Getting Back Into The Game With Some Fancy French Rosé

We've had a bit of an extended hiatus (thank you harvest) and it seemed fitting to do another rosé (although to be completely honest I just really like rosé). I was walking through the wine aisle at Trader Joe's and this guy caught my eye! It's a 2014 Rosé from Bordeaux, which is a little old (more on this later) but for $5.99 I was willing to take a chance on it. The wine is a bit muted, less aromatically invasive than the Viñas Chilenas wine we had last year-- but they're from the same vintage so that's not too surprising. In spite of this, the mouthfeel and flavors are great, with a little bit of honey and lemon candy with pleasantly balanced acidity. With the bonus points it gets for being French this wine is the perfect porch pounder! Great for the unseasonably warm winter weather we've been having.

2014 Les Portes de Bordeaux: Bordeaux Rosé

12%ABV

5.99 at Trader Joe's

Tasting Notes

Theme: It's hot, let's drink!

Sight

It has a cool salmon-orange-peach color to it. Very attractive, a little more refined than the super extracted pink "White Zinfandel" color that some rosés have. 

Nose

The wine isn't super expressive aromatically but there are some nice overtones of rose and violet, with tart green apple and lemon underneath. After the acidic aromas there are white peach and honeysuckle aromas, denoting the slight sweetness that was yet to come.

Palate

Tastes like honey at first, with soft acid up front that builds towards the back of your tongue. There's a pleasant sweetness and slightly syrupy texture-- not enough that I would classify it as a "sweet wine" but enough to keep the acid in check and make the wine easily drinkable and tasty. There's a bit of a candy lemon flavor that develops, like those Lemon Drop candies, or a pink lemonade.

Overall, we liked it. There's nothing too special going on but there's nothing bad either, and it's very tasty. I would wager that this wine was a lot more expressive a year ago and that we're seeing it this cheap because it didn't sell completely at the time so the leftover inventory was sold to TJ's on the cheap, which would explain the low price point. It's a perfect porch-pounder-- balanced acidity/sweetness and pleasant flavors-- it's French, so you can drink it with your friends and feel fancy; plus it's at an easy to swallow price! 

8.5/10

Some Extracurricular Notes on Rosé

So earlier in the post I mentioned that this wine was a little old, which may sound a little ridiculous considering we're talking about a wine that was made less than 16 months ago! The reason I say this is because Rosé wines, like some early-drinking white wines such as Sauvignon Blanc, change very rapidly once they are bottled and are often at their peak drinking age sometime around 5 months after crush (which would have been February or March of 2015 for this wine). Rosé wine aromas are composed primarily of what are known as "Secondary Aromas", which are aromas deriving from fermentation (or aromas turned volatile during fermentation). More specifically, the dominant aromas in most rosé wines come from esters, which break down as wine ages and are responsible for the fruity and floral aromas that we find in young wines- and consequently, the lack of fruity and floral aromas in aged wine.

This wine, being pretty muted on the aroma was pretty immediately identifiable as being a little bit past its prime just by the lack of fruity and floral aromas that should have accompanied it. This isn't to say that the wine is no longer good though! This wine was perfectly drinkable (poundable) and being a little bit past its prime is likely why we're able to get the wine at such a nice price now-- often if a wine doesn't perform well in its original retail placement it'll get sold to a different retailer to go into the "bargain bin". More for us! I'd say this wine will remain delicious through mid-summer or August of this year, but probably not much later, so buy it now and try it out! It's the perfect wine for this unseasonably warm weather.

Being a French wine, we don't know exactly which grape varieties were used in the production of this wine (they care more about location than cultivar) but being from Bordeaux we can assume that it's primarily either Cab or Merlot. Probably Cab Sauv, based on the fact that the winery is located on the West Bank, but judging by the color it could be Merlot based (see the Wine Folly graphic below).

