Tag Archives: alvarinho

Bodega Garzon Reserva Albarino 2020, Maldonado, Uruguay

20 Sunday Mar 2022

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The 101st bottle tasted at our Virtual Wine tasting was this Albariño from Uruguay. As always- we tasted it at room temperature first and then chilled.  The wine is a pretty, pale gold color.   The room temp version had aromas and flavors of honeysuckle, peach, apricot, yellow pear, lemon zest and evidence of MLF and Sur Lie aging by way of yeast, bread and buttered popcorn.  We agreed that the wine had high acidity, medium (+) body and a medium finish.  I gave it 12/20 on the VWTC scale and 90 points.

The chilled version was a touch flabby- the flavors were muted but we did get buttered popcorn, green apple, tangerine, pear and honeysuckle.   Quite a marked difference in flavor profiles.  One thing that we noticed was a cotton candy flavor, albeit very faint.  Someone mentioned a touch of residual sugar was noticed but at 3.2 g/l, it is considered a Dry wine.  Chilled- this wine had a lower weight body and seemed less acidic.  It scored 8/20 and I gave it 87 points.

To be fair, this is a decent wine that deserves the 90 points I originally assigned and for $17, it gets 4 stars.  Drink now with seafood cocktails or a crisp salad.  Salut….

 

Anselmo Mendes Contacto Alvarinho 2020, Vinho Verde, Portugal

27 Sunday Feb 2022

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We kicked off the 25th Virtual Wine Tasting event with this Alvarinho.  The winemaker has allowed some skin contact during fermentation so I was hoping for a rounder, fuller bodied wine.  We tasted it at room temperature and then chilled.  Here is what the group thought of this wine.

Pale straw colored with citrus, pineapple, yellow apple and saline on the nose.  Someone caught a whiff of petrol and we decided that the smell of Vaseline was an appropriate moniker.  Medium acidity and light bodied this wine has medium intensity flavors of honey, tangerine, grapefruit, pineapple, yellow apple and I sensed brioche.  I gave this version 11 marks on the VWTC score sheet.

The chilled version was crisper and had more prominent aromas and flavors.  Saline, honeysuckle and brioche with far less apple/citrus notes on the nose.  The palate had melon, grapefruit, pineapple and we felt the acidity was more prominent.  The wine had more body and scored 13 marks with me.  Overall this $20 gets 89 points from me, which is a far cry from the monster scores the pros gave.  I will re-taste tonight and report back if there is any significant change to my assessment of this 3 star effort.  Drink now with seafood or a chicken salad.  Salut….