Tasting Fetzer Riesling

Name: Fetzer (The Earth Friendly Winery)

Variety: Riesling

Region: California
Country: U.S.A.

Year: 2011

Price: $7.00

Fetzer Review: Gracious.  Riesling comes in many styles, and is popular enough that some call it the new Chardonnay.  We just call it good.  Our personal style blends fruit form cooler areas of California to create a wine both rich and floral, pale yellow in color with aromas of pear and apricot.  In the glass, you’ll taste peaches and apricots, a gracious invitation to sit and spell and a wonderful match up with spicy foods and great as a starter with appetizers. 

My Review: This wine smells amazing, I can’t describe all the fruits and flowers in it! It’s like one of those perfume sprays girls wear in the springtime, it smells absolutely delicious.  I’m not too good with flowers but I imagine this one will have large soft petals with pastel colors, and the flowers are near a bowl of fruit salad! It tastes of pears and is very crisp and light.  It is incredibly smooth and a very happy wine! It makes me think of teenagers on spring break sitting in a flowery pear orchard.  I’m not sure why I am so enthusiastic about this wine, but the fruitiness is exactly what I was craving at the moment. 

Tasting Reserve Grand Veneur Cotes du Rhone

Name: Reserve Grand Veneur Cotes du Rhone

Variety: 70% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 10% Cinsault

Region: Rhone Valley
Country: France

Year: 2010

Price: $14.95 ($38.95 for 3 liters)

The Vintage Cellar Review: As for their other values, the 2010 Grand Veneur Cotes du Rhone Reserve (70% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 10% Cinsault) displays loads of ripe flavors.  It is very concentrated for a Cotes du Rhone, and is actually an amazing wine.  Classic garrigue, clack cherry liqueur, lavender, licorice and spice box are all present in this full-bodied, intense, and rich Cotes du Rhone.  This is a sensational effort to drink over the next 4-5 years, although it might last even longer.

My Review: This wine has a nice dark color.  It smells strongly of cherry and black currant.  It actually smells more of black currant juice than it does the fruits.  In general this wine smells of adult fruit candy.  What I mean by adult candy is dried fruit leathers, r healthy things of that sort, not fruity lollypops or jolly ranchers.  It is spicy and dry and bitter and actually hurts my tongue to drink it.  It has not too much fruit flavor, but does taste earthy and leathery.  It would probably be much better with food. 

Tasting Lobetia Tempranillo

Name: Lobetia

Variety: Tempranillo

Region: La Mancha
Country: Spain

Year: 2011

Price: $10.95

The Vintage Cellar Review: Organically and naturally grown and made, this wine allows the varietal and the terroir to stand out cleanly.  It shows a nice cherry color with a violet shade because of its youth.  Red berries and cherries on the nose.  On the palate it is fresh, slightly astringent, and harmonious with a long finish.    

My Review: There is a nice raspberry color to this wine, but it has not too much smell.  It has much less scent than the first two wines.  It does smell a little warm and spicy though.  It tastes of grapes, and is very smooth, dry, and light with a little spice.  All in all it is not a complex or exciting wine.