Tasting Sierra Cruz Carmenere

Name Sierra Cruz Carmenere
Variety Carmenere
Region Maule Valley
Country Chile
Year 2009
Price $6.95

Critic's Review As a member of the cabernet sauvignon family, carmenere (pronounced car-men-yare) originated in Bordeaux as one of the red blends of that storied region. Chilean winemakers have embraced it and several wineries in that country produce it as a single varietal. The '09 Sierra Cruz is a very pleasant, soft, medium bodied wine that has fresh cabernet-like aromas and flavors of spice, dark fruit and black pepper. It is a great value and also would be a nice match with marinated and grilled skirt or flank steak.

My Thoughts This wine was dark red in color and reminded me of the deep purply-reds of cabernets. The nose was strong with plum and dark berry fruits. It combined with hints of spice and herbs for a complex bouquet. This wine was smooth on the palate, silky even. This wine was spicy. Black Pepper dominated  the palate all the way to the finish and mixed with black currant and cherry to enhance the complexity.

This wine was not paired with any food.

Tasting Lost Vineyards Chardonnay

Name Lost Vineyards Chardonnay
Variety Chardonnay
Region --
Country Argentina
Year --
Price $3.95

Critic's Review Pale golden color. Perfumed peach, pineapple, and nougat aromas. Round and soft with a fruity-yet-dry medium body. Tangy apple skin and lemon zest notes lift the fruit nicely on the finish.

My Thoughts This chardonnay had a very subtle nose - not nearly the amount of aroma I was expecting based on the description. Hints of peach and tropical notes did come through. This wine had a bitter, sour quality on the palate that I don't typically associate with chardonnays. The finish was acidic and sour.

This wine was not paired with any food.

Tasting Sierra Cruz Sauvignon Blanc

Name Sierra Cruz Sauvignon Blanc
Variety Sauvignon Blanc
Region Maule Valley
Country Chile
Year 2011
Price $6.95

Critic's Review This Chilean Sauvignon Blanc just oozes with bright citrus flavors and a nose of herbs and grass. Stylistically, it is a cross between the herbal, grassy wines so prevalent in Sonoma County and the riper, more fruit forward products of New Zealand. Match it with pasta sauced with arugula, pine nuts, mushrooms and parmesan.

My Thoughts This wine was filled with aromas of pears and apples mixed with some lemon zest and a definite herbal quality. There were traces of oregano on the nose. The flavors were citrusy - orange and lemon - combined with a grassy, leafy aspect. It finished a bit acidic. 

This wine was not paired with any food.

Easter Wine-Dinner Pairing at the Cabo House

Wine Selection for Dinner

Let's begin. I could not go home for Easter this year. I have my final thesis review in a week and I didn't want to spend 14 hours in a car for a weekend. Instead, I decided to cook dinner for my friends that stayed in town. My mother provided the funds for the food, and then I went to town in the Gucci Kroger. Because it was nice out, I thought grilling would be a good option. For this dinner, I chose six wines - a red, 2 white (one was a box), and 3 sweet table wines. I should mention that while I did provide the food and wine, my roommates and friends did a majority of the cooking and prep work. All I did was flip a few kabobs on the grill.

Sweet Wine Selection for DInner

The six wines I selected for dinner are shown above. There are as follows (from left to right): The three sweet table wines - The Very Best from Florida Cherry Red, Renault Winery May Wine, The Very Best from Florida Eleganta, Montaribaldi Barbera D'Asti, Black Box Sauvignon Blanc and NO Sauvignon Blanc. The May Wine is from Egg Harbor, New Jersey. The Barbera is a 2009 from Italy. The Black Box is a 2011 from East Coast New Zealand and the NO is 2008 from Lake County, CA.

