A Brand Worth Noting: Wine Tasting 2 (Prosecco)

 Hello Readers,

It was a busy, bubbling week in my life, leading to my second of two wine tastings having bubbles in it. Preceded by two beers, a mango wheat from Tafts Ale House (one of my favorites) in Cincinnati and an orange stout from Brewdog, the Prosecco was the third drink of the night. 

Name: La Marca Prosecco

Variety: Prosecco (Glera)

Country: Italy

Region: Veneto and Friuli-Venezia-Giulia regions

Vintage: Unknown, possibly 2021-2022 (supposed to drink while young and fresh)

Price: $12

From the Winery (La Marca):

    La Marca (appears as Lamarca on the label) Prosecco is described on its as a crisp, refreshing drink with a delicate, floral palate. With fruity aromas of green apple, juicy peach, and ripe lemon and hints of mineralogy and a light finish, this Prosecco pairs well with seafood, mild cheese, rich pasta dishes, and decadent desserts. On the bottle, it suggests that one might find honeysuckle or citrus within the wine.

    Lucky for me, I paired this wine with a lighter pasta dish known as caprice pasta. With Roma tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, cracked black pepper, and olive oil (sadly I forgot the basil) along with a basic salad, the bright Prosecco helped bring out the other flavors of the pasta.

From Wine Folly (p. 155):

    From Wine Folly, Prosecco is Italy's most popular sparkling wine created with Glera grapes grown in Veneta and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. In addition to charcuterie styled foods, spicy asian foods might serve as a good pairing. With high acidity, medium sweetness and light body and tannins, one might taste green apple, honeydew, pear, lager, and even cream in their Prosecco. There are five major quality levels of Prosecco, ranging from Valdobbiadene Superiore Di Cartizze Docg, Prosecco coming from a micro region of just 265 acres just outside of Valdobbiadene, to Prosecco Doc, which is basic quality Prosecco made in 9 provinces from Veneto and Fruili-Venezia Giulia regions.

    

My Review of La Marca:

    At first glance, the Prosecco appears as a medium straw at first glance. With a slight yellowish tint, the bubbles were the main show, constantly moving after the pour occurs. From the smell, one can get apricot (I think) and lighter fruits on the first pass. On the second pass, floral notes (possibly roses) and pear occur. These smells did not change much as the wine progressed through the air after these first two smells. The tasting began strong, reinforcing notes of apricot (once again I think) and pear, floral petals, and possibly honeysuckle(?). The flavors have dryness and are tart on the outside middle of the tongue. The bubbles make it hard to aerate properly and taste all of the flavors of the Prosecco. Also, when sharply inhaled, one can get the Prosecco's flavors not he front of their tongue.

    In comparison to La Marca, I can taste a little peach and a little lemon; however, my tongue is not trained to look for green apple yet. I do believe that this wine would taste great with seafood and that is something I hope to try in the near future. 

    In comparison to Wine Folly, I completely agree with the wine pairing well with charcuterie styled foods as I have paired the two in the past and had a delightful time. I do intend to pair it with spicy asian food as that intrigues me. I do feel twinges of honeydew, pear, and maybe even cream could be found in this Prosecco but I don't necessarily agree with lager. I would like to try higher levels of Prosecco eventually but that may appear to be out of my pay grade.

Final Remarks:

    I plan to try many many foods with this wine as it would pair so well with most that are mentioned above. I am also excited to try different Prosecco's to see what different qualities I can find in each wine. Also, determining the green apple taste may prove to be vital to future tastings of Prosecco so that I can greater enjoy this style of wine. 

    This is a wine I hope to drink more of in the future and one that I constantly love as an option for drinking.

Until the Next Drink,

JC

A Glass of Terra, but not Sweet Earth: Wine Tasting 1 (Sangue di Giuda)

 Hi Reader,

    For my first WINE TASTING (wooooooo) I chose to go with a sweet red wine named Terra, a Sangue di Giuda, out of Vitea Winery. 

    This wine tasting occurred in the middle of my dinner, consisting of a sandwich (nut bread with turkey, Swiss cheese, lettuce, and dijon mustard) and a smoothie (raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, banana, peanut. butter, chocolate protein powder, and water). 

    This food would have impacted the beginning of the wine tasting, possibly swaying my initial tastes towards the dark fruits found in the smoothie. Thus, I rinsed my mouth with water before I tasted the bottle below.

Name: Vitea "Terra"

Variety: Sangue di Giuda (45% Croatina, 45% Barbera, 5% Ughetta, 5% Uva Rara from a different Sangue di Guida)

Country: Italy

Region: Montú Beccaria, a commune in the province of Pavia in the Region Burgundy

Vintage: 2020

Price: $13

From the Winery (Vitea):

    Terra is a naturally sparkling wine with an intense crimson-red color. Full bodied and vinous, with notes of violets together with raspberry and blueberry jams, this wine is smooth and fragrant, delicate and fresh. It is best enjoyed while the wine is young. One thing to note is that this wine is Naturally Effervescent!

