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?

Wine, Cheese, and Friends

My best friend in the whole world is visiting from California and we had to get together for wine and cheese. He is even more of a wine and cheese aficionado that me, and brought some amazing things for us to enjoy together.

He brought a chilled Peju blend that looks like a rose, but is actually a blend of red and white wine. This was one of his favorite casual drinking wines and I loved it as well.

Its soft and very drinkable with still some intrigue. It's one of those wines you drink and are like "wow this is really good..." and get back to your conversation. Its not something you have to ponder and think about, which I liked.

To go with the wine we had an interesting cheese plate. He brought an 18 month aged gouda and a Moliterno sheep cheese with truffles.

The gouda was SO GOOD. Seriously it's one of my new favorite cheeses. It was aged for just the right amount of time where it was potent with crunchy spots yet soft and smooth overall. It was just... perfect. The sheep cheese was a little more complex. It was a cheese with truffle bits chopped in, but also it was infused in truffle oil. It was REALLY good at first, but the more I ate, the more overwhelming it tasted. It really was quite delicious, but I would stick to small amounts of this one.

Since we were trying cheeses, I wanted to get his opinion about that crazy coffee and lavender cheese I bought.

The consensus was that this cheese is weird. Its interesting in that it has crazy flavors and perhaps the middle part is ok, but overall its just... weird. The coffee dusting leaves a strange taste in your mouth, and we didn't taste the lavender at all this time. It was kind of a bust.

Just for fun I had him try a piece of that Fiscalini Cheddar I hated... he spit it out and called it an abomination in the name of cheese.

While we were eating and drinking we got on the subject of (what else?) wines. While talking about the vouvrays I was recommended to try, he told me they are the same thing as chenin blancs! All of a sudden we wanted to try one, so I got out the Pine Ridge chenin blanc/viognier from my birthday dinner!

Mmmm it was smooth and creamy and as delicious as before. I didn't take notes of any particular flavors or details but Im sure I will be buying it again. We all agreed it was great.

It was a big night full of lots of wine, cheese, and catching up, simply amazing! :)

I Won!

I always forget to turn in my raffle ticket at the Specs wine tastings and have only remembered the past 2 times. Well this time I actually WON!

It's mostly just snacks in there - some that look good and some I will no doubt give away. Sadly there is no wine but there is a wine book so thats exciting! Im so shocked and thrilled! :)

Update: It is NOT a wine book, it is a WHISKEY book haha. Interesting...

Specs Wine Tasting

Wow what a tasting! Last month I went to Specs I didn't end up getting anything but this time was an absolute goldmine. There were so many amazing wines this time I had a hard time choosing.

The winner of the night was the Helfrich Pinot Gris. Normally I don't like these types of dry whites, but this pinot gris was very fruity and sweet in the middle and dry at the end, making it very refreshing without being overwhelming. My other favorite was the Castello del Proggio Moscato. As I've said before, Im starting to really love moscatos. I used to really like rieslings because they were so sweet and refreshing and have taken the next step in moscatos since they are even sweeter without being overly fruity. I ended up getting both of these wines for about $12 each.

Tonight was really cool because it seemed to be an unofficial Spanish Tempranillo night. There were FIVE tonight and since I love this type of wine it was really cool to try so many different ones almost side by side. The wines ranged from $7 to $17 and my favorite ended up being the Arzuaga la Planta, although I can't say exactly why. Just a personal preference perhaps, but I didn't end up getting it because I had too many other things and all were so good it was kinda hard to choose.

The wines I did NOT like were only three - 2 California chardonnays that tasted very unoriginal and blah and one African Shiraz that was just weird. On top of the 3 I really liked and the 3 I really didn't like, were about 10 other ones that were very good. I decided at the last minute to get one other wine because it was pretty good and only $3.73! It was a sauvignon blanc fron Chile and although it was not fantastic, it was solid and still delicious and definitely worth the few dollars I spent on it. These types of wines are good to have on hand for a super casual night or even as a second bottle of the night :o.

As always happens at wine parties, you get to chat with some really cool people about wine. We ended up talking to this guy about the moscato and he recommended I try a vouvray so we went to look at some and Specs ended up not having the one he was talking about. That brought me to an employee and we started talking about rose's and he had some great recommendations for me. I almost got one of those too, but seeing as I already had quite a few to buy and the rose was not one of the featured (and on sale) wines, I decided to wait. It will probably be the next bottle of wine I get though.

Now for the cheese!

The cheeses here are always interesting to try and I usually get a few. There was a cheese with fenugreek seeds in it that tasted like maple syrup which was really cool but not really my thing. One of the cheeses I ended up getting was a trucket and was really good and wanted to sample it further. Probably the most bizarre cheese was a cheese that had coffee and lavender flavors and when you first try it you think WHOA... but as you keep eating it you keep wanting more and more. So I got the trucket and the coffee/lavendar cheese and found a Parrano that was for some reason 50% off so got that too.

Hooray for Specs wine nights being back on track! Id say 75% of the wines were either good or great, which is how it should be in my opinion!