Natalie prepping food

Kristin prepping food

As I said before, the majority of the meal was prepped and cooked by my awesome friends. It consisted of grilled steak and chicken kabobs with onions, peppers, and cherry tomatoes. There was also a cheese and pepperoni platter, stuffed peppers, stuffed mushrooms, baked macaroni and cheese and grilled asparagus. Everything was awesome. The kabobs, in particular, were effing phenomenal - it probably had something to do with the fact that they marinated all night. For dessert, we ate Red Velvet cake.


Here's a few images of some of the AWESOME food we consumed. The peppers were delicious - stuffed with ground beef, tomato paste, rice and cheese. And the baked mac 'n' cheese recipe we found was ON POINT!

Of the six wines present, I tried four of them. I am not a fan AT ALL of sweet wine, so I only tried one of the three. I should note that the sweet wines were not picked by me, but were a "gift" from my neighbors from home. And by gift, I mean they didn't like them and thought college kids would drink anything. I thought the one I tried was complete shit, but I'll get into that in a bit. Maybe it would have been slightly better if it was a sangria or something, but mostly it was just miserable - like cough medicine. WOOF.

I am familiar with Black Box Wines, but I've never tried any of the whites. I usually grab a box or two of red when I cook my weekly "family dinner" for my friends and family here at school. It's cheap and good and gets the job done. Most of my friends shitted on idea of a boxed wine at first. But, after they tasted it, they were hooked. Anyway, so I was interested in trying my first white Black Box.

The Barbera has been sitting in my apartment all year. I tasted it at one of the Vintage Cellars tastings in the Fall when a group of Italian winemakers were in town. It was delicious, so I bought a bottle. I was saving it for a special occasion (which in hindsight was just stupid), and then it sat for six months. So I decided to pull it out of hiding and drink it!

And finally, the NO Sauvignon Blanc. Honestly, I liked the label. And it had no malolactic fermentation or oak aging, which I thought was interesting.

The four wines I tasted

Let's begin with critiquing the wines. I'll start with the red raspberry wine because it is the easiest. It sucked. Moving on. Okay, but seriously. This is not my cup of tea. I mean, RASPBERRY MONSTER coming at cha! It was a translucent red with brown and orange tints. It honestly did not taste the least bit alcoholic. It was more like a liquid candy - a sugary, medicinal mess. Gross. The nose was heavy with raspberry and fruit blossoms. The flavors were heavy with raspberry. Everything was raspberry. I did NOT like this wine alone. I did not like it paired with food. I did not like it paired with dessert. I did not like it, Sam I am. However, I have several friends who do not particularly care for wines that are the least bit dry, so naturally they ate this shit up!

Next. The Montaribaldi Barbera D'Asti was a deep, dark red color with purple hues. The cork was stained a beautiful deep purple color. An absolutely gorgeous looking wine! This red was heavy with chocolate notes on the nose mixed with subtle hints of musk. It was smooth on the mid palate, silky. My friends described it as "citrusy and earthy." My roommate said it was "my ideal red wine." I gave them my wine wheel to use. The most popular descriptors from everyone included dirty, fruity, tropical, berry fruits and spice. For me, this wine had flavors subtle flavors of mud rubbed on some pineapple and banana and mixed with dark berry fruits like blackberries. Its finish was elegant. Smooth and solid. This was not an overly complex wine, but was easy to drink. And, going along with the type of dinner, it was fitting. While I enjoyed this wine with the kabobs, particularly the steak, I thought it shined when sipping it with the Red Velvet cake for dessert. The chocolate notes complimented the cake and I thought the buttercream icing enhanced the smoothness of the wine.

On to the whites. The Black Box. Holy Hell, what a treat this wine was! I've never been a huge white wine fan but have recently started to enjoy them more. I think the reason this wine shined the most for me for this particular dinner was mostly due to the environment. It was warm out. The sun was shining. The grill was going. Everyone was just sitting around, hanging out. It was a good summer wine. Easy to drink. Heavy, heavy, HEAVY floral bouquet. Jasmine, apple blossom, and notes of honey suckle were predominant on the nose with peaches and ripe red apples. The palate was strong with a citrus quality and pineapple and passion fruit. It was crisp and clean. Super refreshing. This was the crowd favorite. And, overall I think it paired well with the majority of the food. There was something about the grilled veggies in particular that really matched well with this wine. The box label reads: "Pretty floral aromas unfold into the bright citrus and tropical fruit flavors. A crisp and refreshing finish in the distinct New Zealand style." I think this description is 110% accurate of this wine. I would get this Sauvignon Blanc again IN A HEARTBEAT for a warm summer gathering!