    It is well combined with all kinds of desserts, fruit tarts, and fine pastries.

As Sangue di Giuda is not found in Wine Folly, I searched up what wines are similar to this unique dessert wine. I was pointed to the wine type Lambrusco as a similar cousin.

From Wine Folly (Lambrusco p. 122-123): 

    Meaning "wild grape", this light red is from a family of eight closely related grapes native to Italy. The wines are typically sparkling and range from dry to sweet. It has hints of strawberry, blackberry, rhubarb, hibiscus, and potting soil. A relatively inexpensive and young wine. Amabile and Dolce are two words to describe the high sweetness level found in the sweet side of the wine. It is a great pairing dessert, particularly with milk chocolate. Some other hints you may find include blueberry, berry sauce, red currant, raspberry, orange blossom, oregano, and creme fraiche.

My Review of Terra:

    After struggling with the cork, the wine popped open with a hint of carbonation on the ear. This carbonation was seen on the pour, bubbling lightly but the bubbles recede after 2-3 seconds in the glass as seen in the picture above. The wine appeared as a dark and deep purple, gathering a red color when held to the light. 

    On the nose, I first got dark fruits, blackberries and overripe strawberries. Going back to the nose, cherries were the next fruit I got. I could also tell how sweet the wine was to be on the tongue just from the scent!

    From the tongue, you get hit very hard with cherries and the sweetness in the thin glass seen above. When poured into the metal wine tumbler below, I continued to taste cherries but raspberries snuck through. The tastes hit on the back middle and sides of the tongue. When drank quickly, the carbonation hits on the front end of the tongue and provides a nice sensation. 

    From the days of listening to my mother talk about wine, I tried to find a dark chocolate square to pair this wine with. I found this Ghiradelli 86% Intense Dark Cacao (seen below) in my brother's stash of chocolate. When the two were paired together, blueberry notes were brought out of the wine. I really really enjoyed this pairing and I think that adding the chocolate improves the taste of the wine.

    In comparison with Vitea, I did taste the raspberry and blueberry; however, the blueberry came to me at a later time.

Final Remarks:

    One cool thing to note is that Sangue di Giuda stands for Jadas' Blood for the color and legend surrounding it. This is a wine I hope to come back to later in the semester and properly pair it with different desserts. I think that this wine is generally simple, with minimal secondary layers found for the average wine drinker. I would recommend this wine to those that are sitting down with something chocolate based and want to add a fruit element to it. I would also recommend this wine to new wine drinkers as it is sweet and easy to drink.

Until the next drink,

JC

First Blog Assignment: My Experience with Wine!

 Hello Readers,

I am Jackson Comer, a senior in biomedical engineering here at Virginia Tech, and am incredibly excited about the semester ahead. My personal experience with wine began in college, specifically surrounding moscatos (white or pink), a bottled sangria (black label), and wine mixed drinks stemming from boxed wine. While a very juvenile approach to wine, I had always been fond of sweet tasting drinks. Along with discovering that I do like wines, I began to drink wine a little more often as the price per alcohol content is more efficient when grabbing the proper bottle. 

As I have lived through college, my parents, friends, and peers introduced me to different wines. Whether it was a new boxed wine because that was what was on tap for the night or grabbing a different bottle that had a sale tag on it, my wine palette began to develop more rapidly. I began to appreciate different whites, roses, and reds. On the side of whites, I highly enjoy blends, sticking to fruit tastes such as peach or pear, and Pinot Grigio. With roses, I highly enjoy grapefruit and strawberry flavors. With reds, I highly enjoy blends with flavors stemming from red and black fruits. I also really enjoy both fresh white and red sangrias (something I was introduced to early)! I also enjoy sparkling wines as well. I am not a huge fan of overpowering red wines but can appreciate them when necessary with food pairings.

As of right now, I tend to try to keep my mind open when tasting wines, trying to find something to appreciate in each wine I taste (or why someone else might enjoy it more). Thus, I don't want to say I don't like certain wines. I just think I can't appreciate them yet. From this course, I want to learn what to expect from wines with the same names (Pinot Grigios and chardonnays) and how to distinguish their tastes based on where the grapes are grown. Thus, I would like to directly compare and taste the same grapes coming from two very different regions. I would also like to learn about the different tastes that can be induced/seen in wines and how to distinguish these tastes (the proper way to "diagnose" the wine's flavors). In addition to everything else, I am excited to learn about the production of wine and what it might take to get a winery/vineyard up and running.

May the wine flow this semester,

Jackson Comer