The College Sommelier

Because drinking cheap bottles of wine can be an art too. (c) Copyright 2013

[thecollegesommelier]

Wine Tasting #11 – Villa Cerrina Chardonnay Pinot Grigio [85]

 Hey y’all! I’m back at St. Louis and finally have somewhat of a regular schedule figured out, so this wine blog can be updated weekly! I will be tasting the wine on #TastingTuesdays and posting the entry the next day as part of #WineWednesday. I’m very proud of my hashtag game so please don’t ridicule me for it (I am aware that silly hashtags are to be ridiculed, just don’t do it too hard.) For this entry though, I've decided to post it on the same day, since I was actually productive for once in my life. 

Now that I’m back in a city where there is a Trader Joe’s (probably the only thing St. Louis has over Hawaii), my wine selection is both cheaper and broader. Exciting stuff! For the kickoff, I’ve gone with something familiar to me: an Italian pinot grigio from Venice. But this is a bit different, as it’s labeled Chardonnay pinot grigio, implying a blend of the two white grapes. On the back, it explained that it used 60% chardonnay and 40% pinot grigio grapes. An interesting experiment. When I order wine at restaurants, I almost always choose a chardonnay, so maybe adding some chardonnay to my favorite type of cheap wine is just what it needed.

  Name: Villa Cerrina Chardonnay Pinot Grigio

Vineyard: Villa Cerrina

Vintage: 2012

Alcohol %: 12%

Region: Venice

Country: Italy

Website: n/a

  COLLEGE

-       Color: A lighter, clearer yellow-green than your typical white. Looks more like Welch’s white grape juice than white wine in the Solo cup.

-       Smell: A pleasant, slightly fruity smell. The slightest hint of peach. Not overwhelming but not absent, either. A very nice aroma.

-       Taste: Delicious, and not as fruity as the smell would hint at. My only criticism is that it’s a very flat flavor, with no crispness. But for a warm wine that was only $5, I was certainly impressed. Some cheap wines taste like grape juice gone bad; this wine tasted like what wine is supposed to taste like, just without complexity.

-       Chug-ability: Oh yes. And there’s barely any aftertaste, either. Chug away, friends!

-       Does it come in a big bottle? Nope

-       Design: Pretty run of the mill. Nothing about the label stands out, and the Chardonnay Pinot Grigio part of the label looks jumbled rather than clean, but it gave me a nice visual on the color of the wine that I appreciated.

-       Cork or screw top: Cork, unfortunately, and not a pretty one either.

-       Price: $4.99 @ Trader Joe’s

  CLASSY

-       Color: A pretty color but one that gets lost on my wooden countertops. If you’re one for Instagramming your every drink, which I may or may not be, you might want to choose something with a more striking color. Sadly it’s not liquid gold.

-       Smell: Smell remained the same, although it was less fruity that I remember.

-       Taste: Chilling the wine makes it even easier to drink. It goes down like juice while keeping that wine taste, which is just perfect for the college connoisseur. However, chilling it made it even more apparent that this wine lacked edge. Not the worst thing, but I do appreciate complexity.

-       Value: For $4.99, this wine is definitely cheap, and it’s easy to drink, which makes it best for college students. Because its bottle and appearance are less memorable, it isn’t the perfect value, but it comes close.

  So for my first wine tasting back in St. Louis, I definitely felt like I made the right choice in wine. And on a snow day like this, it was nice to have a wine that was familiar rather than adventurous. I wouldn’t feel strange cuddling up in bed with this bottle. But would I recommend it? Much like the other pinot grigio from Venice that I’m so fond of, I would suggest this wine for cheap college students who want a wine they can drink warm or cold. It wasn’t the tastiest or prettiest wine, but it was more than adequate and dirt cheap. Happy tasting and be safe in that snow!

FINAL RATING: [85]

[thecollegesommelier]

Wine Tasting #10 – Two Vines Merlot [85]

My tenth wine tasting! And my last in Hawaii. It’s been a great break from living in an apartment in St. Louis in winter. And the temperatures here are in the 70s-80s rather than the -10s-0s, so I’m very pleased in that regard. Mahalo, beautiful weather.

  The worst part about break is that the weekend seems to mean nothing. Seriously, I’m spending another Saturday night in. But I’m coping with the disappointment of doing nothing by performing a wine tasting instead. I’m trying to taste more reds, so tonight we have a Washington merlot. I believe this is the first wine I’ve ever had from Washington, or at least the first wine I’ve been aware of being from Washington. Wine growing isn’t just for California any more! Merlot grapes are the kind they use in Bordeaux wines, which are my favorite type of red, so hopefully this is similar.

