Beringer White Zinfandel

Beringer White Zinfandel, 2005
from Napa Valley, California



From the back label:
This carefully crafted wine offers refreshing aromas and flavors of strawberries, with floral notes and a bright crispness. It complements a variety of cuisine, including chicken, pasta salad, and spicy dishes. Serve chilled.

Company sites:
Beringer main
White Zinfandel page

Price: 8.37 for 2-bottle pack at Sam's Club. I've seen single bottles at the local grocery store for around $5 a bottle. Or at Zio's Italian restaurant, I've had it for $5 a glass. Cheap wine, but I love it!

Smell: sweet, fruity, light- like a wine cooler more than wine.
Taste: sweet, slightly strawberry flavor. Just like drinking a wine cooler. I could really get into this on a hot summer day. Today was just a cool spring day, but I was in the mood for it. But really... a hot summer day would've been better, although this is still very good today.

Ecco Domani Chianti, 2004

Another new red, and this time it is a varietal that I've never had before: Chianti. The only impression I've had of a Chianti is from Silence of the Lambs. Well, let's say I am NOT eating any body parts with my glass of wine tonight! lol
(image borrowed from the company site)

From the back label:
Fashioned in Italy, the heart of today's style and design, Ecco Domani Wines are the definitive expression of modern Italian lifestyle. I take inspiration for my wines from my family's traditional winemaking techniques and from contemporary Italian culture. I blend these influences to create Ecco Domani Chianti, a well-balanced wine with aromas of cherry and fresh red fruit. Ecco Domani Chianti is crafted from 100% Sangiovese grapes, sourced from some of the finest vineyards in the celebrated region of Tuscany.
Ciao! ~Fabrizio Gatto, Winemaker, Ecco Domani


Company Links:
Ecco Domani main
Chianti page

Price: not sure. It was one of the bottles I bought awhile back (last year) so I don't recall. No prices were listed on the company web site. But I don't think it was anything expensive, because I'm pretty sure I bought it at the local grocery store, and didn't pay more than $20 at the most. (I never spend more than that on a bottle of wine!)

Smell: fruity and slightly spicy. Not smoky. A little peppery. Dark color in the glass.
Taste: strong flavor, spicy and peppery just like it smells. Also slightly sweet for the fruity part. To me, it's alot like a Merlot. I can't drink it quickly... it's one that I will sip and one small glass will probably last all evening.

I had mine slightly chilled (because TX room temp is too warm) but not fully chilled. As far as the vineyard goes, I liked their Pinot Grigio once, too. It was a long time ago, but I remember I liked it.

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April 29th- nearly 2 weeks later- I find this bottle still in the fridge! Oops! But strangely enough- it almost tastes and feels smoother and better now than it did when it was still 'fresh'. It still smells spicy and peppery, with a slight fruity overtone... but the taste is smoother. I can drink it faster/easier now- because that bite is gone. I actually like it alot more now!

Rex Goliath Pinot Noir

This one was sampled at a friend's house. He had 3 bottles and opened them all for anyone who wanted to try a 'wine tasting'. One was a Fetzer Gewurtztraminer, which I will do a review on later, as I have a bottle of that myself. Another was a Reisling from Mosel-Saar-Ruwer (sorry for not using the right punctuations on that one, like dots over the 'u' and stuff like that)- and he said he got me a bottle that he will give me later. So I will do a review on that myself too. The third bottle was the Rex Goliath Pinot Noir. Also on the front label was "Giant 47-pound rooster" but no vintage year.
(photo 'borrowed' from company web site)


From the back label:
Rex Goliath Story- at the turn of the 20th century HRM (His Royal Majesty) Rex Goliath was the treasured attraction of a Texas Circus. People came from far and wide to behold the 47-lb bird, billed as the "World's Largest Rooster". Our label replicates the one of a kind, vintage artwork from the circus banner that hung above Rex's roost and we proudly honor HRM with our premium varietal wines.
Amidst the natural splendor of south-west France, our vineyards enjoy the most optimum growing conditions and the beauty of untamed hillside landscapes. We invite you to raise a toast to Rex with our "free range" Pinot Noir.

According to the label, it was imported by a company in Woodbridge, CA but the wine is made in France. But looking at the web site, it seems to have been made in California (Central Coast)!?? So I'm not sure on that. I would tend to believe that it is actually a California wine (judging by the price) but why would the bottle say it was a product of France? Who knows?!?

