Barefoot - Non-Vintage, Riesling

 

  Do you guys ever wonder just how many wine competitions there are in this country alone? I've never counted the number myself but from what i've seen, there are many. How many of these competitions in reality offer up any true bragging rights though? Using todays review as an example, there is a sticker on the bottle stating that the wine scored "Gold" and "Best Of Class" at the Pacific Rim Wine Competition. What is that you say, you have never heard of that event, join the club because neither have I. After looking at the wines that were submitted to the upcoming competition I see that the only winery that I have ever heard of is Barefoot. Some obscure grape varietals are also being entered as well. It does sound great though I mean a gold medal in a wine competition, how do you beat that? Today I am going to be reviewing that gold medal wine so let's get this review going.

   Today, I am reviewing the non-vintage Barefoot, Riesling. Yep, you read that correctly, I, me, the Desert Wine Guy am reviewing a Barefoot wine so let's get started. To start off with here, I paid $4.98 for this......wine at Wallyworld. As you would expect, it is sealed with a screw cap and the alcohol percentage comes in at 8% which tells me that this is one sugar bomb of a Riesling.
   Let's talk a bit about Barefoot. From what I have seen on their page, the winery caters towards the younger generation and those who generally do not have an aquired knowledge of what most of us will call, real wine. These are the people who couldn't find their usual bottle of Thunderbird or ripple and the store was sold out of the Orange Mango flavored Seagrams Wine Coolers they normally buy so they did the next best thing, they bought a bottle of Barefoot instead. Barefoot is owned by Ernest & Julio Gallo and from what I see on their website, they pretty much spend their money on lower priced wines althouth they did just purchase from Constellation Brands, the Franciscan Winery (https://www.franciscan.com/) which is located in the Napa Valley and they do already own the Whitehaven (https://www.whitehavenwine.com/) label from Marlborough, New Zealand which I found to produce some very nice Sauvignon Blanc so perhaps there is are big changes coming.   Alright, now that that stuff is out of the way, let me talk about the label on this wine bottle. Ahhhh....yeah. I have nothing good to say about the label as it always has reminded me of cheap, jug wine. I get the graphic of the bare foot on the label but I still say that I don't like the label. I do not think much thought and effort was put into the labels creation and I will end this section right here.

Current Vintage E & J Gallo Riesling

   Let's talk about the nose of this wine now. Right from the beginning, the wine has a weird, chemical odor to it and is intermixed with a sweet smelling bouquet of green apple as well as some type of sugary melon, possibly honeydew as well as Skittles. The nose is just SCREAMING to me that the wine is going to be way overdone with sugar, perhaps the palate wil tell a different story though, we will see soon. There is also the perception on the nose here of a sweet type of thickness that the wine may possibly expose on the palate and that is just scaring me to death. Alright, thats is the end of this part of the review, I will see you in the next paragraph where I will talk about what I am getting on the palate.
   Starting off here, let me tell you that the wine is just a complete disaster, a mess. It is loaded with sugar and not afraid to present that sugar. I got a slight tingle of carbonation on the tip of my tongueas well which I found disconcerning and out of character for the varietal. There was fruit on the palate which I did expect and that fruit is heavely sweetened as I did expect as well. Green apple and Honeydew are just ooozing out sugary tropical notes. The wine also tastes like it is delivering up some kind of ever so slightly thick nectar that is wayyyy overblown with sweetness. As I take a few more sips I have to get to the conclusion of this review, I simply have to end this madness guys because my Kitchen sink drain is needing to be cleaned and this is the wine to do just that.

   Let me close this review out really quickly. Gross, nasty, junk.....crap! Guys, I am very sorry I bought this wine as it was a waste of $5. I could have bought a wonderful Espresso with that money. The only reason I got this wine is because one of my daughters keeps asking me to review it, and for you guys of course:) That sums it all up folks and that completes this review. I will see you next time and I will be reviewing a wine, a real wine. On The Desert Wine Guy rating scale I am giving this wine 85 points. The wine in my opinion is undrinkable and can be used in place of Liquid Plummer to clear your household drains. 

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The Desert wine Guy - 2018 Pine Ridge - Chenin Blanc & Viognier

   How does a wine reviewer get excited? No, it's not a sick joke, its a serious question. For me, as a wine reviewer, one of the ways that I get excited is when I perform a tasting/review of a wine that is from one of my favorite wineries. Having said that, I will now tell you that today, I am indeed excited. I'll also tell you that in the process of coming across today's review wine I also found a wine shop not far from my house that carries some really big name Napa Valley wines that I simply haven't been able to find here in my neck of the woods. Aside from picking up our review wine, I also picked up the 2009 BV (Beaulieu Vineyard) red blend. By the way, BV is also one of my favorite Napa Valley wineries so I am doubly excited. I can't wait to see what today's wine has in store for me so let's do this.
    Today I am reviewing the 2018 Pine Ridge - Chenin Blanc & Viognier (https://www.pineridgevineyards.com/cbv/) blend. The grapes for this wine are sourced from the Clarksburg (Chenin Blanc) and Lodi (Viognier) California Appellations which are both located outside Sacramento. The wine is a blend of 78% Chenin Blanc & 22% Viognier. The alcohol percentage of this wine is 12.5% and I paid $16 for it. The Pine Ridge Winery is owned by Crimson Wine Group (https://www.crimsonwinegroup.com/about-us/our-brands) which is located in Napa Valley, California.