  Name: Two Vines Merlot

Vineyard: Columbia Crest

Vintage: 2010

Alcohol %: 13.5%

Region: Columbia Valley, Washington

Country: USA

Website: http://www.Columbia-crest.com

  COLLEGE

-       Color: A deep red, almost black without being purple. Dark scarlet. Very nice to look at.

-       Smell: Very pungent and earthy, at times almost bitter. Interesting, powerful smell but I’m not sure I enjoy it too much.

-       Taste: The wine is surprisingly light for a red, which I normally find to be heavier on the tongue. It’s very fruity, with raspberry notes. Given the smell, I was expecting a little more acidity but I didn’t find too much. A little bit of acidity is pleasant, but can be overwhelming at times, so that’s a good surprise.

-       Chug-ability: Very chug-able, due to its lightness and fruitiness.

-       Does it come in a big bottle? Nope

-       Design: A simple, if somewhat boring design. Typical emerald green bottle with a label . Rather unimaginative but at least it’s not ugly.

-       Cork or screw top: Cork

-       Price: $7.99. This is the last of the wines I tasted that will have the Hawaii caveat, where it might be more expensive simply because it’s expensive to ship things to islands in the middle of the Pacific.

  CLASSY

-       Color: This is perhaps the prettiest wine I’ve tasted so far. It’s absolutely gorgeous in a wine glass, and when the light shines through it’s a brilliant crimson. It’s nice to see a red wine that doesn’t look like blood. In the light it almost has some light violet shades as well. The perfect wine to Instagram, which for a college-focused website, should count for something, right? 

-       Smell: Since I didn’t chill it as much since it’s a red, no discernible effect on the smell.

-       Taste: Again, still fruity with red fruit notes. I’m not huge on reds but I definitely found this one to be good. And given my last experience with a red wine tasting, it was almost perfect in comparison. As my dad, who also tried that other red, said, “this wine is actually drinkable.”

-       Value: Relatively cheap, delicious, and very great to look at. This would be the perfect wine to serve at a dinner you wanted to make it look like you were splurging. The crimson of the wine would complement a rare steak beautifully.

  I was absolutely enamored by the look of this wine, and thought the taste was good if not great. It’s delicious but not exactly complex, which a lot of people rate highly. The price is relatively cheap, and might have been influenced by the fact that I bought it in Hawaii. The bottle is pretty forgettable but it has a high alcohol content and is chuggable, so it’s valuable. Definitely went out on my Hawaiian wine tasting adventures on a high note. Thanks for reading, and look forward to a more regular wine tasting schedule once I’m back in St. Louis!

  FINAL RATING: [85]

[thecollegesommelier]

Wine Tasting #9 – Gabbiano Pinot Grigio 2012 [82]

It’s been a busy week for me, what with New Year’s Eve and rebooting this blog and creating my first post-graduation writing blog. (Check that out here.) But much like a college student would, I still manage to make time to taste some cheap wines. Really hoping that I won’t be sorely disappointed like I was by the wine I tried last night. I’m again trying something I usually enjoy, an Italian white from Venice. My favorite cheap wine ever is a cheap Italian white, so will this live up to my “standards”? Let’s find out.

  Name: Gabbiano Pinot Grigio

Vineyard: Gabbiano

Vintage: 2012

Alcohol %: 12.5%

Region: Venice

Country: Italy

Website: http://www.gabbiano.com

  COLLEGE

-       Color: Clear but yellow. There will no mistaking this wine for water.

-       Smell: Strong, fruity but not too sweet. Definitely smelled some peach in there.

-       Taste: Very similar to its smell, the wine has a distinct taste that manages to be fruity without tasting too much like grape juice. It’s not bland but even-keeled, very crisp. No overpowering aftertaste.

-       Chug-ability: Yes, very chug-able.

-       Does it come in a big bottle? Sadly, no.

-       Design: The first thing you notice about this bottle is the illustration of a knight, or as the Italian lettering under it reads, “il cavaliere.” Then you notice the other elements: the fact that it comes from Venice, the brand name of “Gabbiano,” a very Italian name, and most impressively, the “established in 1124.” That’s bonkers. The font isn’t anything to write home about but it’s not ugly. Definitely a cool, classy label for the display shelf.

-       Cork or screw top: Screw top! Added value.

-       Price: $6.99, but I’m still in Hawaii, so maybe that’s a dollar or two more than it would be stateside.

