Anyway, I came here to review, so review I must.

Color

Water. Maybe with a little lemon juice squeezed in to make it look a bit “off” but Vinho Verdes are always near-clear.

Nose

Since we’re working with slight bubbles here, you get a spritzy shot of lemon along with some stone fruit scents. Peach, apricot, maybe a little honeydew melon. Then a slight sour stink.

Taste

This one beats the Broadbent Vinho Verde we reviewed previously (link above) simply due to the mouthfeel. It’s perfect. Not too over the top with good creamy lemon and bubbles that are barely-there, but can still be tasted. The wine has a very crisp flavor that makes you really want to pucker up and swish it around. Good finish of that stone fruit I mentioned in the nose with an appealing dry character.

With Food

Definitely a food-friendly wine. Seafood, to be more specific. Nothing too buttery, though, as this might not be up to the battle against fat. Better for grilled seafood with vegetables.

Where To Buy

$3.99 at Astorwines.com!

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Anyway, it doesn’t really matter that much, because this wine is terrible.

Color

Very beautiful. Great, dark, boysenberry syrup colors. Very deceptive.

Nose

Wow. Alcohol. Some hints of cherry and some blueberry, with sugar added, but mostly alcohol coming through.

Taste

Two ingredients: Sugar and water. The wine is hollow. Tongue feels empty. Bitter acid with really overblown tannins. The fruit that is there is very very fake. We like wines that remind us of particular candies with all their artificial flavors, but we don’t want the actual artificial flavors in the wine.

We can say one good thing about this bottle. While it is cheap wine, it does not have the typical “cheap wine” flavor.

But it still sucks.

With Food

Hahahahahahaha!

$2 at Henry’s Farmer’s Market!

$3.99 at ShopRite Liquors – Laurenti Wines if you don’t have a Henry’s Farmer’s Market near you.

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Bad News First: Ahem, it’s $4 and tastes good. There is nothing wrong with that.

Now The Good: Friends brought this one over for dinner one night. Once this was chilled and sipped, they weren’t ashamed to say they had bought it at Trader Joe’s on the way over for $4. We couldn’t believe it. Ridiculous tropical fruit scents (papaya, guava, lime), moving onto a light butter and pure pineapple, remaining chewy the whole way but drying out just as a Viognier should in the end. Melon is normally a flavor in Viognier, but this one is weak on that. Not that it matters. $4? Who cares? We haven’t seen it at BevMo, but definitely get it now before people realize its beauty and the price goes up. By the way, if you notice, this is the 2006 Bear’s Lair Viognier, and if it’s any indication, an older vintage or the 2007 Bear’s Lair Viognier should be just as good.

With Food: We would not recommend eating a damn thing with this, but if forced, we can’t think of anything as good as the ingredients of our dinner that night: chicken, apricots, thyme, lemon. It was a kind of Moroccan night.

$3.99 at Trader Joe’s (hard to find online, head over to TJ’s)

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