Tasting - Southern Belle Jumilla Red Wine

 Name: Southern Belle Jumilla Red Wine

Variety: Monastrell and Syrah (percentages not listed)

Region: Murcia

Country: Spain

Vintage Year: 2020

Price: $20.95

Winemaker Notes: The very first bourbon-barrel-aged wine, this lucky Spanish red gets to spend its time in uber-popular and sought-after Van Winkle barrels. The subtle notes of the bourbon barrels harmoniously balance the wine's fruit and spice throughout a nuanced, silky finish. With a label designed by the famous James Jean, this bottle will make an impressive gift for wine connoisseurs. Medium deep opaque purple color with a dark red rim. Initial aromas of redolent of blackberry and blueberry with underlying hints of red fruits give way to pleasing complex elements of vanilla and toffee. Soft, big, yet elegant mouth feel, rich, full body, density, superb balance and grip, lead to long, long finish, carrying intense ripe fruit and complex flavors. Soft, supple, dramatic, sexy wine with a compelling yummy factor that screams “drink me.”

Wine Folly Notes:

Syrah: pg. 172 - I can smell notes of the plums and tobacco the most of any of these descriptors. The blueberries are also present on the nose, but they seem to take a step backward compared to the other notes listed. I can find hints of green peppercorn or something similarly spice-like. Since this wine is a bourbon barrel-aged wine, most of these notes give way to the dry oaky flavors, but the peppercorn notes stick around. 

Monastrell: pg. 133 - I can get the blackberry notes on the nose and some slight cocoa notes along with the tobacco mentioned above. I can't say that I found any of the roasted meats that they mention as common notes for these types of wines. The black pepper is there, but it is hard to distinguish from the green pepper mentioned for syrah. 

Southern Spain Monastrell: pg. 282 - I can smell the rich blueberry aromas they mentioned along with the subtle black pepper notes. I'm not sure if I can pick out the violet they mentioned. There are also subtle hints of smoke present. 

My Review: On the nose, this wine is full of rich dark fruit notes that remind me of stewed blueberries or blackberries, along with some light smoky, and peppery notes. I can smell a dryness from the wine I assume is in no small part due to the bourbon barrel that housed this wine. The rich dark notes give way to light and floral notes. On the palate, this wine is upfront with its dry oak-forward flavor profile. The oaky notes stick around on the palate before giving way to the dark fruit notes present at the back of the palate. This wine leaves off with a dry mouthfeel. 

I did not sample this wine with any food. 

Tasting - Fiddlehead "Sweetie" Late Harvest Gruner Veltliner

Name: "Sweetie" Late Harvest Gruner Veltliner 

Variety: 100%  Gruner Veltliner

Region: Santa Barbara, California

Country: United States

Vintage Year: 2016

Price: $36.95

Wine Review: Immediately captivating, with delicate aromatics of candied apricots and citrus blossoms partner with the white pepper spice that brands Grüner Veltliner as ‘alluring’. Notes of honey, marzipan, and a lasting splash of pink grapefruit infuse this wine, finishing with full-bodied pleasure that modestly dances on the palate. (From Western Reserve Wines)

Wine Folly Notes:

Gruner Veltliner: pg. 120 - On the nose, I can smell the yellow apple and pear notes, but I am missing the asparagus notes. I can also smell a hint of white pepper and something that I could see being flint. The smell is definitely gravely in nature, but I can't say for sure that it is flint. When tased, the pear becomes the more dominant flavor while the yellow apples take a step back. The sweetness of the wine hides the white peppery notes more than the nose would suggest. 

My Review: On the nose, I am immediately met with notes of very ripe fruits like apples and pears. There are some slightly herbal and spice notes that follow the fruit notes. On the nose, I can also pick out hints of ripe blueberries. On the palate, this wine starts with a burst of sweet, fruity flavor featuring pears and more hints of blueberries. The taste then transitions to something reminiscent of fresh gravel before coming back around to finish with notes of dark fruits like plums. The wine has a nice light mouthfeel that isn't too thin, but at the same time doesn't completely coat the mouth. 

