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