Shirlington Jazz Festival

For those of you who may live in the Washington, D.C. area or are simply visiting and looking for something to do, it's worth a stop by the Shirlington neighborhood for the annual Jazz festival.

Running every Thursday from July 12th through August 30th, you can sit at outside tables in the quaint Village at Shirlington, enjoying some great Jazz bands and sampling wines from the local wine and cheese shop, Cheesetique

For $5 you can sample four wines; two red and two white.  Proceeds go towards the Arlington Food Assistance Center.  When I went, I also received a 10% off coupon for Cheesetique and a Village at Shirlington wine glass (not sure if quantities were limited).  Come enjoy some music and some wine, all for a good cause!

Yellow Tail Cabernet Sauvignon

Yellow Tail Cabernet Sauvignon

Harris Teeter

2 for $10 (on special)

This blog has been a little quiet lately, due to me doing the whole diet thing and wine just didn't fit into my calorie counts.

This is my second foray into what Yellow Tail has to offer.  Cab sauvs have consistently been my favorite type of red.  I read another budget wine review elsewhere that it was decent and I decided to try it for myself.

After pouring, I let it air out for a small amount of time next to me and I could smell it from the table.  It's a pungent wine with scents of dark berries and chocolate.  Not unpleasant at all.

The berries and chocolate translates well into the taste.  You catch a hint of spicy peppery oak on the end, but it's not as smooth as other cab sauvs I've had before.  It is drinkable but I'd recommend having it with food.  There's a slight bitter mineral taste on the tongue at the end and it's a bit astringent to the point where it leaves a 'cotton mouth' feel.  The taste of alcohol is noticeable above the other notes and almost gives it a vinegar like flavor.  It's a bit off putting, to be honest.

I tried it with a little dark chocolate to see how that experience was and it didn't change much.  There are wines where on the first sip or two, I can tell I like it.  This one, even after a glass and a half, hasn't impressed me.  Not the worst, but I probably won't buy it again.

SCORE: 4/10

Chateau Ste Michelle Sweet Riesling

Chateau Ste Michelle

Harvest Select Sweet Riesling

2011

Harris Teeter

$9.99

Rieslings were the first wine I was passionate about.  It's a great beginner wine and comes in many varieties to fit all tastes.  You really can't go wrong with a Riesling most of the time.  It was my family's go to for picnics and cookouts on warm days.

In my quest to try different wines, Rieslings fell on the back burner.  While waiting for a prescription to be filled at Harris Teeter, this bottle caught my eye.  With it's dark bottle and golden label that reminded me of the color of late harvest dessert wines... I had to have it.  

The wine is a nice light transparent gold yellow.  There's a lot of peaches and fruit on the nose; a very typical Riesling scent and you can catch a hint of honey-like sweetness.

On the first sip, you almost sit back and wonder if this wine is carbonated.  It really tingles and dances on your tongue.  I take another sip and another with the same experience every time.

It is sweet, but not cloying like other dessert wines I've had.  The acidity helps balance it out to where you don't feel like you're drinking simple syrup, and there's a slight mineral profile that gives it a little bite.  The scent of peaches translates well into the flavor and again you get a smooth finish that is reminiscent of honey.

It might be too sweet to go with a heavy meal, but would be perfect with something light, or for afterwards on its own or with dessert.  I've spent a lot more than $9.99 on wines with a similar taste profile and I feel that you get a good value for the price paid with this product.

SCORE: 7/10

Oak Leaf Chardonnay

Oak Leaf Chardonnay

Walmart

$2.97

When I first started my foray into the budget wine scene, my initial goal was to find the cheapest wine possible. The apparent winner was Walmart's Oak Leaf line at a stunning $2.97.  $3 for a bottle of wine?  What's the worst that could happen?    

In the glass, it's your typical chardonnay with its standard light golden color.  The wine has some fruit on the nose, mostly peaches and apples.  I found it difficult to pick out anything more specific because of a noticeable scent of alcohol. 

On the first sips, there is the taste of apples and a bite of alcohol that kind of overshadows anything else.  The end is typical of a chardonnay, smoothing out into something more mellow.  The finish is short and nearly non existent, but not entirely unpleasant.  I forgot what I just sipped and have to take another to remind myself.  It does have a slight oak flavor to it, but it's nothing spectacular.

