Category Archives: White

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Herve Villemade – Sauvignon Blanc, 2016

  • Basic info: Herve Villemade, Vin de France, Sauvignon Blanc, Loire Valley, France, 2016.
  • Type: White
  • Price estimate: $15 (Chamber Street Wines)
  • Look: translucent straw with medium legs
  • Smell: lemon, jasmine, granny smith apples. Bob got pineapple and pine.
  • Taste: Crisp, dry, diluted grapefruit with a touch of honey.
  • Conclusions: This is definitely a Sauvignon Blanc, but it is an excellent example of the grape. It will never be my favorite varietal, but this is one I could easily drink. The finish was good and it had the right balance of acidity and sweetness  even though it is NOT a sweet wine.
  • Other notes: I bought this bottle specifically because I wanted to try Sauvignon Blanc again. I tend to avoid Sauvignon Blancs as I’ve had lots that were more like drinking alcoholic grapefruit juice than wine. I know that is a style and flavor profile some like, but I don’t. However, with this one, I enjoyed the wine even if I didn’t love it.
  • From the bottle: No bottle notes, but from Chamber Street, “The wine shows lovely aromas of pear, melon, lime-flower and boxwood, really pretty, with pear and apple on the palate with stone and lemon confit – perfectly balanced and refreshing.” 12% alcohol by volume.

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Domaine Sainte Barbe – Chardonnay, 2014

  • Basic info: Domaine Sainte Barbarie, “La Perriere” Chardonnay, France – 2014
  • Type: White
  • Price estimate: $24 (Chamber Street Wines)
  • Look: Pale straw/medium yellow with interesting legs.
  • Smell: honeysuckle and apricot
  • Taste: dried peach and pineapple with a hint of vanilla. Smooth wine with a nice tang.
  • Conclusions: This wine falls into the “it’s okay” category. It was very drinkable, very easy to pair with food and was fine for a regular day. I do think one issue with it was that I tasted it along side a truly fantastic chardonnay that a friend brought over and it really paled in comparison. That first day we just tasted, and I had it with dinner the next night (or two) and it was good, but it isn’t a special wine at all.
  • Other notes: My biggest problem with this wine wasn’t the taste, but the headache I got after one glass. I thought it was a coincidence the first time, but after the second day, I realized that it had to be the wine itself. This is weird since wine almost never gives me a headache, and for a white wine to do that was highly unusual.
  • From the bottle: No bottle notes, but from Chamber Street, “The 2014 shows elegant, subtle aromas of dried pear, lime-flower, stone, melon, pineapple and honeysuckle. The palate is very mineral, with stone and citrusy acids, dense pear and herbal flavors and terrific length.” 12.5% alcohol by volume.

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Maldivinas – Albillo, 2015

  • Basic info: Maldivinas “Combate” Albillo, Spain, 2015
  • Type: White
  • Price estimate: $25 (Chamber Street Wines)
  • Look: Golden in color with long legs
  • Smell: honey/honeysuckle, mineral and a little citrus. Bob called oak on the nose.
  • Taste: Soft wine, but has a definite sour note. Some apple notes and just a hint of vanilla.
  • Conclusions: Bob liked this wine and thought it had a lot of character and was very different from anything we have tasted before. I agreed with the “different” classification, but I wasn’t sure if I liked it or not. I wasn’t tempted to have a second glass, but I also didn’t shy away from having a glass the next night with dinner. Even after drinking it for a few days, I’m not sure if I like it or not.
  • Other notes: This was one wine that I was really excited to try for a few reasons. I’ve never had the albillo grape before and wasn’t familiar with it. The bigger reason to be excited is that this was an experimental wine from the vintner and they made only one barrel of it. Yep, one barrel. So whether I liked it or not, I got to taste something that is very unique and I will probably never taste again.
  • From the bottle: No notes on the bottle, but from Chamber Street, “… the fruit and floral are less cloying than Viognier’s, with intense earth and mineral expression across terrors.” 13% alcohol by volume.

