Tasting - I went to the wine lab again

 Okay... I went to the wine lab with my girlfriend and didn't take notes at all because we were chatting and playing chess.

gimme some credit for dropping $80 at your gastrobar @boyer

Did the wine & cheese flight. Liked the first pairing a lot - the gouda was awesome, much saltier than expected, which worked well with the sugar in the prosecco.

The 2nd and 3rd wines, reds, were pretty meh after that first set. Same for the cheeses. Maybe I'm just a hater but manchego has no defining characteristics. It was just mid as hell. Not extreme in any way - not super salty, creamy, stinky, stiff, nutty, nothing outstanding at all. The cheddar wasn't bad but certainly not stellar compared to the yummy gouda.

After that had a glass of the Boplaas Muscat again because I love that syrupy caramely quincy brown wine.

Also a charcuterie board because chess was continuing into a third game and I couldn't drink more.

Tasting - Kung Fu Girl Reisling

 Wine: Kung Fu Girl Riesling

$11.20 at food lion

Year: 2021

Location: Washington State

Color: pale yellow, silvery glints

Smell: pineapple, lemon

Taste: juicy, slightly bitter like underripe fruit. Not dry, medium sweet, lemon/lime rind aftertaste, maybe some grapefruit as well.

General notes: This had the most significant difference in taste and smell that I have had while taking detailed tasting notes - expected sweeter, more tropical flavors, and instead got this kind of unpleasantly bitter flavor. Interesting that the two senses could be so different. Probably wouldn't buy again; it was cheap and some interesting stuff going on but there are far better Rieslings out there in my price range.

Wine Folly lists lime, apple, beeswax, jasmine, and petroleum as common notes. Personally only picked up the fruits, and wasn't looking hard enough to pull jasmine or beeswax out of my ass. 

Tasting - Liberty Creek Chardonnay

 Did a back-to-back tasting of two bottom shelf chardonnays because the wallet is getting thin at this point in the semester. This is Blog 2 of 2 on cheap chardonnay.

Wine: Liberty Creek Chardonnay

Year: not listed

Location: California

Cost: $5.99 (3-glass box)

Color: very pale yellow. almost colorless

Smell: lighter odor than the Sutter Home, much like the color. Green apple was the only specific odor I could pull out

Taste: apricot faintly, overall even lighter flavor than Sutter Home. It's a more polite wine, insofar that it probably knows it doesn't have much to show off, and opts to be light and refreshing instead.

General Notes: If Sutter Home was the Coors Light of Chardonnay, this is certainly the Miller Light - more refreshing, lighter, less boldly sub-par.

Wine folly says the typical primary flavors are apple, star fruit (who the heck knows what star fruit tastes like), pineapple, vanilla, and butter. 

Tasting - Sutter Home Chardonnay

Did a back-to-back tasting of two bottom shelf chardonnays because the wallet is getting thin at this point in the semester. This is Blog 1 of 2 on cheap chardonnay.

Wine: Sutter Home Chardonnay

Year: not listed

Location: California

Cost: $5.99 (3-glass box)

Color: goldenrod, slight brown tint. just the faintest orange too

Smell: smells sweet, cheap, sour, apple-ey. Homeydew melon, gasoline?

Taste: buttery, not as sweet as expected, very gentle sugars honestly. not very distinctive mouthfeel. smoother than water, but not in a slimy viscous way.

General Notes: definitely a cheap wine. could probably pound this all day at a concert but not something I would pull out for a date or serve to my parents. I served this straight out of the fridge, will let it warm up while I type this then taste again.

Wine folly says the typical primary flavors are apple, star fruit (who the heck knows what star fruit tastes like), pineapple, vanilla, and butter. I didn't get any of those middle three, but the buttery texture and apple were present. I taste apple in every white wine though so who knows what's actually going on.