Tasting - Cupcake Light Hearted Rosé

 

Name of the Wine: Cupcake Light Hearted Rosé
Variety of grapes: Rosé - blend of white and reds (couldn't find specific grapes) 

Country of Origin: United States
Region of Origin: Livermore, CA 
Vintage Year: 2019
Price: $8

Review of the Wine

Vivino Website Review: 3 Stars 122 Ratings

“Diluted strawberry, cranberry, a little citrus. These wines really aren't bad, but for a few extra calories per glass, I'll mostly stick with the good stuff” 

“Dry , balanced, notes of strawberry and lemon. This wine is 80 calories per 5oz and less than one gram of sugar. Honestly it is better than the standard Rose from Cupcake.”

Flavors, Aromas, and Characteristics 

The main aroma I got from the wine was citrus, specifically grapefruit (page 31).

The main flavors I got were citrus as well as black fruits such as plum and blackberry. There was a bit of a sweet, flowery after taste of honeysuckle.

The wine has about 4 g sugar per liter which classifies it as dry (page 16). It was also pretty acidic and “wines with higher acidity taste lighter bodied and also less sweet” (page 20).

My Review 

I tried this wine without food, but perhaps it would have been better with food. I thought that this wine was way too acidic at first. The acidity is overpowering and makes it difficult to detect the underlying citrus and black fruit flavors.The aftertaste has a bit of honeysuckle which was nice, but overall it was very dry and not sweet enough for me. I wanted to try a lower calorie wine but I think I'd rather stick with something sweeter. 

Wine Dinner Blog #1

This week I got together with some friends to have a wine dinner. We all had mutual friends from classes, sororities, etc. so it was very enjoyable to meet some new people that are also taking this class. For dinner, we had bruschetta, vodka pasta, and brownies. For wines, we tried a sauvignon blanc, rosé, and the Rinaldi Red Dream.

Barefoot Sauvignon Blanc

First we tried the Barefoot Sauvignon Blanc. The wine was pretty light bodied and was not too dry. The main flavor I got was apple with crisp citrus hints. We also all identified more subtle hints of grapefruit and lemon by using the wine wheel. We then tried the Sauvignon Blanc with the bruschetta that I made. With the bruschetta, the wine seemed less sweet and the flavors balanced well. I thought the balsamic and tomatoes in the dish balanced the acidity of the wine very well and made it seem less acidic. The crispness of the wine counteracted the flavorful bruschetta and made the bruschetta seem a little less tart and more fresh. Overall, I think it went very well together and balanced each other in a unique way. In the end, we all agreed that this was the best pairing from the evening.

Barefoot Rosé

Next was the Barefoot Rosé California. When I first sniffed the rosé it smelled like it would be very dry, however, when I tasted it it was less dry than I expected and was actually pretty smooth. The main flavor I got was florals with hints of fruit like strawberries and raspberries. We also identified some cherry and a bit of citrus. The label mentioned watermelon which we could detect but we didn’t identify that flavor on our own. We tried the vodka pasta with garlic parmesan with the rosé. We thought maybe going with the color rule would help here, pairing a pink rosé with a light pasta sauce. However, we did not think it ended up pairing very well. The sweet rose overpowered the pasta a bit, especially because the pasta was light on sauce. The rose was so sweet and powerful that it did not complement the pasta. With the rosé I felt like the cheese of the pasta did not come out as much. I think the wine made the pasta a bit fruitier but mostly overpowered it. We thought that the pasta may have paired better with a drier white wine. 

Rinaldi Redream 

Finally was the Rinaldi Redream which was a sweet dessert  red wine. This wine was extremely sweet and fruity and we joked that it didn’t even taste like wine. The main flavors I identified were cranberry and cherry. We also identified blackberry and plum. This was a dessert wine so we had it with the brownies. With the brownie, I thought the wine enhanced the brownie and made it fruitier as if the brownie had berries in it. I think the chocolate of the brownie may have enhanced the raspberry in the wine a bit but overall did not affect the brownie too much. Even though each was not affected by the other much, both went very well together and were both very sweet. 