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Albamar – Albarino, 2015

  • Basic info: Albamar Rias Baixas, Albarino, Spain – 2015
  • Type: White
  • Price estimate: $19 (Chamber Street Wines)
  • Look: Pale yellow with good legs.
  • Smell: lime and honey
  • Taste: Crisp. tart lime. Very light
  • Conclusions: This was definitely a unique wine and I’ve never had anything like it. The lime taste was very different, but very good with a faro taco salad and yogurt lime dressing. I liked it, but wouldn’t go out of my way for it.
  • Other notes: Bob was fairly ambivalent about this wine, and I think I liked it more than he did. I’m use to lemon or grapefruit in wine, but not lime and at first the amount of  lime I tasted was a bit overwhelming. Definitely better fridge cold than wine fridge cold.
  • From the bottle: No bottle notes (although the bottle was in Spanish, so maybe there was and I couldn’t read them) but from Chamber Street, “This is Albarino the way we love it: crisp, mineral, saline, with great texture and a long finish.”

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Rasa Vineyards, Riesling – 2013

  • Basic info: Rasa Vineyards, “The Composer,” Riesling, Walla Walla Valley, Oregon, 2013
  • Type: White
  • Price estimate: $30 (from vineyard)
  • Look: Very pale yellow, some legs
  • Smell: honeysuckle, lemon, white peach
  • Taste: Smooth. Lemon and honey.
  • Conclusions: Fantastic. Good, clean, refreshing and just enough sweetness to cut the acid but not a sweet wine at all. Bob thought the amount of flavor and complexity from such a delicate wine was pretty amazing, and I have to agree.
  • Other notes: I’m suddenly very glad I started this little adventure because I may have avoided this wine just because I associate Riesling with sweet. This was not a sweet wine, but it had a nice touch of sweetness to offset the acidity. It was light, easy drinking and incredibly good. It is more than I generally spend on a white, but if I had an occasion where I needed a really good white, this would fit the bill.
  • From the bottle: No bottle notes, but from the winery, “Light straw in color, the wine offers superb aromatics of apple, pear, spice, petrol, and white flowers. The aromatic complexity follows through on the palate with notes of spice, mineral, wet stone, apple, pear, and lime. Nuances of mineral and petrol echo on the long, vibrant finish.” 12% alcohol by volume.

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Castello di Corbara, Orvieto – 2014

  • Basic info:Castello di Corbara, Oriveto Classico Superiore, Italy – 2014
  • Type: White
  • Price estimate: $14 (local wine store)
  • Look: Golden yellow in color with good legs.
  • Smell: Lemon, merengue
  • Taste: Clean, crisp with a little bit of red grapefruit. Some spice that I can’t identify. Bob got lots of citrus with a lot of tartness and some peach pit flavor.)
  • Conclusions: I liked this wine more than Bob did. He thought it was a bit too citrus tasting and a little too tart. I thought the crispness of the citrus worked for a summer sipping wine.
  • Other notes: This is definitely a summer wine and not one that I think I would want at other times of the year, and I’m not sure how often I would drink it since I’m not a huge grapefruit fan, but I did like this one.
  • From the bottle: “Straw yellow color, mature fruits of peach and apricot with a floral background and it’s well balanced acidity reflect the terroir of the Orvieto region.” 13% alcohol by volume.

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Wine, but something a little different

I like to think that when I decide to learn about something, I go in all the way. Some may call this obsessive (ok, even people who love me call this obsessive) but it works for me. It is why I do well in school, and why I’m good at my job. But I knew wine had to be a little different. I’m not going for a sommelier certification and I need to be careful how much I drink so I could do a lot of research, be super organized, try a lot of different varieties, but the actual drinking had to stay to one or two glasses a day.

IMG_20170610_172749Thankfully I also have friends that like to drink wine and are game to try new things. The other night we had Kate and Leta over and we did a little exploring of French wines with the help of a site I found by a podcast I listen to (long story). Weekly Tasting (no, I’m not getting multiple bottles every week) offers different packs of wine each week. You get the wine (4 bottles), pairing suggestions (with recipes), wine notes and access to a tasting video. IMG_20170610_174653We thought it would be fun to see how our sense of taste and smell compared to what the professionals said, and we tried a few new wines along the way. We had a blast. The one white was a particular hit – a muscadet that was salty and had some great lemon-lime notes. We paired everything with cheese, cause, well, it was cheese box week, and we made it a little end of the school year celebration.

IMG_20170507_195955I’ve also gotten very organized in my wine storage. It takes a little upfront work whenever I get a new bottle, but it helps. Yes, it is a spreadsheet. A color coded spreadsheet so I know where I go the wine from, but there is no longer the mystery of what is in the wine fridge or where a particular bottle is. IMG_20170507_132540For the wine fridge in the kitchen, we went low tech but the miracle of the white board has made my wine life so much easier. It is kind of like my meal list – it takes the guess work out of what to have each night.

