Jackson Triggs - Gewürztraminer

Origin: Ontario
Price: We don't remember. Probably $9.95. At most, $12.
Date drunk: April 18th, 2009

d.: That's alt 129, by the way [re: umlaut]. The smell is soapy, like nice, fancy, fruit soap.

g.: This is a really, really strange tasting wine. It's spicy. The woman at "Wine Rack" said it had a really good balance between sweet and acidic, and I think she was right. She also said a lot of other, complicated things I did not understand, but she was probably right about those too.

d.: This is like, let's say, if a Macintosh apple--not a computer--got all hot and steamy with a lemon, and produced, after the appropriate period of gestation, a mutant baby fruit.

g.: BOW CHICKA BOW WOW
I think this would taste really good with a shot of whiskey dropped into it. I would probably drop dead 30 seconds later, but I bet it would be worth it. Maybe Fireball. Someday, friends. Someday.

d.: I really like the after taste. Actually, I like the whole thing. I like it.

g.: I don't think it's something I'd like to have very often, but it's a satisfying change. I'd probably get this particular one again.

With WHISKEY.

Ciao - Organic Chardonnay

Origin: Italy
Price: $12.85 (1L)
Date drunk: April 9th, 2008

I look at this every single time I'm at the store, because although you can't tell from this photo, the carton is all holographic and shimmery. I also happen to really enjoy purple and green as a combo. Dear Wine Marketing Dudes: you win.

Down to business:

First sip: Ding ding! YES! I wanted to like this so bad, and I do. It's smooth and delicious. It's even way too warm because I'm impatient, and it still gives me virtually no pause . This doesn't taste like a chardonnay. I don't even know what it does taste like. Magic juice, I guess.

More sips: I'm in wine-love. Let's go out somewhere fun, Ciao, and get to know each other a little better. Maybe we'll go hang out on the rocks by the waterfront and talk about how you're a beautiful pale yellow, and that you look really great tonight in those sparkly clothes, and we'll probably work so well together--even though you smell kind of weird. It's okay, that kind of thing doesn't matter to dudes like us. Afterward we can go stumble around downtown, and sit on a roof and yell at cars, because we're better than cars, man.

I gotta go.

Green Rabbit - Organic Merlot

Origin: France
Price: $13.90
Date drunk: April 9th, 2009

The smell!; it starts out bitter, acrid but, when the inhalation is finished and the scent swirls in the nose, the smell richens; the smell is that of, appropriately enough, ripened grapes—like those ones I used to mow around at Vesey's. I'd pull entire bunches off the vine, bite into them, suck out the juice and spit the seeds to the ground as I circled and circled on the Cub Cadet mower that had smoother steering than my car (smoother steering, actually, than anything else I'd ever driven). Those small, thick-skinned grapes were always a welcome treat toward the latter half of the mowing season. I haven't started drinking this yet; I'm still just enjoying the smell, swirling the glass under my nose over and over. I'm revelling in the smell, being all nostalgic for those grapes that grew, intertwined, with the kiwi trees in the arbour beside Arthur's Garden. The smell is so thick; cloyingly sweet. But now: DRINK TIME!

It's bitter—in the way that tobacco, cocoa are bitter. And there are hints of these in the finish of the wine (especially the cocoa). The start is very thin and somewhat harsh, but it levels off and rounds out nicely, though there is no sweetness here, which I tend to find less enjoyable than sweeter wines (or sweeter anything, really; it could be said that I have a sweet tooth [perhaps even several sweet teeth]). It's a smooth drink, though, in spite of its bitterness. And surprisingly refreshing. It's a very a clear tasting wine. There is simply the wine flavour; it hides behind nothing.

I'd wanted to try a wine made from organically grown grapes for a while now (one of my [many] pipe dreams is to eventually make wine from my own organically grown grapes. It's something I've thought about a lot [though not in any practical sense {pipe dream, remember?}] and it combines two things I enjoy [wine and growing things]. It would be great to bring something like that from, literally, the ground up. For myself, really.) and I'm glad I tried this one. It's fresh, clear, smooth and wonderfully bitter.

Voga Italia - Pinot Grigio

Origin: Italy
Price: $13.95
Date drunk: April 3rd, 2009

We bought this wine because:

You know those tiny tubes of perfume samplers? Yeah. That's this. Except in Giant Land. And full of drinkable alcohol.

g.: Now THAT'S better (re: tonight's other wine). This Pinot Grigio has a flavour. It tastes like apples and flowers. I guess this is what people mean when they say a "complex wine"--it's pretty multi-faceted, compared to the other one. The tiny extra bit of sweetness definitely helps. Yup, I think I like this.

d.: Yeah, this is a good wine. It has a nice, fully-fruited flavour. It is a complex wine; it's a good mix of flavours.

g.: I think the difference is, this actually tastes like something besides alcohol, whereas the cheaper--not necessarily monetarily--wines just taste like stale beer or something.

We're learning!

Giovello - Pinot Grigio

Origin: Italy
Price: $13.05
Date drunk: April 3rd, 2009

d.: There's butter in the smell. The taste, it is bland.

g.: Not much sweetness to it. Kind of bitter.

d.: It's a heartburn wine.

g.: There's a little something there--something slightly flavourful and maybe fruity, but it's mainly tingly and acidic. It's not bad, but a little bit flat for me. I like Pinot Grigios a bit less bitter.

d.: It's a warm flavour. It's very simple--not a complex wine.

g.: I can imagine that some people might choose this over something sweeter, but it's not really for me. Wins points for having an awesome indigo blue bottle. Loses points for being $13 and not that good.

d.: I like dragonflies.

Folonari - Pinot Grigio

Origin: Italy
Price: $14.75
Date drunk: March 27th, 2009

d.: It smells like gross meat.

g.: It smells like the fridge. Not that we have gross meat in the fridge, but it kind of smells like fridges do when you live in a house with five people and at least two of them forget about their shitty East Side Mario's leftovers for two weeks.

d.: It doesn't taste like gross fridge meat. It doesn't taste like a Pinot Grigio.

g.: It has the mild flatness of a Pinot Grigio, but it's missing all the interesting floral and fruity elements.

d.: It's not a good wine, it's just a palatable thing.

g.: Barely.

d.: If you don't breathe in through your nose while drinking, it's fine.

La Vieille Ferme - Cotes du Luberon

Origin: France
Price: $11.95
Date drunk: March 27th, 2009

d.: It smells like the ice wine tasted.

g.: Hey, this is good! It doesn't leave any taste in my mouth at all, but when I'm actually sipping it, it tastes interesting and lightly sweet/sour.

d.: When you let it sit in your mouth, there's a lingering full-mouth sourness.

g.: This is really refreshing. I'd probably like this with food. I'd probably like anything with food, though.

d.: The edges of the taste are squared off. It's not a round taste; it's a rectangular prism.

g.: Fancy pants.