Ashby's Wine Blog

 The second lesson of Drink This Now was about choice of glassware and how it can effect the behavior of the wine you are drinking. The experiment done for the lesson proceeded as follows: 1. Make a selection of glassware, this experiment was performed with a shot glass, a whiskey glass, a pint glass, a wine glass, and a regular glass which featured a mild curve. 2. Using the shot glass to measure, pour one shot of chilled wine into each glass. 3. Smell the wine from each glass, giving one minute between each glass to clear your nose and consider the effects of the glassware on how the wine expressed itself. This lesson helped prove some concepts about glassware that I hadn't quite bought into yet. Particularly that a good wine glass can make a big difference in how a wine tastes. The smell was incredibly muted or hardly even present in some glasses compared to the wine glass. In particular, the pint glass gave the wine almost no chance to express any kind of scent due to the dista

   Name:  Palacio De Menade Variety: Verdejo Vintage:  2021 Region:  Castilla y Leon Country: Spain Price:  $12 Winery Review:   "Palacio de Menade has aromas of freshly sliced peaches, mingled with zesty lime notes, and subtle hints of honeysuckle. Enjoy our deliciously refreshing white chilled, served as an aperitif, or partnered with seafood paella for a classic Spanish experience." Wine Folly: From page 181 of the book, it says verdejos typically have a strong lime taste and should be served chilled. This wine is no exception. The lime flavor is really accentuated as the wine is further chilled, along with hints of grapefruit. My Review:  This is actually the first wine I have come back to multiple times since first tasting it. The citrus flavor is something I really enjoy. The wine really seems to come alive once its chilled, with all of its flavors much more pronounced.

  Name: Purple Owl Variety:  Pinot Noir Vintage:  2021 Region: California Country:  United States Price:  $10 Winery Review:   "This floral Pinot, vibrantly pure, like a breath of fresh air, is sourced from California's stunning vineyards, where you'll often see purple swaths of Owl's Clover blanketing the earth between rows of grapevines." Wine Folly:  From page 150 of the text, it can be found that Pinot Noirs are known for their light body and soft tannins. That was certainly true of this wine. Additionally, it is mentioned that there will be tastes of berries and vanilla which could be detected in this wine as well. My Review: This wine was an easy wine to drink. No element of it seemed to attack, as the tannins did with the Bordeaux, and no element seemed to really lack either. This wine was also well balanced especially considering the price.