I really wanted to like this wine - Chenin Blanc has long been a favorite of mine, and the idea of a sparkling version from California seemed enticing. Unfortunately I didn't feel there was much special about this. I seemed to get a hint of apple forward but it quickly flushed into something of a generic acidic taste with no particularly distinguishable finish. It wasn't bad but it also wasn't particularly good.
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This wine was hard for me to rate because it simply may not have been my preferred style of Malbec. My experience with them has been with either unoaked or lightly oaked varities, and this Gran Reserva was aged for 12 months in new barrels. Tasting this shortly after opening, that's all I could taste - a very strong smoky, tobacco flavoring imparted by the barrels. After about 2 hours of decanting the profile became more balanced, with some fruit (very minimal) and some spice (pepper especially) becoming noticeable to start, but with the smoky, tobacco-ish flavor coming to dominate by mid-sip and lingering intensely after. This doesn't have the taste of a wine that simply failed in the execution ... but I do think it suffered from being over-oaked.
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This is a pretty cheap wine that came to me as filler in the Laithwaite's introductory case. I had very low expectations when I opened the bottle, but the combination of low expectations (which were easily surpassed) and suitability to my food pairing (a very flavorful piece of salmon with Brussels Sprouts) really allowed this wine to show it's stonefruit flavor up front. I definitely would drink this again. It could be stronger, and the finish is virtually nonexistant, but for a $10 bottle of wine it would be hard to beat this.
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2016 WINC Buellton Chenin Blanc Finke's Widow
1/19/2017 - jscotttaylor81@gmail.com wrote: 80 Points
I really wanted to like this wine - Chenin Blanc has long been a favorite of mine, and the idea of a sparkling version from California seemed enticing. Unfortunately I didn't feel there was much special about this. I seemed to get a hint of apple forward but it quickly flushed into something of a generic acidic taste with no particularly distinguishable finish. It wasn't bad but it also wasn't particularly good.
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2013 Famiglia Meschini Malbec Gran Reserva
1/11/2017 - jscotttaylor81@gmail.com Does not like this wine: 80 Points
This wine was hard for me to rate because it simply may not have been my preferred style of Malbec. My experience with them has been with either unoaked or lightly oaked varities, and this Gran Reserva was aged for 12 months in new barrels. Tasting this shortly after opening, that's all I could taste - a very strong smoky, tobacco flavoring imparted by the barrels. After about 2 hours of decanting the profile became more balanced, with some fruit (very minimal) and some spice (pepper especially) becoming noticeable to start, but with the smoky, tobacco-ish flavor coming to dominate by mid-sip and lingering intensely after. This doesn't have the taste of a wine that simply failed in the execution ... but I do think it suffered from being over-oaked.
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2015 Peach Stone Terre Siciliane
1/9/2017 - jscotttaylor81@gmail.com Likes this wine: 88 Points
This is a pretty cheap wine that came to me as filler in the Laithwaite's introductory case. I had very low expectations when I opened the bottle, but the combination of low expectations (which were easily surpassed) and suitability to my food pairing (a very flavorful piece of salmon with Brussels Sprouts) really allowed this wine to show it's stonefruit flavor up front. I definitely would drink this again. It could be stronger, and the finish is virtually nonexistant, but for a $10 bottle of wine it would be hard to beat this.
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