  CLASSY

-       Color: A beautiful light gold in the wine glass, with no hints of green or orange like in some whites. This is just a gorgeous color for wine.

-       Smell: No change in smell with the chilling, just the same pleasant fruity but not too sweet smell.

-       Taste: Surprisingly, chilling the wine brought out more of a grape juice-like taste at the beginning of my sip. It still finished with some peach and citrus notes, but I was struck by just how much chilling it had changed the taste. It isn’t overwhelmingly sweet and it remains very crisp at the finish.

-       Value: This isn’t the best cheap Italian white I’ve had, but with a screwtop, a pretty color, and a light, easy to drink taste, it’s still very good. And it was among the cheapest wines I saw at the Safeway in Hawaii, so that’s an encouraging sign.

Overall, this wine didn’t blow my mind in a way that my favorite (in terms of value) pinot grigio did. And since it was more expensive, I’m more partial to that first wine I tasted, the Gaetano D’Aquino Pinot Grigio. Both were pinots from Venice, but the other was cheaper and tastier. However, since I’m not sure they carry that wine in Hawaii, if you ever end up in paradise, this is a very good substitute. That being said, I did really like the bottle and was impressed by its “established in 1124” date. That’s almost 900 years ago. Crazy stuff. So buy this wine if you’re easily impressed by dates like that, or have a thing for knights, or if you’re partial to Italian whites like I am. Happy tasting! 

FINAL RATING: [82]

[thecollegesommelier]

Wine Tasting #8 – Mouton Cadet Rouge [65]

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope y’all have a resolution to drink more cheap wine, cause that’s what this blog is all about. I did this tasting during my New Year’s Eve evening, which was so eventful. I hung out with my parents and my dog, who is terrified of fireworks. If only dogs could drink wine. Is that cat wine they brew safe for dogs, too? I should probably look into that.

Anyway, I’m partial to reds from France, and this is a red from France. Will it stand up to all the other delicious cheap wines I’ve sampled? Let’s find out. 

 Name: Mouton Cadet Rouge

Vineyard: Baron Philippe de Rothschild

Vintage: 2011

Alcohol %: 13.5%

Region: Bordeaux

Country: France

Website: http://www.bpdr.com/

  COLLEGE

-       Color: Ruby red with a slightly orange tinge. While most red wines look purple or black in a Solo Cup, this wine kept its lighter red coloration.

-       Smell: Smells like a typical red, but more fruity than earthy, without smelling too sweet.

-       Taste: Not nearly as fruity as it smells, it’s a smooth, drinkable wine with no striking notes. A little bit of spice at the end, which was enjoyable, but I was left wanting a little more from the flavor profile. It’s boring, which is not necessarily an insult.

-       Chug-ability: The spicy notes at the end make it a difficult chug, but that’s a good thing overall, if not for the college student playing drinking games.

-       Does it come in a big bottle? Nope

-       Design: A French wine begets a French design. The bottle itself is a pretty emerald, with a cream label entirely on French on the front. Impressive French words like “Bordeaux” and “Baron” are balanced out by a neat quote about wine (that loosely translates to wine is born, it lives, and then when it dies it lives on in man) from the Baron himself. Fonts are sort of quirky while remaining classy.

-       Cork or screw top: Cork, and it almost broke, but it was also a pretty cork.

-       Price: $9.99. But again, this is in Hawaii, where everything is more expensive. It’s imported from France, which is literally on the opposite side of the planet going by time zones, so take the price with a grain of salt.

  CLASSY

-       Color: Gorgeous wine to look at in a clear glass, since it’s more red than purple. If you like taking pictures of your drinking habits, this might be the wine for you.

-       Smell: No change.

-       Taste: On second taste, I’m starting to realize what the spiciness I was detecting was: acidity. And a little bit of acidity in wine is good. But this… this is too much. I could hardly finish my second glass. If it had redeemable qualities in its flavor profile I might consider sticking through it, but the acidity is becoming too much. Very disappointed.

-       Value: Ten dollars for a wine with an okay bottle and too much acidity? Yeah, that’s not value. I expect more from French reds, especially ones that I pay more than $5 for.

  So I was just eh on this wine until I read the bottle. This is supposed to follow in a long line of good wines from somebody described as legendary. Baron Philippe de Rothschild is a pretty pretentious name, and the wine didn’t live up to what I presume to be his standard, since it didn’t live up to my standard of a college student trying to branch out and enjoy red wines alongside white wines. Also the name… Mouton cadet literally means younger sheep. Not exactly the type of French words you want displayed on your wine bottle. I’m only just now realizing that the logo is a ram merged with grapes. That’s sort of weird, in retrospect. Pass on this wine, readers.

