Come with me on a Wine Tasting Adventure!

Do you ever have the hankering for a delicious glass of wine, only to become befuddled by the endless choices at the market and apprehensive as to which bottle to spend your hard-earned money on?  I too have faced vast volumes of vino with fear in my heart.  Why is this one twice the price of that one?  What is a Sirah and why is it so petite? And why is a Petite Sirah not a Syrah, but a Syrah is a Shiraz? If malbec and merlot are so good on their own, why blend the two in a Meritage?  What the heck does Meritage mean, anyways?  It's all enough to drive a girl to drinking!

Well, friends, fear no more.  I am going to step up and take one (or several) for the team.  I am making it my mission to step outside my Clos Du Bois comfort zone (their reds are really delicious!) and branch out into the unknown.  I am going on a wine-tasting adventure this year and I am taking you along with me.  The clerks at World Market will know me by name. No wine is safe!  I will buy them ‘cause they’re pretty (c’mon, admit it, you know you judge a wine by it’s cute little label!) and do the sampling for you. Oh, and I may even take into consideration the alcohol content like my Sweet Mama taught me.  I don't plan to become a wine expert, but I will share whatever wisdom I find, and if you stop by the house, I'll share the wine.  Cheers!

Let's begin this journey with a Cabernet Sauvignon Rosé by Mulderbosch Vineyards,  South Africa.  I saw this in World Market and was drawn to its label. Yes, I am a sucker for packaging. Aesthetics aside, I liked that it was totally different from what I would normally buy.  Definitely out of my comfort zone. The little info card displayed with the wine announced that it was a new "customer favorite" that should be served well chilled.  This is the first rosé I've ever purchased and in the back of my mind I had visions of cheap White Zin. But the fact that it also had the words "cabernet sauvignon" on the label gave me some comfort, so I stashed it in the fridge and waited for it to cool off.  Let me just say that I was pleasantly surprised when I finally opened up the screw-top lid. 

This is not a super sweet wine, which makes me very happy.  The label pairs it with crab, chicken, turkey and pork, among others, and because its flavor is not overwhelmingly strong, I think it would be hard to find a food pairing that it wouldn't mesh with.  It is very crisp, refreshingly fruity, and just the right level of dry.  I am not used to drinking cold wines, and this was a very nice change.  I can see this being really great for a picnic lunch at the lake or a summer evening in the backyard tiki bar.  It is what I would consider "easy to drink", so those who are fairly new to wine or who are not fans of darker reds might enjoy this. I will definitely buy it again, and I think it would make a good gift wine for just about anyone from the experienced wino to the White Zinfandel swilling beginner.  Priced at $11.99, it won't break the bank.  If you decide to give it a try, let me know what you think! Oh, and Mama, it's a 12.5-percenter. Pretty good stuff, huh?