Tasting - Barboursville Cuvee 1814 Brut Rose

 

 Name: Barboursville Cuvee 1814 Brut Rose

Variety: Pinot Noir (100%)

Region: Monticello AVA

Country: Virginia, USA

Year: NV

Price: $30

Winemaker's Review: "Produced from DOCG Pinot Noir, fermented in bottle in the metodo classico, estate bottled at our founder's Tenuta il Bosco in Oltrepo Pavese. Winemaker Luca Paschina selected the dosage with Stefano Ferrante at Tenuta il Bosco. Vivid qualities of rose in a champenois frame.

Personal Review: This weekend my girlfriend and I went up to Charlottesville and decided to visit the most renowned vineyard in the state, Barboursville Vineyards. Her family has been avid Virginia wine drinkers for  a while so we have both become pretty well acquainted with Barboursville wines, but I did not realize that since they own land in Italy, they are actually able to bottle and sell a DOCG wine with an American name! This rose was deliciously crisp with just a hint of bright red fruit notes. I actually proposed this weekend at the vineyard (she said yes!) and this is the bottle we had to celebrate in the tasting room when we got back. I could not be happier with a wine to celebrate such an important occasion!

Proof she said yes!

Tasting - 2021 Dr. L Riesling

 

 Name: Loosen Bros. Dr. L Riesling

Variety: Riesling (100%)

Region: Mosel

Country: Germany

Year: 2021

Price: $15

Winemaker's Review: "This top-selling Loosen Bros. wine is Ernst Loosen’s "ambassador" for the Mosel region and for the Riesling variety. It embodies the delicate and racy style that is characteristic of Riesling grown in the slate-soil vineyards of the Mosel valley. And, best of all, it delivers this uniquely delicious and invigorating taste at a very affordable price for every day enjoyment. It is a bright, refreshing, fruit-driven wine, with a juicy mid-palate and a crisp, drying finish." 

Personal Review: This weekend I threw a party with some friends, but was told to pick as sweet a wine as I could with a good level of complexity for under $20. Since the dinner was cod, I decided to go with a white, and the varietal  I decided to choose was one of my favorites and one I think has some of the most versatility, Riesling. While this particular Riesling did not have a sweetness level like others from the Mosel, I would probably equate it to a Spatlese in terms of residual sugar. On the nose there was bright aromas of citrus and grapefruit, which mellowed into stone fruits such as apricots on the palate. The salinity present in the finish was a perfect compliment to the brininess of the cod. For under $20, Mosel Rieslings are a great option to please all palates!

Tasting - 2015 J. Denuziere Cote Rotie

 

 Name: J. Denuziere Cote Rotie

Variety: Syrah (100%)

Region: Cote Rotie, Rhone Valley

Country: France

Year: 2015

Price: $82

Wine Enthusiast's Review: "This profoundly perfumed Syrah offers heady ntoes of dried sage, thyme, and arid earth against a backdrop of succulent baked plum. Densely concentrated black-fruit flavors seem edged by spicy notes of chocolate and cinnamon. It's a taut, firmly structured wine with bristling acidity and fine-grained but chewy tannins. Best hold till 2021 - it's a wine that will improve over the long haul." (95)

Personal Review: To cap off my nice Sunday dinner I decided to go a little bigger than usual and get a wine from a region I had never gotten to try before. Rhone wines have been some of the most interesting to me so far, and Cote Rotie, the northernmost region of the Rhone and having a huge reputation for quality, has thusfar eluded me. Luckily, as an employee of the Vintage Cellar I was able to get a slight discount but this was definitely one of the more expensive bottles of wine I've bought. To pair, I made pan-seared lamb loin chops, roasted potatoes, and asparagus, and quite frankly this dish was the best thing I have ever cooked myself! A common food pairing for Cote Rotie is lamb and I completely understood why. The subtlety of the flavors in this wine were perfectly matched by the strength of the lamb without being overpowered. The biggest difference I noticed in this wine versus other Syrahs I've had is just the elegant mouthfeel this wine has. Tasting this wine, I truly understood what "silky" tannins meant. Although unfortunately this will not be my regular level of wine enjoyment, I am very glad I got to experience this one!

Tasting - Segura Viudas Brut Cava Rose

 

 Name: Segura Viudas Brut Cava Rose

Variety: Trepat (90%), Garnacha (10%)

Region: Cava

Country: Spain

Year: NV

Price: $4.25 (for 187ml bottle)

Tasting Panel's Review: "Strawberry and pink grapefruit perfume the glass of this gorgeous Cava rosado a blend of 90% Trepat and 10% Garnacha that aged for 12 months. Defined by decisive flavors of cherry pith grapefruit zest, and grenadine, it possesses a subtle richness thanks to its refined mousse and textural complexity." (93)

Personal Review: Today my girlfriend and I decided we were going to try and treat ourselves to a nice Sunday dinner, so we decided to make a few dishes and wanted some wines to go along with them. Our first dish was a simple charcuterie board, which had lots of variation. Because of this, we wanted a wine that would be pairable with a lot of different flavors and would just work as a palate scrubber, and we decided on this wine! The fruit characteristics of this wine actually did more than just scrub the palate and added a nice contrast to the saltiness of the meats and the creaminess of the cheese. The bubbles were also a nice touch and set up a nice atmosphere. Cava is made in methode traditionnelle, which allows for Champagne flavors at much less than Champagne cost!