Cheers,
A&P

Rosé Saves the Day (as usual)

So originally we had planned to write about the Kirkland Signature (Costco) Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc (which was good!) but between drinking the wine and writing the blog our tasting notes were...misplaced. Fortunately, Alejandra had a $4 bottle of Chilean rosé sitting around so we were able to salvage the day! The wine was intensely aromatic and floral- seconds after the bottle was open the whole room smelled of perfume. Beautifully pink with a hue similar to blood oranges the wine is slightly sweet and a bit unbalanced but surprisingly pleasant for $4.49 at Trader Joe's. A good summer aperitif wine, try it with some dark chocolate for dessert or use it to pregame your dinner. Plus it's an import so people will think you're fancy if you bring it to the party.

2014 Viñas Chilenas Rosario Estate Reserva Rosé Wine
12.5% ABV
$4.49 at Trader Joe's

Tasting Notes

Theme: "Let's get this tasting over with so we can drink and watch Friends"

Sight

Beautiful pink with the slightest tinge of salmon orange, it resembles a very low concentration blood orange juice. Lots of rim variation.

Nose

Immediately after opening the bottle the whole room smelled fruity and floral, like somebody had spilled a bottle of perfume, or like being in a meadow of wildflowers.

Very strong aromatics: sweet lemon-perfectly ripe, like a lemon tree at the height of the season. Strawberry candy, like those little ones that come wrapped in foil in grandma's purse. Almost like artificial strawberry, intensely sweet. After a minute grapefruit starts to shine through, offering some complexity.

Palate

Tastes like fresh citrus with sweet notes of honey and a short strawberry draw. It's not as crisp as it smells, it's a little round and syrupy at first, but the acid develops in your mouth and feels almost a little effervescent on the back of the tongue. The wine is a bit unbalanced, the acidity is much more prominent than the alcohol, which is almost undetectable despite the wine being over 12%.

Overall we were pleasantly surprised with the quality of the wine compared to the price. The wine definitely provides a good bang-for-your-buck (really, you're pretty much getting 3% alcohol per dollar) and is at least worth a try, even if you don't generally like rosés. It's a little sweet and completely approachable, a good summer wine if you aren't feeling like drinking something super crisp. Poking around online it appears that this is primarily a rosé of cabernet.

7.5/10

The wine gets a score bump for the price, but it was still unbalanced and didn't blow our socks off. It's a solid everyday drinker, and one that we wouldn't be ashamed to take to a casual occasion.

Cheers,

A&P

¡Sauv Blanc and Ceviche!

We've been away for a while and we hope you've been drinking lots of wine (learn by doing)! This week we picked up a bottle of Save Me, San Francisco Wine Co "Bulletproof Picasso" Sauvignon Blanc. Though the bottle ran for a little more than our usual price range, with our Ralphs card we were able to get it for $13 rather than the $16 it usually goes for. While looking at the endless sea of white wines, this green tint bottle caught our attention. The Painted Ladies of San Francisco are showcased on the label and this is all inspired by Jimmy Stafford from the band Train. Though the price and the fancy celebrity endorsement would usually be a turn off, we ranked this sauv blanc at an 8/10. This fresh and crisp wine screams summer!

2013  "Bulletproof Picasso" Sauvignon Blanc

California

13.5% alcohol

All stainless steel 

Sight

Clear straw color-pale gold with a slight hint of green.

Low color concentration.

Very artistic and colorful label with the Painted Ladies

Aromas

Strong aromas of grapefruit and citrus, with undertone of grass and lemons. Very similar to the usual profile of New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs

Taste

The wine tastes super grapefruity and grassy, almost like drinking a milder form of grapefruit juice at times. Potent acid structure but despite of this the wine is still quite smooth with a very light body and mouthfeel.

Strong notes of minerality on the draw. No oak or evidence of malolactic fermentation.

