Wine Review: Stella Rosa 1917 Imported Wine

The song is entitled "Sparkling Sunrise". Composed by Dr. Murad Abel

Picture Stella Rosa 1917

Rose (Rosa) wine is one of the earliest forms of wine in which grape skins are left in contact with the juice long enough to give it color and then are removed before the fermentation process. The far majority of ancient wines were made in this simple method making ancient wine very different than that of today. At present the majority of wines are hard full red wines. After WWII the Portuguese began to market sparkling Rosa wines to the U.S. and Europe.

Rosa wines are much lighter than their red wine cousins. They are often served in spring and summer while full red wines are served in fall and winter. Most of the time they are served chilled that makes them refreshing in warmer days. As a light type of sweet red wine they can handle both steak and seafood appropriately. It also works well with cheese and spicy foods. Any wine enthusiast should have a bottle or two in stock.

On their website you will find a number of interesting varieties, recipes, and options. The wine originally started in a small town of Italy and came to the U.S. a few years ago. Since that time it has grown in interest and fame. Americans were more used to the hardy red wines but once they got the taste of sparkling red blends it was an instant sensation. You can find this at many different events as a specialty.

If you desire a more complete picture of the wine think of a high quality wine cooler. It is sweet, light, and slightly colored. Rosa wines have the same sort of tastes with both sparking and non-sparkling varieties. The color can range from an orange red to almost full maroon color. The difference being which grapes and berries were used.

Review:
Aroma: High pitched fruit.

Pour: Sparkling with oxidization around glass. Continues to fizzle for 30 seconds after pour.

Taste: Extremely bright, sweet, and punch like. Grape, strawberry, and other red berries.

Contour: Light and smooth.

Color: Light pink red.

Wine Tears: Little to no legs indicating a lower alcohol content.

Alcohol: 5.5% versus 13.7% for red wines.

Website: http://stellarosawines.com/

Wine Review: Bell'Agio Chiani

Bell’Agio’s Chianti  comes in a traditional straw fiasco and liter bottle. Chianti is an Italian wine that maintains a dry and smooth taste with cherry and berry fruit. It is made of 90% Sangiovese grapes and 10% anaiolo Nero, Trebbiano and Malvasia. It is this blend that gives Chianti its unique taste and texture. 

Chianti pairs with a number of different foods. In general, it pairs with tomato based pasta, light chicken, or pork. It can also go well with garlic and a number of different vegetables. Because it is a light red wine it is better to pair with light tasting foods so as to offer a proper blend. 

The Chianti wines come from the Middle Ages from three villages known as the Lega del Chianti (League of Chianti). The area was certified as a special wine making area in 1716 by Cosimo III de’Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Even though the Chianti wine is often associated with the Renaissance and the reformation of the region, its influence is still apparent today. 

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Wine Review: Graham’s 10 Tawny Port-Just a Touch of Portugal

If you are looking for a sweet wine that is so smooth it feels like silk on your taste buds and satin sheets on your bed you might want to sip a glass of Graham’s 10 Tawny Porto. At an affordable price of $23, it provides a great taste and the feel of luxury without having to pay heavy for it. The wine pours a smooth golden brown color when held to the light. The taste is nutty and dry with high alcohol content.  It does not take much to put a smile on your face.

Graham’s 10 is a 10-year old brandy fortified wine was stored in oak casts on the Douro River in Portugal. If it were designated as a 20, 30, or 40 it would mean the wine has been seasoned for a corresponding amount of years.  The longer the port wine has been stored the smoother the taste and higher the quality.  Of course quality doesn’t come free and one should expect the price to rise as well.

Tawny Port wine is often severed as a dessert wine after a meal. It is sweet, dry, and full of flavor. Such wines have higher alcohol content and can be quiet powerful in their spirit allocations. Generally, such wines are expensive due to the amount of years they have been kept in storage. This cellar time raises both its value and its taste.  The wine may equally be used as a toasting and sipping wine for long drawn out conversations.

W & J Graham’s was formed in the 1820’s from two Scottish families in Portugal. Since that time, the family vineyards have grown in both stature and quality. The Graham family had other interests in England and India making their empire wide and powerful. The families were seen as one of the “merchant princes of Great Britain”. Today the company maintains an important historical connection to the past. 

Port is a fortified wine that takes its unique genre from the town of Oporto in Portugal. Prior to this non-fortified wines became a major export after the establishment of the Kingdom of Portugal in 1143. The Treaty of Windsor in 1386 offered an ever large wine trading partnership between Portugal and England. Merchants moved to England and set up shipping establishments that created greater opportunities for maximum exports.

A trading conflict between England and France further pushed the development of Portuguese wine. Accordingly, in 1667 Louis XIV of France banned products from England. Not to be outdone the English retaliated by banning wines from France. The merchants from Portugal were so busy they ran short of supply and started to water down their products. 

Wine traveling such large distances needed to be fortified to maintain its taste. Merchants began to add a little brandy to each bottle just before shipping. Through this, they found that by fortifying their wines during the fermentation process it made the wines taste both sweater and more fresh.  The process not only created long bottles for storage like the ones you use today but also allowed for such wines to be stored longer. 

Blog Ranking: 4.6/5

Price: $24

http://www.grahams-port.com/