These Girls Bleed Red, White, & Blush Launch, Fin

This post will wrap up our party reviews. I have to say, we really enjoyed ourselves at the launch. You can never have too much good food, good drink, and good friends! Well, perhaps the first two can be over done, as our very lazy next day proved. Generally we wouldn't suggest mixing reds, whites, and rosés all together in a night but our tasting duties made it necessary in this case. It might be a good idea to stick to one type if you're going to throw your own wine and cheese, but at the same time trying all the varieties was the most fun at our shindig. Perhaps one should just practice restraint. A and I will have to just keep practicing our practicing I think.

Now on to the reds!

Sella & Mosca Riserva Cannonau di Sardegna 2009, Sardinia, Italy ($15.95) --from the vintage section of the LCBO [ooh fancy!]

A: This Grenache [a Mediterranean grape variety] has a lot of oak, kind of like mixing furniture polish and cherries.

PP: I can drink just about anything but not this!

L: A wildly oaky red with sour cherry. Sipping this is like licking a piece of oak, but it does get slightly better the more you drink as hints of crab apple and cherry come out.

On the whole, we wouldn't recommend this wine to less experienced wine drinkers. Also for $15.95 we feel it should taste a little more like wine and a little less like vegetation.

Kitchen Sink California Red Table Wine, California ($12.95) [table wines are made up of many different blends of grapes]

A: This red smells like vanilla and matches. It is a quick drink, quite dry and doesn't linger long on the palette. It gets fruitier as it breathes. Pretty good for a table wine!

S: This reminds me of Spanish wine. A dry red, it would do well with some decanting.

PP: This tastes like it was dragged out of the kitchen sink! Yuck!

Well 2/3 ain't bad...

Menage à Trois Red by Trinchero Family Estates, California ($18.95) [also considered a table wine, although priced higher than most tables]

M: This is really nice on the first taste, a well-refined grape - which means it's not too alcoholy and has a quick finish. Ends on a grape popsicle note, which the twelve-year-old inside me loves!

N(aka the life of the party): Everywhere I go I bring a menage! But really, you shouldn't have to spend more than $15 on a bottle of wine to have something drinkable, but if you want something special it's worth the $19.

L: It's sweet, reminds me of Naked Grape's unoaked Luscious Red [10 points to L for remembering the name exactly even after a few tastings] but the Luscious Red is a better buy at half the price.

Note: A didn't like this red, M thinks she's crazy.