Decant Stop Tasting Wine Blog

I think this might be the first half-bottle we’ve bought and of course this wine proved why I was always afraid to go that route… we loved the wine and were really sad when the bottle was empty – we wanted more.  Call it [bad] luck I guess, I mean what are the odds?  We kept trying different white wines and wished they were half bottles, but when we finally buy a half bottle, we love it.  Figures. 

Other thing this wine proves is that everyone’s tastes are different.  Stephen Tanzer rated this wine 89 and we rate it 91.  Most of the time we rate lower than the pros, so we were a little surprised to like it better than the ratings suggest.  On to the review.

On the nose lemon bursts from the glass, with a little grass and minerality.  Mouth-feel is very smooth, medium weight, good acidity.  It would probably go with chicken quite well, although we had it with Mahi Mahi, which went very well.  Taste was butter, honey, and grapefruit (but not too sour), and a little lemon grass.  I don’t typically care much for butter in my wine, but the balance of this wine was superb, so all the butter really did was make it really smooth, if not a little creamy.  Buy the 750ml bottle!

Rating:  91

Price:  $22 350ml (K&L)

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This is the first white wine that I’ve had no complaints about for as long as I can remember.  This is quality stuff indeed.  The nose is more or less the same as the flavor – grassy, with citrus and a little cantaloupe.    It has medium acidity and is pretty flexible for food pairing.  The finish is pretty long and pleasant too.  I guess I actually do have one complaint, which is the price.  Not that it is crazy expensive, but to me this is at the same level as many 10-13 dollar reds that I’ve had, but at twice the price.  Certainly there are wines this good at a better price point.  The search continues.  I would recommend this wine though, because it is quite good compared to other whites I’ve tried.  It probably is quite different than the California Chardonnays a lot of people are drinking too, or all of the other wines from labels that produce millions of cases per season.

Rating:  89

Price:  $22 (K&L)

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Full name Ermocora Colli Orientali Del Friuli Tocai Friuliano.  This is one of the better white wines we’ve had so far… not that we’ve had a lot.  Neither of us have been particularly fond of whites, mostly because we haven’t had one we really liked.  We’re on a mission though, to find at least one we do like.  I’ve heard good things about Friuli wines and so we’ve made a concerted attempt to try a variety of them.  We had one that we bought from Wine Expo first.  Wine Expo is this nice wine shop in Santa Monica that specializes in Italian wines.  It was pretty good, maybe a point or two less than this one though.  Not good enough to buy again.

Let’s cut to the chase about this particular wine though.  From what I have learned about Friuli wines, this one is probably pretty classic in style.  It is well balanced with minerals, floral, fruit, and acidity.  Its a lot like a good Champagne, without the bubbles.  This would probably be great with strawberries… maybe tomorrow night when we finish off the bottle, maybe with desert.  It is highest in citrus and apple.  Maybe like you squeezed a little lemon juice onto a slice of apple and ate it… but your plate was made of limestone or something.  To be honest I’m not big on “the great” Champagnes, I actually prefer a cheaper taste – I want to taste white grape with a squirt of lemon and either a melon or apple basis, and can do without the honey, butter, and minerality.  In a white wine I prefer heavy florals with lemon grass and a little white grape flavor… with or without the apple.  What I hate is the tendency for them to have an aftertaste that is like a sweettart without all the sugar.  I find that in most Rosés as well.  This wine is actually a good balance of the lot.  The downside is that I feel it isn’t really a great value at its price.  We have another, more expensive Friuli waiting for us in the cellar, so maybe we’ll have better luck with that one.  It probably would never be a “daily drinker” at these prices though.  We’ll probably have to revisit the Pinot Grigios and possibly something for Australia, Chile, South America, etc.

Rating:  88

Price $16 (K&L)

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You know, with all the rave reviews of this wine I thought I would really enjoy it.  While I’ll agree with the reviews on some points, like the fact that it was complex with out of the ordinary flavors and aroma, but we certainly didn’t think it was “delicious”.  Also, I really wanted to try a good Albarino and at 91 points, this should have been it, but instead it was a disappointment. 

