On Thursday, April 4th, 2024, 14 members of the Wine Tasting Club attended the Wine Tasting at Linda Hasler’s home. We had a fun afternoon tasting and reviewing wines from four different countries. The two wines preferred by the group were both white, and these are reviewed below. Only 13 votes for these two wines were counted.
California, J. Lohr Riverstone, Chardonnay, 2023
The LCBO states that this dry full-bodied white wine is a super-popular Chardonnay from the coastal region of Monterey. It’s bursting with citrus, grilled nuts, vanilla and toast flavours. Our wine tasters found it to be dry, crisp, fruity with a hint of lemon and a touch of sweetness. There was no noticable oak barrel flavour. It has an alcohol content of 14% with a sugar content of only 4 grams/Litre. The price is $20.95 per bottle.
Although this wine was chosen as the Pick of the Month by the LCBO, and was rated 94 by Wine.com, the wine tasters were muted in their praise of this vintage. There were 5 who would buy it, 4 who might buy it, and 4 who would not.
It is described by LCBO as being delightful with grilled salmon steaks, butter chicken, or smoky prawns with green-mango salad. The J. Lohr website also suggests that it goes well with Lemon Risotto with Mascarpone and Peas, Zuppa Toscana Soup, BBQ’d Mussels in white wine, scallops, and pizza with goat cheese topping, red grapes and Basil leaves.
To learn more about this wine, use the link below to visit the J. Lohr website:
Click Here
Valdepenas, Spain, Mucho Mas White, 2023
This Spanish wine by Felix Solio winery is a varietal of Verdejo/Chardonnay/Sauvignon Blanc grapes with a 12.5% alcohol rating and a sugar content of 9 grams/litre. This relatively inexpensive wine was rated as 4.8 out of 5 stars by LCBO customers. It received 90 Points in 2023 by the wine review James Suckling. Overall the Wine Tasting group liked this wine the best of all of the wines tasted with 10 in the group who would buy it, and 3 who might buy it.
Mucho Mas means “much more”. The goal of Mucho Mas was to create a distinctive style of wine by harnessing the qualities of three different but complementary grape varieties from several notable winegrowing regions in Spain. Fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks over 20-25 days at maximum temperatures of 15ºC. Once the vinification process is complete, the wine is left at low temperature for 2-3 months to develop secondary flavour characteristics. In the case of Chardonnay, the wine remains in French oak barrels for 3 months. This results in a quality wine, reduced to its very essence, eliminating all that is insignificant and insubstantial. Just the very essence of wine.
The LCBO describes this white wine as bright and straw-coloured with a greenish hue. Complex and subtle on the nose with aromas of peach and apricot with hints of citrus smokiness. Rich with mouth-filling tropical fruit flavours, a touch of vanilla and nicely balanced acidity. Our Wine Tasters noted that it was crisp, fresh, tart, with a strong fruit flavour, yet more complex and subtle than you might expect at the price $11.60 while it was on sale ($2.00 off). To learn more about this wine, you can access its webpage at Mucho Mas by Clicking Here.
Ideal as an aperitif. but also goes well pasta, paella and all sorts of tapas, especially grilled fish, smoked hams and cheeses.
Probus Club of Kingsway-Islington 