Tasting - Barefoot California Shiraz

Name: Barefoot Shiraz
Variety: Shiraz
Region: California
Country: USA
Year: none listed on bottle
Price: $6

Winery Review: Barefoot Shiraz has deep breaths of lavender cut in front of dark berry and mocha flavors. A vanilla finish makes sure that it really is love at first sip.

My Review: On the nose, this wine is extremely floral and when swirling lots of lavender comes through. In my opinion this wine smelled better than it tasted, lots of blackberry came through on the palate but unfortunately a lot of black pepper did as well. I felt the spice over powered the floral fruits and threw off the balance. I drank this alone without food.

Tasting - MAN Family Wines 2013 Chardonnay

Name: MAN Family Wines 2013 Chardonnay
Variety: Chardonnay
Region: Coastal Region
Country: South Africa
Year: 2013
Price: $8

Winery Review: This elegant Chardonnay has a delicate balance of fruit flavours and a light touch of oak. Golden straw in appearance, the wine has pleasing orange blossom and butterscotch aromas. On the palate the wine has fruity citrus, lime, pineapple and white peach/nectarine flavours with a hint of vanilla spice. Will pair nicely with textured and creamy dishes, such as creamy risottos, quiches, chicken a la king, and grilled fish dishes.

My Review: I have once again reaffirmed that I am not a fan of chardonnay. Any enjoyment that I got out of this probably came from the fact that I ate fish while trying this, which turned out to be a recommended pairing. There was a definite touch of oak that could be found on the nose. Upon tasting this wine I got a sort of tropical island "vibe" from the fruits and spices that came through on the palate.

Tasting - Borsao 2013 Rose

Name: Borsao 2013 Rose
Variety: Garnache Rose
Region: Borja
Country: Spain
Year: 2013
Price: $10

Winery Review: Pale orange. Strawberry and redcurrant on the nose, with hints of rhubarb and fresh flowers adding complexity. Light-bodied and dry, offering brisk, refreshingly bitter red berry and orange pith flavors. Finishes clean and dry, with good cut and a repeating redcurrant note."

My Review: I believe this may be my first ever Rose and I was pleasantly surprised by it.  While it is much less sweet than the wines I typically choose it reminded me of a zinfandel from an old wine cheese pairing. This wine had some of the deeper and more earthy flavors that I tend to be turned off by in the red wines but it also had a decent amount of summer fruits on the palate. I drank this alone without food.

Tasting - Steeple Jack 2013 Shiraz

Name: Steeple Jack 2013 Shiraz
Variety: Shiraz
Region: Southern
Country: Australia
Year: 2013
Price: $8

Winery Review: In true Steeple Jack tradition, this shiraz is full of character.  Blackberries, stewed fruits, hints of mocha and lifted vanilla on the nose, a full soft fruit driven palate followed by a touch of spice and white pepper with a lingering smooth finish.

My Review: I wanted to try a shiraz as it has been a variety I have tasted very few times. I was able to appreciate the blackberries flavors of this wine however the darker fruits mixed with a bit of coffee and spices made it less enjoyable. The aftertastes of pepper were very present with this wine. I drank this alone, without food.

Tasting - Cowtipper White Wine

Name: Cowtipper White Wine
Variety: Le Crescent
Region: Cambridge, VT
Country: USA
Year: 2014
Price: $17

Winery Review: As the humor in its name suggests, Cowtipper has a light and refreshing personality with a pleasant finish.  Crafted from Le Crescent grapes and fermented only in stainless steel, this white table wine is fruity and semi-dry like a Riesling. It is a delightful summer wine, and makes a fantastic Sangria! Cowtipper’s hints of apricot and pear go deliciously with chicken and seafood, grilled tuna being a favorite

My Review: This wine is dry and somewhat sweet, I am glad I had waited to this point in my tasting journey because I would not have enjoyed it in past weeks. On the nose there are clear notes of pear which come through on the taste as well as apricot. I was feeling sentimental and paired this light/crisp wine with some Cabot cheese that went together quite nicely.