Tasting - Saldo Zinfandel 2021

  

 Name: Saldo Zinfandel

Variety: 85% Zinfandel, 15% Petite Sirah and Syrah

Region: Napa Valley, California

Country: United States of America

Year: 2021

Price: $35

Winemaker's Notes: "Aromas of ripe red cherry, black cherry, blackberry, black pepper and baking spice. ON the palate, vibrant fruit, spice, and a hint of chocolate."

Personal Review: This past Friday, the Vintage Cellar hosted a couple wine reps from The Prisoner Wine Company out in Napa Valley and had a special tasting event where one could have 6 of the different Prisoner wines and wines from their subsidiaries. Luckily, employees get to take some of the wines home if they still have a little left. My friends and I were going to make steak dinners after I got back home, so I thought this would be a great pairing! The large fruit flavors were a nice accent to the salty and savory seasoning on the steak, and contrasted nicely with the spicy southwestern salad we made as a side. 

Tasting - Barale Fratelli Dolcetto d'Alba

  

 Name: Barale Fratelli Dolcetto d'Alba "Le Rose"

Variety: 100% Dolcetto

Region: Alba, Piemonte

Country: Italy

Year: 2021

Price: $21

Winery's Review: "Ruby red with violet highlights. On the nose, vinous and fruity with floreal hints. On the palate, dry, full-bodied, and slightly bitter, with hints of almond."

Personal Review: This Saturday my friend and I decided to take on a culinary challenge and cook ourselves spicy Penne alla Vodka and make the sauce from scratch. I decided to try and find a wine that would be from generally the same region as the cuisine (although funny enough, Penne alla Vodka is actually an American creation), but would also be able to hold up to the spice in the food. For this, I decided to go with a Dolcetto from an renowned town in the Piemonte wine region, Monforte d'Alba. Dolcetto is Italian for "little sweet one" because of it's typical fruity character, which is something I was looking for to contrast with the spiciness. All in all, this wine went perfectly with our spicy Vodka sauce, and we had a great evening!

Dinner - French Wines

 This past Tuesday I decided that I wanted to wine and dine myself because all my friends were busy and I was left with a few hours to kill, so I decided this would be the perfect time to sample some of the amazing wines we sell at the Vintage Cellar. When it came time to decide what theme to make the dinner, I decided that I should start with the country that basically created the idea of wine and culinary pairings - La France!

Now on a college budget it is not too easy to make many traditional French dishes, but I improvised where necessary and still had a great time making everything and thought it went really well! So without further ado, let's dive into the courses.

Course 1: Botrytized wine and liver paste!

For my first course, I decided to go with an absolute French classic - Bordeaux botrytized wine and Pate! I decided to go with a Monzabillac instead of Sauternes, the classic (still botrytized and very close to Sauternes), and I had a black truffle pate. This pairing tends to throw a lot of people off, but I can promise it lives up to the hype! I have always been a fan of pate, and the grainy meatiness of the pate paired perfectly with the sweet honey and fig notes of the Monzabillac.

Course 2: Salad and Muscadet

I decided to go with a refreshing salad for my second course. Unfortunately I was fresh out of basically every salad dressing so I went with a Southwest dressing. However, this actually ended up pairing really well with this Muscadet, which was aged sur lie and therefore had some mellow flavors to compliment the light spice of the dressing. 

Luckily, halfway through my second course, my friend Matt

came and we finished the dinner together!

Main Course: Buffalo Chicken, Risotto, and Bordeaux

For the main course, I decided to stray a little from traditional French cuisine (mainly because this is what I had in my fridge) and I went with Buffalo chicken and mushroom risotto. I paired this with a 2016 Medoc Bordeaux, which is not a normal pairing for chicken but with the buffalo sauce it actually stood up pretty well to the wine. 2016 is gaining a reputation as a legendary vintage for Bordeaux, so this wine was actually much better than I thought it would be. The dark fruit notes paired well with the spiciness of the sauce and rounded the dish out.

Dessert: Chocolate Mousse, Strawberries, and Monzabillac

But what is a French dinner without a dessert?! I took what ingredients I had available and was able to whip up a delicious chocolate mousse and had some strawberries to go along with it. I also used this course to enjoy the Monzabillac in its normal use - as a dessert wine. The honey notes of the wine added a whole new dimension to the chocolate and fruit flavors. This was really not that difficult to make and honestly my go-to fancy dessert.

France, being the Mecca of fine wine it is, has so many wines you could have a multi-course French dinner every day for a week. However, I was very happy with the wines I had for this dinner, and I thought they did an amazing job showcasing just how different wines from basically the same region can be.