My wine destinations so far has been an interesting experience. I really like how this class is not focused on local wines from the U.S. We are taking into consideration that other countries are taking the initiative to dive into this industry and succeed in it.
Country: Argentina Region: Salta
Grape Variety: Torrontes Vintage: 2011
Name: Finca el Origen
The color of this wine is pale yellow with hints of green, an indication of a young wine. Has low viscocity. It smelled like pears, mango (something new for me), passion fruit and cucumber. Fresh and clean are words that were thrown to finish off the smell portion. For me, it tasted very tart and bitter. I definitely tasted green apples and lemon zest, very different from what was said for the smells. I didn’t really like it because it was bitter to the taste.
Region: Mendoza Vintage: 2010
Grape Variety: Malbec
Something that I thought was cool about this wine is the color for a young young. So far the young wines had tinge of orange or brick red. The color for this wine was opaque, deep red to eggplant color. The smell was dry currents, black cherry and black cherries. Upon tasting it, I immediately thought of peppers and it dry. It also had dry cherries and high acidity. This can be paired with a barbecue steak. I’ll take that!
Country: Chile Vintage: 2010
Region Rapel Valley Grape Variety: Carmener
Name: Santa Caroline Riserva
The color for this wine was dark purple with low viscosity. It smelled like plums, annise (yuck!), dry roses and bay leaf. From the taste I got plums and black pepper. Surprisingly this wine wasn’t bad even though it had the smell of anise. This can be paired with grilled chicken with barbecue sauce, empanada (yum!) or venison. I’ll definitely take that.
Name: Faustino V Riserva Vintage: 2005
Country: Spain Region: Rioja
Grape Variety: Tempranillo
Spain is considered an old world country where it focuses on their laws and keeping with those standards. The color of this wine was opaque and brick red with medium viscosity. The smell was plum, oak, cherries and pomegranate. So far smells good. The taste was more like sour plums, sour cherries and oak. This wine was okay. It can be paired with steak with a dark sauce or paella.
Country: Portugal
Name: Periquita Riserva Vintage: 2010
The color of this wine was garnet. This is the first wine that I have come across so far that has almonds. It also smelled like vanilla, rosemary and green peppers. The taste was definitely oak and cranberries. This can be paired with spaghetti and meatballs or maybe a beef stew.
Country: Brazil Vintage: 2010
Name: Aurora Brazilian Soul
Grape variety: Cabernet Sauvignon
The color of this wine was brick red and rust. The smell was roasted chestnuts which I thought was pretty cool. The taste was very thin tart. Professor Goodlad said that this would be a good summer wine.
Latin America has been interesting but not enough for me to want to buy any of these wines. Off to my next destination. Woo Hoo!