Price: I'm not sure how much it costs, since my friend was the one who bought it. It is priced at $8.99 on the company site, and listed as $9 on others. I assume my friend probably spent around the same amount at World Market.

Company Links:
Rex Goliath main (and yikes, it crows at you)
Rex Goliath Pinot Noir
Recipe page

They also have a Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz, Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay.

Smell: fruity and barely spicy. Not smoky like the Kendall Jackson Pinot Noir smelled.
Taste: I liked this one for a Pinot Noir much better than the Kendall Jackson. This one was less vinegary, and less smoky. I liked the fruitiness of it, although it was not sweet. Not bad... I'd probably buy it again if I was wanting another taste of a Pinot Noir. Funny that I seem to prefer the less expensive wines to the more expensive ones! But that is a good thing for my checkbook!

Nigori Sake

This was definitely interesting! My friend came over with some "Creme de Sake" and it was a new one! I'd never had this before. I loved the bottle when I saw it in World Market... it was just interesting, the way the creme stuff settled to the bottom, and you had to shake it before serving it. It is Nigori Creme de Sake, and you serve it chilled.

Officially, it is called Takara's Sho Chiku Bai nigori sake, and according to an article I found about it online, it is around $5 for the smaller bottle like the one I have. The one I have is bottled in Berkeley, California, although the original company is in Japan.

Company Links:
Takara main
Types of Sake (found in a Google search)

Smell: almost sweet, but not overly so. Had a bit of an alcoholic odor as well.
Taste: very smooth and sweet start, then the sake aftertaste comes through. I could very much enjoy the sake in huge gulps if it weren't for the sake aftertaste that makes me just sip it instead. I really do like it, although I am usually not a huge fan of sake. This one has a complex flavor that changes from one thing to another, and evolves as you swallow it... and I found that quite entertaining! I would probably buy this again (except I didn't actually do the buying this time) because it really is delicious in its own way.

Bolla Pinot Grigio, 2003

This one I've had in the house for awhile... and I just never got around to opening it.

On the back label it says:
Italian dry white wine
Bolla Pinot Grigio has the fresh fruit and pleasing aromas of peach, melon, pear and lime. Light-bodied and refreshing with a slight aftertaste, this wine nicely compliments seafood, poultry and light red-sauced pasta.
Open up and enjoy Bolla Pinot Grigio, chilled.

Company Links:
Bolla main
Each of their wine varietal pages come with a recipe of something that would go well with each wine. That's kinda neat how they have that.
Pinot Grigio page with recipe for Italian chicken pasta
Another web site's "winery tour"

Price: Not sure. I bought mine so long ago, I don't know the price. And the company web site doesn't have any prices listed. If I remember to look the next time I'm in the store, I will make sure I jot it down.

Smells fresh, clean. Slightly fruity but not sweetly fruity like juice. Tastes slightly fruity too- but not sweet. Almost odd that it seems to smell sweeter than it tastes, and I am almost left wishing it was sweeter, and more like a Reisling. But it does taste and feel very fresh. I can definitely say that for the "Pinots"- I much prefer Pinot Grigio for a white than I do the Noir for a red. Very good wine for a light relaxing white; I would definitely buy this one again.

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Second-day glass of this wine... still doesn't smell very sweet or taste very sweet (I guess my sweet tooth is on fire right now) but I do love this wine! It's very fresh, and very clean. I just have to watch myself because I can drink it too quickly the way it is so smooth... and then find myself having too much. This is one I would "bookmark" to buy again. I saw a bottle of it in the grocery store today and it was about $8. Not even expensive! Woohooo!

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4/14- bottle still in the fridge! Having a glass today and it's slightly vinegary but drinkable. I might not finish that last glass' worth still in the bottle though.

Kendall-Jackson Pinot Noir, 2004

Okay, so here goes on my first one. I've had many other wines in the past already, but no blog to track them. I've tried enough to know that I tend to drift towards Merlot for reds, and Pinot Grigio for whites, and White Zinfandel for the in-between (as far as color goes).

