Zach Wine Blog

 Tasting - California Dream Red Blend (We forgot to take a picture holding the cali dream, it can be seen in the background of our picture of the Bay Bridge White Zinfandel in my tasting post for it) The California Dream Red Blend is a red wine made with a blend of Zinfandel, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes from California. Our bottle was a 2022 at $10.99. A review on vivino.com described it as "fruit forward with strawberry, cherry, and hints of rhubarb and oak. Not overly toasty. Smooth with a short finish. Nice weekend sipper." Swirled around in a wine glass, the red blend had some of the scents you would expect from all three of the grape varieties present in the wine. There was a fairly prominent cherry scent, which Wine Folly lists as a usual characteristic of Merlot. There were also some strawberry scents and black currant, which Wine Folly attributes to Zinfandel and Cabernet Sauvignon respectively. Overall, the smell was fairly fruity, but also acidic. The tast

 Tasting - Bay Bridge White Zinfandel Bay Bridge White Zinfandel from California. The bottle did not list a year, so we assumed it was just a 2024 as it is very cheap ($3.99). A review of this wine on tastings.com described the wine as follows: " Aromas and flavors of lime gelatin, raspberry granita, and ripe strawberry with a satiny, vibrant, dry light body and a seamless, agreeable finish that shows shades of cherry pastry filling, tart strawberry, and lime custard with fruit tannins and no oak flavor. A rose bursting with ripe berries and sweet lime; a perfect summer sipper." We tasted this bottle without food. Poured into a wine glass and swished around a little, it smelled like sweet strawberries with hints of lime, as expected for a white zinfandel. It smelled light and not very acidic or alcoholic. When sipped, it tasted sweet with hints of strawberry, raspberry, and citrus. Overall, I thought it had a pleasant, slightly dry taste, and I think it would pair well with s

 Wine Dinner 2 For our second wine dinner, I was in charge of cooking up the dinner while Sierra, Adam, and Karim chose bottles of wine to pair with my dishes. I decided on making grilled chicken (dry brined and seasoned with Trader Joe's everyday seasoning blend) and pasta with alfredo sauce, and I bought a couple small pecan pies as a desert. This time we communicated what food we were having before everyone bought their wine, so there was at least an effort at making good pairings this time. Post Dinner Scene The first bottle of wine we tried was a Kendall-Jackson chardonnay, which was chosen based off decent peer reviews. Swished around in a fancy wine glass, it smelled light with some hints of vanilla. Tasted by itself, it was light and fruity with slight hints of vanilla and pineapple. It was paired with the alfredo linguine, and when sipped after taking a bite of the noodles, it was very pleasant. It took the bite away from the wine but left a good bit of flavor with no weir