Our wine tonight is the Classic Rosé 2018 from Chateau Pigoudet located in the mountains of Provence, extreme Northeast quadrant of Coteaux d’ Aix.
Classic Rosé 2018 Chateau Pigoudet
Vintage 2018
Blend of 35% Grenache, 35% Cinsault, 15% Cabernet, 10% Syrah, and 5% Ugni Blanc.
Pale copper in color. Strawberry, citrus, and hints of mineral on the nose. Crisp with a medium-light mouthfeel, exceptional structure and balanced acidity. Dry on the palate with notes of green melons, peaches and cream, apricots, orange zest, tangerine, and lemon-lime.
Our wine tonight is the Semi-Dry Peach from Boardwalk Winery in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Boardwalk Winery is located in the large shopping and entertainment complex Broadway on the Beach.
The winery offers a cornucopia of fruit wines, along with a few dry vinifera wines.
Our peach is semi-dry. A sweeter version was also available.
The nose is soft and pleasant, reminiscent of peaches in syrup. Flavor notes are true, with hints of cinnamon on the tip of the tongue. The sweetness and acidity are nicely balanced.
The label features a beautiful beach scene.
Winemaker Tim Walker is in top of his game with this offering.
12% ABV
$14.95 a bottle – only available at the winery!
WineryEscapades.Com scores this offering easily as Gold Medal worthy!
A few Myrtle Beach pictures to close out this post!
Myrtle Beach from the Boardwalk View from our Condo! Rising Sun!
Our wine tonight is the Sunset Sippin’ from Burntshirt Vineyards.
Semi-sweet white wine blend of Petit Manseng and Traminette.
Crest of the Blue Ridge Henderson County AVA.
Beautiful light golden color.
Floral aromas of fresh rose petals, gardenia, honeysuckle, and crisp morning dew, and nicely balanced acidity with bright tropical fruit notes vibrant on the tongue,
13.2% ABV! Wow seriously high alcohol content for a porch pounder!!
Copied direct from BurntshirtVineyards.Com“This wine has won multiple international Gold, Double Gold and Best of Class from competitions such as Pacific Rim International Wine Competition, East Meets West Wine Competition, Finger Lakes International Wine Competition”
$19 a bottle. Ships most states via VinoShipper.
This particular bottle doesn’t have the vintage listed, though in the past I know we have enjoyed a 2014 vintage of this wine. Perhaps a dual vintage?
WineryEscapades.Com easily scores this wine as Gold Medal worthy! Color: 2 Nose: 5.5 Taste: 6 Finish: 2.5 Impression: 3 = 19 points on AWS scale
We promised our review of the Hardscoop Ice Cream and Sorbet.
We first saw the product advertised on Facebook.
We purchased the Chocolate Ice Cream and the Strawberry Sorbet.
Price each $9.95 per 375mm plastic tub.
Strawberry Sorbet 9.0 % ABV.
First the not so flattering out of the way. We didn’t enjoy the Strawberry Sorbet as much as we hoped that we would. Weirdly enough we’ve since seen others post how much they loved the Strawberry Sorbet. So to each their own, we recommend you try it for yourself.
The Strawberry flavor was in my opinion overly intense and just not balanced. The sorbet wasn’t horrible by any means, let me just say not $10 good.
Hardscoop Strawberry Sorbet
But OMG the Chocolate Ice Cream!!!
Chocolate Ice Cream 8.1% ABV.
The Chocolate Ice Cream is everything we hoped it would be and more! True silky chocolate flavor with the grain neutral alcohol subtly and pleasantly present on the finish! The alcohol is similar to a top shelf vodka flavor.
The chocolate ice cream is oh so good, simply decadent and so very worth the $10 price point!
Hardscoop Chocolate Ice Cream
We remain interested to try the peach sorbet and other flavors of ice cream.
Flavors available at our local Ingles were the Strawberry Sorbet, sadly no Peach Sorbet was available, the Chocolate Ice Cream, Vanilla Ice Cream, and a Coffee Flavored Ice Cream.
Produced by Hardscoop Distillery based in Charleston, South Carolina.
Meritage is an American term, not French, originating out of California, which signifies a wineries best blend of Bordeaux noble varietals. A winery must license the right to label a blend “Meritage.”
Aged in French oak.
We aerated for 60 minutes.
