The Desert Wine Guy - 2012 Red Autumn Chardonnay

   Hey everyone today I want to write a very short review on the 2012 Red Autumn Chardonnay.  I usually write a short review on a wine because the wine is bad and there really isn't much to say about it. This time however I am writing a short review on a wine that actually isn't that bad at all. While not what I would say is a "great" wine by any means, the 2012 Red Autumn Chardonnay is a fairly pleasant wine that I think you guys might enjoy while at the pool this Summer or sitting on the Porch in the Springtime which by the way will be here soon. This is a wine that I got from The Wine Of The Month Club about a year ago and had put away on a shelf and forgotten about since then. At the time I honestly wasn't much of a White Wine drinker but lately I have been developing a taste for it more and more. I came across this wine while going thru my wine racks in the Living Room the other day and decided that this wine was sitting around long enough and that it was time to give it a shot.  So lets go ahead and do our little review on this wine and see what there is to see.
   In the glass this wine appeared  a very nice Golden in color and displayed a very classy robust as it rested in my glass waiting to be tasted. I actually was rather impressed with the depth of color that this wine presented and was looking forward to it showing itself off some more.
   As for the Bouquet I felt that was rather nice as well. There were notes of Pear and Honeydew and one of my five year old actually commented after giving it a sniff that there was actually a note of Apple as well. By the way I agree with there being the note of Apple.On my Palette there were notes of Grapefruit and of grass which are both pleasant in taste and not overdone. There is a slight not of Honeysuckle in here as well that provided the only real hint of sweetness that I detected. The wine is slightly on the acidic and dry side as well which I feel might come from the slight Alcohol taste which was on the finish. This is a fairly mellow wine yet compact in its own way.  The notes that were tasted were fairly light and non offensive. There was more than enough flavor to be noticed but not enough for any one to stand out over another. So what do I think about this Chardonnay? Well lets start at the fact that this is a simple wine and doesn't pretend to be anything but. It is fairly dry and not a sweet or fruity wine. It is not a typical Chardonnay that would have that "buttery" note, that it definitely is lacking. Overall I must say that I did enjoy the wine and I think it would make a great Summer / pool wine. As for a good representation of it's varietal, I don't think it really lives up to that in any way. Would I drink the wine again? Yes, I would. It was a very pleasant wine to drink. It had bright notes in the sense of the Pear, Honeydew but overall it was a very mellow Chardonnay.
  On The Desert Wine Guy Rating Scale I give it a solid 83 points.

                                                                                                              The Desert Wine Guy

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The Desert Wine Guy - 2012 Milflores Rioja Tempranillo

 
 

   Today I am doing a short review of the 2012 Milflores Rioja Tempranillo. Ah yes.... a wonderful Tempranillo, my favorite varietal. A usually peppery red with leather and Cranberry notes that dominate this varietal has propelled itself to the top of my list for about two years since first tasting it. Today's wine is once again from Spain so let's see what I thought about it.

On the pour we are looking at a very light almost watery looking reddish in color wine. In the glass the wine sits the same way, unimpressive. The wine was watery around the edges and didn't appear to promise me anything but a diluted tasting red. It was actually weird to see the edges so watery but I figured I opened it so I have to at least give it a try. On the nose the wine was dominated with Cherry, Blackberry and a slightly burnt smelling oak. After seeing and smelling all this I was confused (although I thought a pretty good idea ) as to exactly what the wine was going to offer me when placed in my mouth to taste.
   In my experience I have learned that simply because a wine is light in color does not necessarily mean that the wine is bad or un flavorful. Let me issue a warning here. If you plan to open this wine and immediately drink it you are going to be VERY disappointed. This wine needs at least two hours to open up or develop. If you insist on drinking it right away you are going to be drinking a wine dominated by Cherry & Cranberry, very strong Cherry & Cranberry. Now a weird issue with this wine. This wine is constantly changing its taste, quickly. At first it is bitter and harsh. I decide to give it another chance since I was too lazy to get up and spill it out. Almost in the next sip about 5 minutes later the wine became overpowering with notes of Cherry & Cranberry than it moves to ending in a sort of watery taste. Finally after about two hours of nursing on the wine and having three quarters of the bottle left I noticed that the wine settled down and became slightly more serious, it evolved in the bottle which I guess should be no surprise since wines do "open up" most times. I have just never experienced such a dramatic opening up of a wine before. The wine developed fairly nice notes of black Cherry as well as moderate spice. There was also ever so slight Tannin's.
    Bottom line here is that the wine did not have enough depth or personality to break into the 90 point mark but I do think it was a decent wine and able to reach to the level of an 87 point wine. The wine in the end did end up being ever so slightly Cranberry dominate but I thought that was nice here, it did not degrade the wine in any way and went nicely with the peppery and Cranberry notes as it usually does. Despite the way the wine is described I did enjoy it and I would buy it again it just didn't measure up to what a true Tempranillo should be.

                                                                                                                 The Desert Wine Guy



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