  FINAL RATING: [65]

[thecollegesommelier]

Wine Tasting #7 – Maui Splash Passion Fruit [90]

Hey y’all! I haven’t forgotten about this wonderful project of mine. I just had to take a break during the school year in order to make sure that I graduated. Yeah, surprisingly, after writing essay after essay during the week, the last thing I wanted to do while tasting wine was write about it. But now I’m graduated and I can spend all of my time (and money) on wine!

  I’m home in Hawaii right now, so I decided I should try some Hawaiian wine. That’s right, they make wine in Hawaii! And surprise, they make it with pineapples. I mean, we could try and be more cliché, but I’m sure it’ll taste delicious. Hopefully I still have the palate I used to!

  Now let’s hele on* to the wine tasting!

  *Local kine talk for let’s go.

  Name: Maui Splash Passion Fruit

Vineyard: Ulupalakua Vineyard

Vintage: Didn’t say.

Alcohol %: 11.5%

Region: Maui, Hawaii

Country: USA

Website: http://mauiwine.com/

  COLLEGE

-       Color: A very clear, slightly yellow liquid. In the picture, it looks essentially identical to water. In the bottle, however, it has a more appealing color, a soft yellow.

-       Smell: This is definitely a pineapple wine. If you put this next to a glass of pineapple juice from the can, I would be unable to tell this difference. I take that back. There’s definitely a slight wine-y smell to it, but the pineapple mostly overpowers it.

-       Taste: I was expecting an overpowering sweet taste so I was pleasantly surprised by the subtlety of this wine. Definitely tastes like pineapple and other tropical fruits, but in a crisp way, not in a pineapple juice way. It has a slightly sour aftertaste, not in a horrible way, but it serves as an extra reminder that you’re drinking actual wine, not just alcoholic pineapple juice.

-       Chug-ability: That aftertaste I just mentioned prevents it from being 100% chug-able. Although I expect if you’re in Hawaii enjoying pineapple wine, you’re going to want to enjoy the glass, not play drinking games with it.

-       Does it come in a big bottle? Nope.

-       Design: Definitely a bottle worth displaying, and the adorable cork didn’t hurt. The label is bright and colorful without being tacky, featuring palm trees and a house on stilts on the side of a hill along Maui’s coastline. Plus, it prominently says Maui Splash if you want to brag about your exotic tastes. (I would like to take this time to remind you that Hawaii is part of the United States, since some people apparently don’t know that.) The bottle itself is clear and unfussy.

-       Cork or screw top: Cork! But it’s a beautiful cork, with their logo and website on it. I approve of any vineyard with a good social media game.

-       Price: I got it on sale at Safeway for $9. But on average wine in Hawaii is about $1-2 more than in the states, so I’d guess it would be $7 normally. Actually, since it isn’t imported, it’s probably just $9. Prices are confusing. Anyway, not the cheapest wine and it’s probably hard to get outside of Hawaii. 

CLASSY

-       Color: Again, still a watery, light gold. Pleasant to look at in a glass.

-       Smell: Chilling the wine did not really affect the smell as far as I could tell.

-       Taste: Surprisingly, the chilled wine was sweeter than when I had simply tasted it warm. It’s still not on a moscato-level where it’s too sweet to handle (and I say that as someone who enjoys limited quantities of moscato), but it was more pineapple-y and passion fruity than when I first tried it. The aftertaste is less powerful though, which is a good sign for its chug-ability.

-       Value: It’s hard to rate value in paradise. But if you happen to be in Hawaii, I would definitely recommend this wine. It’s sweet but not in an awful way, it’s relatively cheap for a local wine, and most importantly, supporting local Hawaiian businesses over similarly priced wine is a worthy endeavor. Plus, that alcohol content doesn’t hurt.

I had never had pineapple wine until tonight, or really considered it as a possibility. But it was delicious and worth every penny. I ate it with sushi and it paired very well, as most white wines do with sushi. If you want, you can order it online on the website, but other than that, this might be a wine you only enjoy it paradise. Hopefully Trader Joe’s adds this to their wine selection soon. It could be a great spring white! 

