With my first semester of graduate school over, thankfully, I feel refreshed enough to start a new writing venture (one where using parenthesis for personal asides is acceptable and countless MLA citations are not necessary). The Baltimore Wine-o is my first personal blog. I want to create a space where I can share wine discoveries -most of the value-variety- and perhaps throw in a culinary story here or there.
My first wine review is not the mind-blowing steal I thought it would be. However, I decided to share my experience anyway because otherwise the start of this blog would have indefinitely been put on hold in my quest for the perfect wine. The bf and I were making chicken cacciatore the other night (ps, Giada's recipe is absolutely excellent) and we needed a hefty quantity of wine both for the dish and for personal consumption. We stopped by the local liquor store which happened to have a number of whites on sale. I saw one of my favorite proseccos (Riondo Spago Nero, $11), so of course I snatched that up and then proceeded to search for something to throw into our dinner- you see, there is cooking wine and then there is cooking wine. I always like to have something tasty, preferably of the sparkling variety, for an apertif while cooking. The other cooking wine is for the actual sauce. And while I'm certainly not about to throw some 3-Litre jug special into my carefully-crafted sauce (crap in, crap out), I want something that is inexpensive but tasty enough to enjoy on its own (most recipes only call for a half cup of wine and you don't want the leftover wine to go to waste....). After the couple of glasses of Prosecco, you're not going to notice the taste of the second wine as much so no sense in splurging on Russian River Valley chardonnay.
My eyes lit up when I saw a 1.5 litre South African Sauvignon Blanc on sale for $11. Two Oceans Sauvignon Blanc, 2009 hails from the Western Cape. Truth be told, I had to go back and buy a 750ml bottle ($6 at another retailer) of this again to make sure my first tasting of the wine hadn't been distorted by the Prosecco and the good time we were having. I'm glad I did, because my impression of the wine definitely changed under more sober conditions. South African SBs can be tricky. They are extremely bold, offering rich fruit with a racy edge. Sometimes that raciness can overpower their wines though, as I discovered with the finish on Two Oceans. The nose initially got my mouth watering, with strong notes of creamy mango, lemon, and a hint of straw. I anticipated a refreshing, clean white wine, which is what I got...until the finish. Ahhh the finish- the bane of bargain white wines. The tartness wasn't as bad as some, but it left me disappointed. Here I thought I had found the bargain SB, but I suppose the search must go on! In the end though, Two Oceans is a good value. I imagine it would go over better with some food, maybe some grilled chicken. If I had to rank it out of 10 (100 pt scales seem so silly when wines are automatically awarded 50 points), I would give the 2009 Two Oceans SB a 6/10.