Wine Dinner 2nd Edition: Using Your Parents for Food

This past weekend my Dad came to town, which means I got to eat real food!! It took a little convincing, but once I told him alcohol was involved he submitted. For once, I will have a wine pairing that didn't come from the depths of my fridge.  For this delicious wine dinner we took a trip to Olive Garden in Christiansburg. The wines we sampled were a 2013 Cavit Pino Grigio, Primo Amore Moscato and Horse Heaven Hill Merlot. The dishes we paired with were a fried shrimp appetizer with lemon butter glaze, lemon spice grilled chicken with seasonal vegetables and gigantic pork rigatoni.

It was a miracle we got a picture before this was devoured. I don't think Dad was ready for the picture.

To briefly describe the wines, the moscato was so freaking good! It is the best moscato I have had thus far, it was very well balanced with heavy apple notes. The pinot grigio was nicely crisp and  tasted very much like a dryer version of the moscato. The merlot was quite frankly, awful. It was extremeley bitter and tannic, I struggled to even take a sip after smelling the nose of this wine.

   

For some reason they trusted us with the bottles.

Now let's pair some wines!! The first dish to be paired was the shrimp appetizer. I paired this first with the moscato which worked well with the citrus of the lemon glaze. However, the sweetness of the wine was clearly made for a dessert. The pinot grigio was next, the lemon from the dish paired will with the dry citrus of the wine and I felt was the best pairing of the night. Lastly was the merlot which easily overpowered the delicacy of the lemon shrimp. The dark fruit made the breading of shrimp more prominent but overall overdid the dish.

Lemon Glazed Shrimp

The second dish was the Serrano Lemon Chicken and I have to say I overdid it with the lemon juice on this one which made the dish less appetizing. The moscato once again worked nicely with the with citrus notes but the apple flavors of the wine became more prominent. The apple flavors were a nice reprieve from the inundation of lemon in the sauce and brought out the syrup qualities of the sauce. The second wine paired was the pinot grigio which once again performed well. The dryness of the wine brought out some of the spices rubbed on the chicken itself that were overpowered by lemon when tried without the wine. Lastly was the merlot which did better with the chicken dish than the shrimp but was clearly meant for a red meat dish. The tannic bitter taste of the merlot masked some of the lemon of the dish but it all came together to make the wine seem even more acidic and unbalanced. Overall I still feel it did not pair well.

Serrano Chicken 

The final dish to be paired was the baked pork rigatoni. Upon tasting this dish I managed to burn most of my mouth and nearly choke a huge string of molten cheese which definitely affected my ability to taste at all. As usual the first wine was the moscato which for me did not mesh well with the dish. The classic italian spices of the dish were much more savory than the wine and caused it to taste even more sickly sweet than it actually is. The next wine was the pinot, which unfortunately fell flat. The flavors of the wine were covered by the flavors of the sauce in the dish. The final wine to be paired was the merlot, which paired best with this dish.  Even though I did not even enjoy this wine in the slightest, the wine had the strength of flavor to not be masked by the dish. The tannic taste of the wine was mellowed out well by the saucy cheesiness of the dish that made the wine more enjoyable.

Gigantic Pork Rigatoni

 The best part of this tasting for me was the fact that I genuinely enjoyed a wine that wasn't a moscato. My favorite wine of the night however remains the moscato even though it did not really pair well with any of the dishes. I think in the next wine pairing there will be more research involved. I feel that all of the pairings thus fair have been relatively random so there hasn't been any common trends in pairing. I know that all meals have a recommended wine to pair with and would love to see how these recommended wines affect the flavors of the dish and bring out the full rang of flavors.

Wine Dinner: Leftovers Edition

After completing the worlds's cheapest wine and cheese pairing I figured, why stop there?! I present to you the wine and food pairing using the leftovers from my fridge! After sorting through a mountain of tupperware I came up with three foods, all having very distinct and different taste profiles. For a protein sources there are cheesy eggs scrambled to perfection, accompanied by garlic sauteed zucchini and summer squash as well as some sweet afghan rice. If you've never had this type of rice it is full of strong fall spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg.

Gourmet leftovers

For the wines, we tasted a Bay Bridge Vineyards White Zinfandel and Moscato as well as an Andre Moscato "Champagne" all ringing up around the $6 range.

I started the parings with the Bay Bridge Moscato. This wine worked really well with the sweet rice, the fruity apple sweetness of the Moscato and the spices of the rice combined to give you the sense you were eating an apple pie in meal form. For the eggs, it felt odd to be drinking wine and eating eggs at the same time but the acidity of the wine brought out the sharp flavors of the cheese in the eggs. The last pairing of this wine with the vegetable didn't seem natural for me. The heavy garlic of the vegetables called for a wine that was a little less sweet than a Moscato, it did seem to bring out the sweetness even more.