Straw in color, with an aroma of grasses, pineapple, lemon, and [to me] some “Lemon Pledge”.  It tasted like pineapple and lemon mostly, with some of the lemon peel left in, some kind of grassy flavor I couldn’t put my finger on… maybe some white asparagus, and a vegetal sweetness – like the sweetness you get in edamame (soy beans).  Mouth-feel was actually pretty good – weighty, especially for pairing with food, as it had good acid and no sign of butter, which I was happy about.  On the finish it got a bit awkward though, leaving you with that sweettart after taste – not the part where you’re still chewing it, the part a bit after you’ve swallowed it and it leaves you with a chemically taste on the back of your tongue.  Not really that pleasant.

At $16 I’m going to recommend you pass on this one.  Who knows though, maybe we’re just high on crack and it was as good as those critics say!

Rating:  82

Price:  $16

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Eesh, we were in much debate about this wine, mostly because of personal preference.  I didn’t care for it much, but the girls liked it well enough.  I’m actually a pretty big fan of Pinot Grigios from Italy, and have even had some inexpensive ones from Trader Joe’s that I liked quite well.  But this one was just too narrow and way too much butter!  As soon as I saw it I knew it was going to be fairly week – for my preference, as it was very pale straw in color.  The aroma, which was the best part of this wine, smelled of weeds (like a grassy field with a big mix of weeds, many with flowers, etc.), citrus rind bell pepper, thyme, olive, hint of butter.  Now, with that nose I was intrigued and though, OK, so it might be better than the color suggests, but… it tasted immediately of green olive, butter, the white part of a lemon peel (I actually confirmed this on the spot by taking a little bite of that and it fit exactly), and the rest white grape juice.  The warmer the wine got, the more the butter came out too, to the point of me making a face and going “yuck!”, so definitely drink this chilled and keep it that way.  Mouth-feel was interesting, in that with the buttery aspect it coated your tongue a lot, but at the same time, was pretty acidic.  This would probably be pretty good paired with Fettuccini Alfredo with mushrooms and lemon herb chicken.  It also gave me the impression that it was very high in alcohol.  After I swallowed (yep, not much of a spitter if I don’t have to) I could feel the alcohol evaporating up my throat.  It was more like the feel of drinking Sake.  What’s left in your mouth in the finish is butter with alcohol vapor.  It sounds worse than it is in reality, but that’s the only way I can describe it.  I would pass on this at any price, but especially at $14… you can get better at Trader Joe’s for around $6.

Rating:  85  (This is a compromise with the girls)

Price:  $14  (All Star Wine & Spirits)

This was the first wine we tasted at Metro Cafe last Wednesday.  This sparkling white is made from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.  It has a light color with a slight peach tint, and lots of nice small bubbles… one sign of a potentially good sparkling wine (you don’t want it looking like soda). 

Not particularly aromatic, but shows some peach, green apple, and a tiny hint of strawberry.

Tasted of green apple (with out the sourness), apricot, honey, some vegetal variety, citrus, and a bit of orange peel.  Mouth-feel was particularly nice, with a good dose of acidity, which would make this good to pair even with a full meal.  The finish was spicy with apricot, orange peel, and honey.  It didn’t last as long as I hoped though. 

All in all a pretty good sparkling wine.  It was kind of what I would call a “girly” bubbly, in that it was on the fruity side, without that much complexity.  I tasted this with 3 girls, and they all liked it more than I did… ‘nough said.  Unfortunately I don’t know how much this retails for at the moment, so I’ll have to get back to you on that, along with an up or down for the recommendation.

Rating:  89

Price:  Pending

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We got this wine at TJ’s for six bucks so I wasn’t expecting much.  It sounded interesting… half Viognier, which I have liked, the few times I’ve tried it, and Ugni Blanc, which I’ve never even heard of… but after some research, appears to be a pretty sweet berry. 

It is pretty pale, almost straight yellow.  The nose is not bad… mostly floral with a little melon, citrus, and believe it or not, a little soapy smell. 

When it was still chilled at around 55 degrees, it immediately made me think I was drinking a light and dry champagne.  Pretty nice.  It was cool and refreshing, like a glass of fresh lemonade on a hot summer day.  The flavor wasn’t too bad really, better than I expected.  It was pretty similar to the nose, I tested all those smells… but the soap was replaced by what I imagine lemon pledge to taste like (but very slight).  The finish is deep in lemon, with the rhine still on, black pepper, and a tiny bit of oak.

If you keep this one chilled, like in an ice bucket, you’ll probably enjoy it when its hot out, or with a salad… something along those lines.  Certainly worth six bucks, maybe even 8! 

Rating: 86

Price: $6 (TJ’s)