This honestly isn't the worst chardonnay I've tasted (I'm looking at you, Most Recent Bottle Of Barefoot).  Drink it in one sitting if you can.  I tried saving mine for later consumption and the flavor just turned sharp and sour.

If you're on a very tight budget, but still want to drink a glass of of wine with dinner every now and then, no harm in picking this up.  And if you find that it isn't for you... hell, it's only $3.  People spend more than that on parking around here.

SCORE: 5/10

Barefoot Red Moscato

Barefoot Red Moscato

Harris Teeter

$6.99

Sometimes wine labels just catch your eye and you can’t ignore them.  The bright shiny sticker stating “NEW” caught my eye.  Now I’ve never been much of a moscato drinker; but they’re great when I need to satisfy my sweet tooth.

(Yeah yeah, we drank most of it before taking a picture)

You know how the red Starburst and the red Skittles were always the best?  This wine banks on that ingrained instinctual knowledge, attracting you with it’s “I’M RED AND THEREFORE DELICIOUS” color.  

It’s a transparent cranberry color with an obvious fruity scent.  It’s almost syrupy sweet on the tongue, but there’s just enough acidity that keeps it crisp and enjoyable.  Very similar to their regular moscato but you have a distinct flavor of strawberries and cherries.  There’s a slight almost metallic flavor I often detect in Barefoot wines, but it goes down pretty easy and the finish lingers.  

This is a great wine for beginners as it's not complicated.  It's sweet and simple and sometimes that's all you need with a wine.  You don’t need to pair this with food; it would do fine on it’s own as an after dinner drink.  I also think it’d go well with some angel food cake with strawberries and ice cream.  As a sucker for sweet things, I have to admit I liked it. 

7/10

SeaGlass Sauvignon Blanc

SeaGlass Sauvignon Blanc

2011

Costco

$7.99

This bottle is an example of buying a wine based solely on its label.  My mother has a thing for collecting sea glass on beaches so you can guess how tickled pink she was finding this wine.  We decided we'd all give it a try.

We opened this bottle soon after finishing off the Kirkland Signature Pinot Grigio.  We all know that after a few glasses of wine, everything you eat or drink tastes better.  We suspect that our opinion of this wine may have been a tad skewed due to already having some alcohol in our systems.  I can certainly say that we enjoyed this a lot more than the Pinot Grigio.

This Sauvignon Blanc is a light straw color, with a lot of lemon and lime on the nose.  The taste was very light, crisp, and refreshing, with a balanced acidity and wasn't too dry.  Flavors of lemon and grapefruit were very prominent and my father mentioned a hint of lemongrass.  It lacked the mineral profile of the Pinot Grigio and I found it a lot more palatable.

It tastes good and goes down easy but it lacks complexity.  For a Sauvignon Blanc, it's not bad and the price makes it a great value.  I would certainly pick it up again, even if only to see if it's still as good as I remember it.  It's an oaked chardonnay lover's worst nightmare.

SCORE: 7/10

Kirkland Signature 2011 Pinot Grigio

My parents take full credit for introducing me to wine.  While other young adults my age were out drinking PBR and Budweiser at college parties, I was sitting on the screened in porch with them, sipping on white zinfandel.  

So the other day, I told my mom and dad about my recent interest in starting a wine blog, and they were more than happy to help contribute with some selections from their wine cellar... er, um basement...

Kirkland Signature Pinot Grigio

Costco

$7.99 (or so I'm told)

Now I was fairly unfamiliar with what an Italian Pinot Grigio is supposed to taste like.  This wine gave me a pretty good lesson in the basics.

The wine is very pale, almost to the point of being completely clear.  There was a lot of citrus on the nose with hints of green apple.  The taste was very light and crisp with flavors of pineapple, peaches, and distinct mineral undertones.  While I couldn't begin to explain what 'minerals' taste like, it's unmistakable in this Pinot Grigio.  The acidity is noticeable but it's well balanced.  The finish was soft and lingering.  We drank this with a meal of grilled garlic basil pork chops and the flavor of the meat kind of overwhelmed the wine.  

This wine is not very complex but it's not bad.  It's just... very average.  I wouldn't whip this out if you want to impress your friends.  It's a wine that everyone can enjoy but not everyone will remember.  I probably would choose something else over this if given a choice.

