VC Tastings 4/19/14 pt. 2

Aviva
Vinho Verde
Portugal
$9.95

"Spring flowers and fresh fruit essences are supported with bright acidity in the Vinho Verde from northwest Portugal. Literally meaning "green wine", Vinho Verde translates as "young wine" in its native Portugal.  This wine has a slight petillance, or baby-bubbles, allowing the Loureiro grapes natural freshness to dance across your palate."

BABY BUBBLES! But not too many, it's nice and refreshing. Smells like honeysuckles and pastel colors. Very soft, and floral. I like how lively it feels. I'm not sure if I should attribute that to the acidity or not, but I like it.


Arona
Sauvignon Blanc
New Zealand
$12.95

"Zesty ripe passion fruit and melon make this a true pleasure. Lovers of fruit-forward Sauvignon Blanc will revel in its fresh texture and subtle hint of grassiness."

Finally, I finally found the cat pee. I'm weird, but it made me very excited to be able to pick it out as a descriptor of the nose. It's also kind of earthy and grassy, in a very light way however. I don't care for the taste on my palate, it's tangy with a lot of grassiness. Still, it's a light wine good for a summer day.









Dom Sorin

Rose (Grenache, Syrah)
France
$14.95

"Rich, full tasting wine from the Sorin family, with smoothly ripe red berry fruits. There's an attractive orange zest character that gives piquancy to this great food rose."

According to my notes it smells like bones with faint hints of baby powder. Don't ask, that's just what I picked up. I also have that it taste like perfume. As I said before, I'm not a fan of perfume taste in wine so far. Maybe I haven't found one that does it right, or maybe I have and I didn't recognize it as perfume, but I don't care for the way it's done in this wine.


Chasing Lions
Cabernet Sauvignon
Napa Valley
$14.95

"Delivers a rich allure to the dark berry, black licorice, loamy earth, and tobacco-cigar box edges. Tilts toward extracted fruit and tannins, which will appeal to those who like to chew on young wines. Drink now through 2023. I had the pleasure and honor of growing up in a multi-generational farming family. In 1974 at the age of five, I began to follow my grandfather every day in the family farm as he tended to his ranch. Over the years he taught me a lot about farming - but more importantly about life. Then one day in my late teens, he told me it was time to get off the ranch and "go chase lions." I never asked hime what he meant by that, because something inside me already knew. it's been over 20 years now since he passed and I have been chasing lions ever since."

This wine I like, only for the texture. I think I might be one of the people who like to chew on young wines. The nose consist of beets (which I hate) and it's also sort of sweet. I got a spicy feel from this wine while drinking it, it taste a bit like peppers, jalapeno/serrano peppers, and maybe green bell peppers. Also, I was eating this Cantal cheese with this wine and it was phenomenal! I'm not really sure what the effects the cheese had on the wine were, but it was some very nice cheese. It basically melted in your mouth, but was reminiscent of some sort of cheddar. Very smooth cheese, maybe it bought out some of the berries but that's all I could tell in the difference.

Hullabaloo
Zinfandel
$15.95

"Since people always ask us about our interesting labels here is a little bit about Hullabaloo: We chose the classic 19th century strongman icon as we thought it was fitting of the period between 1850 and 1900 (around the same time Zinfandel was planted and began to flourish in California). The strongman was not only an exhibitor of feats of strength but his main purpose was also to showcase his great size, boldness and symmetry-kind of describes old vine Zinfandel doesn't it?"

This wine smells like feet. And pink hair moisturizer. I know most of you may not know what that smells like, but it's one of those smells that you like initially, but nauseates you after a minute of smelling it. I don't mind it however in the nose of this wine. It's bearable. It taste earthy and like berries. I'm not sure what kind of berries, but it has that berry taste.