California Week!

Hello, stay-at-home W(h)iners! I hope you're ready to try out some "higher class" Californian wines this week!

We tasted two wines this week, and, though it was a tired day for us all, we still managed to have a great time and give you our best tasting of these wines! Keep reading after the video for a step-by-step breakdown of our tastings and to get our opinions on these wines!





Kendall-Jackson Grand Reserve 2011 Merlot

This week, we started out with a dry, red wine I pretty much figured our majority (those sweet-wine-lovers that they are) would not enjoy. Sadly, I was right in my line of thinking.

At first smell, the Merlot has a dark, dirty scent. There is definitely an oaky aroma seeping through the wine, and possibly a nice, dark cherry. The theme of this wine is definitely the word "dark." We detected, then, a smoky aroma, with maybe a type of spiciness--though very subtle, almost as an afterthought. One w(h)iner swore she could smell a vanilla in there, as well, and another hinted at rubbing alcohol.

Once we got to sipping, we found the wine to be, as one w(h)iner put it, "light at the front," but ultimately very, again, dark and moody. Tannins abounded in this surprisingly smooth wine, which tasted mostly like a (dark, of course) oak. Warm in the throat and all the way down, this wine was velvety, through and through, and only hinted at the dark cherry we originally smelled. One w(h)iner called it, "perfect" (again and again).

Though we generally disagreed about the qualities of this wine, at least two w(h)iners each listed it with balance, harmony, complexity, and completeness--so I believe that leaves it with at least a hint of each. (And we did unanimously agree that it was a balanced wine.)

With a very nice, clean label design and a $24 bill, this dark Merlot received two w(h)iners' complete approval, claiming it to be the "Best Ever!" These, of course, were our dry-lovers, though. And the remaining w(h)iners proceeded to profusely say, "Yuck!"

Bottom Line: Would we recommend this wine? Absolutely! If you love dry wines--this wine is "perfect." But also, No Way, if you don't like dry wines. Trust me on this--if you like your wines sweet, don't go for this one.


Kendall-Jackson Grand Reserve 2011 Chardonnay

After such harsh division with the Merlot, I was not very confident going into the Chardonnay, either. I knew it could tend to the drier side, and my fears were, again, rewarded upon tasting.

This Chardonnay brought a grapey aroma to the nose initially, leaving us reeling for the next descriptor, as happens often with white wines for us, we're learning. We found an oaky quality to the bouquet, and struggled through to a possible smoky aroma. One w(h)iner, not quite satisfied with the descriptor labeled it, "something dark." We never did find the best words for this wine, though one w(h)iner found a possible black currant scent, another walnut, while a few grappled with some sort of spice, and two more couldn't decide on a secondary fruit. One claimed a pineapple aroma, while the other found it to be apricot.

Upon tasting this wine, things did not clear up much, as we'd hoped. We could not find much fruit in the wine, besides maybe a white grape, or something with acidity. We did, however, agree on a woody spiciness in the wine--not too overpoweringly so, but very present (if that makes sense--and I can tell you, I'm still sort of confused by this wine). However, the Chardonnay did offer a smooth, tannic, cool experience in the mouth, warming the entire body on the way down. If you are still confused here, I do not blame you. It truly is a wine you need to taste again and again to understand, I believe.

The w(h)iners generally agreed on a balance and completeness to this wine, with harmony thrown in as well by a couple w(h)iners. With, again, an appealing wine label, and a $21 price tag, this wine drew lines in the sand between us again.

Three of our w(h)iners proclaimed this wine simply a "Meh," while the other two (the dry girls, of course), thought it to be "Yummy."

Bottom Line: Would we recommend this wine? Yes. Despite the oddly hard time we had describing this wine, our dry wine lovers very much enjoyed this wine. It has a mild sweetness to it, that could possibly attract those who don't love dry mouth, but it ultimately was not one our sweet wine lovers liked at all. So, also, No. As with the Merlot, if you don't like dry wines, the w(h)iners would not recommend this wine.


So there you have it, folks! Two dry wines that only Brandi and Nicole liked (again)! Like I said in the video, we're going to do our best to bring you some sweet wines for next week, and get hold of some different palates to play with. Keep checking back next week for those, and have a great week in between!

We hope to see you next week!