SCORE: 5/10

Yellow Tail Chardonnay

Yellow Tail Chardonnay

Harris Teeter

2 for $10 (on special)

I'd always put off buying Yellow Tail because it was one of those 'mainstream mass produced' wines; something I foolishly avoid due to my affection for American wines and those from small local wineries...

(like "You've probably never heard of it" Vineyards)

But then I got over myself.

A recent bad experience with a questionable bottle of Barefoot Chardonnay had me running for the hills and searching for something different and upon finding a 2 for $10 special at my neighborhood Harris Teeter, I jumped on it.  I picked up a bottle of Chardonnay and Cab Sauv to try.

The wine is a light golden straw color with a clean fruity nose of peaches, pineapples, and oranges.

The first sip was a bit sharp and acidic and seemed to overwhelm my taste buds, but I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly it smoothed out.  Most affordable chardonnays that I've tried are fermented in stainless steel so I might expect a crisp flavor with only slight hints of vanilla at the very end and not much else.  This chardonnay has a long finish that's creamy with a hint of smoky oak that lingers on the tongue.  Now I don't know if they ferment their chardonnay in oak, but it certainly tastes like they do.

It's a little sweet for a chardonnay and that makes for easy drinking.  While not one of the best I've ever tasted, it's definitely not the worst.  In conclusion, Yellow Tail Chardonnay is a pleasant and refreshing wine; great to accompany a weekday meal or just to sip on the porch.

SCORE: 6/10

Allow me to introduce myself...

First things first...

Call me Pen.  I'm a hip (HA!) twenty-something living a stone's throw away from the nation's capital.  

(Tasting at Barboursville Vineyards, Barboursville, VA)

  

My taste in wines is varied, but sometimes I'm just afraid to grab a bottle of the shelf.  I sometimes put a lot of my trust in snooth and cellar tracker reviews, but sometimes there’s just no information out there.  

My main problem is, once I find a wine I like, I have a tendency to stick to it and not wander from the beaten path.  How boring.

Another problem:  I’m poor.  Sure, I used to be able to drop $40 on a bottle of wine like it was nothing, but those weren't made to be chugged with Steakums on a Tuesday night.  I see a pretty label with a tantalizing description, but my fear of wasting money on a wine I'm not sure I'll even like holds me back.  This blog is to get me over that fear.


Upon moving to this area, with a plethora of great restaurants within walking distance, I promised myself that I wouldn't try the same thing off the menu twice.  Every time I went somewhere, I couldn't order something I'd had there before.  So why not apply that same rule for wine?

I had my first experience with wine tasting at the Montpelier Wine Festival, here in Virginia.  Every year, 24 wineries are chosen by lottery to bring out their best for people to try on the beautiful grounds of James Madison’s home turf.  Before this, my wine experience was Beringer and whatever was on special at BJ’s that my parents picked up.

After going through my first official tasting at Democracy Vineyard's tent - The heavens opened and a flight of angels descended with a flourish of trumpets and I suddenly realized that I didn’t know shit anything about wine.  I still don't.  I don't know how to pick out the finer notes of peaches, minerals, tobacco, wet dogs, etc., in a wine, but I think I'm getting better at it.

So the point of this blog is to document my journey through the world that is wine.  I've tried hundreds, but did not do a thorough job documenting it.  In fact, all I have are winery pamphlets covered in unrecognizable scribbles with arrows pointing up or down.

If you would like me to try a wine, let me know.  I’m up for anything and I crave suggestions.  Even if it's something you've never tried personally, but have been curious.  I'll try it for you.  Go on, dare me.

THERE IS ONLY ONE RULE:

All wine must be under $15 a bottle

I live in the Northern Virginia area and I have access to Harris Teeter, Total Wine, Trader Joe’s, Wegmans, Costco, Target, Walmart, not to mention some smaller wine 'boutiques' within walking distance such as The Curious Grape and Cheesetique.  I have a myriad of wine vendor choices, so don't hesitate to throw an idea my way.  

So, why "Wine of the Evening"?  

One of my favorite things to do is to open a bottle of wine after a hard day of work and just enjoy it.  I would post a micro review on Twitter with a picture to show my followers what particular wine I was partaking in.  I always start those tweets with "Wine of the Evening" so the name stuck.  This blog was created with the intent of fleshing out those Twitter micro-reviews.

Bottoms up! :)