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