The second wine I tasted was the Bay Bridge White Zinfandel. Quite surprisingly I enjoyed this wine both with and without food and felt it was the most adept at pairing with these three foods. With the rice, the dryness of the wine teamed up with the spices to make this wine almost taste more like a cider. When I moved on to the eggs, the wine seemed to have more of an effect on the egg flavors that the other way around. The eggs transformed into something more substantial with a savory taste. The zucchini was also elevated by the Zinfandel, I felt it did better with the vegetables than the Moscato because of the dry edge that worked with the garlic.

Our meal is prepped and ready for the first pairings

 I saved the Andre Moscato for last because I knew I would finish the bottle once I took a sip. This wine didn't really lend itself to pairing with the meal at all. It has a stand alone sweet flavor with excessive carbonation made for a celebratory toast more than a dinner. The sweet rice worked decently well with the wine, similarly to the last Moscato. However, the summer fruits of the wine didn't blend as well with the fall spices of the rice. Upon trying the eggs I realized how big of a role mouth-feel played with this wine. The bubbles with both the eggs and vegetables was off-putting. The sickly sweetness didn't meld with the salty garlic flavors and didn't have enough balance to bridge the gap.

If there is one thing I have learned from this experience, it is that scrambled eggs have no place in a wine food pairing. Next time I try this sort of pairing I think I will bite the bullet and actually spend more than $6 on it so that I can pair wines with foods they may have a better chance of working with. I was pleasantly surprised to see how the dry or more savory flavors came out of wines that I thought were simply sweet when paired with different dishes.

Tasting - Mendoza Bonarda 2014 Merlot

Name: Mendoza Bonarda-Merlot

Variety: Merlot

Region: Mendoza, Argentina

Year: 2014

Price: $8

Winery Review: This one seems to get a little better every vintage. For a very pittance out of your pocket, this is a tasty mouth full of red wine. Surprising viscosity for a Bonarda based wine. Dark ruby, but by no means opaque color. It is very easy to discern the rustic, vegetative contribution of the Bonarda on both the nose and palate. The Merlot brings a flinty, creamy, mineral richness that totally compliments the Bonarda. Gritty little tannins. Bramble, blueberry and mulberry fruit. Some vanilla from oak. Opens up nicely with a little time in glass. Rustic, earthy finish. A great value.

My Review: Before I give my review I would like to say that I am trying my hardest to push myself to try/enjoy new things. My father really enjoys this wine and brought it when he visited me and so I figured I had to give it a try. On the nose this wine just smells like damp greenery and that made me very hesitant as did its dark color. Upon tasting it the creamy and full bodied mouth feel along with the heat and earthy nose made it hard for me to pick up the more subtle fruit flavors. I drank this alone without food.

So if anyone is keeping track, I still do not like red wines.

Tasting - Coonawarra 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon

Name: Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon

Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon

Region: Limestone Coast, Australia

Year: 2013

Price: $13

Winery Review: This classic Coonawarra Cabernet comes packed with heady aromas of ripe cassis, roasted peppers and mint chocolate together with a succulent, full-bodied flavour profile.

My Review: If I had read the review of this wine before I tried it, I know I would not have tried it. If I had to write down the things I don't like in wines, the above review would summarize it quite well. I took the smallest of sips and did not want to go back for more, it was just too overwhelmingly dark for me. It was tannic to say the least, in my mind this is the type of rich wine that people would enjoy with a steak, but I tried it alone without food.

Tasting - Thorny Rose 2011 Chardonnay

Name: Thorny Rose Chardonnay

Variety:  Chardonnay

Region: Columbia Valley, Columbia

Year: 2011

Price: $11

Winery Review: 

Here is a clean, fresh-tasting Columbia Valley Chardonnay at a decent price. Apple and peach flavors are etched with delicate fruit-skin notes. Bright, tart and immediately accessible.