I have a bottle of Kendall-Jackson Pinot Noir here at home, so might as well as start with it. The label says, California 2004, and 'Vintner's Reserve'.
(photo 'borrowed' from the company site)


The back label says: As a family-owned winery, we go to extremes to ensure our wines are of the highest quality. This is demonstrated by our family's investment in a French stave mill. There, we search for the finest oak for our barrels. The timber is hand-split in this mill and the staves are dried for two to three years. This natural process cures the oak, slowly softening the tannins. Finally, we retain several French and American coopers to handcraft the barrels. As far as I know, we're the only American winery that fashions and sources its best barrels in this manner. (They totally lost me on the technical stuff on this one- will have to google some more...)

Our Pinot Noir delivers black cherry fruit with velvet tannins found in hillside grapes along the North Coast, raspberry notes from the Monterey region that intertwine with plum and spice from benchland vineyards on the Santa Barbara Coast. The wine was aged in a mix of new and older French and American oak barrels that impart a hint of cola, vanilla and cedar aromas.

Sounds to me like it might be a 'musty fruity' kind of thing, more than a 'fresh fruity' kind of flavor.

Price: $14 for 2005 bottle on company web site; I don't recall how much I spent on mine because I've had this bottle since last year sometime, bought at a local grocery store.

Company Links:
Kendall-Jackson main
Vintner's Reserve
Their page for wine Terminology
Their page for Wine and Food Pairings (text; great info!- though I will be drinking my wine by itself and not with any meal most of the time)
Their page for Wine and Food Pairings (handy chart- but too in-depth for someone like me- it's just neat to look at though)

Dang, there is so much to learn, and it's gonna take some repeating to actually grasp it all... but it's royally fun. :-)

So I opened it at room temp, it smelled both fruity and smoky from the bottle. It looked dark and dense in the glass. And tasted very vinegary! I stuck the glass in the fridge for awhile. Ick... too much of a bite as a "warm" wine at our room temp of 70 degrees! I've had some wines warm and they were okay, but this one is icky to me.

After it got chilled, I liked it ALOT better. Not like drinking colored vinegar anymore. Still quite a bite to it, but more fruity and smoky-tasting now, more like the way it smells. I think I prefer the more fruity flavors, as this one seems more woody and smoky than fruity. A little spicy, too.

I'm not sure why I keep trying out various brands of Pinot Noir... I still don't like it as much as I do any Merlots... but for some reason I keep trying them anyway (now and then- maybe it's my short-term memory). And each time, I still find myself preferring Merlot. So chalk another one up for the Merlot because this Pinot Noir doesn't compare!

New Blog on an Old Item

I've been wanting to do a blog like this for awhile now, but just never thought there'd be much to it. But hell, why not? It's my place, it's my blog, and I can post as much or as little as I want, right? So here it is. A place where I will have some fun exploring and tasting different wines (and maybe foods, too) and lay out my opinions, if there are any. And for what that is worth.

I have no experience in wine other than just tasting and trying out various ones. I don't claim to be an 'expert' by any means. I just have the qualifications of a mouth, a tongue with taste buds, and an opinion. I make NO claims on knowing even remotely what I am talking about when it comes to wine, but I will attempt to research things as I move along, and hopefully learn some things as I go. But for sure I will never turn into a wine snob because I just don't care about wine that much. It's just wine, and I truly prefer coffee or water instead... but maybe I can give my opinions on different coffees here, too.

But I am always fascinated by the variety of wine labels out there. As a former graphic designer, I absolutely love spending hours browsing the wide range of wines in stores, and looking at all the details of each label. It's as much of an adventure as what each wine might taste like!

So there it is. Yet another blog that I can "play" with... but this one won't be a daily thing. If I open a bottle of wine, I might have one glass. And the rest, I will re-cork and keep for the next night. So it might be one bottle a week if I even FEEL like drinking wine that consistently. And if the wine would even keep for that long, once opened. Like I said... I am truly an idiot when it comes to wine, and maybe it's a big no-no to keep an opened bottle for several days, but until it kills me (makes me sick) to do so, I just have to do just that. Because I'm the only one drinking a bottle, usually... so it won't be gone in one night. I've been known to dump out half a bottle in the past, too (heartbreak!)- but it's because I had an opened bottle that I just never got back to. And then the flavor of it changed, and I couldn't bear to drink it up (ick), so it got dumped out.

You can bet I will be "googling" for info as I move along. As well as researching each vineyard and see just what is what. I think it'll be interesting! So welcome to my odd ride!