Wednesday, April 19, 2017
It's the 2017 Spring Food issue, which means one thing: JFP staffers gathered together to try some more wine. Here are some of our findings. Thanks to Josh Crump and Fondren Cellars for supplying the wine, all priced about $15 to $20.
Name of the wine: Elicio
Vintage (age): 2015
Red, white or rose? rose
Type of wine: grenache and syrah
Aroma:
Micah Smith: nice, light and crisp, but with a sour bouquet
Tyler Edwards: slightly fruity; grapefruit
Zilpha Young: tart; slightly fruity
Arielle Dreher: Holy peaches, Batwoman! shea butter with peach juice drizzled over it; peaches and cream.
Amber Helsel: sweet; tart; grape juice without all the sugar
Mary Osborne: fruity
Kimberly Griffin: clean; slightly fruity
Meghan Garner: grapefruit-y; fresh; tart
Imani Khayyam: Peach
Taste
MS: light; barely sour flavor; a bit like grapefruit
TE: sweet-ish, tart (under-ripe fruit)
ZY: slightly sweet; less acidic
AD: smooth; peachy—not too sweet, though
AH: old grapes; bitter; smooth
MO: peach; Ciroq
KG: tart end and clear beginning
MG: not nearly as tart as it smelled
Body
MS: Thin and smooth
TE: full
AD: wonderfully summer; light; fresh; right-out-the-gym body
AH: light
MO: light
KG: fully body for a rose
MG: smooth; a little buttery
It reminds me of:
MS: a fruit salad; a light meal at a day party
TE: most other roses
ZY: summer
AD: Throw it in the freezer an hour before Becky comes over to talk sh*t about her neighbor whose dog pooped on her lawn again. Sigh, Elicio has your back—drink up.
AH: sitting at a bar drinking wine with friends
MO: a breezy day in summer
KG: summer
MG: under-ripe strawberries; slightly sweet; very flavorful chardonnay
IK: A night in a dope club
Name of the wine: Franco Serra
Vintage: 2014
Red, white or rose? Red
Type: Barbera d'Alba
Aroma:
MS: light, earthy scent
TE: earthy; strong; slightly bitter
ZY: earthy; moss; like an old house
AH: hairspray (that fruity scent they sometimes have); oak tree; butter syrup
MO: oak-y
KG: oak or whiskey smell; I smell alcohol first.
MG: oak-y; cherry
Taste
MS: softer oakyness at the front with a tart taste at the end
TE: earthy; oak; tart
ZY: tangy; acidic
AH: spicy; bitter
MO: cherry; oak; tangy
MG: full of fruity notes, then it goes tangy at the end
Body
MS: Really smooth; doesn't hang onto your palate for long
TE: full
ZY: medium; dry
AH: medium to heavy
MO: dry; light to medium
KG: full; strong flavor (in a good way)
MG: surprisingly light
It reminds me of:
MS: a log cabin; camping
TE: pinot noir
ZY: cypress trees
MO: steak night
Name of wine: Casa Ferreirinha Papa Figos
Age: 2014
Red, white or rose? red
Type: Douro
Aroma:
MS: really subtle fruitiness
TE: bitter but not strong
ZY: mellow; slightly sour
AH: grape juice, sweet; earthy; syrup-y; gin
MO: cherry and gin
KG: almost no smell; not as wine-y as some wines
MG: very subtle; mellow
Taste
MS: light, fruity and a bit bitter
TE: kind of sweet; fruity
ZY: slightly sweet; fruity; bitter
AH: top secret; dry; strong; bitter grape juice; acid-y; chocolate
MO: dry
KG: smooth on fruit and bite on back; cherry notes
MG: dark chocolate; a little bitter (in a good way)
IK: Sweet; earthy
Body
MS: drier, a bit more acidic
TE: really easy to drink
ZY: acidic
AH: heavy
MO: light and acidic
KG: smoother body; not as strong as some reds; still pretty acidic
MG: acidic; very well-blended flavors; no one thing really stands out.
IK: Smooth and light
It reminds me of:
MS: a rattlesnake; a steakhouse
TE: something I'd drink at a nice dinner, maybe with a steak
AH: carrots; cooking with wine; getting drunk at my apartment while I was in college; grilled cheese sandwiches
KG: Spain in the winter
MG: chocolate cake with cherries in it
Name of the wine: Fritz Mueller
Vintage: nonvintage (produced over multiple harvests)
Red, white or rose? white
Type: Austrian white
Aroma:
MS: really crisp; bit of a sourness; floral
TE: pear; fruity
ZY: Granny Smith apple
AH: fresh and fruity; apple; tingles on my nose; pear
MO: Granny Smith apple
KG: smells like ocean or the sea; pear
MG: pear; green apple
IK: apple; pear
Taste
MS: a good mix of sweet and sour; almost like a sparkling grape juice
TE: too sweet; way too sweet
ZY: very clean; mineral-y
AH: grape soda; light; tingly; sparkling apple juice; mineral water; Sprite
MO: tart-y
KG: a little sweet; apples; other non-citrus fruits
MG: kind of like Sprite? artificial sweetener-ish? But I like it; mineral-y.
