Cesari Recioto della Valpolicella 2015 Review – Lovely Dessert

I've always been fascinated by the Corvina grape as grown in the Valpolicella region of Italy.

Beyond simply making a delicious dry red wine, the winemakers do something a bit different here. They sometimes choose to dry the grapes prior to fermenting which gives raisinated and cooked/stewed flavor to wines that you may not otherwise get until the bottle is of sufficient age.

When fermented to dry or off-dry, this is known as Amarone della Valpolicella and goes wonderfully with game. But sometimes the grapes are so concentrated with sugar that fermentation stops naturally due to alcohol killing the yeast. In these instances, you get a wine that is much sweeter and can be consumed as a dessert wine much like you would a port wine (admittedly at a lower ABV and often in a 375 mL bottle).

This is Recioto della Valpolicella, and if you ever see one on the shelf for a reasonable price you'll do well to buy it.

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Bloomer Creek Vin d’Ete 2018 Review – Complex and Bretty

Bloomer Creek is one of our favorite Finger Lakes wineries and part of the reason for this, beyond their wine simply being delicious, is that they do production techniques and blends that you don't normally expect to find in the region.

The Vin d'Ete 2018 was on the more traditional side of things and is 95% Merlot and 5% Gamay. This one produced a wonderful aroma and flavor profile but also came packed with a hit of Brettanomyces that was just a bit much for us.

Still, we're glad we tried this wine all the same.

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Silkman Blackberry Vineyard Semillon 2015 Review

When we normally think of Semillon, we often think of the botrytized wine it produces in regions like Sauternes in France.

But this grape is also known to make some pretty stellar conventional dry white wines, especially from regions like Hunter Valley in Australia. Naturally, we had to pick up a bottle of Silkman's blackberry Vineyard Semillon to try just that and thought it made for a rather interesting glass!

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Muga Rioja Reserva 2016 Review – Green and Barrel Notes

Muga Rioja Reserva is an aged Tempranillo from Rioja, Spain, that has an intense and wonderfully complex aroma and flavor profile.

Unfortunately, this one was pretty strong in the vegetal and earthy department which, for me at least, was a bit too much for my palate.

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Agriolas Turriga 2016 Review – An Intense Sardinian Red

I have a general rule that if a friend whose tastes I trust recommends a bottle of wine, I'll do what I can to find it. Agriolas Turriga 2016 was one such bottle, and my friend Strictly Sardinia recommended it as one of the most acclaimed wines from the island.

This one is a blend of Grenache (85%), Carignan, Malvasia Di Casorzo, and Bovale Sardo and can only be described as an intense wine. But even in drinking this one at five years old, for our next bottle I think I'd let this one sleep for another five if not longer!

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Domaine de l’Envo Bulles de Muscat 2019 Review – Delightful Pet Nat

Sometimes we open pet nat (pétillant naturel) wines with a bit of hesitation. As these bottles are unfiltered and finish their fermentation in the bottle, we often don't know what we're going to get. Lots of lees flavor? Maybe. Bubbles? Most likely. Funkiness? It happens especially if they are naturally fermented too.

As it turns out, Domaine de l'Envo's Bulles de Muscat from Alsace, France, hit just the right notes for all the categories. Strong flavors that were nuanced by the pet nat production style.

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Chateau Musar 2010 Review – Red Fruits, Black Fruits, and Age

If you've read any other wine reviews on our site, you would know we have a soft spot for Chateau Musar from Lebanon. We first had an aged Musar at Wine Bar George in Disney Springs, and have been buying bottles wherever we can find them ever since.

The Chateau Musar 2010 is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignan, and Cinsaut which hits all the things we love about this bottle. Despite enjoying this one in 2021, we think this one could age even more!

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