Andrey's Wine Blog

Wine: Champange - Andre Region: California Country: USA Year: No Vintage Online Review: This Brut sparkling wine features a medium to dry blend of white wine grapes, resulting in a fruity flavor somewhere between green apples and sweet lemons. Brut can be used as a mixer in your favorite cocktail, or served as a standalone solution to class up your own personal happy hour. Source: https://www.influenster.com/reviews/andre-brut-california-champagne Folly:   The most iconic sparkling wine is made with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier. The most treasured wines age for 3 or more years. Puckette, Madeline; Hammack, Justin. Wine Folly: Magnum Edition (p. 94). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.  My Review:  Obviously, this wine is very dry. I am personally not a fan of champagne, I feel like the bubbles are a little overwhelming. This wine has a combination of flavors that are both fruity and citrusy. It smelled slightly like butter, but other than that, all my nose could abso

 Wine: Sauvignon Blanc - Yellow Tail Region: South Eastern Country: Australia Year: No Vintage Online Review: Made in South Eastern Australia, [ yellow tail ] Sauvignon Blanc is a white wine that brings the flavors and essence of the region to your glass, ensuring a smile with each sip. This sauvignon blanc is everything a great wine should be with its easy to drink, crisp taste and fresh flavor profile. Featuring bold flavors of passionfruit and grapefruit, this white wine is light bodied and refreshing. Enjoy this white wine with a seafood dinner or a picnic lunch. Source: https://drizly.com/wine/white-wine/sauvignon-blanc/-yellow-tail-sauvignon-blanc/p2215#:~:text=Made%20in%20South%20Eastern%20Australia,a%20smile%20with%20each%20sip. Folly: A unique-tasting white wine with strong herbaceous flavors that are derived from compounds called methoxypyrazines (also found in bell peppers!). Puckette, Madeline; Hammack, Justin. Wine Folly: Magnum Edition (p. 165). Penguin Publishing Group.

 Wine: Pink Moscato - Beringer Region: Carmenere Country: Chile Year: No Vintage Online Review: Beringer Pink Moscato has the attractive floral and tropical fruit aromas of Moscato with a hint of ripe red berry on the palate. This is a fun, lighthearted wine with a smooth and refreshing finish. Source: https://drizly.com/wine/white-wine/moscato/beringer-main-and-vine-pink-moscato/p10153 Folly:   A very delicate and lightly sparkling Muscat Blanc from the Asti region in Piedmont, Italy. Moscato d’Asti has one of the lowest alcohol levels of all wines (at around 5.5% ABV), reserving the grape sugars for sweetness in this highly aromatic white wine. Puckette, Madeline; Hammack, Justin. Wine Folly: Magnum Edition (p. 139). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.  My Review:  This wine is probably one of my favorite wines of all time. It is the kind that you can drink either by itself or with certain kinds of food. It is a sweet wine with hints of apple and cherry splattered across the dr

Wine: Bogle - Merlot Region: New Jersey Country: USA Year: No Vintage Online Review: Bogle Wines are elegant and sophisticated. They come from a family winery in California with a rich history. You can taste the dedication they put into their wines in each glass you pour. Visiting the winery and drinking the wines themselves are an absolute treat. Source: https://vinodelvida.com/wineries/bogle-wine-brand-review/ Folly:   Merlot is similar to Cabernet Sauvignon, but with bolder cherry flavors and smoother, finer tannins. The grape performs excellently all over the North Coast (at better values than Cabernet!), and will generally be more elegant and herbal from coastal areas and Mendocino. Puckette, Madeline; Hammack, Justin. Wine Folly: Magnum Edition (p. 292). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.  My Review:  This wine is indeed similar to cabernet sauvignon, but in my opinion, its a lighter form of it with more prominent fruity flavors. The combination of cherry and the tannins i

      Wine: Fino - Dona Luisa: I was surprised when I poured this wine because I assumed it would be red, but nope - white wine. It is a dessert Sherry that has extremely prominent pear and green apple scent and flavor. It is probably a bit too sweet for all of the cheeses, but we will find out :) Sangria - Sol de Espa ña: One of the sweetest, low-alcohol wines you will come across. With every sip, it is fruit and berry galore. Some of the flavors that I could make out were orange, cherry, strawberry, and maybe even apple. Cabernet Sauvignon - Substance, WA: The Cabernet Sauvignon is very tangy, tannic, and borderline vinegary. It is certainly not the kind of wine you want to drink by itself, whether it is light-bodied (in this case, it is) or heavy and bold. Wines used to pair with cheese. Cheese: Parmesan Cheese - Lucerne: In my opinion, parmesan is not meant to be combined with any kind of wine. Maybe it's because it was crumbly, or maybe because it did not do anything to help o

Wine: Sangria - Sol de España Region: Cruzares Country: Spain Year: No Vintage Online Review: Spain - A true Sangria produced by Felix Solis, the number one Sangria producer in Spain. Easy drinking, fresh and fruity showing red fruit and citrus flavors intermingled with hints of cinnamon. Ready to drink right away this classic selection that will get any party started. Source: https://www.totalwine.com/wine/fruit-wine/sangria/sol-de-espana-sangria/p/16984015 Folly:   Page 282. A great deal of Spain’s value wine comes from Central Spain, particularly from Castilla-La Mancha and parts of Valencia (including Castilla VT). Still, you can find excellent quality reds here, usually at great prices. As you move farther South, you get into dominant plantings of Palomino Fino and Pedro Ximenez, which are used for Sherry of all kinds from dry to sweet. My Review:  This wine is mostly sweet with a very light body and low alcohol content. Since it is a Sangria, there is a lot of fruit present when

Wine: Winemaker's Blend - Apothic Red Region: California Country: USA Year: 2019 Online Review: Fruit and black cherry. The finish was long lasting and excellent. We described it as silk and satin.  As New Englanders we even gave it one of our highest seals of approval, calling it “wicked smooth!” Overall, Apothic Red is highly recommended. A great cocktail party wine that is a smooth, fast sipper on it’s own.  Source: https://www.honestwinereviews.com/apothic-red-wine-review#:~:text=We%20described%20it%20as%20silk,fast%20sipper%20on%20it's%20own. Folly:   Page 298. Even though single-varietal wines will always be in high demand, some of Washington’s very best red wines are blends. The varieties of Cabernet, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec, and even Syrah go into regionally blended wines that have increased body, depth, and complexity. My Review:  I have never tried this kind of wine before, and it was basically a medley of a bunch of different wines. It was slightly tannic but ve

Wine: 1. Malbec - Piattelli Vineyards This wine immediately gave off scents of berries, with most prominent probably being blueberry. The tannins were mild but it was still a little bit dry, and the body was medium to soft. The finish opened up a smoky aftertaste. 2. Cabernet Sauvignon - Substance WA This wine was not as thick as I would expect Cabernet Sauvignon to be. It had more of a watery quality, and this makes sense because the vintage year was less than five years ago. Semi-sweet, kind of in the middle of the sweet and dry spectrum, and with a very tangy aftertaste. Scents of specifically grape were weirdly prominent. 3. Merlot - Bogle Vineyards This is definitely the kind of wine that you want to have with food. It is an okay Merlot by itself, but its dry and tannic quality, albeit with some fruitiness thrown in, creates a sort of need for something more on the palette. Very light body, fitting the almost see-though red color, and the scents are that of cherries and maybe even