The background for today is the same as last week: I was asked to review a mainstay cheapo wine familiar to Trader Joe's clientele: Cocobon. While I found myself in Trader Joe's I decided to see what else caught my eye.
Today's review is a canned wine: Simpler Wines Too Uncanny Chardonnay. Some of the review might make more sense if you read the Cocobon review first (the next review if you scroll down).
BACKGROUND
Grapes: Chardonnay
Region: ? (probs multiple)
Country: Australia
Vintage: ?
Price: $3 (375mL - demi-equivalent)
Aging: ?
It is very tempting to think that you can knock back a couple of these simply because they are in cans. This is incorrect. Stop thinking this right now. One can is 2-3 alcoholic drinks. You are drinking half of a bottle of wine.
But it's just Chardonnay, Austin. It's a frilly wine like Moscato. Honestly I think I can handle myself.
This is also incorrect. Stop thinking this right now. Chardonnay is probably the most alcoholic white wine there is. The grape can take on a ton of sugar to ferment. I have been on record that Chardonnay is basically a red wine masquerading itself as a white wine. This is not my own thought but an explanation that I've heard from people who know much more about wine than I do.
Anyways the takeaway here is that I ate something and used 1/4 of the can in the sauce for dinner and was STILL feeling a little too good near the end of the can. It caught me off-guard and it probably will do the same to you. K, forewarned.
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| See. 12.9% alc. That's basically light-medium red wine territory. |
Now, again we have a general designation of "Australia" similar to what I described in the Cocobon review. For nicer wine from Australia you would always find a region like South Australia or Adelaide or McLaren Vale. "Australia" means they took fruit from at least 2 different major regions. They probably just grew their bulk grapes on cheap land all around or bought leftover fruit from bulk vineyards in the country. There is another possibility that maybe because it's in a can, the powers in charge of wine quality won't allow them to put the region on the can.
So...there's no year on this wine just like Cocobon. I'm starting to notice a trend.
Yup, I am starting to think this tactic is because they save fruit from the year previous to mix with the most recent harvest to keep some level of consistency in the taste from year to year. Besides cheap wine-makers, this "non-vintage" (sometimes notated N.V.) is generally only employed by fortified wine-makers (Sherry, Port) and Champagne/Sparkling wine-makers; and for much different purposes rooted in tradition.
I could also talk about how cans are an inferior method of storing wine because of their lack of breathability (thus the prevalence of real corks in great wine bottling)...however I think I'm just dragging on at this point, perhaps another time. Here's the review:
THE TASTING
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| Food pairing attempt: pork chops with simple Dijon mustard-wine reduction (wine from the can). |
In the spirit of Simpler Wines I didn't use a glass and drank straight from the can. I am pleased to note that despite the lack of a wine glass (designed for accenting the smell of wine), this wine still had a lot to sniff.
Here are my short-hand notes like last time:
-Has a bouquet even just from cracking the can
-Floral and melon smells
-Flavors: white peach? Pear? Somewhat tropical, honeysuckle, some sort of flowers (but I don't know flower aromas too well)
-Doesn't change or do anything to the pork too much, maybe not a good pairing. Something light needed maybe, Worcestershire sauce or mustard may be overpowering
-Overall very solid clean style Chardonnay
This was a clean and slightly tropical style Chardonnay, very characteristic of Australia/New Zealand Chardonnay. I was actually shocked at how much of an aroma this wine had; especially considering I chilled it pretty cold, it was served in a can, and it's cheap. The aroma that I was getting was very floral with hints of some melon style fruit (maybe cantaloupe). The taste kept the same floral activity but I noticed more-so a peach or pear rather than a melon. It was crisp and refreshing, pretty dry but you didn't notice because of the flavor profile. Didn't really notice any acidity. Pairing it with food was a bit of a failure. It was just too light to fluff its feathers along-side mustard and Worcestershire sauce. That being said I am impressed with it as a sipping wine.
Conclusion: Exceeded expectations. Solid light-profile Chardonnay in any regard. Would drink again. Obvious use would be cookouts and beach-going...in a cooler.
Rating: 7.47935 / 10
Value: 4 / 5
You know I love cheap wine. Why, I may not know.
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