FINAL RATING: [90]

[thecollegesommelier]

Wine Tasting 6 – Gaetano d’Aquino Chianti 2011 [80]

As I try more and more reds, I’m finding that I like them more often than not. I’m still on the quest for a red that I would want to drink before I tried white wine, though. I’m traveling to Italy for this one, and it’s a chianti this time. Chianti refers to the region in Italy where the grapes were grown and the wine was produced. Like a lot of the other Italian wines I’ve seen, it has a fancy, vintage-looking label that looks great on any troy shelf. We’ll see how my second red wine tasting goes.

 Name: Gaetano d’Aquino Chianti 2011

Vineyard: Gaetano d’Aquino

Vintage: 2011

Alcohol %: 13%

Region: Tuscany (Florence)

Country: Italy

Website: http://www.daquino.com/

COLLEGE

-       Color: A vibrant red, almost bloody in color.

-       Smell: Fruity aroma, not overpowering like some reds are, though.

-       Taste: Surprisingly, at least given its fruity aroma, it is not too sweet. It’s not too heavy either, with a pleasant and subtle red fruit flavor without ever being too overpowering. It isn’t a wine that stands out for any one element: it’s just very drinkable and enjoyable, which I think is perfect for a cheap red wine.

-       Chug-ability: Oh yeah. I rarely can chug red wines but its subtle, neutral flavors are easy on the nose and throat.

-       Does it come in a big bottle? No

-       Design: Pretty label with a dark bottle. I’m a sucker for label that makes it look like it was made on an old European vineyard, and this wine accomplishes that. The wording on the front is all in Italian, and it has a picture of what looks like a Roman bust on the label. Never tacky, though.

-       Cork or screw top: Cork

-       Price: $4.99 

CLASSY

-       Color: Viewed through a wine glass in the light only accentuated what a gorgeous red color this wine had. A shimmering ruby rather than a muddy puddle.

-       Smell: The smell didn’t change.

-       Taste: Bringing the temperature down just a few notches really helped its flavor profile, but I didn’t detect any new flavors. Fruity with layers of berries. Just as drinkable as earlier.

-       Value: Cheap and chuggable, delicious and displayable – this would be an A+ value wine but for its cork.

This wine is solid in all the right ways. Calling it solid sounds like a euphemism for something bad, or that the wine might be mediocre. I assure you, it is not mediocre at all. It’s easy on the eyes and the nose and the tongue. It’s valuable, too, being so cheap yet coming in a pretty bottle. If you’re looking for a cheap Italian red wine, I would highly recommend this wine.

FINAL RATING: [80]

[thecollegesommelier]

Wine shoutout!

So I tweeted the owner of the La Granja wine group and he RTed my review and called it "Good stuff"! Hooray!

Good stuff “@georgiemorvis: I reviewed the La Granja 360 for my blog #thecollegesommelier and really liked it! http://t.co/dldQoWrlok”

— Louis Geirnaerdt (@louisgeirnaerdt) July 14, 2013

[thecollegesommelier]

Wine Tasting #5 – Venetian Moon Pinot Grigo 2012 [84]

As Britney Spears said in her iconic 2007 song “Toy Soldier,” “It’s been a while. I’m sorry to have kept you waiting.” Unfortunately (or really, fortunately), I was away on a whirlwind tour of D.C. and Chicago, where I saw Beyoncé and attended Lollapalooza. I also spent a lot of time with my grandparents, who would never buy a single wine advertised on this blog. Their wines are all at least twice as much as my cutoff price, so unfortunately, I will not spend my time reviewing Cakebread (my favorite wine ever). Anyway, onto the review!

This white wine has a misleading name: while it’s called Venetian Moon, it’s actually from a vineyard in California. So if you’re looking for a good Italian pinot grigio, this won’t be it. Will it stand up to the pinot grigio from Venice I loved so much? We will see.

Name: Venetian Moon Pinot Grigio

Vineyard: Trader Moon Wine Co.

Vintage: 2012

Alcohol %: 12.5%

Region: Manteca

Country: California

Website: n/a

COLLEGE

-       Color: Light, almost clear yellow.

-       Smell: Flat, light, and fruity. Almost odorless, if you ask me.

-       Taste: Starts out crisp and spicy, then transitions into a fruity and citrusy . Surprisingly complex for me. I was expecting a normal, dry yet fruity Pinot Grigio and I got something that was multi-faceted. And this was during the warm tasting!

-       Chug-ability: Very chuggable. I would not mind drinking this warm, straight out of the bottle, and in a dingy basement at a frat party while everyone else pounds back Natty Light. 