As I mentioned earlier, I think the bruschetta and Sauvignon Blanc were the best pairing. Then the brownie and red wine, with then the pasta with the rosé being last. This was our first wine dinner experience which I found to be very fun! It was nice to meet up with other people taking the class and share our opinions. We all agreed that we think wine is better with food overall!

Wine and Cheese Blog #1

Last week I got together with my friend Guiliana who is also taking this class and we spent the afternoon trying a few wines and cheeses. We bought a sparkling rose, chardonnay, and merlot. We chose the rose and chardonnay in a smaller bottle since it was just the two of us and we weren’t sure what we would like. We then bought a cheese flight with a Copper Kettle, an Altu (Gruyere-style), and a Tuscan Rubbed Fontal Cheese. In addition, we bought a Brie Fermier to pair with the sparkling rose. 

Sparkling Rose 

We first tried the sparkling rose, the OGIO sparkling rose from Italy.  I thought the rose was pretty dry and not very sweet. It was a little fruity with some hints of tree fruits. We first tried it with the Brie which I thought went pretty well with the sparkling rose. The Brie was “Murray's Brie Fermier” which is a pudgy brie with a bit more flavor than a typical brie.  I found the softness of the brie helped a lot with the dryness of the wine and balanced it out.  This type of brie has an earthy, and a bit mushroomy taste which was something I had never really tasted before. I think a regular brie would have been better as this one was a bit overpowering. Next, I think that the  Tuscan Rubbed Fontal was a bit overwhelming with the rose because there were a lot of flavors going on. The sparkling along with the herbs was a bit much, however the creaminess and mildness of the actual cheese went well. Finally, we tried the rose with  the Altu which I thought paired pretty well. The cheese was pretty subtle and did not overpower the rose and the nutty notes complimented it well.

Josh Chardonnay

Next was Josh Chardonnay.  I found this wine pretty subtle and no one flavor was overpowering. It wasn’t super dry and I tasted a bit of citrus as well as hints of fruit like peach and pear.  I thought the Tuscan Rubbed Fontal cheese went very well with this chardonnay. I thought the cheese was light, mild, and creamy which  balanced out the flavors of the wine. The cheese had flavor which depending on how many spices you got could overpower the wine a bit, but overall I thought it paired well. The brie with the chardonnay, I thought, did not pair very well. The earthy and mushroom flavors of the brie seemed to clash with the lighter flavors of the chardonnay.  Finally, the Altu cheese paired well with the chardonnay. The flavor is nutty and subtle but complemented the citrus and acidity of the wine.

Barefoot Merlot

Finally, the Barefoot Merlot was not super flavorful and was pretty tart. I do not think I have ever had a merlot and have never had anything like this wine. The label on the wine said it had flavors of boysenberry and chocolate. Me and Guiliana did not find hints of chocolate, however we are pretty inexperienced wine drinkers.  We first tried the copper kettle which was a rich and nutty cheese with hints of caramel. This cheese was not like anything I had really had before and was pretty flavorful which didn’t seem to compliment the bitterness of the wine very well. Next, the Italian herbs and spices  of the Tuscan rubbed fontal could overpower the wine if you got  a lot of spices. However the delicateness and softness of the cheese helped offset the acidity of the merlot a lot. The Altu cheese went pretty well with the merlot and helped counteract the acidity and tartness. I thought the nutty flavor of the cheese also complimented the flavors of the merlot without clashing or overpowering. 

Overall,  I enjoyed trying the different wines and new cheeses and observing how they interacted. The Altu cheese seemed to go well with all the wines which were interesting to note. I would also like to try a more traditional brie with more wine in the future. As a cheese lover, I look forward to trying more wines and cheeses!