Summer is in full swing!

...which means I'm going off to another small vacation for a few days. Going to be away until next week, but I have notes and pictures for two Chardonnays! I'll post them when I get back:

Meridian Vineyards, Chardonnay, 2007, $7
Rombauer Vineyards, Chardonnay, 2007, $28 (Gasp!)

Yeah, a $28 wine. It kinda goes against what I try to do on this blog (affordable daily wine for college students), but it was for a special occasion. I also happened to drink these two back-to-back, starting with the Rombauer. It made the first sip of the Meridian taste like rubbing alcohol... but after a few more sips I realized it wasn't too bad. It didn't help that the Rombauer was cooled and the Meridian was room temperature... more on that later.


Bevmo had a wine sale (buy one get one for 5 cents), but I didn't buy any wines on sale because you have to buy two of the same ones. :[ I did, however, score 4 new wines: a Merlot, Pinot Noir, a Cabernet Sauvignon (that one looked really tasty from the description...) and a Viognier. You can also see the empty Rombauer bottle peeking into the picture on the right side. For the time being, I have to study study study for a test (tomorrow) and a midterm (on Monday, right after I get back...).

I should really join some sort of wine blog network to improve my current readership from the current ~6 to a short term goal of ~20 readers...

I'll be back on Monday with some shiny new blog posts! :]

"A tight grape from Iran" - Clos Du Bois Shiraz 2005

New developments for Sweet Child of Wine! My friend Chris is going to be participating in the wine drinking/reviewing. What does that mean for this blog? He's splitting the cost of the wine with me because he'll be drinking when I do, which means we'll go through different wines at twice the previous rate! Awesome, more reviews!

So the title of this post has a short back-story to it. A little over a year ago, some friends and I were drinking a Yellowtail Shiraz. I decided to look up the origins of Shiraz after I had drunk a fair amount of it, and claimed it was "a tight grape from Iran". It's popped up every time I mention Shiraz now, and I've come to like the phrase a lot! :] Onto the Shiraz:

Shiraz, 2005
Clos Du Bois, California. $13
Consumed: June 24, 2009
Nose: Heavy blackberry. Hints of coconut. Palette: First impression - really fruity, of the same blackberry as in the aroma. Fruit disappears, the wine displays its tannins and sharp acidity. Strong black licorice comes in, then disappears with a quick finish. No lingering aftertaste. No bite, easy to drink.

These photos were taken with an iPhone 3GS. The macro looks really good!

$13 wine? Not my usual splurge, but I wanted to hope to grab a nice Shiraz, since my previous experience with this varietal was with Yellowtail, and you guys already know my opinion on that brand... The first thing that Chris pointed out as soon as I poured a glass was the vivid violet color of the wine. I like the shifting flavors, but it's not quite as dynamic as the Nobilo SB I recently reviewed, nor are the flavors as sharp. In Chris's words, not too exciting; I agree.

Final Verdict: Nice aroma with a decent taste, but not worth the price. I'd buy it again if it were under $10 (maybe $8-9 max), but for $13, I'll stay away from this wine.

I Can't Believe it's Not Butter! - Château Meric Red Bordeaux Blend 2006

Let's have a toast, this is the first Old World wine I'm reviewing! Woo hoo!

Alright, so I initially wanted to stay away from Old World wines until my palette developed more, but my curiosity got the best of me. I heard from a friend who knew a little bit about wine that the wine made from grapes of the Médoc region were pretty well known. I shrugged and went for it - I was quite pleased with this buy.

Red Bordeaux Blend, 2006
Château Meric, France (Subregion Médoc). $12
Consumed: June 22, 2009
Notes: On the nose, a vibrant and powerful sweetness of fruit - raspberries and blackberries - draws me in. As it hits the palette, I can get leather, and it's pretty acidic. Suddenly, an unexpected shift to an extremely smooth and buttery medium-length finish.

At first, I thought that I was just imagining the sweetness of the fruit in the aroma. Several minutes later, the wonderful aroma was prominent as ever. It's funny, it smells so sweet to me that I almost want to say that it reminds me of Hawaiian Punch! Maybe it's just me and I'm enjoying the aroma of this wine a bit too much. As much as I'd like to go on and on for pages and pages about the aroma, the buttery finish is an equally big attraction. Despite the initial tannins (the bitterness) and the acidity on the palette, the super smooth finish makes up for it and then some. It reminds me a bit of eating a baked potato with butter (weird, huh?).

Final Verdict: Aroma and the finish are amazing. It costs bit too much for a college student to be buying everyday. Also, I'd try this wine for my own first food pairing suggestion: this wine + steak and potatoes. The buttery finish would complement these foods extremely well. I'll bet you a bottle of wine that there's no way that pairing will fail! :]

Rolling Out the Red Carpet - Santa Rita Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

The vacation's over and it's about time we get back to the good stuff. I've noticed that I haven't reviewed any red wines in the past posts on this blog, so we're going to change that today! Also, a big thanks to Chris for lending me legit wine glasses! Anyways, first up will be the Cab from Chile:

Cabernet Sauvignon, 2007
Santa Rita, Chile. $6
Consumed: June 9, 2009
Notes: On the nose, a very fruity smell like that of a dark fruit. There's also a light vanilla-like sweet smell present in the background. With the first sip, I notice a rough, almost thick mouthfeel, with the taste having the same black fruit that I smelled. Notes of leather. Finishes quickly, leaving a lingering flavor of blueberries and the skin of red grapes.