I’m still taking notes on each wine, and refining what I do and do not like in a glass of wine. I’ve found that I’m a little more adventurous with my wine than I was before, and that makes me happy. If I go to a restaurant and there is a wine varietal that I don’t know, I’m more likely to try it. I may ask a little bit about it – make sure it isn’t a super big earthy wine that I just won’t like at all – but I venture beyond pinot noir and zinfandel. I can add wine regions to my list of places I want to travel and go beyond cities with lots of deep history. (Not that I will ever stop traveling to old cities with deep history.) I am enjoying my little adventure and feel like I’m learning a little something along the way. Since that was the whole point of this experiment, I’m calling it a success. No need to order pizza. 🙂

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Chateau Thebaud, Muscadet – 2012

  • Basic info: Chateau Thebaud, Clos des Morines, Muscadet Severe et Mare, 2012
  • Type: White
  • Price estimate: $23 (Chamber St. Wines)
  • Look: Pale yellow, translucent. Medium legs.
  • Smell: Lemon, honey and some herbs.
  • Taste: Round, tart, crisp. notes of lemon, grapefruit and melon. Not sweet, but too dry either.
  • Conclusions: Good wine, but would not go out of my way for it. It is a great sipping wine.
  • Other notes: I’m sure I’ve had muscadet before, but I can’t remember what I thought of it before. I liked this wine, but it did remind me of chardonnay a bit. It’s a soft white, which is nice, but it isn’t my favorite.
  • From the bottle: From Chamber Street: “subtle aromas of dried pears, herbs, citrus, almond and stone, quite subtle and elegant.” 12% alcohol by volume.

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Chiesa Carlo – Roero Arneis 2014

  • Basic info: Chiesa Carlo Roero Arneis Quin Wine, Italy, 2014.
  • Type: White
  • Price estimate: $20 (Chamber Street Wines)
  • Look: Light yellow. Translucent with medium legs.
  • Smell: Lemon and orange. (Bob got anise and licorice smell, but I honestly didn’t get any of those)
  • Taste: Lemon, chive. Tangy, but not grapefruit-like. Crisp and a descent body. (Bob found mineral and some scallion for his tasting note.)
  • Conclusions: We both really liked this wine, but not as much as the vermentino. It had a really nice texture and a good, clean taste, but for me it was good, but not great. I liked it, and I would have it again, but I am not going out of my way to find more.
  • Other notes: This was the second in the mixed case that we ordered. So far we are really happy with the wines, and I can’t wait to try some of the reds.
  • From the bottle: No notes on the bottle, but from Chamber Street, “wine is bright straw yellow and has persistent flavors of green apples, stone fruit and white flowers with just a touch of honey.” 13.5% alcohol by volume.

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Gros Ventre – Vermentino, 2016

  • Basic info: Gros Venrtre Vermentino, El Dorado, CA, 2016.
  • Type: White
  • Price estimate: $23 (from online wine store (Chamber Street Wines – NYC wine store that also sells online)
  • Look: Pale yellow, translucent. Medium legs.
  • Smell: peach, fresh apricot and a vague honey smell.
  • Taste: Clean. Apple, mineral. Soft wine but has a nice tang.
  • Conclusions: Bob called this one of the best white wines he has ever had and I have to agree. It it stunning and really drinkable. It tastes incredibly smooth and light and while very different than the last two whites that we liked, it is one that I will look for again.
  • Other notes: I hate to admit it, but I think I am really getting back into white wines. The last three that we had I loved, and I can’t say the same for the reds. I love red wine, but now that I’m finding whites that are not as grapefruit-y, I am really enjoying them. I also loved the winery information on this one. They use sustainable farming practices and lean organic and bio-dynamic which you can taste the care in the wine. Once we drink down our current stock, I am probably going to try a few more from them.
  • From the bottle: No tasting notes on the bottle, but from the winery, “This Vermentino has been co-fermented with a touch of Picpoul Blanc, which brings bright, refreshing acidity to complement the minerality found on the palate. It offers notes of citrus leaf, lemon zest, white flowers, and a hint of Nashi pear.” 12.6% alcohol by volume.

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