Tasting- Bera

Name:Bera
Variety: Asti
Region: Neviglie, Piemonte
Country: Italy
Year: 2011
Price: $9.95
The Winery Review: Bera is a soft and plush wine with creamy foam, lemony mousse and loads of fragrant peach blossom, honey and sweet almond on the bouquet.  You'll love the intensity of elegant, fresh, rich flavours and vibrant acidity
My Review:   To me this whine was nothing special.  On the nose it had the gerneric typical whine smell that you would get from every whine.  The taste would be really the only redeemable quality.   The taste was sweet with a lemon peal taste.  The other nice part was it was bubbly and who does not like bubbles.  This Whine was rated 90 pts, Decanter Magazine, But I would not go so high I would give this whine a 7 out of 10.

Tasting Tarima

Name:Tarima
Variety: Monastrell
Region: Alicante
Country: Spain
Year: 2013
Price: $9.95
The Winery Review: Bright purple.  High-pitched red and dark berrry scents show good clarity and pick up a licorice nuance with air.  Tangy and focused on the palate, offering juicy black raspberry and spicecake flavors with an exotic touch of candied violet.  Closes spicy and long,  with silky tannins building slowly and adding gentle grip.  this is a fantastic value.
My Review: This whine did not start the best of because on the nose I could smell the aclohol with a little bit of cherry.  The taste of the whine was not to bad with a earthy dry taste that had some spices blended into it.  This whine was rated 90 pts, Stephen Tanzer but I would give this whine a 7 out of 10.

Tasting- Coreto

Name: Coreto
Variety: Tinto
Country: Portugal
Year: 2013
Price: $6.95
The Winery Review: Caladoe, Alcante Bouschet, Castellan, Pinot Noir, Tinta Roriz, Touriga Nacional.  Great as an aperitif, is a perfect wine for the day-to-day.  Excellent addition to dishes with meats, stews, roasts, barbecue, pasta, pizza, vegertarian dishes, Mexican food, Chinese, Thai and cheeses.  Excellent with food by itself.  You can follow for example, roasts, barbecue, pasta and vegetarian dishes or made of cheeese.  Serve at a temperature of 14-16 degree celsius which enhances the fruity, also being much more enjoyable in warmer weather, on a terrace or a party.
My Review: The smell of this whine was a little different because besides having a dry fruity smell, it some how had a vap smell like an early morning fog for some reason.  The taste of it was not bad with the dry cherry taste with a pinch of spice.  I would give this whine 7 out of 10.

Tasting- Tarima

Name:Tarima
Variety: Blanco
Region: Alicante
Country: Spain
Year: 2013
Price: $8.95
The Winery Review: (70% mereseguera, 20% viura, and 10% moscatel): Light yellow.  Perfumed aromas of Meyer lemon, melon and white flowers show good clarity and a hint of ginger.  Juicy, open-knit citrus fruit and peach flavors are firmed by zesty mineral quality and a touch of white pepper.  The melon note repeats on the clinging but slightly warm finish.
My Review: On the nose this whine had a nice fruity pear smell to it.  I actually really enjoyed this whine because it had a nice sweet dry taste to it which I am starting to realize I am liking more and more.  It also had a lemon peach taste to it. I would give this whine a 8.5 out of 10.

Tasteing- Dom de la Condemine

Name: Dom de la Condemine
Variety: Macon-Peronne "Le Clou"
Region: Burgundy 
Country: France
Year: 2012
Price: Normally $19
The Winery Review: Made from 100% Chardonnay.  Sustainable agriculture: very low use of chemicals.  Their philosophy is to produce a wine in the traditional style of Macon, with minimal intervention and not use of Oak.  The soils is made of Clay and Limestone (Argilo-Calcaire) and the parcels are located right next to Vire Clesse Appelatio. A light golden hue, floral aromas.  Intense, clean and fresh on the palate.  Citrus notes, bold acidity.  Excellent match to seafood with butter or cream sauces or rich blue cheese.
My Review: I want to first start off and saw my tasting post for this week may seem a little of because when I did this tasting I just finished a test and I was running on a few hours of sleep.  On the nose this wine had a floral woody smell.  The taste of this whine was sweet and crisp with nothing much else to it.  I would give this wine a 6 out of 10

Spaghitte Wine Dinner

Me and my roommate had a wine dinner this week.  In the dinner we had an appetizer of Breakfast chicken dip, an entree of spaghetti and meatballs, and for dessert we had chocolate mouse pie.

