Weekly wines #11, #12, #13, #14 and #15

I’m not quite as good at keeping you up to date as I wish. But a few things happened in the last weeks, so weekly wines suffered a bit. Weekends have been busy one way or another and I didn’t feel the motivation to write, instead I spent time with Sabrina. Then car related topics arose (to keep a long story short, one car destroyed and sold for parts and a new one bought) and I also made a new web page for my favorite local restaurant. All the while I was happily sipping new wines and taking notes for this particular blog post. It was 4 new wines in just as many weeks and without making this too long here goes.

Weekly Wine #11 – Montemajor Aglianico 2012

By now it should be clear, that I am on the special offer newsletter from Vivino, and a couple of weeks ago I received this recommendation from them and I wasn’t too sure about it, since we bought quite a bit of wine the week before, so I ignored it for a minute. Then out of the blue my sister-in-law forwards me the newsletter asking if I want to go half and half on a case. Well clearly I can always find space for three extra bottles in my cellar I replied and the deal was made. As per usual the delivery was swift and safe and on the weekend I cracked open a bottle.

Here’s what I wrote down to my Evernote notebook. It smelled rather sweet at first sniff and reminded me a ton of blackcurrant and raspberries mixed together. The taste was obviously full bodied, quite heavy with mild tannins. On the other hand it was juicy and also tasting like blackcurrant and leaving a very fulfilling, long-lasting, lightly acidic aftertaste.

Vivino’s selling point for this wine was that it is a 97 point masterpiece and to that I can not object. The wine very deservedly received high praise and it is an exceptional vintage. If you have a chance to try it, do it!

Verdict: 5/5



Weekly Wine #12 – Cayega Roero Arneis 2014

Now this wine we got as a tasting gift from the aforementioned sister-in-law, who wasn’t a big fan of it. But since I know she isn’t a very big fan of white wines, that didn’t mean much. So, we took it off her hands and gave it a go. I’m not sure whether it was aired out, or the cork was faulty, or what have you, I didn’t much like the first impression it made on me, neither. Here are my notes.

It smells of wet dog. I don’t much like the smell of it. The taste is rather spicy (that was actually a surprise, cause I didn’t know wine can taste spicy) and has a mildly sour aftertaste. The taste by no means fits the smell. It’s well on the dry side but nothing really to write home about (pun intended, and as I write this i realize the irony of that note). Bottom line is I am not a fan and that is also reflected in my verdict. Perhaps in some time I will give it another shot, but until then, there are many more wines I want to try. 🙂

Verdict: 2/5



Weekly Wine #13 – Sayanca Malbec 2015

I’ve tried a handful of Malbecs in the past and I do like this grape. I really do. This particular bottle we bought, I believe, at Aldi’s and boy was it a good one. After the letting it stand open on the counter for a while the first smell was kind of sweet. It made me expect the taste to be much sweeter from what it actually ended up tasting. But that, in my case, is a good thing because I prefer dry reds. The taste was pleasantly dry, with rather restrained tannins. The aftertaste delivered the sweetness the initial sniff hinted at. The taste generally reminded me of a mixture of red berries.

It is very lovely and awesomely drinkable!

Verdict: 4/5



Weekly Wine #14 – Monterebro Selección 2013

Another week another moment of weakness while browsing the Vivino newsletter … I do not regret it for a second. The bottle has an actual presence, and the label is just a work of art, let’s be honest. It was promoted as another high point wine and for under 10€ a bottle you can’t say no to that. You just can’t. And the contents didn’t disappoint, yet again. The smell was at first slightly spicy (see, I discovered a new smell, hehe), with sweet notes coming out after a few healthier sniffs. Actually, come to think of it, the smell was rather penetrating. In a good way. On the taste side of things it was quite on the sour side at first and with an abundance of tannins. Right after that the taste changes to forest fruit and the sweet aftertaste rounded it all up.

Another awesome vintage from Vivino at an unbeatable price.

Verdict: 4,5/5



Weekly Wine #15 – Barolo 2012

I didn’t do my homework on this bottle. I didn’t write down the winemakers, so I don’t have much information about the origin aside from the information on the picture above. I’ve tried a barolo for the first time a couple of years ago after my wife suggested it. She got to try a very expensive vintage at a company event and we decided to try one. We were not disappointed. And we buy a bottle every now and then. This bottle we spontaneously found in one of the German supermarkets, probably for a very reasonable price under 20€.

The smell was restrained at first but with what reminded me of alcohol fumes pushing through, not really what I expected really. The taste was rather acidic at first and with semi mild tannins. A rather peculiar taste, actually. The aftertaste lingered forever and only after a considerable time the sweet tastes came through.

Maybe I was too optimistic, or I just got spoiled by the wines we had in the weeks before. But I expected slightly more from this barolo. Because of that …

Verdict: 3,5/5

 

I know, many wines in one post. You can let me know if you like this format or is a regular weekly post preferable. 🙂 I will do my best to put my ass into gear and post more regularly. Thanks for sticking with me all the way to the end of the post and stay awesome!

Cheers!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I accept that my given data and my IP address is sent to a server in the USA only for the purpose of spam prevention through the Akismet program.More information on Akismet and GDPR.