Tasting - "Peter Mertes Sweet Red Dornfelder"

5. Peter Mertes
a. Sweet Red
b. 2014
c, Rheinhessen
d. Germany
e. $6.95 (On sale from $12)

Lets finish the week up quickly here. It started off very well with a sweet smell. However there was a bit of a yeasty bread smell but those two ascents combine wonderfully to smell like a cake. It was almost warm because of its fresh baked bread smell. The taste was sort of like grape juice with a watery sweetness combined with a touch of tannins. The tannins made the sweetness more dry, almost like the sweetness of a blue berry. There was a slightly tart taste though, not the best but still very very nice.

What Others Say: I got lazy and just got the last winery review from a friend again: The trademark German red grape varietal Dornfelder has a lovely purity of soft red berry fruit. Integrated soft tannins combined with forward fruit flavors make for a perfectly balanced everyday sipping wine. Great with grilled red meat, sausage and chicken. Best served slightly chilled.

Tasting - "Castello Sonnino"

4. Castello Sonnino
a. Red Blend
b. 2010
c. Chianti
d. Italy
e. $8.95

Now, the oakyness from the previous wine quite possibly blew all the flavors out of this wine just because it was so strong. I love that the vintage cellar has free tasting but I think they should let me rinse the glass everytime before each wine. There was a berry smell in this wine that Brandy found to be on the sweeter side. The taste was dry and bitter, and a bit too mixed for me to pick out any indavidual flavors of the wine. I didn't catch it but Brandy noticed out tart the wine was.

What Others Say: Well there is no website here but my friend was able to get this review for me: A blend of Sangiovese, Canaiolo, Trebbiano and Malvasia del Chianti. Rich and modern, with a dark, saturated color and aromas of graham cracker and lemon rind. A juicy palate packed with plum and raspberry is carried by a creamy texture that’s rather toasty in terms of flavor. The finish is round, full and chocolaty

Tasting - "Bolla"

3. Bolla
a. Red Blend
b. 2013
c. Bardolino
d. Italy
e. $9.95

Smelling this wine was like shoving my head in the barrels they used to age it. There was an incredible smokiness to the wine. I didn't expect to like this next part but there was anice coffee spice to the scent that just drew me in. The taste was most unlike any other wine I had before. It was very earthy with a floral oaky taste. The spices came through, in the mid body, the most prominent being black pepper. There was aslight dryness aswel that acompannied the oak very well. I rather likd this wine. 

What Others Say: This review liked it as well. We agree on the smooth taste but I guess what I identified as spiced they identified as a mix of apple peel, licorice, raspberry and cola. They picked out the vanilla in the oakiness, but they seemed to find more fruit in the mix than I did. 

Tasting - "Tenuta le Velette"

2. Tentula La Valette
a. White Blend
b. 2011
c. Orvieto
d. Italy
e. $6.95

Another white wine for the day. This one was more crisp, however, and the cat pee was a little less present. As it opened up I smelled more perfumes and spices. The tartness from the last one may have lingered into the taste of this wine but it came across as sour. There was very little body and it was hard to pick out any indavidual flavors. It finished short and dry but it had a nice tangy taste for the mid body. Over all the wine had nice acidity and it probably needs the company of food to really make it shine.

What Others Say: Not gonna say it was easy trying to look for an online source for you. I cant find a lot of people talking about this wine in particular but if you ever find yourself in Italy, everyone loves this winery.

Tasting - "Aveleda Praia"

1. Aveleda Praia
a. White Blend
b. 2016
c. Vinho Verde
d. Portugal
e. $8.95

Lets start the week of with a nice white wine. I cant remember ever having a white blend so I was somewhat excited about this. There was a slight cat pee scent in the air, but the over all smell was a crisp fruity apple. The taste was far more tart than I though it would be that was the green apple taste. Light berries fought against the torrent of tartness accompanied by an old moldy taste. It was like an earthy or old bark taste; I've actually tasted that before. Brandy said it reminded her of unseasoned fish.

What Others Say: This wine review seemed to disagree with me saying the wine was fresh and delicate. They tasted far more fresh smooth tastes than Brandy or I. I did get the slight sprirtz they mentioned that came through in the mid body.

Winery Visit: Chateau Morisette

Welcome to Chateau Morisette, a fantastic winery just outside of Floyd in Virginia. For Brandy and I's 7.5 anniversary we decided to get a little fancy and enjoy a life a little bit more than usual. This beautiful Chateau nestled into the mountains of Virginia has a rich history and elegant wines made from the grapes of the South.

