Tasting - Prosecco

 Wine

The wine I tried for this tasting is Cupcake Vineyards Prosecco. It was produced in the Piedmont region of Italy. This type of wine is made from the Glera variety of grapes. The vintage year was harder to find on this bottle and when looking around for it, it is a non-vintage wine. It is a split bottle and was $5.00 when I bought it.

(Back of the Bottle)

(Front of the Bottle)

(Myself holding the bottle)

Wine Reviews

I found a few reviews for this wine on the Kroger page specifically of the split bottle. I found it easier to find the reviews there rather than the other websites.

(From Kroger.com)

Wine Folly

When looking at the Wine Folly textbook, this wine typically includes flavors such as green apple, honeydew, pear, lager, and cream. It is a dry wine with a very pale color (pp 155). The sweetness as well as the tannins is low in this wine whereas the acidity is on the higher side.

My Review of the Wine

I tried the wine by itself this time and because there was no reason to decant it, I only tried it once. When looking at it, the wine was very light colored, almost clear. It had a light peach flavor and a bit stronger flavor of honeydew. It was very acidic which went well with the flavors of it. I could not taste anything else in it. It was a dry wine with little sweetness in it. I did not try it with food.

Overall I enjoyed it more than the Cabernet Sauvignon flavor-wise. I would give it a 3/3.5 out of 5. Next time, hopefully, I will buy a sweeter wine rather than a dry wine like the Prosecco or Cabernet Sauvignon.

Tasting - Cabernet Sauvignon

    The wine I tried for this tasting is California Dreams Cabernet Sauvignon. It is from the California region in the US. Its vintage year is 2023 and I bought it for $5.00 but normally it is around $11.00. It was something I stumbled across at Kroger when browsing the wine section to see the selection they had.

The Front Label

The Back Label

(This was after I opened the Wine)

When I looked around online for shop/wine critic/winery reviews of this wine, I, at first, came up empty. Luckily, I found some reviews on a shop site of this wine. I have included the screenshot of two of the reviews as well as the rating. The overall rating, unfortunately, is based on all vintages and not just one.

From vivino.com (https://www.vivino.com/US/en/california-dream-cabernet-sauvignon/w/4600608)

Looking in the Wine Folly text, specifically page 88, Cabernet Sauvignon wines are typically on the moderate to high bitter side due to the higher Tannin in them and are full-body wines. Typical flavors and aromas can include Black cherry and blackberries, as well as oak-aging aromas such as vanilla (pp 30-31). 

I tried this wine twice. The first time was right after opening it and it was, for me, very bitter at first. It is a darker wine and in the glass looks ruby colored. When I swished it and then smelled it, I got a very strong scent of cherry, When I tasted it, it was very dry and heavily cherry flavored with another fruit flavor in it but I could not place it. 

After I let it decant for about an hour, I tried it again. This time it was still bitter but I could taste the cherry flavor as well as some hints of vanilla and another spice which was a bit stronger. However, like how I could not place the other fruit flavor, I could not place this taste either. I did not have this wine with food, unfortunately.

(After decanting it)

I would rate this wine a 2.5 out of 5. It is mainly because of how dry it was and the overwhelming cherry flavor. It was the first ever wine I tried. It is possible that if I try it again after this class, the rating will change. 

My Personal Experiences with Wine

Hi, I am Ashlee and welcome to my Wine Blog! 

This will be a first in blog writing, especially for a course! I am excited to see where this course takes me on the journey of Wine.