  — P.G. (12/31/2013)

My Review: Even though it's not a red, I still haven't enjoyed too many of the chardonnays I have tried. Compared to the moscatos that have stolen my heart, this wine was not sweet at all and that was just strike number one. I did not enjoy the mouth feel of this wine, I feel it to be buttery and heavy on my palate. I tasted this with someone who does enjoy chardonnay's and oddly enough they found it to be light and clean for a chardonnay. I think I was able to detect some peach flavors but I was too distracted by the qualities I did not enjoy. I drank this alone without food.

Tasting - Pinetti 2013 Pino Grigio

Name: Pinetti Pino Grigio

Variety: Pinot Grigio

Region. Lombardia, Italy

Year: 2013

Price: $5

Winery Review: A tribute to modern Italian style and its chic sophistication, Pinetti Notte celebrates la dolce vita with a wine sure to pique palate. This wine embraces time honored tradition winemaking and a refined flair for style. Relish in a Pinetti evening of casual elegance; sipping wine, laughing, and enjoying close friends and family in the Italian way.

My Review: I enjoyed some of the flavors that presented themselves with this Pinot Grigio but as whole I did not enjoy it. I was clearly able to taste lots of melon as well as lemon and there was no confusion as to what I was tasting, which I enjoy. However, this just seemed like it smacked you in the face with alcohol and acidity. It would pair well with a very basic (pH wise) dish that may help balance some of its heat. I drank this alone without food.

Tasting - Madria Sangria Moscato

Name: Madria Sangria Moscato
Variety: Muscat Blanc
Region: Modesto, California
Year: None listed
Price: $6

Winery Review: Our Madria Sangria Moscato was inspired by warm seaside summers. A delicious blend of Moscato wine with hints of orange, peach and apple, this white sangria has the right amount of sweetness and refreshment to enliven your summer cocktails. It pairs perfectly with fun, festive gatherings on warm summer nights—or chiller nights when you dream of delicious evenings to come.

My Review: By now it is no secret that I love my fruity, sickly sweet moscatos. This is one of the few wines I have actually bought myself this semester and didn't just bum it off of my viniac friends. This moscato is the main component of the Madria Sangria recipe and I plan on making it soon. This wine was crisp to say the least, it was just like biting into a delicious apple that was balanced out well my strong citrus notes. I drank this alone without food and will be drinking it again soon.

Poor Man's Wine Cheese Paring: The Sequel

I'm still poor but I'm still pairing my heart out! So here it is!! The long awaited sequel to the Poor Man's Wine Cheese Pairing!! Last time we chose some pretty sweet wines to pair with the cheese that I had already in my fridge which happened to be mozzarella, swiss and american. This time, I am going out of my comfort zone with the wines, we are trying out a Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardonnay. As before, we are using wines from the Gallo Family Vineyard  located in Modesto California. 

Here are our miniature Gallo Family wine labels.

We can't forget the cheese!!

Here is our gorgeous spread, on the nicest cheese plate I own.

Now comes the fun part, the drinking! I was honestly a little apprehensive for this tasting because I have a bit of an aversion to red wine but I gave this my best shot.  The first wine we paired was the merlot, and for the first time I was really able to pinpoint the oaky flavors of a wine. As with the last pairing, I didn't really expect the american cheese to pair well with anything but the oak seemed to balance out artificial flavors and made me think of a grilled cheese sandwich (which I ate after this pairing). The mozzarella was seems to get easily overpowered by the wine and I did not detect any real differences in the wine. I think the merlot paired best with the sharpness of the swiss and really brought out it's funk but did manage to really cover the fruit of the wine.

Gallo Family Merlot

Next up was the chardonnay, I felt I picked up oak in this wine because of tasting the Merlot first, when normally I probably would have picked up more dominantly on the citrus notes. The american cheese ( as expected) went very poorly with this wine and ended up tasting like alcohol cheese wiz. The mozzeralla paired more apporiately with the chardonnay as it did with the sweet wines of the last pairing. What I didn't expect was the outcome of the chardonnay-swiss pairing. The citrus and heat of the wine mixed with the pointed swiss flavors and left you feeling you had eaten something rotten. Overall I didn't enjoy the chardonnay pairings, and I had to give me stomach some time to recover after I tried it.