The Winery

There it is, the Chateau which is actually the secondary location to the original winery. It's the every so modest summer home to the Morisette family. The origional winery was started in 1970. Back then there were only two wines, a reisling and a red wine. William and Nancy Morrisette started selling those wines in 1977. Their son David is still in charge of the winery today making those two staples wines and a few more. Niagra, and Concord grapes are grown at this particular winery, but they also have vidal blanc, sauvignon blanc, and chardonnay are also grown and made at the Chateau. They also use Muscadine which is a classic southern grape.Recycled cedar was brought in was brought in from all over the country to build the chateau and despite its impressive size not a single tree was cut down to make it. The mountains arn't that to kind to all grapes so they still do ship in some grapes to make their wine but all of it is made at this Chateau. You thought I'd skip over that pretty lab from the first picture and almost all their glasses of wine. Well that's Hans, Davids dog, that's a bit of a mascot for the winery. Hans would actually lay down under the barrels of wine and drink the drops and become a bit inebriated. Hans sadly isnt around any more but David still keeps a lab around to carry on Hans' spirit.

Grape crusher (left) Fermentation Tanks (Right)

All the grapes that were made in the past were juiced the old fashioned way,but that day is long gone. Now all the grapes are crushed in a mechanical press 1000 lbs at a time. From their they move right inside to be fermented an I have a lovely shot of the several vessels they use. Most every grape will start the aging process in the large steel tanks there. Some wines, mainly the reds, will move into oak barrel after that for the last portion of aging to give it a nice flavor. They have two varieties of oak, French and American. French Oak is reserved for the more expensive wines because its a bit pricier and more flavorful. A Chardonnay will spend the last 18 months of its aging process in one of these barrels. The Vidal Blanc I found most interesting because its kept in that chilled container on the right. The low temperature slows the fermentation and will leave more residual sugar after the aging to give it a sweeter taste.

Another temperature controlled element to this winery was the liquitotes and the barrel room. The liquitotes are used to make ice wine which is wine made from grapes frozen on the vine. Chateau doesn't have the altitude to do this so the liquitotes are used to simulate the same effects. You can see one the big metal liquitotes in the lower part of this image. The rest of the barrel room has, yep you guessed it, barrels. The room is kept at a constant 65 degrees to help better age the chardonnay there. These chardonnays actually have of the skins in the barrels. That's not their only trick with skins thought. The Rose wines put through a special bleeding processes to give them that distinctive color, but the skins are removed for the aging process but I was told that barrels can give off a little color during the aging. It wasn't that to big of a winery for the amount of places I've seen this wine sold. It really was a great winery and to finish it up they showed us one of their most modernized toys. A bottling machine (shown below) which uses corks, no screw caps, and fills the blank space in the bottle with nitro oxide to replace the oxygen.This will ensure longevity of the wine. It's a far cry from the bottling machine they used to have which used to be done all by hand.

Their new bottling machine (left) and their old (right)

The Wine

They let us try 10 wines for the tasting so it would be easier if I listed the wines and then talked about them:

1. 2014 Chardonnay

2. 2015 Vin Gris

3. 2012 Chambourcin

4. 2012 Archival 1
5. The Black Dog
6. Our Dog BLue
7. Red Muscadine
8. White Muscadine
9. Sweet Mountain Apple
10. Cherry Wine
We asked as many questions as possible but they great lady there may have been pouring us a bit much so our information got a little spotty after a while. but I'll give you the high points. Wine 1 had a nice citrus and wildflower smell with an eggy finish. It had been aged in stainless steel and i think that made the crisp melon taste a little more scrisp. Wine two upped the fruit and brought on some more berry tones but was really strong of grass. most of these flavors carried to the taste. They bled the skins with this one which really brought out some crisp acidity to the wine. The third one was oak aged which brought on a more intense smell. Toasted sour dough is what came through the most but it came with black pepper, cherry and other fruits. It tasted more of berries than anything else but had the smokiness of the oak. Wine four started to get a bit more dark.It smelled of rose petals oak and had more alcohol than the previous ones. It tasted almost of coffee which was really fun. The fifth wine was the classic staple.This wine was briefly oak aged but has a simple flavor that would be good for beginners. Soft fruit was the only smell but the taste was nice and subtle berries. It was a bit dry but had a nice table wine quality to it. Our dog blue was the classic riesling they used to make. It had all the Riesling citrus tones with a bit of cat pee. It had a very sweet taste and also tasted of a great table wine but had a nice acidity that could go well with some food. The red Muscadine was pretty simple and sweet and fruity will pretty much some everything up about it. The white Muscadine was a bit complex but lighter. It smelled of pee with a crisper taste and a more sweet flavor. The sweet mountain apple was an interesting change on the classic grape wine. The fresh apples were very prominent in the taste. Most wines are only a tad refreshing but I could almsot drink this wine at all times of the day it was so refreshing. The cherry wine had a similar type of taste but it was more of a desert wine in its sweetness. It was not to sweet but not too sweet and a lovely wine to finish on.After all of this tasting I had a great time and we ended up bringing a bottle home. We ended up leaving with a bottle of white muscadine. All in all I think I'll be stopping at this chateau again when I visit Virginia.

Italian Wine Dinner

Here we are, just liked I talked about, making a three course wine meal at our beach house. As I may also have mentioned my father is trained chef so I thought why not go all out and cook some high end dishes. My mom always misses me so I thought I'd do something nice and make some of her favorite food for the night; Italian.

