Wine Blog

  The Pillars of Hercules 2020 Red Blend is a very interesting red wine blend. The bottle does not give a particular combination of what red wines that they put but, it is a vintage wine, stating that it was made in 2020. This was grown, produced, and bottled by JL Giguiere, Zamora, California. I remember buying it for around 16 or 17 dollars, and according to the label, the wine has a giant juiciness and a chewy dense texture. Smelling the wine was actually really great with this wine. I remember that it smelled spicy like some kind of black pepper and had a raspberry like smell as well to compliment it. Unfortunately, when I tasted the wine itself, my immediate impression was that it tasted pretty weird to me. It had the balance between dry and sweet when I tried it and was not a big fan of. It tasted like cinnamon and pepper as well as tasting like raspberries. Overall, not really want to drink again.

  My Wine Dinner On Saturday night, my friends and I had an impromptu wine dinner together where everyone made a dish or a dessert for dinner. We had pasta, curry with rice, and key lime pie to go with our selection of the Ménage a Trois wine (a white blend), Oliver red blend wine, and a Landshut Riesling. The first dish above, was the pasta and the Ménage a Trois white blend wine that was a mixture of chenin blanc, moscato, and chardonnay. The pasta itself was amazing, but however I found the wine that I paired with it lacking. The wine itself smelled a bit like sulfur, but it also had hints of some flowery and citrus to go with it. When I actually tried it with the pasta, I was disappointed that the wine's sweetness just more or less tasted like a watered down moscato. Never before have I been so disappointed in a wine, all of that just to be met with something that I could have easily bought and just drank on my own without needing food to compliment it. The curry and the red wi

The Il Duca Imperiale Cardinal Red is a red blend with no mention of the particular combination, no matter how hard I tried. I went to their website, and it had no mention of the combination they used for their cardinal red other than using their concord grapes. This wine is also non-vintage and was made in California in San Antonio. The wine was bought for around 13 dollars. According to the site totalwine.com, the wine has dark berry flavor and a spice to it. Il Duca Cardinal Sweet Red | Total Wine & More Smelling the wine was really nice, it smelled spicy and of blackberries, and I was quite ready to get to the tasting. Tasting the wine was great too, it tasted like blackberries and had a spicy black pepper kick to it as well. I did not have food with the wine, but I felt like it would have gone well with some sweet snacks. Overall, would drink again.  

  The Principe Verdejo Frizzante, a Spanish white wine that is colored blue instead. It is made from Verdejo grapes, and is from the region of Rueda, is non-vintage, and was bought for around 10 dollars. According to iberrowine.com, lots of tropical and floral tones and it is soft and pleasant to taste. https://www.iberowine.com/wine/principe-azul-frizzante-verdejo#:~:text=Denomination%20of%20origin%20Principe%20Azul%20Frizzante%20Verdejo&text=This%20DO%20is%20located%20in,and%2055%20wine%20producing%20wineries. The wine smelled like blueberries and of honey with some sort of floral tones. When I had actually tasted the wine, it tasted like blueberries and was very poppy as it was sparkling. When I had it with hotpot, I thought it was not very good, but when I had it with green grapes the sweetness from both enhanced each other.

  The Casa Bella Lambusco Rosso Dolce is a northern Italian wine made in the region of Emilia-Romagna in the year of 2021. The grape is lambrusco grapes, and it costed around 8 dollars. According to a review on Vivino, the wine has a "blueberry, cranberry" taste to it. My own experience with the wine was that it smelled like raspberry, blackberry and had some acidity like green apple. When I tasted it, since it was a sparkling red wine, it has poppy and had a raspberry and lemon-ish taste to it. I had it with hotpot, and I did not think it added and in my opinion kind of detracted the taste. The hotpot had sort of masked some of the taste so I could not get a completely accurate tasting.

  This is the Schlink Haus Dornfelder Red Wine made in 2021, in Nahe River Valley, Germany. The red wine is a varietal wine with no specific percentages labeled onto the label and was bought for around 10 dollars. According to the Schlink Haus website about the wine, it is 100% dornfelder and is described as "delightfully light", "flavors of bright cherries, blackberries, and strawberries", and "it offers a light and elegant finish."  My experience with the wine was that it smelled like both apple and blackberries with a taste of honey, blackberry, and cranberries. At the time I did not have it with any foods, but I suspect it would have not really added to the food itself.