Wine #7: Counoise

Last one before Xmas. I have at least a month worth of wine for after the break. To explain how slowly I drink wine, I generally have a glass a day and store the wine in between with a vacuum cap.

Vignoble de la Ramiere, 2006 Counoise
color: ruby red

aroma: light flowers, not much odor, a little strawberry
taste: very light, a kind of fruity strawberry. The fruit mellowed out a bit the day after leaving tannins and the tannins died after two days in the fridge, and so it ended up with a nice balance.
Rating: Average

Wine #6: Lacrima

More, more, more... continuing into Italy.

Giusti, 2006 Lacrima
color: dark garnet red

aroma: cherry, cantaloupe, and flowers
taste: dark and not much flavor on the first day, became fruity with a light cherry with a touch of smoke and flower flavored aftertaste. Definitely something that needs to breathe.
Rating: Good 

Wine #5: Marzemino

After a short break for Thanksgiving, onward and upward.

Vivallis, 2006 Marzemino

color: dark purple
aroma: raisin, lemon, berry
taste: It was slightly tannic earthy and vanilla but light and a little strawberry. Balanced but nothing special, nice overall.
Rating: Good 

Wine #4: St. Laurent

Back to wine. I got 8 bottles from astorwines.com which should be enough to last me through Xmas. The first one was the cider and another is a desert wine that was supposed to be made from Abouriou grapes but isn't. For some reason the honey wines at the site list Abouriou as their varietal. Anyway, on with the mission.

Rossi Schuster, 2007 St. Laurent
color: dark raspberry jam

aroma: tobacco, cherry, smoke
taste: just a little bit of tannin with a nice balance of smoky flavor to the fruit. The fruit flavors are a mixture of cherry and plum. There is a bit of tobacco flavor but not as much as I was expecting based of the smell.
Rating: Good 

Wine #3: Hard Cider

Why am I now doing a hard cider after just starting a wine blog? Why am I doing a wine blog nobody will ever see? Answer to the second question -- it gives me an easily accessible record. Answer to the first question -- I had an uncle with an apple orchard growing up and therefore have a family of apple connoisseurs. I saw this featured on pbs and thought it might make an interesting birthday or xmas present for someone or even several people.

Farnum Hill Extra Dry Cider
color: ginger ale
aroma: apples, citrus, vanilla
taste: apples -- like apples that have oxidized a bit and turned brown -- also citrus and some earthy flavors. dry, acidic, and tart. I don't mind average ciders like woodchuck and this is definitely different yet still not my cup of tea. As several other reviews I saw said, very winelike.
Rating: Average

Wine #2: Saperavi

Forging ahead, a Saperavi from the Republic of Georgia, again from wineanthology.com. Produced from the same place that made wine #1. This should be it for the Georgian wines for a while, I should be getting another group of wines soon which I think are all American and Italian.

color: dark blood red
aroma: roses, berries, ginger?
taste: nice, earthy and spicy no tannins, pretty light and fairly dry- overall tart berries for fruit matched with a smoky flavor. The smoky flavor is what makes it interesting, I've never had a wine with that so pronounced.
Rating: Good

Wine #1: Alexandrouli

Starting with an odd one, Khvanchkara from the Republic of Georgia. (Actually this isn't the first wine, I've had all the standard reds and will use those to fill in while looking for something weird.)  It's listed as a semi-sweet red.
I've actually been looking forward to trying a Georgian wine. My Dad said some Russians he knows recommended them. I got it from wineanthology.com

color: dark blood red
aroma: apple, berries, sweet flowers
taste: a bit odd but nice, tastes like someone removed the sugar from a sweet wine, light, almost sweet, no tannins, raisin with some blueberry a bit of vanilla. I know it says on the bottle semi-sweet, but I'm used to sweet wines being sickeningly sweet (Catawba).
Rating: Good