This wine is really reminiscent of Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc with a bit more nuance and minerality. Though we splurged a little this week, we highly recommend drinking this wine solo or with some fresh fish or, like we did, some ceviche! (Recipe detailed below). This is a great bottle if you're looking for a fresh crisp white for a summer's day or if you're on the quarter system (like we are) and you still have a few more weeks of school you can class up your Friday afternoon before the weekend begins. Worth bringing with you to a get-together if you need a nicer bottle of white or just want to class up your day-drinking. We gave it an 8/10 for being a pretty solid wine, even if it is a tad pricey at $13.

Check out our little photo story of Paul's family ceviche recipe and enjoy some wine :)

Cheers,

A&P

Ceviche

So, when we tasted this wine on Friday we were trying to think of what food it could go with (since it's a great standalone wine) and I'm always trying to justify buying seafood/prove to Alejandra that I'm more Mexican than her so we had the idea to mix up a batch of ceviche on Memorial Day and try it out with the wine!

What you'll need:

Snapper (or if you're on the West Coast, Rockfish)

Scallops

Calamari (tubes)

White onion

Limes. Many limes.

Tomato

Cilantro

Jicama

Salt

Avocado

I also diced in about half a jalapeño, which I think it adds a really nice little kick. The flavor is almost imperceptible if you don't know it's leaves a refreshing tingle in your mouth. A serrano would also work for this.

You're going to want the freshest possible fish for this, both for quality and food safety reasons. I opted to get my fish at Whole Foods.

First you'll get your squid ready. These will need to be boiled until soft, about 10 minutes.

Delicious, delicious tubes

Boil for ~10 minutes or until soft

A stray tentacle worked its way into my tubes!

Tentacle Buddy

Once the tubes have been boiled, slice into strips

 Place the strips of calamari into the bowl that you will be marinating in.

 Next up comes the snapper or rock cod. You'll need to separate the the skin and avoid the couple pin bones.

On a fattier fish one slice on the end will do and you can easily peel the rest of the skin off

The skin did not want to cooperate

 After skinning the fish you'll slice the meat into ~1/2" chunks. Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of this but you can see them in the pictures of the marinade. Place the chunks into the marinade bowl with the calamari.

Next comes the scallops. I opted for bay scallops, as they're a little bit smaller than sea scallops and you can just cut them in half, instead of the multiple cuts you would need for the larger sea scallops.

Gold is worth its weight in scallops

 Slice each scallop in half and add to the marinade bowl.

Dice up your white onion and add it to the marinade bowl.

Guest appearance by our tentacle buddy

 Now slice and dice the (optional) jalapeño, and add to the marinade bowl.

Remove the ribs, you only want the flesh of the jalapeño

Now it's time to get marinating! Pretty simple, just fill the bowl with lime juice until all of the fish is covered. You're going to need a lot of limes!

Squeeze like you've never squeezed before!

Just kidding. Pick up a bottle of lime juice, your forearms will thank you later. I grabbed two but the one bottle ended up being the perfect amount.

Fill bowl until fish is covered

Mix evenly and ensure all parts of the mixture are submerged in lime juice.
Add a pinch of salt.

 This mixture is going to marinate for about an hour and a half.

When you start geting close to hitting the end of the marinating time, it's time to make some totopos!

Cut corn tortillas into quarters (homemade or store bought tortillas work fine for this) and get some vegetable oil up to frying temperature in a pan. Drop sliced tortillas into the oil and fry them to your desired crispiness (it'll take a few batches to get your fry timing down).

No ceviche can be enjoyed without totopos

  

 Once your chips are fried, pull them out of the oil and place into a baking sheet lined with paper towels. Salt the chips at this point (I use a mixture of salt and chili powder).

Salt and let cool

Kick ass chip and dip container recommended

 Dice up your avocado, jicama, tomato and cilantro.

Perfection

 Alejandra wanted to snap a picture before we completed the dish

Your fearless leaders

 Drain most of the marinade from the fish bowl and add your tomato, avocado, jicama, and cilantro.

Mix well and serve!

Enjoy, with good wine, good beer, and good friends.

