After a nice and relaxing spring break, by Saturday I was ready for some wine. I found out that The Vintage Cellar also hosts Saturday wine tastings and figured I could get my fix there. The tastings went from 11:00am - 4:00pm, but when I arrived at 3:00pm, they had stopped pouring some things and switched some things out.
After waiting in no line at all (sweet perk of Blacksburg on break), I went straight to tasting. The first wine up was the Portium Cava Brut from Catalonia Spain. I couldn't find a vintage year for this wine anywhere, including looking at the bottle and then doing some online searches. This Cava is a blend of Xarel-lo, Macabeu, Parellada and Chardonnay and comes in at around the $10 price point.
The Vintage Cellar tasting sheet provided the following review:
"Cava is always a good value, but you'll look long and hard to find any sub-$10 sparkling wine that's this good. It's a blend of traditional Cava varietals - Xarel-lo, Macabeu, Parellada - with 30% Chardonnay and fermented in a bottle, just like Champagne. It's rich, yeasty, showing off caramelized apricot flavors, fine bubbles, and finishing zesty and dry."
With this wine, I definitely got a strong citrus and acidic scent that came across almost instantly. I knew right away that this wine would be very acidic and noted hints of orange peel on the nose. For the taste, I confirmed my prediction that this would be high in acid, but felt the acid was toned down a bit with the bubbles in the wine. I tasted flavors of peach, honey and grapefruit and really enjoyed the way they integrated with the carbonation.
Overall, I enjoyed this wine and noted that it may be something I buy in the future in place of champagne, as I'm not huge on dry feels in wine.
Overall, I enjoyed this wine and noted that it may be something I buy in the future in place of champagne, as I'm not huge on dry feels in wine.
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