This is a very simple wine, no dynamic changes in flavor. It would have been wonderful if there were, but I can't hope to stumble upon cool wines all the time if I'm trying bottles randomly from the shelf, right? Despite the simplicity of the wine, I found this one to be very solid, especially for the low price of $6. I found that the fruitiness of this wine was really cool - as odd as it sounds, it reminds me of cola-flavored gummy candies. According to some quick research, Cabs are commonly described as having black fruit (blackberries, black cherries, etc.), with various other flavors that would come from processing. The vanilla hints are apparently from the wine sitting in oak barrels! I'm pleased that I was able to get subtle smells like that - no, scratch that, I'm really excited that my palette for wine is starting to develop.

Final Verdict: Very solid for the price. Pretty cheap, good flavors, a decent everyday wine.

What? A break already!?

Sweet Child of Wine will be going on a short vacation. It's off to Vegas, then to some theme parks with family for a few days!

When I get back, I'll fulfill a short backlog of wines that I've tried:

Jonesy Rare Aged Port
Cabernet Sauvignon, 2007, Santa Rita, Chile
Red Bordeaux blend, 2006, Château Meric, France

I took good notes on these wines, so I'm excited to be able to write about them (soon)! Stay tuned! :]

Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc 2008

For the time being I'm sticking to New World wines because I heard that they tend to be more fruity than their Old World counterparts. Anyways, a wine from New Zealand? How cool, I didn't realize that they made wine. I picked this up at the same time as the Yellowtail Chardonnay. I was a little bit hesitant to grab two wines from a similar area of the world, since I wanted to get a very diverse bunch of wines for that purchase (NZ, Australia, Chile - not too bad right?). This was the most expensive (but not by much) out of the small bunch, and I have to say, I wasn't disappointed. Let's rock this:

Sauvignon Blanc, 2008
Nobilo, New Zealand. $11
Consumed: June 5, 2009
Notes: On the nose, apple, lemon, and grass. On the swirl, the a sweet smell of fresh lemons vibrantly pop. Taste, a strong flavor of a mix of lemon and grass. Not particularly complex, but is very crisp. The lemon sits on the palate for the initial moment combined with a hint of grass. Then the grass kicks in while the lemon takes a backseat. Finally, both flavors fade to a linger for a quick finish.

I'll have to say this is the most interesting wine I've ever had. I have a lemon tree at home and the aroma reminded me of picking fresh lemons! The aroma is wonderfully fresh - I was already quite impressed at this point. The flavors are so... dynamic. They shift like crazy, which is something I've never experienced with Scotch. I was initially hesitant to taste it because I smelled grass, but it's just another flavor, doesn't put me off at all. According to Google, Sauvignon Blancs are crisp and fresh, with a very grassy flavor to it, (the grass intensity differing between producing regions) so this was supposed to be a "standard" SB. Interesting.

Final Verdict: Go for it! Great aroma, dynamic flavors. Not too cheap, but you won't be disappointed. Keep an eye out for other Sauvignon Blancs though, since they'll probably be similar even at a lower price point.

Meridian Pinot Grigio 2007 + Yellowtail Chardonnay 2007

Big first (real) post! Double wine review because I've already built up a backlog of wines to post about even though I've just started this blog... somehow? Oh right, because it's finals week here at UCLA.

Anyways, these two wines were my gateway dru-- err, wines. As I didn't really know what I was doing when I decided to give wine another shot, I just dove in headfirst (upon a friend's recommendation). Walking down the wine aisle at my local grocery store, I snagged the Meridian Pinot Grigio because my friend's father is fond of the Meridian line. I headed to Trader Joe's the next day, I picked up the Yellowtail Chardonnay, along with two other wines...

Now, let's begin with the feature wines... *drumroll*

Pinot Grigio, 2007
Meridian Vineyards, California. $9.
Consumed: May 31, 2009
Notes: On the nose, a very sweet peachy fragrance. The taste is very prominent - peaches, citrus. General citrus, comes during the middle, present during the finish. Citrus in the finish seems to hide the bite - makes this wine very smooth to drink. Definitely a good one for someone just getting into wine (like me, har har) because the flavors are prominent enough for the beginner to be aware of, yet is smooth enough to not make you want to turn away from it. I really liked this one. At $9, not exactly the cheapest, but hey, I'll take any good wine under $10 I can find!

Final Verdict: Awesome, worth getting.

Chardonnay, 2007
Yellowtail, Australia. $6
Consumed: June 1, 2009
Notes: Not much on the nose - just a hint of coconut in the aroma, but almost negligible. It's not complex at all, general citrus. Kind of a bitter finish. Drinkable, but I don't like it. The price could have been a telling sign of things to come, but I was willing to give it a shot - after all, there has to be a reason everyone drinks Yellowtail. Right? Little did I know that Yellowtail is to wine as to what Smirinoff is to vodka: Not terrible, but not great by far. Popular because of good marketing. Bleh, I'm staying away from Yellowtail from now on. I'll gladly eat my words if one of their other varietals is good, but I'm not going to shell out my own money to try them. Anyone care to buy me a (yellowtail) drank?

Final Verdict: Drinkable, but you should stay away.

Oh, and sorry for the blurry pictures. I'm still getting used to this newfangled thing they call photography.

Welcome!

First off, a little bit about me. By day, I'm a third year student at UCLA. By night, I'm a budding wine lover. I started a few years ago by drinking very cheap beer and hard liquor with my friends like your average college student. After a while, I found out that whiskey was my liquor of choice, and soon that fondness somehow turned into love for scotch. About a full year later, after having learned that my palate could improve greatly simply by drinking finer liquors more often, I have finally settled on wine. And thus, the creation of this blog will catalog my foray into the world of wine.... and give me something to do while drinking my wine during this long summer to come!

A few posts soon to come, as soon as I upload the pictures...