Life doesn't get more perfect than this

¡Salud!

Paul

College Uncorked Wine Archive

College Uncorked Wine Archive!

Here's all the wines we've reviewed to date, with their ratings (Updated Weekly):

Our Tasting Structure/Rubric

Reds

2012 Caretaker Cabernet, Paso Robles, CA - 7/10

2011 Kirkland Meritage, Napa Valley, CA - 5/10

2013 Rosemount Shiraz, SE Australia - 8/10 (9/10 with Thin Mints)

Whites

2013 Edna Valley Chardonnay, Edna, CA - 7.5/10

2014 Green Fin Pinot Grigio, California, - 7/10
2013 Save Me San Francisco Wine Co Sauvignon Blanc, CA - 8/10 (With bonus ceviche recipe!)

Rosés

2014 Viñas Chilenas Rosario Estate Reserva Rosé Wine - 7.5/10
2014 Les Portes de Bordeaux - 8.5/10

Pinot Gris for Me

This week we picked up a bottle of 2014 Green Fin California Pinot Grigio (or Pinot Gris if you prefer) from Trader Joe's for $4.99. This bottle had caught our eye in the display at Trader Joe's with its sweet Woody label and carefree beach living vibes. It's fruity, easy-drinking and a little sweet- the perfect combination for a Pismo bonfire or backyard barbecue. While it's not personally a style that I seek out it's a solid wine for five bucks and it's worth picking up a bottle to see if it suits your style. Who knows, you may end up drinking it all summer! We gave it 7/10 with a little boost for the price tag. Try putting some frozen berries in it for the perfect warm-day glass.

Pinot Gris is a white grape originating in Alsace, a cool growing region right on France's eastern border with Germany. Pinot Grigio is the Italian name for the same grape, though they usually denote different styles of wine (Gris generally being more heavy and viscous, a bit more prone to bottle aging and Grigio being light, crisp, and airy, ready to drink right away). Fun fact: The word pinot comes from the French word for pine cone, because the grape clusters resemble pine cones.

2014 Green Fin Pinot Grigio
California
12.5% ABV
Organic

Sight

Dope ass label

Light golden-green color, very clear

Bright, but translucent 

No rim variation- low color concentration throughout

Aromas

Strong fresh aromas of peaches and pears, a little bit of vegetal-grassy aroma and some hints of melon

Taste

Very fruity, sweet, peaches and pears.

The wine has good acid structure, which stands up to the sweetness, with no noticeable alcohol burn. Very smooth. No oak flavors/aromas

Personally I prefer my whites to be drier and crisper, but there's nothing objectively wrong with this, what you think of it is going to depend on your palate. If nothing else, it's worth springing the $5 to pick this bottle up and see where you stand on the spectrum of white wines to help you pick out wines in the future!

It goes down easy and smooth, and though we didn't have any on hand when we were tasting, the idea was brought up of putting some frozen raspberries and strawberries in it, muddling a bit, and drinking it that way, which should be pretty good. Serve chilled with some friends and you'll have a good time with this wine. Or maybe a wine smoothie?

Chloe came to investigate the photo shoot

If you end up trying it out with the fruit shoot us a pic and let us know how it is!

Cheers,

A&P

A Pleasant Surprise

Greetings fellow drinkers!

It's the most wonderful time of the year. As you may have noticed we are now beset by brown clad preteens peddling their delicious and addictive wares outside of grocery stores. That's right, it's Girl Scout Cookie season. To honor that, we picked a wine this week that we thought might go well with one of our favorites, the undisputed champion of Girl Scout Cookies: The Thin Mint.  We walked down to the liquor store and snagged a bottle of Rosemount Estate Shiraz (Syrah in American) for $11.99. By itself it's already one of the better wines we tasted, but when we brought out the thin mints it became hands down the best pairing either of us have tasted in our (admittedly short) lives. We gave it an 8/10 without the thin mints and a 9/10 with thin mints-our highest rating yet. A bottle plus a box will run you $16 and it's the bees knees. Check it out.