-       Does it come in a big bottle? Nope

-       Design: Simple label on a light, clear green bottle. The font isn’t really doing it for me. I think it might be Papyrus. THE HORROR. You know what else used Papyrus and got flack for it? Avatar. The James Cameron space epic. Not exactly what you want to evoke with your label. I could have made this label in Gimp. That’s not a compliment. Plus, it’s a California 2012, so nothing worth bragging about. Really though, that’s the only thing I haven’t liked about this wine so far.

-       Cork or screw top: Cork

-       Price: $5.99

CLASSY

-       Color: The chilling of the wine didn’t have any affect on its flavor, but viewing it in a wine glass only emphasized how pretty and visually appealing a wine it is.

-       Smell: The same as before.

-       Taste: Chilling the wine definitely made its taste even more appealing, which I wasn’t expecting. It’s like a moscato for adults in that it doesn’t taste like bubbly grape juice. If you’ve ever thought moscato was too sweet but wanted something similarly tasting, this is the wine for you.

-       Value: A Google suggestion for this wine (when I was attempting to find its website) was “best pinot grigios under 20” and some of the results placed it in the Top 10. So it’s not just me: this is a valuable wine that doesn’t sacrifice any flavor for price.

FINAL RATING: [84] 

Tastewise, this might have been my favorite wine so far, but this blog counts more than just my unsophisticated palate in its judging scheme. Valuewise, it’s more expensive than a lot of similar options at Trader Joe’s or Target, and the bottle just broke my heart with how basic it was. Papyrus and the price tag cost this wine a ranking in the uppers 80s or lower 90s. Definitely try this, just don’t plan on keeping the bottle.

[thecollegesommelier]

Wine Tasting #4 – La Granja 360 Tempranillo Garnacha [78]

TGIF! My friend Marissa pointed out this wine to me while I was looking for a good red due to its striking label. It has a zebra with black and white and red stripes – just like that famous joke: what’s black and white and red all over? I also liked that it was a Spanish wine, as I think of Spain and sangria when I think red wine. We’ll see how it holds up to my underdeveloped red wine tasting palate.

 The label said it was made with 50% tempranillo grapes and 50% garnacha grapes. I looked these up and found out that garnacha grapes are generally used to add body and sweet flavor, and rarely on their own. I took that into account as I tasted the wine. Wine tasting can be a learning experience, just like college, and it’s probably cheaper than whatever institution you’re attending, so tell that to your parents when you insist on spending all your money on cheap wines. With red wines, it is suggested to serve them at room temperature, so rather than chilling them, I simply put the bottle in the freezer for five minutes to get it beneath the warm St. Louis summer temperature that the bottle was when I first popped it open. We’ll see if that impacts the classy portion of the tasting.

Name: La Granja 360

Vineyard: S.Coop San Nicolas de Tolentino

Vintage: 2012

Alcohol %: 13%

Region: Aragon

Country: Spain

Website: http://www.lagranja360.com/

  COLLEGE

-       Color: In the red solo cup, this red wine looked almost pitch black.

-       Smell: A very powerful smell, with lots of fruity aspects.

-       Taste: The wine had a very full and fruity taste, with just the tiniest hint of spice. It tasted to me like a mixed berry fruit snack dipped in alcohol. I also got some cherry flavors, but once I had picked up on the berry, I could hardly taste anything but it.

-       Chug-ability: Red wine is always difficult to chug for me, as it is much heavier than white wine. It wasn’t difficult to chug, but the full taste and powerful flavor makes it less than pleasant.

-       Does it come in a big bottle? No

-       Design: Like I said before, the design on this bottle would be great for your trophy case. It’s a deep red, almost black bottle, with a white label with the aforementioned black-and-white-and-red zebra.

-       Cork or screw top: Screw top

-       Price: $4.99

CLASSY

-       Color: Even with light and a clear glass, the wine was still a deep red, close to black. It’s completely impenetrable by light.

-       Smell: The smell was unchanged by the slight chilling.

-       Taste: Fruity without being too sweet, bringing the wine down a few degrees brought out the other components of its taste, like the spiciness I detected earlier and even a bit of sour. It was a much more complex wine than I thought it would be on first smell.

-       Value: For 5 dollars, this wine is definitely a bargain.

I’m a white wine loyalist through and through, and rarely enjoy drinking reds. This is probably due to my experiences with an extreme contrast in the quality of the reds I’ve tried: either Franzia and Yellow Tail or an incredibly nice and expensive red with my grandfather (Williams Selyem Pinot Noir paired with a prime filet from Joe’s Stone Crab). I also believe that red wines are much more hit or miss than whites. A bad white wine sort of tastes like funny water, whereas a bad red wine tastes like spoiled fruit juice. Thankfully, this wine was a hit. And for only five dollars, too. I really enjoyed that it lacked the metallic after taste that most red wines I’ve had have, and that it wasn’t overly fruity or bitter. The tiniest bit of spice made the flavor complex, too, which is not something I usually get from red wines. It was refreshing (literally) to know that I don’t have to spend exorbitant amounts of money to get a red wine that tastes good. Gracias, La Granja 360!

