Tasting - Chateau Massiac Minervois

Name - Chateau Massiac Minervois 

Variety - Southern Rhone Blend Red

Region- Minervois

Country- France

Year - 2008

Price - $17.95

Shop/wine critic/winery review - Dark in color and rich when young, with dominant flavors of blackcurrant.  These primary fruit aromas give way to herb/garrigue characteristics as the wine opens.

My Review - This is the first red wine I tried and enjoyed it.  I shaked this one in my hand to "heat it up" then smelled it before tasting it.  I think smelling it before hand enhanced its flavor because it smelled incredible.  Something about it the scent enhanced the flavor and made me enjoy it more.  Went down smooth and was more dry then the other wines, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Food- none

Tasting - Dom de Mirail Cabernet Merlot

Name - Dom Chene Macon-Villages Bourg Ogne Blanc

Variety - Cabernet Merlot

Country- France

Year - 2011

Price - $5.95

Shop/wine critic/winery review - Fresh, crisp character to this light rose.  It is eye-watering in its refreshing character, with balancing acidity, smoothing out the edges with a touch of caramel.

My Review - This is the first rose wine I tried and I enjoyed it.  It had a stronger flavor than the white wines and after 3 white wines in a row it was a nice change.  This is the first I have ever heard of a rose wine and was confused as to whether or not this was a white or red wine, but the wine merchant told me this wine is in a class of its own.  

Food- none

Tasting - Dom Chene Macon-Villages Bourg Ogne Blanc

Name - Dom Chene Macon-Villages Bourg Ogne Blanc

Variety - Chardonnay

Region - Macconias

Country- France

Year - 2011

Price - $9.95

Shop/wine critic/winery review - RIchly textured, wine delivering broad orchard fruit and peach skin flavors supported by vibrant lime acidity and stony mineral notes.  This is rip, rich wine that's very seductive from the first but with fantastic vibrancy on the finish and lingering flavors of yellow apple and limestone.

My Review - This was my least favorite of the white wines.  It was the third one I tried and was very disappointed in its lack of flavor.

Food- none

Tasting - Badi Corti Orvieto Classico Abboccato

Name - Badi Corti Orvieto Classico Abboccato•Variety

Region - Abboccato

Country - Italy

Year - 2010

Price - $9.95

Shop/wine critic/winery review - This wine is "off-dry" The word abbocare means to bite which gives it a crispness.  It is enriched with Malvasia Blanca giving it a luscious fruit and flowers redolence that makes it refreshing.

My review - I was looking forward to this one since it was made in Italy (I'm Italian) but it was nearly as good as the first and definitly didnt get a crisp taste.  This wine was average, but lacked any unique flavor.

Food- none

Tasting - Dom Massiac Sauvignon Blanc

Name Dom Massiac Sauvignon Blanc


Variety - Sauvignon Blanc

Region - Southern France

Country

Year - 2011

Price - $13.95

Shop/wine critic/winery review - Renders a rich varietal character in combination with a sense of place that can only be described as south of france.  This wine goes good with seafood or shellfish dishes.

My review -   The first wine I tasted and I thought it went down smooth. It had a pleasant aftertaste and didnt leave my mouth dry like some wines.  I thought it was good!  I also didnt have any food with this wine.

Food - none

BP1- My Wine History

I do not have a long history of consuming wine, even though I have been drinking for about 5-6 years.  When I first started drinking alcohol, my friends started me off with lots of liquor, because they said it was cheaper and quicker than the other alcohols.  I consumed liquor probably for 3 years as my main type of alcohol before even trying beer or wine.  I tried beer next and honestly didn't like it all (at first).  As I grew older and wanted to start drinking for a buzz rather than to black out my tastes changed a little.

Recently I have started to try more and more beers and have grown to enjoy some of them.  Coors light is probably my favorite, but even Natural Light tastes better to me now then in the past. As for liquor I literally bought cheap vodka for 3 years and got sick of it.  Now I enjoy rum, mainly Kraken because it tastes very good mixed with diet coke.  I also switched to mix drinks over taking numerous shots every weekend as, that is still the popular thing to do for many college students.

As for wine, I have started to drink more of it recently than in the past.  I think this is do to the fact that I want to drink for a buzz, but still be in control and not "get wasted" like in the past.  My first taste of wine came in sophomore year, when a friend of mine brought over a $5 bottle of Rex Goliath from Walmart.  She seemed to enjoy (she usually ended up drinking the entire thing), so I tried a sip and it was actually pretty good.  This type was a white wine and I honestly enjoyed the taste and started to grow a respect for wine.  The very next weekend she brought over a red wine (no idea of the brand) and I tried that and was not a fan.  The white wine had much more flavor, while the red wine tasted like I was drinking dry blood.  (did not enjoy)

When I was home for Thanksgiving, my mom bought some wine from a local wine festival and we tried those out.  One was called pumpkin pie wine and the other was a mango tango wine. (not sure of the brand)  Both of these were white wines and tasted extremely good.  I'm guessing these have a lot more sugar than the average wine, but still these were awesome.  Im looking forward to this class, because by the end of the year I will have ended up tasting at least 50 different wines and will know which to recommend and which to stay away from.  Also, learning about some of the culture and history about wine, since this is something I dont know much about.