Last up. The 2008 NO Sauvignon Blanc. It's label reads: "No oak aging. No cork. No malolactic fermentation. No attitude. No kidding." I liked this wine. It was perhaps not as crisp when compared to the Black Box, but it was a good, easy drink. Perfect for casual warm weather drinking. Definitely not nearly as heavy in flavors or aromas as the Black Box, what stuck out most was how smooth and clean this wine was. It was not heavily alcoholic. And, it was more fruity than floral. Crisp apple and pear were most apparent. The stuffed peppers, for me, were the best pair for this wine. It brought out a subtle peppery quality in the wine, and complimented the rice stuffing nicely. This also pleased the majority of the wine drinkers. One of my friends said it went nicely with the stuffed mushrooms, and I took her word for it because I HATE mushrooms.

Overall, this wine-dinner pairing was a great success. Both the food and the wine were exceptional. And final vote, although I'm a red wine kind of guy, the Black Box took the victory this go around. It was just such an easy wine to drink - with or without food.

Friends hanging out, drinking some wine.

Tasting Cantina di Casteggio Moscato di Pavia

Name Cantina di Casteggio Moscato di Pavia
Variety Moscato
Region di Pavia?
Country Italy
Year --
Price $7.95

Critic's Review Bright, light golden color. Very aromatic nose of ripe apricots, sage, honey and a slight minerality. Medium bodied, sweet and fruit with flavors of apricots and tangerine. Well balanced acidity and medium finish with layers of sweet and citrus fruit.

My Thoughts This sweet, dessert wine was heavy all around with citrus and tropical fruits. The nose was highly aromatic with fresh pineapple and peach mixed with a floral aspect of apple blossom. Hints of jasmine and pear came through on the mid palate mixed with lots of sweet fruit flavors of apples and peaches. The finish was sweet with a little bite of lemon or lime.

This wine was not paired with any food.

Tasting Montebuena Rioja Crianza

Name Montebuena Rioja Crianza
Variety Tempranillo
Region Rioja
Country Spain
Year 2007
Price $6.95

Critic's Review 100% Tempranillo. Dark red. Spicy red berries and cherry on the nose, with hints of cracked pepper and dried rose. Crisp and dry on the palate, with spicy red currant and cherry flavors, light tannins and a fresh, energetic finish. An excellent value, and surprisingly elegant for this price point.

My Thoughts This deep red wine was heavily spiced on the nose masked by red berry fruit. Cherries and blackberries come through on the mid palate, mixed with hints of pepper and an herbal quality - I get small aspects of oregano and rosemary on the palate. This wine had a clean, crisp finish.

This wine was not paired with any food.

Tasting Varas Vinho Tinto 3 Liter Box

Name Varas Vinho Tinto
Variety Blended
Region Lisbon
Country Portugal
Year --
Price $21.95 (4 bottles) $5.49 (1 bottle)

Critic's Review This smooth Portuguese red is a blend of Castelao (45%), Tinta Roriz (25%), Tinta Barroca (20%), and Pinot Noir (10%). The vineyards are located near Lisbon, planted in sunny gentle slopes of clay and limestone soils. The wine was aged in oak barrels.

My Thoughts This red blend was deep, dark red in color. On the nose, it was oaky with a vanilla quality. It was also complimented with notes of sour fruit which continued in the flavors - sour cherries and blackberries. It was smooth on the finish, making it easy to drink. Not overly complex, makes it a good wine for beginners.

This wine was not paired with any food.