Gallo Family Chardonnay

After some recuperation I finished off the pairing with the Cabernet Sauvignon. I know I do not like this type of wine and I was even less excited for this after an upset stomach. I prefer the Merlot to this wine but barely, I couldn't differentiate between the two in a blind test. The spices, that I so despise in this wine, lent themselves very nicely to the cheeses. With the american cheese, the pepper served to dilute the pungent artificiality that was a staple of my childhood diet. The mozzarella just got bathed in the pepper in a combination I didn't exactly appreciate, so overall I would say the merlot is the best match for this cheese. When I tried it with the swiss, I was reminded of some of the more potent soft cheeses I have tried but am currently unable to name.

With the conclusion of this pairing, I think I can say that over the course of this semester my palate has expanded a bit and I am getting much better at differentiating flavors in a range of wines.  Even though I was apprehensive at first because of the low price point/quality of our ingredients, I think this pairing series proved to be very eye opening. It is unbelievable how different the results were for sweet wines as compared to the more heavy hitting reds.

Tasting - Beringer 2014 Chenin Blanc

Name: Beringer 2014 Chenin Blanc
Variety: Chenin Blanc
Region: Napa Valley, CA
Country: USA
Year: 2014
Price: $6

Winery Review: Beringer Classics Chenin Blanc is a well-balanced wine with aromas and flavors of crisp citrus, melon, and spicy ginger. This wine is meant to be enjoyed with a variety of foods, from Asian and Mexican dishes to a casual backyard barbecue with friends.

My Review: I am continuously trying to expand my palate so that I enjoy more types of wine. Despite my efforts, I am struggling to enjoy anything that doesn't taste like fruit juice. This wine had a spiciness that really stuck with me (did not like). As far as flavors, I was able to get some honeydew type aromas which made me really surprised by the spices. I drank this alone, without food.

Tasting - Yellowtail 2013 Riesling

Name: Yellowtail 2013 Riesling
Variety: Riesling
Region: South Eastern Australia
Country: Australia
Year: 2013
Price: $6

Winery Review: A luscious and lively wine, bursting with fresh fruit. You may even catch the hints of orange blossom that linger on the finish.

My Review: In my opinion this wine smelled better than it tasted. Similarly to the Flipflop Pinot Grigio this wine reminds me of summer. On the nose, there was lots of very strong lemon and lime aromas. When tasting this wine it had some acidity and heat that made it less refreshing for me. I drank this wine alone, without food.

Tasting - Flipflop California Pinot Grigio

Name: Flipflop California Pinot Grigio
Variety: Pinot Grigio
Region: Livermore, CA
Country: USA
Year: 2013
Price: $6

Winery Review: This brightly acidic, clean wine doesn’t appear to have any oak influence. What you get are pure, ripe orange, Meyer lemon, lime and peach flavors that finish honeyed, yet dry. It’s an easy wine to drink with many foods.
  — S.H.  (6/1/2014)

My Review: I'm going to just come out and say, I did not enjoy this wine. I'm also going to be honest and say that I totally forgot to do the pre-drink sniff. When I tasted this wine, it make me think of summer, heavy on the lime. This is the first time I have really been able to have any input on mouthfeel and this wine was silky smooth. I drank this alone, without food.

Tasting - Manina 2013 Sauvignon Blanc

Name: Manina 2013 Valle Central Sauvignon Blanc
Variety: Sauvignon Blanc
Region: Central Valley
Country: Chile
Year: 2013
Price: $12

Winery Review: Somewhere between neutral and bland is where this wine’s bouquet resides. The palate is plump feeling but stagnant, with chunky apple and pithy citrus flavors. Bitterness comes up on the finish, which is pithy as a whole. (7/1/2013)

My Review: This sauvignon blanc was fruitier than the others that I have tasted, I am not sure if this is due to the fact that this is a Chiean wine and the other was a California wine. I was not able to pinpoint any flavors on the nose but could differentiate notes of apricot in the taste. I drank this alone without food.

Tasting - Rex Goliath Giant 47 Pound Rooster Moscato

Name: Rex-Goliath Moscato
Variety: Muscat Blanc
Region: Madera, CA
Country: USA
Year: none listed on bottle
Price: $5

Winery Review: Our Moscato is bright, crisp and decadent. It's well balanced with just the right acidity combined with floral aromas that bloom into deliciously sweet flavors of peach and apricot. 

My Review: This was definitely not my favorite Moscato that I have tasted thus far. It had all of the sweetness that I have come to love but something about it tasted like chemicals. It just didn't taste natural and this distracted me from the actual flavor of the wine. I drank this on it's own, without food. 

