Stella Rosa Rosso Il Conte D'Alba 1917

Every time I would hang out with my girlfriends, they raved about Stella Rosa. One night my girlfriend and I decided to go buy some at Bevmo, but they were all sold out. A few months later, I found Stella Rosa at Bristol Farms for $10.99. The guy that was showing me around the wine arbor claimed Stella Rose is "a wine for pussies!" Stella Rosa is described as a "refreshing red wine to be served chilled and accompanied by fresh fruit and cheese." I drank it chilled and I was pleasantly surprised when I realized there were bubbles! The wine itself was very sweet, with fruity flavors, great for entry level wine drinkers. The alcohol content is only at 5.5%, so you may need to drink a bottle or two by yourself to have a fun night. The color of the wine is also very light compared to other reds I have tried before. Stella Rosa would be great on a nice summer evening when you are in the mood for a light, sweet red wine. So forget the Arbor Mist at the grocery store and go buy a bottle of Stella Rose, you will not be disappointed :)

Geyser Peak Sauvignon Blanc (2008)

I enjoyed most of this bottle on my own last night in our New York hotel room, after having a few vodka crans. It was pouring outside so we figured we'd keep the party inside until the rain let up, and that worked out pretty well. I got it at a little wine and liquor shop here in by Central Park, price: $9.99, I imagine it was a little over priced but it's kind of hard to find wine in our area in the theater district (or it was difficult when we were wandering around trying to find alcohol the other night). I had been deciding between this one and a 120 sauv blanc (and a muscato, but that had a cork while these have twist off tops, and we don't have a wine opener here), and asked the guy at the shop what the differences were, he said this one was more dry while the other was more buttery and crisp. I figured I'd try this one since I already have the other one sitting at home waiting to be tasted.

Now for the wine review, it was definitely one of those wines that make you pucker a little bit, not really in a bad way, it just had that bit of acidity. It wasn't that sweet but did have some sourish fruit flavors. As the back of the bottle says "passion fruit, lime and grapefruit flavors...balanced by clean, crisp acidity." I don't know about the crisp part, but it definitely had the acidity and the lime and grapefruit part. As for the results from the next morning (which is now, as I'm writing this review), I drank this whole bottle myself minus 2 glasses, and I'm feeling just fine, now. I was def a little woozy and dehydrated a few hours ago, but really not too bad, so that's a good sign. Now the question, should you buy this wine? I would say if you find it under $7 go for it, but the price I paid seemed a little much, unless you are looking for a puckery sort of wine.

Bogle Old Vine Zinfandel (2007)

Hello and welcome to the Winers Blog. I just finished sharing a bottle of Bogle Old Vine Zinfandel, vintage 2007 and have a slight buzz going on so sorry if I'm not 100% coherent. Anyway, on to the wine review...oh btw, this blog is not written by professional wine tasters, just by people who love to drink wine (and indulge in other alcoholic beverages). Please do not expect us to detect every slight flavor of oak or hint of raspberry or cherry, our tasting skills are not quite that developed yet...but give us a few years and perhaps we'll be all pretentious and discerning like that. Until then we are just here to have some tasty wine, probably accompanied by some delicious food and good friends. We'll tell you what's delicious, what's drinkable, and what you should probably just save for cooking or to give to the underage kids.

Ok, so on to the wine I enjoyed tonight, Bogle Old Vine Zinfandel, vintage 2007 ($9.99 on sale at Bristol Farms), I thought it was delicious. Not quite as good as the Plungerhead zinf I enjoyed the other day, which I thought had more light fruit flavors, but definitely one I'd like to drink again. It had a pleasant smell (can't recall it enough to describe right now though). As for the taste, it was smooth with some fruit flavor, although not sweet, it had mild tannins and a medium finish. According to the label on the bottle the flavor was of "blackberry, black cherry, and raspberry...wrapped in a smooth blanket of vanilla and oak." I thought it tasted similar to Bogle's cabernet sauvignon, but I had that one a week or two ago, so I can't remember all the details of the cab's flavor. As for the zinf, I drank it while eating some pasta with a red eggplant sauce and a dessert of brownie cookies and a See's candy dark chocolate truffle. I thought it went well with both the meal and the dessert. Oh perhaps I should mention that the wine had a 14.5% alcohol level...so hey, everything seems pretty good once you get a few glasses in lol. But really, to me it was a delicious wine, I'd recommend getting a bottle and checking it out yourself.