyard describes its 2020 cabernet sauvignon as a product as a "near-perfect growing conditions."  There was steady warm days with cool evenings. More specifically, the winemaker says, "this is an elegant wine with earthy aromas of cassis, plum, cherry, vanilla, oak and slight chocolate. In the glass there are lush flavors of cherry, cassis, blackberry and chocolate."

The wine was given the gold medal in the Best Show of Red at the Monterey Wine Festival.  It was also awarded gold at the Hilton Head Island International Wine Competition.

Wine Folly, page 89, characterizes cabernet sauvignon from Napa Valley, CA, with black currant, pencil lead, tobacco, blackberry and mint. Sonoma County is about 50 miles by car from Napa Valley, but in this bottle from Sonoma County, I also tasted these mint and tobacco characteristics.

This red smelled of leather, red currant, sour red cherry, tobacco, and a hint of mint.  It had an almost irony taste with high tannins and medium acidity.  This wine tasted like red currants, and sour red fruit. It was full bodied with a hint of vanilla at the finish.

This is my favorite cabernet sauvignon that I have tried so far. The wine is not sweet at all, and offers so much depth. Each sip had me adding different flavor descriptors in my notes. I would highly recommend this wine to any friends, and would choose it to bring to a dinner if I was looking to impress with my wine selection.

Wine Tasting: Murphy Goode 2022 Merlot

Hello wine drinkers! This wine tasting features a wine from Santa Rosa, California. The wine is Murphy Goode 2022 Merlot, bought for $18.00 from Harris Teeter.

The Vivino community describes this merlot as mostly dry and soft with hints of oak, chocolate, vanilla, plum, blackberry, cherry, and raspberry. The wine is given 3.7 out of 5 stars. 

On page 131, Wine Folly, describes a merlot as medium to high bodied with medium to high tannins and medium to low acidity.  The tasting notes are plum, cherry, chocolate, vanilla and dried herbs.

This merlot smell minerally, like wet gravel.  It also smelled strongly of sugar, plum and cherry.  The taste was juicy and bright. The tastes were specifically cherry syrup, raspberry, chocolate, and oak with medium tannins and mild acidity.  

I liked this wine as one to drink on its own. It was lighter bodied than a red I would like to pair with meat.  It was very fruity and delightful on its own.  I would give it a 3 out of 5 stars on my personal rating scale because I like a more acidic, full-bodied wine. 

Wine Tasting: Bogle Family Vineyards 2021 Petite Sirah

 This wine tasting features the 2021Bogle Family Vineyards Petite Sirah. This wine is harvested and bottled in Clarksburg, California.  The bottle was purchased at Kroger for $10.99.

Wine Enthusiast grades this wine a 91% out of 100 which is considered "Excellent" and "highly recommended."  Tonya Pitts describes this red, "This wine is rich, concentrated with aromas of blackberry, cumin, dried herbs and florals. The palate offers black cherry, peach, clove and white grapefruit intertwined with mineral, earth and a dry finish." 

Wine Folly, page 147, lists Petite Sirah as full-bodied, high alcohol content, high tannins, medium acidity and low sweetness.  It tends to have notes of blueberries, black pepper, dark chocolate, black tea, and sugar plums. 

Per my own review, this Petite Sirah smelled rich, ripe and fruity.  The aromas were especially of black cherry and blackberry. When tasting this wine, it was initially sweet, with a lot of blackberry. It was very dry, with hints of cedar, oak and vanilla.

I really loved this wine, especially for the price point. I think Sirah and Bordeaux wine are two of my favorites types so far because of their dryness and depth of flavor.  I would recommend this wine for a steak or lamb chop dinner and plan to be pairing it myself.

Wine Tasting: 2016 Classicus from Chateau La Roberterie

 

Hello wine drinkers! Today's wine tasting features a red blend, Classicus, from the Bordeaux region of France. This wine is specifically from Julliac, France, and the grapes for this wine were harvested in 2016.  The wine is made by the Chateau La Roberterie, which was established in 1590. The specific blend of grapes in this wine are Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon. I bought this bottle from the Vintage Cellar for $9.95. 

For today's outside review, I chose to report what Chateau La Robertie has to share about this wine. The chateau states "Fruity and floral flavors, with red fruit and currant aromas, highlighted by violet notes. The palate is supple and restrained on the tannins. Its fresh acidity underlines the fruity aromas."  They also say that this blend is specifically 65% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. It's appellation is Bordeaux Superieur, which Wine Folly describes as one of the best value wines on page 84.

On page 83 and 84, Wine Folly describes a red Bordeaux blend to have notes of black currant, black cherry, graphite, chocolate, dried herbs, high tannins, and low sweetness. It describes more detailed tasting notes including baking spices, caramel, cedar, tobacco, dill, black plum, pomegranate, fig, bay leaf, charcoal, leather, and wet gravel.

Per my own sniffing, this wine smelled like gravel, dark cherry, black currants, vanilla, dirt, and lingering tobacco. It is very earthy, and smelled fruitier than it tasted.  This wine tasted like dried herbs, especially mint and maybe dill.  I got a strong taste of leather, minerals, graphite, and dried, tarte fruit like Craisins but not as sweet. This wine has medium acidity and high tannins.

I was very excited to try a Bordeaux wine because I like a dry, earthy and less fruity red wine.  I would highly recommend this bottle to someone who was looking for the same traits. I ate some sausage Cajun fried rice with this wine and I felt they complemented each other well, both being bolder with a hint of spice. I loved this wine, and think it is well worth its price point.

Wine Tasting: Smith Hook 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon

This wine tasting features Smith Hook's 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon from the Central Coast of California.  This wine is available at Harris Teeter for $18.99.

Vivino rated this wine 3.9 out of 5 stars. It is described as bold, medium-high tannins, mostly dry, and  medium acidity. The tastes noted are oak, vanilla, chocolate, blackberry, plum, dark fruits, cherry, red currants, and raspberry.

Wine Folly's page 88 designates Cabernet Sauvignon as having high tannins, medium to low acidity, medium alcohol, low sweetness, with hints of cedar, black currant, black cherry, baking spices, and graphite. 

Per my own tasting, this wine smelled of blackberries, dark cherries, vanilla, oak, and sediment. It tasted dry, with medium tannins, mild acidity, blackberries, black currants, jam, and oak. I like the depth of this wine. I felt I could taste the woody undertones, vanilla, and spice more than cheaper, previous wines that I have tried. I would recommend this to friends looking for a reasonably priced Cabernet Sauvignon, but I would opt for a more acidic red for myself.