Wine ReviewAfter coming across Jim Jim’s wines, I was a little worried about the quality of the wine that we were about to experience. Jim Jim wine was either going to be A. a cheap wine that tried too hard on marketing the product or B. a good wine with a humorous marketing department. Fortunately,  it was choice B. since the white wine that was selected was a smooth slightly tropical flavor much like a Sauvignon Blanc white wine. Unlike other white wines though, Barker’s White Wine leaves a burning feeling in the throat a few moments after drinking. In my opinion, the feeling was like taking a shot of vodka or sake. For a beginning wine connoisseur, the white wine was a good selection if looking for something slightly sweet but also with a slight after-bite taste. This hand-picked white wine is packaged in a humorous light green tinted bottle with a black top screw top and white label. At first, the bottle looks like a conservative bottle of white wine however after getting closer one will notice there are paragraphs of writing at the top front and on the back label as well. The label contents are written in the voice of the dog that is the PR manager in the Australian Vineyard, his name is Jim Jim who is a Labrador Kelpie Mix Breed. He talks about his life on the Southern Australian vineyard and how the wine has been produced. The bottle alone is a great conversational piece at a large party. Adding to my interest, this wine is produced with two different grapes in a wonderful blend of Viognier and Verdelho grapes. Personally, I had never heard of either of the two grapes however I learned that the Viognier is a French grape and the Verdelho is Portuguese. The French grape, Viognier, is supposed to have an orange blossom flavor while the Portuguese Verdelho gives off a fruit and pear flavor swirl. It is hard to find a good wine made from Portuguese grapes, therefore this is a special treat.

Wine ReviewNot being one much for wine, my husband and I have joined a wine club in our city. Wine clubs, for those of you whom are familiar are a great time to get together with other consumers (of different levels) to taste and try numerous types of wines. At this meeting, we were introduced to a  winery located in Sonoma Valley which is called “Kunde Estateâ€. After trying a few selections from our local grocery store, I was a little worried that the taste would not be worth the praise that many consumers were giving to the wine. Kunde Estate came up with a wonderful selection on the Sauvignon Blanc grape that does not live up to the other common wines that are purchased in a grocery store, it is much better! After learning that Sauvignon Blanc is a green grape that originates from the Bordeaux region of France, we found out that it is widely used famous dessert wines by ‘Sauternes’ and ‘Barsac’. Although it was grown wild in France, it is now grown in various regions of France, New Zealand and California. The California version of the grape turns out slightly tropical and leaves a sweet taste in the mouth. Not loving a dark red wine for the dry after taste, I tend to prefer to steer far away from them and prefer to cuddle up with a good white wine. This wine selection is a wonderfully sweet guava flavor that does not overpower the taste buds such as an ice wine. Kunde Estates suggest that it carries the flavors of grapefruit, guava, kiwi and melon. The website stated that this particular year and selection’s fruit was harvested with lower sugar levels and held in a fifty degree tank for eight hours at a 23.1 degree Brix level. Although I am not quite sure what this means, this type of process should accentuate the grapefruit flavor. My primitive taste buds could only taste the guava and maybe a hint of melon though. Other more advanced members of our wine club were able to taste more tropical flavors however stated that it was slightly too sweet in flavor.