The Young Sommelier [Thomas' Wine Blog]

As a continuation from last week, I'm going to review a couple of piss cheap white Zinfandels. I ended up at the liquor store with a couple of friends looking for something to drink for the night and we came up with the idea of getting a couple wines of the same varietal at different price levels and comparing them. For the absolutely dirt cheap one we picked out an Arbor Mist Strawberry White Zin and for a slightly more upscale but still conservative one we picked up Sutter Home's White Zin. We'll start with Arbor Mist because theres not much to say about it. The artificial strawberry flavor overpowered just about everything else. It basically just tasted like a strawberry apple juice. The only Zin trait that was really able to power through was a slight peppery aftertaste, but it was just barely there. To be fair though, the bottle was less than $5, so what else could you expect. If you like strawberry apple juice, I'd say this is a steal for you. As for the S...

Howdy Y'all once again. Sorry about the gap in posts recently, you know how life can be, but don't worry because now have I got something for you. The past two weeks I spent some time experimenting with wines on the cheaper end of the spectrum, just to see what they have to offer, and I think I made some good finds. This week I'll be covering Fünf's Riesling and Ruffino's sparkling Rose. I suppose I'll actually start with the Ruffino just to get it out of the way. This was probably the only disappointing wine that I had of the lot, despite being the most expensive. At close to $10 a bottle, it promised "red berries and white fruits" and "notes of strawberry and slight hints of rose petals," and I suppose it delivered on those promises, but only technically. I got all of those things, but only the slightest hints of each, like it was the Le Croix of wines. Ultimately, I don't suppose I hated it, but I definitely won't be buying thi...

Sorry to have missed y'all last week; things got a little hectic for me, but don't worry. I'm back and rearin' to review some wine! This week I'll be reviewing Twisted's cost effective Zinfandel as well as the slightly pricier Pinot Noir from Andrew Rich. Twisted's 2016 Old Vine Zinfandel is "medium-bodied with aromas of black cherry, red currant, blackberry bramble and a hint of spice." I was able to pick it up for only around $5 and I can't say I was disappointed. While a little simpler than certain other Zinf's I've tried, this wine was still very satisfying. The blackberry and currant were prominent and clear and the spice was pleasantly warm in the mouth. The one weakness of this wine is probably in it's spice flavors, which came through exclusively as pepper, as opposed to a more balanced blend of flavors. However, for $5 a bottle that is a reasonable price to pay as this gives you the essential Zinfandel experience. ...