Tasting -- El Pensador

Name: El Pensador (The Thinker)
Variety: Verdejo
Region: Leon & Castille
Country: Spain
Year: 2014
Price: $8.99


Critic review: I couldn't find a review for the exact wine I tasted. The closest was the same style of wine with a 2012 vintage date:

"This Verdejo is in its late stages of life but it's hanging in there. Mostly neutral aromas of apple and lime set up a palate with citrusy acidity that keeps the wine alive. Narrow, simple flavors of orange and nectarine finish pithy but true to the variety. Drink immediately." -- Michael Schachner (www. winemag.com)

My review: I enjoyed this wine. It was very aromatic with hints of citrus, pear, notes of apple. Though it smelled sweet it was pretty dry. The flavor was hard for me to find words to describe. I initially thought the aftertaste was "outdoorsy." But after reading the above review, I would agree that the word I was looking for was pithy. I had this wine with shrimp fried rice, and can say the pairing definitely effected the flavor. I personally, thought the the after taste went from bitter to more buttery with the fried rice.

My overall opinion would be it's good because I haven't had better yet.

Wine Blog #1-Experience

Until recently, I thought of wine to be the drink of class and for special occasions. In my experience those were the only circumstances that I had seen wine be consumed. It probably stemmed from the fact that my dad mostly drank beer and my mom was a "wine hoarder", having plenty of unopened bottles on a rack in our house.

Now, I definitely perceive wine as a more common drink. Since, I've been in college it has become trendy to drink wine over other forms of alcohol, so much so that I have friends who try to drink it exclusively on a Friday night before heading downtown.

I haven't drunken much wine to form a sold stance on it. Though, I like the idea of wine in the more classic sense: on a relaxing Wednesday evening or complementing a nice dinner. That's what I want to get out of this class. Knowing wine and how to use it to. Whether it's over business or on a date or even just to experiment with different flavor profiles.

Another goal for this class: is to be a "wine snob" among millennials. Briefly mentioned above, a lot of people my age love trends and wine drinking was definitely one of them. Myself, on the other hand hate blindly following trends yet I want to enjoy wine. Thus, my enrollment in this class! I want to be able to walk into Kroger, like everyone else, and grab a bottle, like everyone else, and know what's in it instead of shrugging and saying "sounds good."

Let's Drink!