Italy: It's what's for Dinner

So per my mothers request we made some Linguine with Clams to start. My father was also able to make some amazing Chicken Francese. My brother is a fantastic cook as well and has actually been featured on the Rachel Ray show and he made us some killer Tiramisu. All together my sisters, my Fiance and I helped and made some great sides. My mom went out shopping for us three very nice wines. Castello D'Albola 2012 Chianti Classico was paired with the clams to start. A 2014 Igt Delle Venezie V.NO Pinot Grigio  Reserve was picked for the chicken. The great desert wine was a Castello del Poggio Rosato. Enough with the details lets get into the night.

Lets make some food and drink some wine

We got started by preparing all the indavidual ingredients for the food stuffs. So I got a nice picture of myself tearing the leaves of the parsley for the chicken I think. my sisters actually had a couple friends there shown on the side that came over to help and enjoy everything. My sister really like to get involved with the cooking because they were so excited to start tasting wine like their big brother. My sisters and their friends (shown right) got their cook on. Bianca has always liked pasta so she started helping out with that on the stove. Meanwhile Brandy, my Fiance, and I started to drink some wine and make garlic bread. Hannah Madison and Preston, Madison's boyfriend, got really interested in how to taste wine. We took out the Castello D'Albola and poured a few glasses.

Bianca (above), Hannah Brandy
and Madison  (below)

It was the first time they really tried to taste the flavors in the wine but they actually were able to help out. They were able to pick  out the floral and earthy tones (like dirt) on their own. I had to enlighten them on nice spices the wine brought to the table. I should have started with another bottle because this red turned out to be really dry and pungent. I quickly lost the attention of my sister leaving Brandy and I to continue the tasting. We found some nice dark fruit amongst the dry desert that was this wine coming through as a raspberry taste. Acidity was present which is indicative of an old world style. Enough tasting for now, we poured a full glass and returned to our garlic bread. Bernie, my brother, showed up and the party really started to get going and wine started flowing. My moms started to wash the clams and my dad started to put the chicken together. Brandy, being kind of small, may have started having a bit too much fun and took too many random pictures for me to sort through. Did find some good gems though.

Bet they were glad I left the
next day.

My mom and Dad fresh back from a get away in St. Lucia were working well together and didn't get too upset at us rambunctious kids. Around this time Brandy and I slipped away to try the white my mom got. The Pinot Grigio had a very soft faint smell. Slight bit of a fungus was on the finish but a fresh green apple shown through. The taste was a still a bit empty but had that fresh taste that comes with a crisp apple. Acidity waas was still present so I had hope that it would pair well with the chicken. Anyway, at this point things were happening and people were getting very excited about this meal. Even Madison's boyfriend Preston started preparing some food. Bernie started to finish up the tiramisu and put it in the cold to firm up. Below I have some nice pictures of all the fun we had that night.

Me (left) cutting up bread, Preston (middle ) cutting up berries, Bernie (right) making that Tiramisu

Dinner Time

Finally, the pairing is ready to happen. but first some pictures of the spread.

Dinner (Left) all one plate, Desert (middle) with that beautiful Rose, A VERY full glass of wine (right) for my mom

Things started to move much quicker for us at this point. First we went for the Linguine with clams and man was it awesome. There was a good sea food saltiness with just the right amount of Parmesan cheese. The linguine actually did a lot to cut the dryness of the Castello D'Albola  and brought out more of the fruit. The Parmesan on top made the pairing better because it smoothed out the taste and made it sweeter. I usually think of whites when it comes to pasta dishes but this red has changed my mind completely. Brandy had a glass of the pinot grigio on standby for us so we moved to the chicken pretty quick. The chicken had a softer breading with a nice texture and the lemons on top brought a good acidity to the dish. However, this lemon acidity combined forces with the wine and that acid attacked my pallet when I brought in the wine. Still, I was able to get more notes of citrus from the combination in the mid body.  We switched the wines and the foods but the tastes didn't go well at all together after that. I did notice a nice oaky flavor in the Castello D'Albola after switching up the foods. After tasting I really just tore into the dish and we devoured everything leaving no left overs. Needless to say we had to rest before the desert. I took the leisure time to taste the Rosato. It was interesting because instead of having straight fruit aromas it had a pungent alcohol smell. The taste was differently sweet due to it's maple syrup sweetness while still retaining a fizzy texture. After our tummies settled we distributed out that wonderful tiramisu. The desert itself had an excellent sweetness to it without being too much. The wine didnt add any new flavors to this but worked surprisingly well. The sponge in the tiramisu was nicely soaked with espresso flavors and the fizzy texture of the wine worked well with it. The bitterness of the espresso was dulled by the fruityness in the wine which really brought it all together. I had such a great night and I know I had to a lot to say about it because of it. Usually my family can be kinda roudy and tough to handle but on Italian night we really all played well together and had a memorable night. The best pairing for me was the Roels family and a Wine dinner.