Don't Worry !!!

Finances hit rock bottom a few weeks back and the wine blog was the first to be put on hold. Remember we will gladly receive wine donations. E-mail me at Skorkeper@gmail.com to get my snail mail info.

Beringer Moscato

Kevin's Take: I love this wine! It's a sweet wine and it goes down like cool aid. My only wish is that it lingered in my mouth a bit longer. I give it five stars.
Kirsten's Take: This was a littl etoo sweet for me. Kevin requested a moscato and I had never had one before. It totally tasted like now-n-laters and I couldn't have a second glass. not a fan 2 stars.

Yellow Tail Shiraz

Kevin's Take:I enjoyed this red wine. I give is 4 stars.

Kirsten's Take: This was a great affordable Shiraz. It went well with pasta for dinner and I would definitely buy it again 4 stars for me too.

Stone Cliff Riesling

Kevin's Take: We had this wine a few weeks ago and I can't remember if I liked it. So This one was definitely forgettable. I give it three stars.

Kirsten's Take: I liked it ok. It was definately forgetable but a good crisp riesling. Pleasant to drink and I didn't mind finishing the bottle. 3 stars

Ecco Domani Chianti

Kevin's Take: This Chianti surprised me. It has some punch to the mouth and I quite enjoyed it with some pizza. This wine has a peppery finish but it was very well balanced. I like this one and would love to try it again with pasta.

Kirsten's Take: This is a great Chianti (although I haven't had very many of them). It has a great dark fruity smell and a strong flavor that is not very fruity but also not bitter at all and not dry on your tongue. It was great with the veggie pizza we ate for dinner. I will definitely want to have this wine again.

St. James Winery Velvet White

Kevin's Take: I enjoyed this wine. It was sweet. This wine was very light on the palate. You need to try this one if you like sweet wines.

Kirsten's Take: This one I've had several times before and picked it because I knew Kevin would like it. It has a great fruity concord grape smell and a clean taste that lingers. It is a great sweet wine it is very light and not overpowering. A great wine with dessert or for dessert. Love it

Fetzer Chardonnay

Kevin's Take: This wine has some faint Rubber Ducky smell. I tasted a little green apple. It is a light tasting wine. 3 Stars.


Kirsten's Take: I like this wine even though it was uneventful. It is hard to characterize much about it. That is, I guess, good and bad. It isn't an overpowering flavor or smell it has a nice tart taste to it and a very clean taste. I'm sure it would be great with appetizers or a light meal. It isn't a flavor that stays long in your mouth but it is pleasant. 4 stars

Red Lexia

Kevin's Take: I love this wine. I could drink this wine every night. It is fruity and sweet but not overpowering. Fantastic! Definitely 5 stars.


Kirsten's Take: I knew Kevin would like this wine. It is fruity and sweet. It does have a nice fruity smell very much like skittles and it has a clean finish. It is tingly in your mouth no alcohol burn really smooth, overall a great dessert wine, easy to drink.

Fairbanks Port

Kevin's Take: This wine was super fruity and ridiculously sweet. The 18% alcohol volume was overpowering and this wine left me wishing it was better. The smell was just like inhaling rubbing alcohol. The taste made we gag. I tried to water it down with ice after giving the old college try. The ice helped at about 50% water 50% port. It was then palatable for me. I give this wine 1 star.


Kirsten's Take: This port wine was very sweet (way too sweet) it wasn't too bad refrigerated and with ice in it. I drank it (but that isn't saying much) never again. one star

Riverstone Chardonnay

Kevin's Take: This wine says it has the smell of grapefruit and nectarines. I get the nectarines but the taste is something I can't identify. I like it better than the Chianti but not enough to change the star scoring. I give it three stars.

Kirsten's Take: There was a very apricot smell and a huge citrus taste. I didn't really care much for this wine. The aftertastes lingered and the grapefruit taste really stayed too long in my mouth. Not my favorite wine. 2 stars.

Gabbiano Chianti

Kevin's Take: This wine smells like a rubber duck or a rubber toy. It tasted OK. It has a mouth drying effect so this is a dry wine. I'm going to decant this wine and try it again with some pizza. I give it three stars before decanting.


Kirsten's Take: I haven't had many Chiantis and I liked this one. I think it is great with pasta or pizza. It has a great smell a little dark fruit like plum. It was quite dry but not much for after taste. It has a very smokey smell like sausage and tasted even better after decanting for an hour or two. No big aftertast but definately dry on the tongue. 3 stars.

Beringer Pinot Noir

Kevin's Take: This wine was super peppery. Have you ever gone to add pepper to your meal and the top popped off or it just came out too fast. Then like a trooper you tried to eat that over seasoned meal. Well, Thats like this wine. Too much pepper. I give it 2 stars.


Kirsten's Take: The plus for this wine is that it is super smooth. It does have some pepper in the finish but it is a great red wine with a meal. It has a very subtle smell and a smooth taste that isn't very dry and no lingering aftertaste. If you like a mild and not too dry red wine this is a winner. 3 stars.