  FINAL RATING: [78]

[thecollegesommelier]

Wine Tasting #3 – La Ferme Julien Blanc [83]

It’s been a while since I posted a tasting, as I was out of town with my grandparents, which meant I was drinking very expensive wines. I’m almost positive one of the bottles cost more than all the other wines I’ve bought from Trader Joe’s combined. Anyway, we start the tasting with a French white from the Rhone Valley. It had a cute goat on the label and was pretty cheap aussi.

Name: La Ferme Julien Blanc 2011

Vineyard: Famille Perrin

Vintage: 2011

Alcohol %: 13.5%

Region: Luberon Mountain, Rhone Valley

Country: France

Website: m.familleperrin.com/fjb1e

  COLLEGE

-       Color: A light yellow with just the slightest bit of green. It still looked appetizing despite its red Solo cup casing.

-       Smell: The wine smelled fruity but not overwhelmingly so. Definitely not an overpowering wine in terms of smell, so you won’t have to worry about it if you spill it.

-       Taste: Buttery and smooth, like a rich chardonnay, with not-sweet-but-not-bitter citrus aftertastes. Very enjoyable, even if warm.

-       Chug-ability: Very chuggable, thanks to its smooth texture and not overly sweetness.

-       Does it come in a big bottle? No

-       Design: A medium green bottle with a beige label. The label has an illustration of a goat on it, and the font is legible. As someone who has traveled in France and was once almost fluent, I enjoyed that the entire front of the label was in French. The wine was a blanc rather than a white.

-       Cork or screw top: Screw top! Perfect for storage and for easy opening.

-       Price: $5.99 

CLASSY

-       Color: In the glass, the color remained a light yellow, with the green tint becoming a little less visible.

-       Smell: Chilling the wine had almost no effect on the smell and it remained a somewhat mild aroma.

-       Taste: The wine remained extremely enjoyable and smooth, and chilling it brought out the fruity and citrusy flavors of the wine.

-       Value: For six dollars, definitely not the most valuable wine since you can get pretty great bottles at Trader Joe’s for 3 bucks. 

FINAL RATING: [83] 

It wasn’t the greatest value and didn’t amaze my taste buds, but I can’t deny that this white tasted delicious and had a bottle worth keeping. It had a decent alcohol content. The screw top is what really makes it valuable and saves the rating from being too poor. No more worrying about uncorking or re-corking. Plus, goats are adorable.

[thecollegesommelier]

Wine Tasting #2: Green Fin Table Wine [74]

For our second tasting I stuck with a cheap white from Trader Joe’s. A California white wine is always a good bet, the label oozed California relaxation, and I thought it would be nice to try an organic wine for a change. Hopefully it’ll be worth the $3.99.

  Name: Green Fin Table Wine

Vineyard: Bronco Wine Company (they also make Charles Shaw)

Vintage: 2011

Alcohol %: 11%

Region: Ceres

Country: California

Website: n/a

  COLLEGE

-       Color: A light yellow, but not as clear as the Pinot I tried just prior to this. Shouldn’t stain either, but it did not appear watery like the first wine.

-       Smell: It smelled very sweet, but almost too sweet, which isn’t the most pleasant sensation. The bottle said it had honey aromas, but I only got fruit: apple, peach.

-       Taste: Very, very sweet. This wine is incredibly fruity which some people enjoy. It’s not bad by any means, but the taste is basically flat in that it just tastes like a strong grape juice the whole way. I like a little crispness or dryness to my wine so I wasn’t completely satisfied.

-       Chug-ability: If you aren’t bothered by sweetness, this wine is for you. It’s almost on par with grape juice in how chug-able it is. It leaves a slight aftertaste but nothing particularly horrible.

-       Does it come in a big bottle? Nope.

-       Design: The bottle is shorter than most and a light green color. Its label is definitely cool but not classy. The car on the label sort of reminded me of the Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo, but it’s actually a station wagon with a surfboard on top. Still, I bet Shaggy and Scooby would “ruv this rine.”

-       Cork or screw top: Cork, and it didn’t break.

-       Price: $3.99 @ Trader Joe’s.

