I have always been a red wine drinker, that is when I would drink wine. For most of my drinking life so far I have been a beer drinker (light beer mainly). Every now and then, however, I would enjoy a nice Cabernet while sitting in front of a fire in my fuzzy socks. In that situation a beer just won't do. Also, fancy dinners and special occasions would usually call for the vino as well.
My first real wine experience probably came to fruition after visiting Napa Valley. I came home quite the connoisseur knowing all there was to know about real wine. And of course real wine could only come from California. Although the years have taught me otherwise I must say the one thing I learned on that trip still holds true for even a novice like myself and that is White Zinfandel is a "wine on training wheels!"
Somewhere in the last year I decided I would learn to like white wine. I can't really remember why (my memory is fuzzier these days). Maybe it was because my family drank more white wine than red, maybe because beer was too filling. The point is, I can now call myself a full fledged white wine drinker.
I started with a wine journal recording the wine variety, the vintage, the vineyard, the region and notes on what I thought of the wine. I started out with comments like "I loved this wine. It was easy to drink the entire bottle" or "I didn't like this wine very much. It took me more than two days to go through the bottle". Now I write things like "With an aroma of citrus and berries this wine has a light, crisp taste of grapefruit and strawberries with a hint of oak and a smooth finish". Of course, when I look back over my journal (and there are many entries) they all seem to sound similar.
What I have discovered, so far, is that I am not fond of Chardonnay. I used to think it was because it was too dry until someone mentioned that it might just be that I didn't like the oak flavor that most Chard's have. When I buy Chardonnay now I look for the "un-oaked" varieties and I do like them much better. These varieties are hard to come by, at least in my experience. These are typically your French wines but you can find others if you look. A couple you might try are 'La Vuelta' from Argentina and 'Elderton' from Australia. These rated a '13' out of '20' in my rating system and although this may sound low it is an average wine in my book.
I score wine base on color, nose, taste and finish with the highest number in each category being a '5'. I have yet to give any wine, with the exception of Barton and Guestier's 2005 Bordeux, a '5' rating in any category. I gave B&G the highest rating in both nose and finish with a total score of '18'. I would say in general though, I think anything from '14' to '16' is a pretty decent bottle of wine.
I admittedly am nowhere near a wine expert and really, who is? I think when it comes to wine it is all a matter of personal taste. I do swirl, I do sniff and I do savor the wine in my mouth before swallowing. I do not make a production out of it, however. Not that there is anything wrong with that. It just doesn't do anything for me. I can just as easily swirl the wine right out of the glass, onto the floor and still find the taste to be the same. Of course I probably wouldn't do that because I like my glasses oversized and my pours to be 1/4 of the way full. It's an aesthetics thing really. It has nothing to do with not finishing the bottle in one sitting. In fact, I find that not finishing an open bottle is a hard thing to do.
Well, that is enough about me and my wine adventures for now. I have never had a blog. I don't even know why I started writing this. Maybe I was bored, maybe the 2008 Blackstone Sauvingnon Blanc made me do it or maybe I just ran out of pages in my wine journal. Whatever the case is, I am glad I am here and I look forward to recording my journey into the wonderful and exciting world of white wines.
Until next bottle, cheers!
My first real wine experience probably came to fruition after visiting Napa Valley. I came home quite the connoisseur knowing all there was to know about real wine. And of course real wine could only come from California. Although the years have taught me otherwise I must say the one thing I learned on that trip still holds true for even a novice like myself and that is White Zinfandel is a "wine on training wheels!"
Somewhere in the last year I decided I would learn to like white wine. I can't really remember why (my memory is fuzzier these days). Maybe it was because my family drank more white wine than red, maybe because beer was too filling. The point is, I can now call myself a full fledged white wine drinker.
I started with a wine journal recording the wine variety, the vintage, the vineyard, the region and notes on what I thought of the wine. I started out with comments like "I loved this wine. It was easy to drink the entire bottle" or "I didn't like this wine very much. It took me more than two days to go through the bottle". Now I write things like "With an aroma of citrus and berries this wine has a light, crisp taste of grapefruit and strawberries with a hint of oak and a smooth finish". Of course, when I look back over my journal (and there are many entries) they all seem to sound similar.
What I have discovered, so far, is that I am not fond of Chardonnay. I used to think it was because it was too dry until someone mentioned that it might just be that I didn't like the oak flavor that most Chard's have. When I buy Chardonnay now I look for the "un-oaked" varieties and I do like them much better. These varieties are hard to come by, at least in my experience. These are typically your French wines but you can find others if you look. A couple you might try are 'La Vuelta' from Argentina and 'Elderton' from Australia. These rated a '13' out of '20' in my rating system and although this may sound low it is an average wine in my book.
I score wine base on color, nose, taste and finish with the highest number in each category being a '5'. I have yet to give any wine, with the exception of Barton and Guestier's 2005 Bordeux, a '5' rating in any category. I gave B&G the highest rating in both nose and finish with a total score of '18'. I would say in general though, I think anything from '14' to '16' is a pretty decent bottle of wine.
I admittedly am nowhere near a wine expert and really, who is? I think when it comes to wine it is all a matter of personal taste. I do swirl, I do sniff and I do savor the wine in my mouth before swallowing. I do not make a production out of it, however. Not that there is anything wrong with that. It just doesn't do anything for me. I can just as easily swirl the wine right out of the glass, onto the floor and still find the taste to be the same. Of course I probably wouldn't do that because I like my glasses oversized and my pours to be 1/4 of the way full. It's an aesthetics thing really. It has nothing to do with not finishing the bottle in one sitting. In fact, I find that not finishing an open bottle is a hard thing to do.
Well, that is enough about me and my wine adventures for now. I have never had a blog. I don't even know why I started writing this. Maybe I was bored, maybe the 2008 Blackstone Sauvingnon Blanc made me do it or maybe I just ran out of pages in my wine journal. Whatever the case is, I am glad I am here and I look forward to recording my journey into the wonderful and exciting world of white wines.
Until next bottle, cheers!
And, of course, now that I've lost my bestest beer buddy....
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