IK: sparkling; sweet
Body
MS: effervescent; light
TE: clear; dry
ZY: fizzy
AH: light and sparkly
MO: crisp and light; off-dry
KG: light body
MG: very light; fizzy
IK: fizzy
It reminds me of:
MS: laundry (in a good way); Sprite
TE: bad Champagne—hard pass
AH: New Year's Eve; white lilies
MO: my favorite bottle of bubbly
KG: the front porch
MG: Perrier water, but boozy
IK: an alcoholic soda
Name of the wine: Poggio Anima 'Belial'
Vintage: 2014
Red, white or rose? Red
Type: Sangiovese
Aroma:
MS: Darker fruit scent, but still subtle
TE: grape-y; potpourri; smokey
ZY: spicy nail polish; cloves
AD: raisins; buttery; nail polish
AH: butter syrup; raisins; nail polish; a savory pie with fruit; cough syrup; a little bit artificial
MO: plum
KG: very grape-y
MG: fruity like a cobbler
IK: Nail polish remover
Taste
MS: earthy and smoky; fruity without the sweetness
TE: subtle sweetness; dusty; really good—probably my favorite
ZY: dried fruit, smokey
AD: raisins; prunes (not a bad thing)
AH: burnt toast; bitter; a little freshness; really dark chocolate (like, 90 percent cocoa—not a good thing)
MO: plum
KG: dry
MG: fruity flavor without being sweet
IK: dried strawberries
Body
MS: heavy; rests on your tongue
TE: light
ZY: very "tannin"
AD: dry; leaves a sort of dusty taste in my mouth
AH: medium
MO: dry
KG: strong but not overpowering; dries out the mouth
MG: slightly acidic
IK: smooth
It reminds me of:
MS: hot summer day; my grandparents' home in Hattiesburg
TE: something I'd buy
AD: lounging on a May evening on a lofty porch with a slight breeze. You can't get wasted because you're entertaining a potential investor in your time-machine project, so you sip this wine and try not to weep about the $100 caviar you're serving this investor as they polish off the rest of the wine.
AH: a dry, hot, suffocating summer
MO: juice cleanse
MG: a boring steak dinner with some finance bro who thinks spending $400 on a dinner means I have to sleep with him
IK: a night at the Met Gala with my date, Rihanna, walking around and talking to guests.
Name of the wine: Joios
Vintage: nonvintage
Red, white or rose? white
Type: Spanish cava
Aroma:
MS: passion fruit; blend of sweet and sour
TE: apple jelly
ZY: artificially flavored peach candy; applesauce
AD: flowers; peaches; fresh air; Welch's white grape juice
AH: plastic (not a bad thing); passion fruit; grape juice; pear cider; applesauce
MO: sweet
KG: peach? kind of sweet smell
MG: applesauce
IK: peach; pear; apple
Taste
MS: lightly sour; white grape really comes through
TE: better than the other white bubbly one
ZY: cider; acidic
AD: not nearly as sweet as it smells; mainly bubbles
AH: sparkling apple cider; earthy; warm on the back of my throat; Sprite
MO: strawberry
KG: you get a good hit on the back; strawberry on the end
MG: very bright; fresh; a little too sweet
IK: very fizzy
Body
MS: really bubbly; a bit acidic
ZY: fizzy
AD: dry; it feels as though bubbles disappear on your tongue.
AH: light and sparkly
MO: bubbly
KG: smooth body
IK: It was very fizzy; not acidic.
It reminds me of:
MS: a grocery store (I don't have a clue why); New Year's Eve but before the party
TE: Meh, it's OK
AD: We're on a boat off the coast of Spain. We're toasting our grandfather's 90 years on Earth and someone pours you a glass of cava. Thinking it's Champagne, you guzzle it, and you interrupt the toast with your coughing because those bubbles, man.
AH: sipping a boxed juice when I was a kid (and as an adult)
MG: Easter?
IK: A warm day in Cape Town, South Africa
Memorable quotes
"What makes a wine—I don't know how else to say this—purebred?" —Arielle Dreher
"Where can I adopt a grape?" —Amber Helsel
"He's a rescue." —Zilpha Young
"Whoa, shots fired at Jesus!" —Tyler Edwards
"What does it take to get to the point where you can appreciate barnyard?" —Meghan Garner
"Shut up. I heart sulfites." —Arielle Dreher
"You have to whisper it. It's French." —Micah Smith