So last friday, I had my 2nd wine lesson and it was about blush or rose. It's not white nor red, and many believe that winemakers actually mixed these two to get the pink color. However that is a possibility, but most winemakers use other techniques. Two of the techniques are:
1. leaving the grape skin in the pressed juice for just long enough to get the pinkish color. This will not only add color to the juice, but some tannin as well.
2. putting the pressed juice in a barrel that was used to hold red wine. Mostly they will keep it for several hours, a day max so that the juice will get the color of the red wine, but not getting influenced by the flavor that was still on the wall of the barrel.
For that evening, we had 4-5 different wines. ( Yah, kinda seem like the numbers of bottles are increasing, right?):
The first one we had was: Rendez Vous
It's a blend between Merlot and Grenache. However many winedrinkers will know the Merlot as a red wine, but this one's a blush/rose. The flavor was somewhat dry and like most rose's I know, you can smell the fruitiness as soon as it was poured into the glass. However I still can't distinguish the different aromas yet, but I do know I like the way it smells. Unfortunately I can't find a picture of the bottle to show you guys, but as soon as I find one, I'll post it. I promise!
The second one was a lightbodied red: De la roche
This is made from the Gamay Noir grape, also known as Beaujolais.
Year: 2010
Grapes: Gamay
Tasting: A harmony of small red berry flavours with delicate aromas of ripe fruit. The wine is full and fresh with a complex bouquet from traditional bananas through to ripe raspberry flavours. To drink whilst young.
Food matching: Best served at 65 F
This was my favorite of the evening. With this wine, we also got introduced to the magic of the wine aerator:
Like most hobbies has their gadgets, this one is really a magic tool for wines. We got two glasses of the same one to taste, but one without the aerator and one with the aerator. And you wouldn't believe those two glasses actually comes from the same bottle. The first one was stronger in flavor, but it fade away as soon as it hit my pallate. The second one tasted smoother, easier to drink and the flavor lingers for some time before it actually faded. For all winelover, I really would recommend having one of these gadgets to increase your wine drinking experience.
The 3rd wine of the evening is the Queen of Hearts
This was the favorite of the group and this is what I found online:
"This lovely Pinot was fermented in small batches, aged in oak barrels, carefully blended and bottled at the peak of quality. This vintage has aromas of ripe blackberry, black cherry, and cola with smooth fruit driven flavors of plum, strawberry and warm spices."
For me, it was a bit too sweet. It does have a familiar taste to it, which is probably the cola. The only aroma I could've guessed was that there must be some kind of berry in it. Which one,,,that was the big question.
The 4th one is my kind of my wine: Beringer White Zinfandel
This is a really fruity wine. It's a California wine, easy to drink and I love the fruity aroma. But probably my pallate is changing and somehow it seems too sweet for me now. But I know for a fact that this is a favorite for most Surinamese people. It's a wine that they can drink with everything and it's sweet. (Yeah, I'm supposed to say 'fruity', but I think this is easier to grasp).
As a final surprise, we were given a glass of red wine. It tasted light, but smooth and to all our surprise: it was a Carlo Rossi!!
I've always known Carlo Rossi as a cheap wine and I can drink it, but not very fond of it. And I've learned a new phrase: 2 buck chuck. It's a Charles Shaw wine, which is sold for $2,- ( 2 bucks), so every cheap wine was then called 2 buck chuck. Quite interesting story though.
But since no one was aware which wine it was, everybody was surprised that the Carlo Rossi came out so smooth and tasted not bad at all. Maybe it's the aerator, maybe the ambiance, but we all enjoyed another wine lesson from Mr. Edward Cabell and his wife Hortence.
Another very popular aerator used for wine is the Metrokane Rabbit Wine Aerating Pourer. Metrokane has been making high quality wine tools for a while so it was not surprising when they came out with their own version of this type of aerator. If consumer reviews are any indication, they have another winner on their hands. While the Vinturi is a handheld aerator, the Metrokane inserts directly into the bottleneck of your wine bottle. This makes pouring easier than the Vinturi since you don't have to hold two things at once as you are pouring. It is easy to clean, dishwasher safe, and comes with a storage case. It's small size and the fact that it is made of plastic makes it easy to take along also.
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Thank you for sharing your knowledge, Alfred! Where can we buy the Metrokane Rabbit Wine Aerating Pourer?
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