Marques de Casa Concha Chardonnay

This is another one of those wines I've had for a year or two and it was just time to drink. Im not a big fan of chardonnays, so I think I was putting this one off. I originally bought it back when a nearby HEB had a clearance sale on some of their wines (originally $16).

I was pretty pleased with this wine! For a chardonnay, it was not what I was expecting, which is the usual oak and vanilla overkill. It was fruity and light with a lot of citrus and apple flavors. Yum!

Speaking of Chardonnays, I read the Wall Street Journal's wine reviews and they frequently write about chardonnays - a hot topic I suppose. Here is one about the best chardonnays under $20, and there was another one recently about high end chardonnays and which were the best. I cant find it now (ugh) but when I do, I would like to try one of the amazing ones sometime to see WHAT a really good chardonnay is supposed to taste like. I dont think I know!

Also, I usually do not drink wine with meals and I wonder if that greatly affects my opinions of them. I've heard that some wines are definitely better with certain flavors, so maybe some of the wines I dont like on here would be amazing with the right foods? I usually end up picking a wine after dinner, mostly with cheese, but maybe I will try pairing some wines with some foods in the future.

Twin Liquors Wine Tasting

Im branching out from Specs and went to the big Twin Liquor wine tasting! Just like Specs, there were 20 wines, but the tasting was set up a bit differently. All the wines were in the front of the store in a row, close together. They gave you a wine glass and you went around to taste the ones you were interested in. Of course we were interested in all of them, so we just went in line.

Everyone was super nice, but there were a few downsides to this approach. For one thing, you end up tasting wines too fast because you feel like you have to keep moving along. At Specs, there are 10 stations around the store, which lets you walk around, chat, and take your time between samples. Because of this, we got wayyy tipsier than normal - not good. In fact, because it was so quick, it didn't hit us until we were about done which is awkward and not safe if you're planning on leaving any time soon. We ended up drinking all the wine in under an hour and milling about the store chatting for another hour just to let it all wear off.

Another thing that was weird was that there was no tasting sheet to tell us what the wines were and how much they cost. No huge deal, but I like to make notes about the wines and take it home with me to look at later.

One very sad thing was that there was no food! This also contributed to the increased tipsiness, as we had nothing in our stomachs. Twin Liquors doesn't really sell food that I know of, so its not their fault... but I was craving some cheese with all that wine for sure.

The upsides: there were some really great wines! I thought overall the wines were more expensive here, with a lot of them being around $18 or 19 and only 1 or 2 were under $10. This, coupled with the fact that we were going to the chocolate festival afterward caused me not to buy any that day.

Another REALLY cool thing about this tasting was that there was a bar area where they were serving wines. Which meant you could put... your... glass... down! This is a small thing, but when you're usually juggling a glass, and food sample, and paper and pencil... it was so nice to just relax with it.

So on to the wines! I cant remember them that well since I didn't have a sheet to bring home, but I'll do my best. We tried some organic wines which were good, but wine is so variable that I didnt see what difference the fact that they were organic made. We also had a really good cab from Alexander Valley and an awesome Montecillo Crianza that we both loved. There was a pink port, which I had never heard of, and the guy served it to us mixed with sparking water which was strange. Other than those, there wasn't anything that really stood out to me.

So I liked this tasting, and will definitely make it a regular part of my monthly tasting schedule, but I would say it didn't quite compare to Specs.

Fall Creek Muscat Canelli

As you may know, I have been really interested in muscat canellis recently, and this was my absolute favorite wine from the Austin Wine Festival back in May. I haven't had it since, but finally decided to try it again when I was looking for something dessert like.

I guess I was expecting to be blown away by sweetness, when in fact that's not what I got. At the festival, we tried sooo many wines that this one probably stood out for the lightness and sweetness and seemed overly so compared to all the other wines there. I was surprised and happy to find that this was a very balanced wine the second time around. There were fruit and acidity as well that made the wine very delicious and not at all like I was drinking a marshmallow. It was very smooth and peachy and super easy to drink. I got it at Specs for around $12 and would definitely buy this wine again!

Yali Sauvignon Blanc

Ewww, ewww, and ewww! I hardly ever buy wines I haven't tasted before, just because I go to so many tastings! So I actually wanted to buy a completely random wine and take my chances and this is what I got. This sauvignon blanc was on a display at Whole Foods, and as you can kinda see, is from the "winemakers selection", which I guess I thought meant it was really good or something.

Sauvignon blancs can be really good, or taste like cat pee and although this wasn't pee-like, it was definitely bad. Here's the rundown... it smells like nail polish remover (and pear) and tastes like watered down wine. There is a bit of citrus, but its not distinguishable and overall its very blah. I don't think its undrinkable, but its close and I would DEFINITELY not get it again.

However, not everyone shares my opinions!

Marques de Caceres Crianza

There havent been too many posts lately because I have been slowly working on the same bottle of Marques de Caceres Crianza. I LOVE this wine! This crianza was recommended as one of the best reds to serve cold and I was skeptical at first based on the last red we tried cold. However, this one is great! It holds all the flavors you would normally expect from a nice red wine, but the lower temperature makes it nice and refreshing! It feels very light even though its still 13.5% alcohol.

It has changed a bit from the first glass to the last, and I've probably kept it open a tad too long... going on... 5 or 6 days now so oops about that. But even now and ESPECIALLY when it was first opened, its simply delicious. So delicious and refreshing that I want to go get another bottle to drink soon, which is something I rarely do. Normally once I drink something, I try not to have it again for 6+ months or so just because there are so many wonderful things to try. I believe its pretty easy to find and was around $12 - 13.

UPDATE: I went to Specs and was talking with one of my favorite wine guys about the white rioja from the same maker and he said he HATES the red rioja I just reviewed! He said it lacks structure and is nothing but fruit! HMMMM o rly? Is that perhaps why it makes such a nice chilled red? Because it is basically a wine cooler in disguise? Interesting! Well I still like it either way, but he steered me away from the white one, saying there are much better ones.

Twin Liquors Wine Class

Whoa so who knew Twin Liquors had all this cool stuff? Apparently they have a wine class every 2 weeks and a huge wine tasting with 20 samples once a month! Aside from that they also have other small tastings every week. I can already tell this is going to be on my regular list of "wine to dos". So of course a friend and I had to check out the wine class... would it be painfully obvious or helpful?

Turns out it was really good! It was a sit down thing, with an instructor and a packet of notes so it was a little more formal than I expected but that was actually a plus. Everyone there including the instructor were laid back and really friendly and I thought it was at just the right level for me.

The main idea was to talk about the six major wines produced, which are riesling, sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, pinot noir, merlot, and cabernet sauvignon. We had about an ounce of each in glasses and talked about them in that order. Mostly it was what they typically smell like, taste like, where good regions to buy from are, and what to pair with them. The reason I loved this is because although I have tasted a lot of wines, I sometimes wonder "ok, but what MAKES it a chardonnay?", so I felt like this class answered some of my questions.

The wines there were pretty good overall too! My favorites were the Carl Sittman Riesling, the Carmel Road Pinot Noir, and the Robert Mondavi Cab. HOWEVER, I didn't get any because of something very important I learned! Wines are not meant to be kept for very long unless you have the proper way to store them... oops! I have wines on my rack from a year or so ago, and I keep collecting them! Apparently I need to start drinking some of my older ones before I buy any more, but I will keep the wines from tonight in mind the next time I buy.

I dont think there is a need for me to go to too many of these classes, as its the same basic idea each time - same 6 wine types although the specific wines differ. Here's an idea: maybe do the NEXT 6 popular wine types in a class, or a class of blends... eh Twin Liquors?