New Glarus Fridolin White

Kevin's Take: This wine was very nice. It was fruity and one of the tastiest white wines we have had in a long while. I give it 4 stars.


Kirsten's Take: I loved this wine. It is a semi-sweet wine that would be great with poultry, salad, snacks, or just by itself. It was a very sweet grape smell and the taste was a little mellower. It is a very smooth wine that goes down very easy. I will make a point to have this wine again (and try not to share it) so I guess that qualifies it for Five stars.

Wisconsin Belgian Red

This is a cherry infused ale. It was described to us as a wine beer combination. We have had people ask us to blog about beer so this seemed like an opportunity to explore the wine/beer idea.
Kevin's Take: Uhm! Gross disgusting vomit. I'm not a beer fan so my beer palate is definitely warped. This one gets a one star because that the lowest I could score it. I hate dumping stuff down the drain.


Kirsten's Take:I was really excited to try this and it was..... Terrible! I like beer and cherries are fine but together they taste like vomit. It was sweet Luden's cherry cough drops and beer mixed together. Yuck -

Sterling Vintner's Cabernet

Kevin's Take: This wine smelled very fruity on the nose. I was actually looking forward to drinking it, But I was deceived. This wine tasted like cellery and pepper. I have to give this wine two stars.


Kirsten's Take:This was decent red wine but not for everyone. It was definitely fruit on the front side. The smell was very dark fruit, grape, plum smells then to drink it not fruity at all. It tasted very much like apeppery spring greens salad with some bitters in it. It had a brussel sprout taste to it. suprising yet not entirely unpleasant

Mirassou

Kevin's Take: I couldn't identify anything on the nose of this wine. It tasted crisp and like green apples. Not very strong but it was tart. Not my cup of tea.


Kirsten's Take:
I loved this wine. I give it 4 stars right off the bat. It has a great tart green apple taste, and a very slight vanilla smell. It would be great with a summer crisp dinner or poultry. It is very crisp and light to drink with a that tart zip that tingles in your mouth... Great pick... Will definitely buy again.

Barefoot Merlot

Kevin's Take: I enjoyed this wine tonight. Easy to drink. This wine presents some acid on both the smell and taste. The finish was rather hot, but I like it. I found this wine to be dry. This delicious wine definitely has legs and the tannins were pronounced. I'm surprised I enjoyed this wine, but I did, oddly enough. Maybe it was because I was stressed out from work.I give this wine 4 stars.
Kirsten's Take:This is a great wine for me, very inexpensive and great with cheese or light beef dinner. It has a fruit and chocolate smell like chocolate covered cherries. It is not as dry as some Merlot. It has a great smooth finish with a little hint of almond that doesn't last long so you have to have another sip soon. It is very easy to drink and goes well with almost anything I give it 5 stars because I could definitely drink the bottle by myself. I have no shame in saying that!

Greg's Requests

Below are our thoughts on the street wine samples we tried tonight. Here is a video clip of where the rest went.

Guest Tasters

So I decided that with all these left over goodies I should share the wealth and enlisted my eager neighbors to sample tonight's fare. The consensus from Clayton was orange - nasty, blue - nasty, green - nasty and why don't you guys review beer instead. Thank you for your invaluable input. Now Jessica on the other hand liked the blue raspberry a little more than the orange or kiwi lemon but also conceded that none of the three would ever make it on their shopping list.

Cisco Blue Raspberry

Kevin's Take: Smells like Tootsie rolls and leather. I also felt that it smelled a lot like chemicals from a utility closet. Tasted like nothing I could identify but I assure you it wasn't a pleasant taste.
Kirsten's Take:The blue raspberry smells nearly identical to the orange. There is a slight fruitsnack smell and a lot of chemical smell. I really didn't taste much raspberry mostly just chemicals like the ones under your kitchen sink. Things that should never be ingested by humans. This is the worst of the three tonight and barely gets 1 star.

Cisco Orange

Kevin's Take: This one smelled like fruit stripe gum and Tootsie Rolls. The taste was like citrus cough drops. It goes down pretty easy though. I give this one one star.
Kirsten's Take:The smell of this one was very much of rubbing alcohol with a hint of orange. It was very tingly in my mouth and had of hint of orange kool-aid taste. I definitely couldn't drink more than a mouthful of this and I'd never buy it again so I guess the lowest rating it can get is 1 star. It actually had a fairly pleasant orange aftertaste and didn't burn going down but that is about all I can come up with for pluses.

MAD DOG 20/20

Kevin's Take: I opened this twist off bottle and a familiar smell filled the room. This stuff smells like vomit! It also has a definite lemon odor. The green liquid tasted like Kiwi and lemon along with the pungent finish of street barf. I can't lie I gagged. Kirsten and I discussed changing the rating system for this one but we decided to stick with one star being the lowest we could give this "beverage". Definitely not worth $1.65.
Kirsten's Take:The smell was very potent very citrus and sweet. The nauseating citrus and sickening sweet taste are definitely Kiwi and Lemon but hard to stomach more than one mouthful since it was only 1.65 I wouldn't pay 2.99 but out of the three we tasted tonight it marginally beat out the other two. I give it 1 star.