   I want to now talk about the two different grape varietals involved in the creation of this wine, let's start with the Chenin Blanc varietal. The home of this grape varietal is the Loire Valley in France. This varietal usually has high acidity and is therefore used in Sparkling Wine. In the Loire Valley, the temperature is cooler and therefore produces a higher in acidity grape then elsewhere. In reality, the Chenin Blanc variety is Frances answer to Riesling. Between you and me, the Chenin Blanc varietal is cleaner, crisper, and is actually preferred by me. The wine varietal of Chenin Blanc is named after Mont Chenin in Touraine, a wine region to the east of Anjou in the Middle Loire. In reference to this wine, the varietal is very seldom planted in the Napa Valley due to the fact that the prices of the grapes are low.
    Now. let's move to the varietal of Viognier. Here again, is another wine grape that originated in France, southern France. The varietal can be oak-aged and can present notes of peach, tangerine & honeysuckle. This grape is considered to be softer in the acidity aspect but normally higher in the alcohol department. Overall there are generally two different styles of wine made from the grape. The new oak aging delivers a richer creamier taste, lower acidity, and aromas of clove, nutmeg, and vanilla. Neutral and no oak aging (think Stainless steel) will deliver more floral and tropical fruit flavors in the wine while maintaining its acidity and often a subtle bitter note.

   I must talk about the nose of this wine now. I definitely have to let you know that I am getting the feeling (the sense) that this is going to turn out to be a very vibrant white wine here. Starting off, I am picking up nice, juicy & and rather forward notes of lemon & pineapple. Adding to these notes is a Honeysuckle that simply adds to the perceived brightness of the wine. Topping the nose off is a deep nectarine that is not really forward but is certainly appreciated and enjoyed. I certainly hope my perceptions of the wines palate presentation are indeed correct because if they are, the wine should be very enjoyable.
   Let's check out the palate presentation of this wine now. Ripe pear and pineapple, while these two notes don't necessarily jump out at you, they are nevertheless pretty prominent on the opening palate, yummy. Following these two notes up is some pretty nice White Peach which adds to the brightness of the palate right from the beginning. Another awesome note here in the wine is that of zippy acidity and it presents itself to it to the point where you will at times detect an ever so slight tingle (not carbonation) on the Palate but no worries as it is very well placed and at just the right presentation level. How about some green apple guys? Well, this green apple is another nice and lively note and shows up here at the Mid-Palate again contributing to the wines palate liveliness. This green apple thankfully doesn't present any sharpness at all which is fine by me but I promise that you will know it is indeed there and effective in its presentation. By the way, in case you haven't guessed yet, the wine has no problems in displaying really nice and ripe tropical fruit so your palate will definitely be kept awake for the entire time you are at the pool. I guess I left that pool part out huh?

Winemaker - Michael Beaulac

I will talk more about this in the final paragraph. Before I move on I want to put your fears to ease because this is not a sweet wine by any means although there is a bit based upon the notes I have mentioned. It seems that the other Notes keep this sweetness in check for the most part and kind of gang up on it allowing only what is needed to come through. Overall I have to say that this is a dry wine. Adding to that zippy acidity that I mentioned earlier, there is also a little bit of a Lemon Zest and I have to tell you that this wine just takes over the entire palate from mouth feel to the actual flavors. All of the Notes present in this white wine blend play so well together with one another and without being overdone or offensive. On the Mid-Palate is a fairly big stone note which brings a fresh and clean boldness to the wine. Guys, the wine is just striking on the mouth and presents great structure. Also on that Mid-Palate, I get a semi-ripe nectarine which only adds to the stone note that the wine is so in love with but also brings with it some minerality as well. Okay folks, I think you all get the point, this wine is nice, really nice. Let's get to the conclusion paragraph and I will give you my rating on the wine.
   As I start off here, I want to tell you some good news. While at a wine shop the other day, I found this wine selling for $10.99 which is a heck of a lot better than $16.99. Between the lower price and the rating of the wine, I have found an awesome pool wine. This is a wine that I don not think guests will object to as there is just the perfect amount of sweetness/tropicalness and there is nothing that will cause anyone to shy away from the wine once they taste it. As far as my rating of this wine goes, on The Desert Wine Guy rating scale I am giving this wine 93 points. As a last note, while at the shop I picked up two more bottles of the wine.
                                                                                                                                   The Desert Wine Guy

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