Dark burgundy in color showing long sleek legs.
Nose of blackberries, think hot blackberry cobbler just out of the oven, black currants, rum (black) cherries, vanilla, tobacco, and cocoa.
Dry on the palate with expressive notes of bramble berry jam, dark chocolate, blackberries, vanilla, sage, and pipe tobacco, finishing with cedar, spice, and dried herbs.
14% ABV
$30 a bottle.
This vintage of Meritage accumulated an impressive collection of medals.
Double Gold. – International East Meets West Double Gold – China Wine and Spirits. Gold – Asheville Food and Wine. Gold – New York International. Gold – North Carolina State Fair. Silver – Finger Lakes International Competition. Silver – Grand Harvest Competition
Our wine tonight is the Baby Doll Legs from The Cottage Vineyard and Winery in Cleveland, Georgia.
Rosé of Blanc du Bois
Blanc du Bois is a Hybrid grape cultivar developed at the University of Florida.
Blanc du Bois wines can be difficult to achieve a commercially acceptable clarity and is therefore often used in blends. We suspect this wine was lightly blended with small percentages of estate grown Syrah and Merlot.
Non-vintage.
Brownish orange in color. Shows long thick legs legs more expected of a red wine.
Aromas of pink lemonade, orange, lemon zest, and honeysuckle.
Semi-sweet with a moderate mouthfeel, notes of citrus explode prominently on the palate, pink grapefruit, orange, tangerine, pink lemonade, and finishing with a subtle woodsy tone and hints of vanilla ice cream and can pears.
13% ABV
Produced under the consultation of iconic North Georgia winemaker Joe Smith. Nathan Beasley is the assistant winemaker learning as an apprentice under Joe’s tutelage.
The Cottage Vineyard and Winery sits atop a North Georgia mountain offering stunning views.
Our wine tonight is the Bearly Sweet Red from Serenity Cellers in Cleveland, Georgia.
Red White blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese, and Traminette.
The Cabernet Sauvignon and the Sangiovese are Estate grown. The Traminette is local to North Georgia.
Non-vintage, but this is a young wine. We aerated but did not decant. Served very slightly chilled.
Labeled as Georgia table wine, no ABV is listed. We estimate the alcohol level at about 11-12%.
Bright ruby in color. Medium bodied mouthfeel with moderate tannins.
Expressive fruit forward nose and balanced bouquet. Sweet on the tongue, more so than barely yet not cloyingly sweet. Flavor profile of ripe dark fruits, with prominent notes of blueberries and black plums. Lingering finish with peppery and subtle nutty tones.
$20 a bottle.
Owner and winemaker Joe Smith is an icon in the North Georgia wine region. He’s the guy everyone turns to for assistance and Joe is currently mentoring other upcoming winemakers in the region.
The winemakers descriptor suggest this wine pears well with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. We’ll just take his word for that.
Our wine tonight is the Granda from Baker Buffalo Creek Vineyard.
Red blend of estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Chambourcin.
Fermented in French Oak Barrels.
Burgundy in color.
Intensely fruit forward on the nose, off dry with mild tannins. Flavor notes of black cherries, red plums, blackberries, and red licorice. Finishing long with subtle earthy and nutty tones.
A really nice easy drinking red blend.
12.5% ABV
Baker Buffalo Creek Vineyard is rooted on a 100 plus year old dairy farm. The soil is fertile and rich in nutrients and not over farmed. Originally planted in 2003, much of those original vines remain.
Celebrating tonight as I have accomplished a milestone. I have passed the entry level exam to be a certified competition cider judge.
Cidre – Stella Artois
Several months of study and tasting (hard) ciders have paid off. I still have to pass a tasting exam for full certification. However, as of today, I am a certified entry level competition cider judge.
Color of light amber. Moderate carbonation.
The bottle says European Style Cider, we would classify it as French Style Cider.
Semi-sweet, medium bodied, with a pleasurable fruity component in the nose and on the palate. Balanced with moderate tannins and mouthfeel.
4.5 % ABV
How would we grade this one in competition. It’s a really nice drinking cider, fairly true to it’s style. I’d score this one as a high silver medal winner.
The cider certification exam consist of 100 questions and only 30 minutes are allowed to complete. A passing score is 70.
The questions are really technical and one could not pass without significant study.