I did not sample this wine with any food. 

 

Drink This Now Lesson 4 Activity

 

I took a trip down to the wine lab on Saturday the 18th after I heard that there was a flight for this activity from the Drink This Now text. My girlfriend and I both got the flight that was meant to help us compare oaked and unoaked chardonnays. We sat down at our table and ordered the flight consisting of the Alondra Chardonnay 18' from Mendocino, California, the Thelema Chardonnay 19' from Stellenbosch, South Africa, and the Harken Chardonnay 20' from California. We also ordered a charcuterie board but waited to eat any of it since the instructions for this activity wanted us to keep our palates as clear as possible. We found some steps posted in the class Discord server that was more tailored for the experience of tasting the flight in the Wine Lab so we followed those steps. 

We started by sampl
ing the wines from the flight chilled and let them warm up as we were doing our tasting, effectively reversing the order of the activity, but I think the effect is a very similar experience. We sampled the wines in the order I listed above. My tasting notes for each step will be broken down below. 

1. First try each glass of chilled wine. Describe the color, smell, flavors, etc. 

    Before I even sampled the wines, I started by looking at the colors of each wine. I noticed that the second wine in our lineup (the Thelema) seemed to be the lightest of the three and the third wine (the Harken) seemed to be the darkest. After taking stock of the colors of each wine I began sampling them in the order above. 

    Starting with the Alondra, on the nose, I was met with the instant smell of crisp green apples that morphed into notes of very ripe tropical fruits then finishing with some very slight savory elements I couldn't pick out by name. Upon tasting the wine chilled, I was surprised at how much more savory and slightly buttery the taste was when compared to the nose. There was a hint of acid and tannin towards the back of the palate and the wine finished with a somewhat thin mouthfeel. 

    After the Alondra, I moved on to the Thelema. On the nose, this wine was much more aggressive with the savory elements while still retaining the crisp apple up front. I was able to pick out hints of what I thought were sage and some unripe blackberries. Upon tasting, I was again met with a savory, almost salty taste with hints of acid. I thought I could pick out hints of vanilla on the back of the palate and the wine had a much thicker mouthfeel than the first. 

    The third wine I sampled was the Harken. On the nose, I again got crisp apples and ripe tropical fruits like the first wine, but there was another element I remember thinking smelled like thyme. I was able to pick out more savory elements in this wine than in the first and there were some hints of vanilla on the nose. When I tasted this wine, I was hit with a wave of buttery flavor and more of the savory thyme notes I had picked out on the nose. 

2. Let each wine sit for a few minutes and warm up. Sample them again warm. 

    Upon sampling the Alondra warm, the nose full of fresh tropical fruits and apples I smelled earlier had subsided slightly to reveal some of the more savory notes of the wine. When I tasted this wine warm, the fruit fell away to the savory elements and the mouthfeel felt slightly thinner than the first time I sampled it. I can't say that I found anything characteristic of oak flavors for sure. 

    When I sampled the Thelema warm, the nose seemed to open up more to some hints of lime or lime zest while also becoming slightly breadier with some more yeast notes. When I tasted this wine warm, there was a definite hint of vanilla that I was able to recognize, along with some slightly malty characteristics. By this time I was sure that this was one of the oaked wines.

    When sampling the Harken warm, my suspicions that this was another of the oaked wines seemed to be confirmed. The nose gave way to some more citrus notes, but more along the lines of oranges or grapefruits than lemons or limes. The taste morphed to be even more savory than before with some more tannins and acid more noticeably present. I was sure at this point that this wine was also oaked.

The final step in this exercise was to guess what wines were oaked and what type of oak they were aged in. I felt that the Alondra was unoaked, the Thelema was aged in American oak from the more in-your-face flavors, and the Harken was aged in the french oak because of the more subtle influence on the wine. This is, however coming from my limited experience with oaked wines.