It has been a crazy week or two around my house. Between the fourth of July, birthdays, and family get-togethers there has been a lot of craziness. Also, I had a giant toad
in my house (on purpose!). On the bright side, there are also a lot of different kinds of wine to talk about. Going through all of them would take forever, and I am pretty sure you would be snoring half way through, so I am going to give you a snapshot instead. I can't remember the order I tried them in (there was blackberry moonshine in the mix somewhere), so I am going to start with my favorite.
2010 Louis Latour Beaune Perrieres
My Dad and I both really enjoy Burgundy, the French wine region, not the color. So, to go with dinner I brought a red Burgundy from Beaune. Louis Latour is one of my favorite producers and his 2010 Beaune Perrieres did not disappoint. This is not likely to be found in your local grocery store, although you may be able to find a Bourgogne from Latour. This bottle goes for around $75 and definitely qualifies as a special occasion bottle for me. I will do a more intensive review at some point because there is always a lot to say with wine from Burgundy. With the role geography plays on the taste, there really should be a map with some arrows and French words to qualify as a proper review. See, I haven't even gotten to what the wine tastes like yet! This wine was an explosion of cherry and blackberry. I am sure there were a ton of other subtle flavors, but to me it was all dark cherry...and some mild tannin...and maybe something else like earth or leather...but mostly cherries. Did I mention cherries? This might be the worst review I have ever written!
I give this a 4.2 (you guessed it) cherries out of 5
🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒
Chandon Brut Classic (non-vintage)
Next up is one of my go-to sparkling wines: Chandon Brut Classic from California. If the name Chandon sounds familiar, it is
because you may have heard of Moet and Chandon the famous champagne house in the champagne area of France. Chandon in California was founded by the same people responsible for some of best champagne in France (think Dom Pérignon). The great thing about this sparkling wine that it is delicious at a great price. You can find a bottle for between $15-20 (Costco often has the best price). There are several different bottles, I prefer the brut because it is "dry." Then again, I also enjoy their blanc de noir and rosé. In fact, I think I probably need to do a separate post just on Chandon. So what does it taste like? Citrus (lime/lemon), almond, with maybe a hint of minerality make this a tasty sparkling wine. It is well balanced so does not taste too bitter or tarte. There has been a lot of talk about drinking champagne and sparkling wine out of a white wine glass instead of the traditional champagne flute. I recommend it with this bottle, you will be able to smell the citrus and get the full flavor!
For the price, it is tough to beat this bottle of sparkling wine. Lemon
I give it 3.9 citrus fruits out of 5 🍋🍋🍋🍋
Oak Leaf Cabernet Sauvignon
Do you remember some of my reviews of boxed chardonnay? Um, I mean, chardonnay elegantly packaged in wine casks. I
reviewed a chardonnay from Oak Leaf that I suppose exceeded my expectations for boxed wine. It should be stated that my expectations could not have been much lower before tasting boxed wine for the first time, so really I was just pleasantly surprised when I wasn't fatally poisoned after trying the wine. But I digress, this time I am trying one of their bottled wines, which is still a bargain at around $2-3 a bottle! I will again admit to being surprised by how not-terrible this wine is. I have had $3 bottles of wine that smelled like body odor, and not in a creative wine descriptor kind of way. More like, in a, why is this wine not wearing any deodorant kind of way! But that was not Oak Leaf Cabernet at all (and to be clear, the deodorant-needing bottle was not Oak Leaf either). This wine is drinkable. It is one of those bottle you can use for cooking and happily drink while dinner simmers. There is not a lot going on with this wine, maybe some subtle fruit smells and slight earthy taste. Maybe. I guess. It is fairly bland, but there is nothing offensive about it.
As a friend pointed out "It's good as long as you don't let it breath."
Not every wine can be a winner, but this is a cheap, bland, but not offensive, underwhelming wine. Perfect for cooking or sangria.
I give it a 2.5 😐😐😐 not offended faces out of 5
I am going to continue the rest of the reviews in a separate post. So stay tuned!