2013 Rosemount Shiraz
13.5% ABV
$11.99

Sight

Bright, deep garnet (purple-red) color
Minimal/slight rim variation, no sediment

Nose

Bold nose, smells like dried plum and black currant jam, followed by french oak

Palate

Very smooth tannins, little acid up front, really hits the back of the mouth

Very hot (alcohol) right after opening the bottle, mellows out a bit 

Full-bodied with flavors of black pepper and plum, and a little bit of vanilla and oak on the draw-like bourbon

With Thin Mints?

Initial reaction: "Damn, that's good".

The mint seems to cool some of the heat from the alcohol and actually pairs very well. It also perks up your taste buds and the chocolate combination is rich enough to stand up to the bold flavors of the wine. You gotta try this. We were both a little skeptical at first but I don't think it could have turned out better.

8/10 solo: probably going to be my go-to inexpensive red from here on out

9/10 with thin mints: SO GOOD

Plus it's a screw cap!

Cheers,

A&P

Chardonnay Cures our Midterm Woes

Hello aspiring winos!

This week we decided to take a cue from the warm weather (sorry to all of you not in California) and switch it up a little bit. We wandered down to Sandy's Liquor in downtown SLO and perused their generous collection of wine (and beer!) in the wall coolers until a bottle of white caught our eye. We decided to go with a bottle of 2013 Edna Valley Chardonnay, for its attractive label and similarly attractive price tag at $13. This might seem like pushing the boundary for a cheap white, but I'm willing to shell out a little extra dough for a good white for reasons that will be covered in this week's Wine 101 post discussing a little overview of production techniques for red and white wines. Additionally, we've both had good experiences with Edna Valley in the past, and we're proud locavores, so drinking a wine made 7 miles away from the store we bought it from gives us the warm-tinglies. All-in-all we were happy with the wine: it looks good in the glass, smells good, and tastes alright, even if it's not too complex. It's a little expensive, but it's a good example of a balanced chardonnay (not super buttery, but not straight fruit expression) so if you find yourself with a little extra pocket money give it a shot and see if you like it. We rate it a 7.5/10- better than average but not good enough at the price to keep the fridge stocked. Find the full tasting notes below.


2013 Edna Valley Chardonnay
13.9% Alcohol by Volume
$13 at Sandy's Liquor in Downtown SLO

Sight 

Looks nice in the glass. Pale gold/straw colored, with a tint of green

Low concentration, very transparent, especially around margins

Crystal clear and bright, no sediment

Nose

Very clean, sharp/crisp aromas, but not overwhelming. I would call it a light bouquet, it's a little subdued but not muted, just not very concentrated.

Smells organic, with fresh grass, floral, and fresh red (fuji?) apple aromas . After a bit more examination there's a slight buttery aroma coming in behind them.

Taste

The moment the wine hits your lips there is a very pronounced acid structure up front. Not unpleasant, but in the body fails to stand up to it and as a result seems a bit flabby and flat after experiencing the initial pointed acidity.

The wine is velvety smooth as you swallow with an oaky aftertaste, complemented by a subtle butter flavor.

No flavors stood out except for the oak influence on the draw, so as far as taste goes this one gets a "meh".

Words that came to mind when we were deciding our rating were "good, fine, acceptable, boring" in that order. I would suggest trying this Chardonnay with food, maybe something spicy, that will allow the acidity and textures to shine and make up for the lack of flavors on the mid-palate. That said, we decided to give it a 7.5/10, because we felt it didn't deserve a 7, but didn't really earn an 8. 

I'll probably be buying another bottle of this to try with dinner some time. 

We hope you're all feeling better than we are about this quarter (if you're going to drown you might as well drown in wine, right?) but in case you aren't, here's some pictures from today's tasting featuring Chloe to brighten your day.

Cheers,

A&P