CLASSY

-       Color: Color remained the same when viewed inside a wine glass: a light, clear yellow.

-       Smell: The smell remained the same but was not as strong as before, and more resembled wine than grape juice this time.

-       Taste: Serving it chilled vastly improved the severity of the fruity taste. The strong fruit overtones were essentially neutralized by the temperature which made for a much more enjoyable taste. It went from being only good for those with a sweet tooth to pretty much anyone who enjoys a cheap white wine.

-       Value: Another $3.99 wine? That’s chump change, even for a college student, and as long as the wine is drinkable, it’s almost always going to be valuable. Again, only go for Green Fin if you like your wines sweeter – and especially if you have access to a fridge.

  FINAL RATING: 74

I wasn’t wild about this wine but I could see why it has its fans. Normally I enjoy sweet wines but this was too sweet, sometimes overpoweringly fruity. That being said, if you are a sweet wine person, you should definitely try this wine. It’s cheap, the label is groovy, and you’ll probably be at Trader Joe’s anyway. Others may give the wine bonus points for being made with organic grapes, but that is sadly not one of my criteria. As long as you are able to chill it, it’s worth the investment. But since this is The College Sommelier, and most college students won’t have the luxury of chilling their wine beforehand, it loses points for the College stage of the testing.

[thecollegesommelier]

Wine Tasting #1: Pinot Grigio Delle Venezie [90]

Our very first tasting has arrived! Today we’re sampling the Gaetano D’Aquino Pinot Grigio, a Venetian white wine. I bought this wine for three reasons: Venice is an interesting city, the label looked classy and old-fashioned, and it was only $3.99. Let’s see if it was worth the money.

  Name: Pinot Grigio Delle Venezie

Vineyard: Gaetano D’Aquino

Vintage: 2012

Alcohol %: 12%

Region: Venice

Country: Italy

Website: http://www.daquino.com/wines/Pinot%20Grigio%20Delle%20Venezie[1290].html

 COLLEGE

-       Color: In the red cup, the wine is a incredibly light shade of gold, basically clear. It almost looks like water, so it probably won’t stain any carpets.

-       Smell: The wine smells crisp and light, with just the slightest hint of citrus. The aroma is not overpowering but pleasant.

-       Taste: Definitely a dry wine with undertones of lemon and apple. The warmth of the wine did not make it unpalatable.

-       Chug-ability: As a light wine it is very easy to chug. It leaves barely any after taste in your mouth. Definitely a wine to consider if you’re playing a drinking game. As the cliché goes, it’s almost like water to drink.

-       Does it come in a big bottle? Unfortunately not.

-       Design. The bottle is a clear glass with some interesting patterns on it, going along with its Venetian origins (Venice is famous for its blown glass). The label is old-fashioned and classy, with gold and green writing.

-       Cork or screw top: Cork, and the cork did not break off or crumble like some cheap corks do.

-       Price: $3.99 @ Trader Joe’s. It’s one of the cheapest wines you can get at TJ’s that isn’t 3 Buck Chuck.

CLASSY

-       Color: Chilling the wine didn’t affect its color at all, but seeing it in a wine glass just enhanced a color I had already enjoyed in a red cup. The lightness and clearness of the wine made for a sumptuous visual experience. Sometimes white wines are an unpleasant yellow green color but this wine was clear, liquid gold.

-       Smell: Chilling the wine definitely enhanced its smell. I was able to detect the same citrus flavors as before without being overpowered by the flavor.

-       Taste: Trying the wine chilled allowed its citrusy and fruity flavors to truly shine. It remained dry but not bitter, crisp but still smooth on the tongue and throat.

-       Value: For 4 dollars, this wine is a great buy. It tasted great even while warm and the color and smell were enjoyable in both a red cup and the wine glass.

FINAL RATING: 90 

The only thing keeping this wine from a score in the upper 90s was the fact that it didn’t come in a big bottle. Also, the fact that it wasn’t the most delicious wine I’ve ever tasted kept me from giving it too high of a score. I don’t want to set the bar for an amazing wine with the very first bottle I taste on the blog; nor do I want to set the bar too low. However, it was a great way to start out this blog. I’d highly recommend it to anyone who likes white wine on a budget. The prettiness of the bottle and its high chug-ability is an added plus. Happy drinking!

[thecollegesommelier]

Welcome!

Welcome to The College Sommelier! Please check out our About and How it Works page. The first wine ratings will go up by the end of the day! We'll be sampling some of the delicious white wines from Trader Joe's.