Me and my roommate getting ready for dinner.

Me and my roommate set up a deal where he cooked and bought the food and I bought the wine and cleaned.  

Just a picture of dinner without us.

The three wines we had with the dinner was Brut, Torre Castillo, and Castle Rock we opened the castle Rock and the Torre Castillo 2 hours before dinner in order to let them breath.  We did not do that with the brut because it was a champagne and we did not want to loose the bubbly.

I was able to get a picture of most of the wines we drank besides the Brut because after dinner me and my roommate decided to try and finish the wines and we accidentally through the bottle away

Here is a close up picture of the Chicken breakfast dip.

This is the second wine dinner I did and from my first one I learned a few things like one have a glass for each wine so I don't have to rinse out the glass in between. Second was it was easier to pair with I pair all the wines to one food at a time instead of the wine to each type of food.

This is what I was talking about with the tasting set up.

Now for the paring:

Castle Rock: Castle Rock is a Sauvignon Blanc.  

Initial: On the nose it had a fruity floral perfume smell.  The Taste was sweet and crisp apple with some acidic heat at the end.

Appetizer: The appetizer made the wine more tart and add some extra acidic heat.  It felt like it dulled the sweetness

Entree: It was kind of like the appetizer where it increased the acidic heat but just lesson the sweetness instead of dulling it.

Dessert: The man difference with the dessert that I did not have with the other 2 like increasing the acidic taste and making it less sweet was it tasted a little more dry.

Torre Castillo: The Castillo was a Cosecha Monastrell.

Initial: On the nose it had a oak woods plum smell.  The taste of this wine was dirt with some cherry that was a little bitter.  One thing I like about this red was that it was not completely dry but just a little where it was just the right amount.

Appetizer: It gave the wine a more dry oak taste

Entree: the entree surprisingly brought some sweetness like a sweet cherry.  One thing i like is that it lessen the oak taste.

Dessert: The dessert brought out a nice chocolate taste to the wine, but the trade off was it made it a more dry cherry taste.

Brut: The Brut was a champagne

Initial: The nose had the standard floral perfume smell.  The taste of the Champagne was bubbly with a Sweat Tart taste like the candy with the pinch hint of peach.

Appetizer: This made the wine less tart which was good but it also made the wine more dull all in all.

Entree: All this did to the wine was make it sweeter other then that not much changed

Dessert: This was hard to judge because it felt like the chocolate form the desert kind of overpowered the wine.  The wine felt more bubbly in my opinion and tasted a little sweeter with a tart finish.

All in all this was a good dinner and I am glad he did not mess it up which really shocked me.  He was telling me that the sauce he used on the pasta was a homemade recipe that took him six hours to cook.  My favorite was the Torre Castillo because of how much it changed which some of it was for the better.

Tasting- Jam Jar

Name: Jam Jar
Variety: Sweet White
Country: South Africa
Year: 2014
Price: $8.95
The Winery Review: This Charming, easy-drinking Moscato offers flavors of peach, apricot, lychee and orange blossom.  A lively jolt of acidity keeps it fresh and fruity.  Fancy enough for a special occasion toast, yet sweet-natured enough to enjoy every day, our bright and cheerful sweet wines are sure to capture your heart.
My Review: The smell of this wine fruitier then normally it reminded me more of a watermelon Jolly Rancher.  That was why that taste through me of some much because it had a sweet lemon taste reminding of a lemon head.  Besides being opposite in the taste and smell contradiction I would give this wine a 7.5 out of 10.