Wine Review Catch-Up

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It’s time to catch up on a couple of wine tasting notes I’ve had sitting here, waiting patiently for a blog post.

"Vintage" by Chandon 1996 Brut
Sonoma & Napa Counties
Purchased: 07/04 @ Chandon in Napa Valley
Cost: $35 (on sale from $50)

This is the first wine I ever purchased in California at a winery. Our first day in Napa in 2004, we started our day at Chandon. After all, sparkling wine in the morning isn’t a bad thing. I held onto the wine until New Year’s Eve this past holiday, and yes, I’m just now getting around to sharing the notes I took. We munched on this sparkler with crackers and chardonnay-infused havarti cheese.

The color was of pale straw and there were were tiny but infrequent bubbles. (Maybe it was my lipstick.) The wine had a nose of yeast, paper, and tart apple. It tasted dry, and citrusy, with lemon, pear and apple.

Our overall impression was that the wine was smooth with a short finish. It probably wouldn’t have held too much longer. It was a well-balanced wine – lightly acidic and crisp like a fall apple.

Our rating:

Sofia Rosé Carneros Pinot Noir 2005
Francis Coppola, Carneros, CA
Purchased in May 2007 on clearance at Cork n Bottle
$6.97 from $15 (Told you it was clearance)

This is a great wine for a hot summer evening. It’s certainly not a remarkable rosé, but it’s not awful. Depending on my mood, and the price, it has buy-again possibilities. At first, the floral characteristics are a bit overwhelming, but they eventually balance out. There’s a subtle sweetness to this wine, as well as a hint of alcohol in the flavor.

From its color to the taste, the wine made me think of a flower garden. The color is the exact pink of the playgirl roses in my garden. The nose reminded me of daisies and roses. There were floral notes in the taste. Even the presentation brought flowers to mind. The shape of the bottle was unique, similar to a flower vase I have in my cabinet.

I can’t give this wine a full happy face because I don’t like to taste the alcohol in a wine and there was a hint of that. But my value for cost was extremely high on this wine.

My rating: