When cleansing your palate, it is important to know what you want to taste. The most common palate cleansers include bread, sorbet, pickled ginger, and water. These are all neutral substances that scrub lingering flavors off the tongue. Sorbet, not to be confused with sherbet, is a frozen dessert that contains no dairy and is made of fruit and water. The sharp flavor and lower temperature stimulate the taste buds for future flavor reception. Bread can be used in many forms to cleanse the palate as long as it is not flavored. Crackers also fall under the bread category and should be used with the same restrictions of being unflavored. For optimal tasting experience, certain foods and beverages should be avoided. Any dairy, such as butter, will coat the taste buds and trap previous flavors.

It is important to remember that anything you ingest can subsequently affect how future flavors are perceived. If you are wanting to taste finer nuances and complexities, a clean palate will be your best bet for tasting as many dimensions of a flavor profile as possible.

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Alcohol Name: Dreaming Tree

Alcohol Type: Pinot noir

Alcohol Content: 13.5%, 27 Proof

Price Point: Low-Mid, $10-$12, available at most retailers

Nose: Caramel, vanilla, red berries

Flavor Profile: Toasted oak, cherry

Bottom Line: This is a surprisingly complex Pinot noir that would be great for pairing but manages to work as a standalone just fine.

Dreaming Tree is a collaboration between California winemaker Sean McKenzie and Dave Matthews. I usually tend to stay away from collaborations like this because they often increase the price of wine without any increase to quality. This wine does not follow that pattern on either account.

For the full body that this wine has, it comes off very smooth and light. The color is a dark ruby red and the nose is filled with caramel, vanilla, and red berries like strawberry and cherry. The flavors are just as pleasant as the nose with notes of juicy cherry and a finish of toasted oak.

I admit that Pinot noir is not normally a wine that I drink without a meal. To me it makes a wonderful pairing wine, but usually falls short alone. Dreaming Tree has opened me up to trying other Pinot noir wines as it is more complex than I expected in the best kind of way.

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Alcohol Name: Aldi Chianti Adventure Series

Alcohol Type: Chianti

Alcohol Content: 12%, 24 Proof

Price Point: Budget-Friendly, $5.50, available at Aldi stores 

Nose: Red berries, floral notes

Flavor Profile: Dark cherry, blackberry

Bottom Line: For the price, this is one of the safest choices. It is simple in every way and easy to pair with.

When it comes to wine, most people think that Winking Owl is the only brand Aldi has to offer. This is not at all true. Aldi has a line of international wines, among which is a Chianti – an Italian wine. Most of these wines are labeled with a DOC, or DOCG tag. These tags are to verify that the percentages of grapes are from specific areas within Italy. What makes the Chianti from Aldi so appealing is its price. This bottle is usually half the price you would pay for any DOCG Italian wine. 

The profile of this wine is very tame. It comes in at a 12% alcohol content, making it a medium-bodied red. It does not have much to offer in the nose or flavor profile – both of which are simply dark berries. In my tasting, I was mostly able to pick out the cherry. The simplicity of this wine makes it very easy to drink and pair with. 

If you are looking for a safe option or introduction to wine, this is a great bottle. On the other hand, if you are looking for a complex bottle to pick apart and taste, you may want to try something different.

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PB&W is advertised as a peanut butter whiskey with a bottle displaying a bag overfilled with peanuts. At first pour, it is very easy to tell that something is not quite right with this “whiskey.” Underneath the pull away cork is a fine layer of sugar followed by a wave of peanut butter aroma. Being a wine person myself, I look at viscosity quite frequently. I am no expert but there should not be much trailing when drinking whiskey out of a glencairn glass. 

As far as taste goes, it is not surprising that the only flavor present is peanut butter. I tried multiple ways to drink this “whiskey.” Slow sipping made me feel like I was drinking syrup. Shooting it brought out the only trace of whiskey this bottle has to offer, which was a burning sensation trailing all the way down. Changing the temperature only made things worse. The bottle claims “best served chilled,” but I am convinced that there is no way to serve this bottle. The only way I was able to tolerate consuming PB&W was to kill it with a stronger source of sugar. Their slogan is “bring your jam!” and I understand why. This bottle cannot be consumed without mixing it or pairing it with something sweeter. To date, my most positive – yet still negative – experience has been drinking PB&W and eating three week old stale brownies my wife made. Personally, the brownies were more enjoyable but the additional peanut butter flavor was a nice touch.

When you are getting a flavored whiskey, you pretty much know what you are getting into. Most of the time it is to avoid that strong alcohol taste. The ideal situation is to have something smooth and chilled to enjoy. These whiskeys are not suited for tastings. There are no complexities to them and offer little to no flavor. My next experiment with PB&W will involve sweet dairy to make a float-type drink. I am determined to find a solution for this bottle because I have never encountered a bottle that won’t seem to end like this one. 

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Alcohol Name: Bar Dog

Alcohol Type: Cabernet Sauvignon

Alcohol Content: 13.5%, 27 Proof

Price Point: Budget, $12-$13, common availability 

Nose: Juicy dark fruit

Flavor Profile: Dark fruit, spices

Bottom Line: This is a young red wine with underdeveloped flavor. The proceeds from the profits made off this wine go toward animal relief, which is an excellent sentiment – but the wine itself is subpar.

Bar Dog is a California wine that is only aged a couple of years making it a very young wine. The price puts this wine at the lower end. The bottle was really the only reason I decided to try this wine, which has a picture of a small dog on it and I thought my wife would enjoy trying it. Another interesting note is that it was the last bottle on the shelf, which made me believe it was a popular wine I had yet to try.

The nose and flavors for this wine were underdeveloped. The nose had some spices and fruit aromas, mostly juicy dark fruit. The flavor is what really stood out to me as being underwhelming. To me this cabernet was very sweet. I could really pick out the blueberry and chocolate finish. 

Personally, I would put this wine in the dessert category. It was not overwhelmingly sweet, but it was not as dry as I prefer my reds. This wine is a nice sentiment but nothing more. The description on the back explains how proceeds go to animal relief, which is a vey charitable act but the truth is the wine is not that high of quality.

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Alcohol Name: Cline Ancient Vines Zinfandel

Alcohol Type: Zinfandel

Alcohol Content: 15%, 30 Proof

Price Point: Low-Mid Bracket, $12, order online at Ancient Vines Series

Nose: Top five max

Flavor Profile: Top five max

Bottom Line: A high-quality budget wine that provides berries, spice, and leather. The flavor profiles change from year to year, which can be a fun and engaging experience.

The Ancient Vines wines all come from California. Cline offers many kinds of wine and has membership options as well. Their Zinfandel is the only wine I have seen and tasted in my area, but I am sure they have other options depending on the region. 

To start, this Zinfandel is very bold. It comes off very strong with fifteen percent alcohol, which for a wine is on the higher end. When I did my tasting of this wine, I used a bit of an unconventional method. For my tasting I actually used an entire wine flight board of glasses. I could tell that the flavors and aromas were changing from glass to glass. I could have used a decanter, but I had new and unused glasses to break in.

The nose of this wine got better over the period of my tasting. It was full of berries, spice, and leather with a flavor that was very similar. The vanilla was very apparent due to the use of new and used oak barrels in the aging process. Hints of blueberry were subtle and not overly sweet. The finish was all chocolate and delightful.

I primarily pick up this wine when it is on sale. For the price, I think this is a quality wine. The years of this wine are very important to pay attention to. This tasting was of their 2017. Other years of their Zinfandel have very different profiles. 

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Alcohol Name: FitVine

Alcohol Type: Pinot Noir

Alcohol Content: 13.9%, 27.8 Proof

Price Point: Lower-Mid, $20, order online at https://www.fitvinewine.com/pages/all-wines

Nose: Black cherry, cedar

Flavor Profile: Black cherry, orange blossoms

Bottom Line: This wine features a lower sugar and carbohydrate content than typical reds. It is ideal for someone with dietary restrictions, but outside of that audience, it is more of a gimmick than anything. It is an average wine sold at an inflated price simply for the attraction of being “fit” and “healthy.”

FitVine offers many different types of wine, including whites and reds made from California grapes. FitVine wines are all made gluten-free and have no additives, which is appealing to anyone with dietary restrictions. The processes used to make FitVine wine essentially make it lower in categories of nutrition, such as sugar content and carbohydrates.

When I first poured the glass of Pinot Noir, I immediately noticed how thin and light it was. I had heard about this wine and done a little research, so I understood it to be a type of “diet” wine and was expecting it to be a little different from a regular Pinot Noir. The nose was pretty standard for a Pinot Noir: it was filled with black cherry and cedar.

When I tasted this wine was really when I noticed a big difference. The initial taste was pleasant with black cherry and a hint of orange blossom. The finish, however, is what was different. It was very light and almost bitter. The wine itself was very smooth, but due to the lower sugar content, the overall taste was less flavorful than regular wine.

I am not sure that I would recommend FitVine as a healthy alternative to regular wine. The difference in overall nutritional value is not substantial enough to make it worth drinking. For those with dietary restrictions or lifestyle goals this might fit in, but alcohol is still alcohol. If you like drinking a specific wine, drink it in moderation. Don’t substitute it with something just for the sake of being “healthier.”

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When cleansing your palate, it is important to know what you want to taste. The most common palate cleansers include bread, sorbet, pickled ginger, and water. These are all neutral substances that scrub lingering flavors off the tongue. Sorbet, not to be confused with sherbet, is a frozen dessert that contains no dairy and is made of fruit and water. The sharp flavor and lower temperature stimulate the taste buds for future flavor reception. Bread can be used in many forms to cleanse the palate as long as it is not flavored. Crackers also fall under the bread category and should be used with the same restrictions of being unflavored. For optimal tasting experience, certain foods and beverages should be avoided. Any dairy, such as butter, will coat the taste buds and trap previous flavors.

It is important to remember that anything you ingest can subsequently affect how future flavors are perceived. If you are wanting to taste finer nuances and complexities, a clean palate will be your best bet for tasting as many dimensions of a flavor profile as possible.

The post Beginner’s Mouthfeel appeared first on Bourbon Tobacco Wine.

Alcohol Content: 12%, 24 Proof

Price Point: Budget, $13, fairly common and online availability 

Nose: Citrus

Flavor Profile: Light and crisp, citrus, pear

Bottom Line: An inexpensive champagne blend that provides a light, crisp, citrus effervescence that is great for small celebrations.

Champagne is only one kind of sparkling wine. It is mostly known as a celebration beverage and is usually higher in price due to the extra steps in making champagne. Most of the champagne we see is not true champagne, as the only true version of champagne is made in France. Korbel Brut is not an example of a true champagne, but it offers a high quality for the price. 

I admit that champagne is not my area of expertise. I tend to choose any other kind of wine before sparkling, but I was pleasantly surprised when I tasted some Korbel Brut. It has a very light and crisp flavor. The nose did not have much to offer other than citrus. I was able to get hints of pear along with the not-so-overpowering effervescence. 

While this may not be the most expensive champagne, it serves as a great party bottle. It is dry and has very little sweetness to it. This makes it a very good bottle to serve with appetizers before the new year. It is also a great option for making mimosas the morning after a late night celebration.

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Alcohol Type: High-proof bourbon aged at length and finished with special seared French oak staves

Alcohol Content: 47%, 94 Proof

Price Point: Mid range, $36, common availability 

Nose: Caramel, oak, vanilla

Flavor Profile: Caramel, cinnamon, leather

Bottom Line: A consistent and high quality bourbon that is perfect for adding something a little extra to your special occasions. This one is a cut above the rest and will treat you right.

Maker’s Mark has many kinds of bourbon available – all of which are extremely consistent, satisfying and easy to find. Maker’s 46 is a step above their regular bourbon and has a slightly higher proof than the regular straight bourbon. Maker’s 46 is heavier and more complex than other products offered. 

The nose can be very overwhelming with ethanol at first due to its higher proof. After a little bit you can start to dig into the enjoyable aromas it has to offer. You can easily find all the staples of bourbon such as caramel, oak, and vanilla. The French oak staves that are added after the initial aging process are what gives this bourbon its heavy nose. 

I find this bourbon to be sweeter than most bourbon. The caramel and cinnamon flavors stand out the most, which come from the additional wood that is used during aging. The finish is not nearly as strong on this bourbon and has mostly hints of leather.

This bourbon is good for a regular evening, but we recommend saving it for a special occasion because of how special it is. It’s a great choice for any holiday or celebration.  It is sweet enough to enjoy on its own and perfect for an after-dinner old fashion. 

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