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.

No Cork Screw Required

We got our first e-mail about this web blog and a request. The request was for us to try MD 2020. A street wine made by Mogen David a.k.a. "Mad Dog" 20/20. Kirsten was a little hesitant but I said let's review it. We went to another local liquor establishment in town and she picked out some green MD 20/20 and another twist off street wine called Cisco. We will review these two tonight.

Haut Medoc

Kevin's Take: This was a very smooth wine. It was hot in my mouth and tasted like black pepper. When I sniffed the glass it had a distinct Rubbing Alcohol smell. This wine might go better with food. I give this one 2 stars.
Kirsten's Take:This wine definitely has a strong alcohol smell and is very spicy in my mouth right away. It is very dry but smooth going down. I think it would be great with a very rich fatty beef meal such as a roast or stew. I am intrigued to try it again with dinner so I give it 3 stars because I definitely want to taste it again.

Sofia Rose

Kevin's Take: I was excited about this wine before I opened it. I tried to identify the smells I was experiencing. All I got was "Fruity". This Wine tasted like what I would imagine a chewing roses would taste like. Enough said! I give this wine 2 stars.
Kirsten's Take: Right off the bat I thought it was a pretty color seeing as how that isn't always important I'll focus on the taste and smell. It definitely had a light strawberry smell and the flavor is a mild berry there is no burn or aftertaste. It would be great with hour devours or a fresh crisp summer type meal. Over all I give 2 stars not because it tastes bad but because it was pretty uninteresting.

Kevin's Tasting Bio

I like one or two different kinds of wine. Seriously! I have the most warped palate here. I like sweet things and love tea. I'm really interested in learning about wine and broadening my palate. Don't expect much wine speak from me. This should be fun.
My alcohol/wine history is rather limited. As a child the closest I would see my parents come to alcohol was an occasional spike of amaretto liquor in my moms eggnog or coffee during the holidays. If they drank they hid it well. On rare occasions I've seen wine in our house as a child. I remember distinctly asking to try it as a child and my dad filled a thimble sized vessel for me. I was so excited and to my amazement it was NASTY! That's some great parenting on their part. I had no desire to try anything alcoholic for a long time. Until Kirsten arrived in my life. That sounded bad. She corrupted me and lead me down the rabbit hole of alcoholic beverages. I still prefer a soda or a nice cup of tea.

Kirsten's Tasting Bio

I am 33 years old today and my husband comes to me and says lets start a wine tasting blog. Why not I say – I love wine. So here is some of my history and who I am as a wine taster. I have always enjoyed a drink now and again. I like a wide variety of alcoholic beverages but I'm usually a two or three drink limit kinda-gal. Not that I'm not a good time after that but I tend to lose a little too much self control and say or do things I later regret. ( I think if we concentrate hard enough on our past experiences we all kinda fit into this category). So anyway I started getting interested in wine soon after I was old enough to drink alcohol legally. I first fell in love with the idea of wine after seeing the movie A Walk in the Clouds with Keanu Reeves, it is a very romantic movie that takes place on a homestead vineyard (I totally recommend watching it if you never have). Wine is something that has always been at family gatherings and so I guess I can blame (or credit) my parents for one more thing in my life! Most family gatherings have a few staples on the bar, Vodka and Tonic, squirt or lemonade; Wine; and beer. I enjoy a beer now and again and I do like a V&T but I really have never been one to request hard liquor over the option of beer or wine. I feel the affects too fast and I tend to sip wine rather than drink it like a beer. So that being said over the past 5 years or so I've been more adventurous about my wine selections. I'm not extremely picky and I can find the good in almost any bottle of wine where as Kevin usually sticks to the sweet dessert type wines. I like German wines and Australian wines right now but am very open minded. I like the adventure of buying a bottle of wine and really not sure what I'm going to get and I like the fact that I can relax with two glasses of wine and not feel too much of the alcohol. I love the health benefits which are much more of a plus for wine than any other form of alcohol. I currently am in a lifestyle change that includes eating according to the diabetic exchanges and a glass of wine counts the same as a serving of fruit where as any other alcohol is pretty much empty calories. I am looking forward to doing more research on types of wine and national backgrounds and flavors. This will be a learning experience for all of us and I hope you enjoy the ride.