Poor Man's Wine Cheese Pairing

     Hosting a wine and cheese pairing can easily come with a large pricetag. So for this pairing I thought it would be fun to see how it would go with the cheese that I already had in my fridge. I then went to Kroger and tried to find the cheapest wines available to round out this poor man's cheese pairing.

Me and my boyfriend..afraid to sit down and face this pairing

Poor man's paper cheese plate with accompanying wines 

   These are the extremely high quality cheeses I had on hand. It includes mozzerella, swiss and american cheese; all in the $2-$3 range. 

             

     After some scavenging, I managed to find these small bottles of Gallo Family wines that cost a whopping $1.50 each. There were five different wines but for this pairing I chose the White Zinfandel, Moscato, and Pinot Noir.

     

     The Gallo Family Vineyard is located in Modesto, California and produce a wide range of wines from a Chardonnay to a Merlot. The first wine that I tasted was the White Zinfandel, on the nose it had lots of strawberries. Upon tasting, the strawberries definitely came through but I also tasted lots of citrus on the tail end, altogether it was much sweeter than I expected. I felt that this paired best with the swiss cheese and helped to mellow out some of the funkiness of the cheese.

Gallo Family White Zinfandel

     The second wine I tasted was the moscato. This moscato had the same nose as most moscatos I have tasted recently but upon tasting I really enjoyed this one. I tasted lots of peach and typical moscato citrus fruits but there was also an element of honey. I liked this wine best with the mozzarella but I feel that may be due to the fact that I have cheese sticks and fruit as a snack most days so it was familiar to me.

Gallo Family Moscato

     The final wine that I tasted was the Pinot Noir. Similarly as with the White Zinfandel, I was extremely surprised that I liked this wine as much as I did. As with most reds, I struggled to divide between the flavors I experienced but I know that there were some very heavy cherry notes with this wine. I liked this wine best with the mozzarella because the bitterness of the wine balanced out a bit my the minimal sweetness of the cheese. The swiss was too sharp and didn't balance well.

Gallo Family Pinot Noir 

      This wine and cheese pairing was about about what I expected it to be given the raw materials I was working with. However, the Gallo Family wines did surprise me and it was nice to be able to tolerate a red wine. Also, you may notice that the american cheese was not ever mentioned, and that is because it didn't taste good by itself, let alone pair it with a wine.

Tasting - Apothic Red 2013 California Winemaker's Blend

Name: Apothic Red 2013 Winemaker's Blend
Variety: Zinfandel, Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon
Region: California
Country: USA
Year: 2013
Price: $12

Winery Review: A bold blend of primarily Zinfandel, Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, Apothic Red leaves a lasting impression of flavor and texture on the palate. Zinfandel offers bold dark fruit flavors and spicy notes, complemented by the soft mouthfeel of Merlot. The Syrah adds layers of smooth blueberry, while the Cabernet Sauvignon delivers ripe fruit flavors and a firm structure. This decadent blend is framed by hints of black cherry, vanilla, and mocha.

My Review: Try as I may, I am awful with reds. I could tell this wine was complex from the range of different flavors and the fact that it hit in stages. There was definitely a lasting aftertaste which some may appreciate but I did not. This was a very dark wine that made it hard for me to really discern individual flavors. I think if I enjoyed it more I could have tasted more and come up with some specifics but it was rather spicy making it difficult for me to drink much. I ended up tasting this with milk to try and get rid of the aftertaste.

Tasting - Gnarly Head 2012 California Authentic White

Name: Gnarly Head 2012 Authentic White
Variety: Riesling, Moscato, Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier
Region: Lodi, CA
Country: USA
Year: 2012
Price: $12

Winery Review: From the aroma to the finish, this is all fresh, grapy, jammy and semisweet. The mouthfeel is smooth and the body is medium-full, with an overwhelming impression of crushed raspberries and strawberries.
  — J.G. (4/1/2015)

My Review: I count this wine as a baby step towards someday liking something other than moscato. The main flavor that came through for me on the nose and in taste was strawberries. Even though this was the easiest to detect I thought that it was very well balanced. Although, I know I would have enjoyed it more if it was sweeter I feel like this wine was a good choice to move me into more traditional whites. I drank this alone without food.