Tasting-Silk

This wine is a wine from the Belle Meade Winery in Nashville, Tennessee.  It is made from Concord grapes.  Yes, you heard correctly, concord grapes.  This wine is another American wine, truly.  The vintage of the one I tasted was 2010.  You can buy it online or at the winery for $19.50.  Silk is quite a sweet wine obviously.  It is not complex at all.  It just tastes like concord grape juice, the happy version.  I don't think that is a bad thing at all though.  I actually liked this wine.  It was sweet with a bite or crispness to it.  I thought that was rather refreshing.  I didn't have food with this wine and I probably wouldn't.  I would probably just have this as a dessert wine, meaning it would be my dessert.  The winery's review on this wine stated that it is Americas original dessert wine.  They said it was robust and semi-sweet.  I don't think that it is semi-sweet, I think it is full on sweet.  This is another wine that would be great chilled in the summer.  I would be very happy to just have a bottle of this relaxing on the porch.  I actually imagine myself drinking this on the 4th of July watching fireworks and enjoying with friends.  I am a visual person and if I associate something with a good thought such as this then I like it so needless to say I enjoyed this wine.  It was my first wine made from Concord grapes.

Tasting-Red Muscadine

This wine is made from Muscadine grapes.  The one I tasted was a 2010 vintage.  It is from the Belle Meade Winery in Nashville, Tennessee.  It really truly is an American wine.  Muscadine is considered the "American grape".  This was by far my favorite wine at the tasting I believe.  It can be bought from the winery (which I did) or online for $19.50.  This wine was delicious.  It just is simply a sweet delightful wine.  Oddly enough it did have a sort of dry finish to it.  The aromas are notes of the melony, plum type.  It reminded me of the grapes I would go pick out in my grandmothers back yard and enjoy on a hot day.  This might be why I thought this wine was so good.  It was sweet with that true "grape" flavor.  When you think of the standard grape flavor of America, this is it.  I believe this would just be a great summer wine just to have relaxing, but I don't know if I could share it with friends.  The winery reviews this wine as a traditional Tennessee wine and it is best chilled on the porch in the summer...heaven!  I completely agree with that statement obviously.  This wine I would not recommend if you are looking for something with complex flavor, but I would if you are wanting a fun summer drink with friends.  I do believe this wine would be nice with some bread and oil dippings, or some appetizers.  I believe this wine is a carby wine that should be the wine you have when you are ready to splurge on some carbs, or like I said just by itself.

Tasting-Iroquois Red

This wine is a Cabernet Sauvignon variety.  The vintage I tasted was 2010.  This wine is from Nashville, Tennessee from the Belle Meade Winery.  It is an American wine.  It can be bought online or at the winery for $25.  It is barrel aged for 2 years in French Oak barrels.  It was a really good Cabernet Sauvignon for my taste.  It was not too bold and slightly sweet.  Its aromas were oak and of dark fruits such as plum.  I'm working my way through wines trying to adapt my palate to tannins and this wine really didn't have that overpowering tannin taste, which was really nice.  It was very smooth.  The winery says that it is a medium-bodied wine with good balance.  They said it was soft on tannins and sweet with black fruits with an earthy finish.  I agree with this review.  I didn't have any foods with this but I think this wine would go nicely with a steak or some grilled vegetables.  With that earthy taste it would pull the grilled charring flavors from anything from the grill so I think that would be nice.  I could imagine having a nice meal outside from the grill during the summer on a cool night.  That image is very enticing.  I would recommend this wine because it is not an overpowering Cabernet, but if you like big bold flavors, I'm not sure this wine would be for you.

Tasting-Blackberry

This wine is the Blackberry wine from the Belle Meade Winery.  It is located in Nashville, Tennessee, which is an American wine.  It can be bought online or at the winery for $19.50.  It is made from fresh blackberries.  I had never had a wine made from any other type of fruits than grapes before, but I have to say I am a fan.  A little background on this wine is that on the Belle Meade Plantation they used to make homemade wine from blackberries in a mason jar, so they are continuing the tradition.  Of course, they no longer make it in a mason jar, but it does make you understand and feel something different about the wine.  The vintage of the wine I tasted was 2010.  All I can say about this wine is, it is really not complex, but that is most definitely not a bad thing.  The aromas were of blackberries and so was the taste.  This was not a disappointment though because it was sweet and also crisp and refreshing all at one time.  This was one of my favorite wines I tasted at the winery.  It was just so different and delicious.  The winery says this wine is a semi-sweet wine with pronounced berry flavors.  They say cheeses, red meat, and pork would be nice with this wine.  I feel like anything you ate with this would need to have a bold flavor so as to not be overpowered by the wine.  The wine is very flavorful so you would need a sharp cheese and very flavorful meat.  I highly recommend trying this wine out.  I know that I could not resist buying a bottle of this wine.

Tasting-Carriage House White

This wine is interestingly enough created with Vidal Blanc grapes. Its vintage was a 2010.  You can buy it online or at the Belle Meade Winery for $19.50.  It is made in Nashville, Tennessee by the Belle Meade Winery.  Obviously it is an American wine.  The aromas I detected from this wine were overwhelmingly citric with a after-note of floral.  On the palate the wine is pretty dry, but remains crisp and fruity.  It would be a great wine for a hot summer day because of that crispness I believe.  I really think that this wine would be nice with white meats and cheese.  I think that a sharp type of cheese would be spectacular with this.  The winery says that this wine has apple pie and citrus aromas.  They state that this is a semi-dry wine that would go along wonderfully with seafood.   I agree that it would be nice with seafood.  I can imagine drinking this with a nice shrimp dish.  That would be delightful.  I do recommend this wine and others from this winery. I looked up some reviews online for this wine and how well it was liked and I did not see anything negative about it.  It is just a very nice table wine.

Winery visit-Belle Meade Plantation Winery

While visiting the Brentwood, Tennessee area we stumbled upon a plantation called the Belle Meade Plantation located in Nashville.  We decided to take a tour of the mansion and plantation.  After our guided tour was done in the mansion the guide told us that there was also a winery in the back of the mansion.  What could be better than that??  It was a surprise winery visit, and that made it even better!  We walked to the back and had a delicious wine tasting.  These were really the first "sweet" wines that I had ever had.  I thought they were very different than anything I had ever tried.  I can still taste that Red Muscadine wine.  It was so refreshing and delightful.  It was sweet and delicious.  As we all know Muscadine is a true American grape and there are still plenty of Muscadine vine that grow there at the plantation along the fence line.  We also had the Blackberry wine and the Carriage House White wine.  I did not have a wine from this winery that was bad.  It was truly a neat experience.  In fact I came home with a few bottles.  They cost around $20 each, but at the winery they have a special where if you buy a certain amount you get them for a better deal.
This winery's ideal is to recreate what was one the "premier thoroughbred racing and breeding farm in the south for over a century".  They stated that this was the center for hospitality in the 1800s.  While being hospitable they would always provide homemade wines that were made from the domestic, but also the wild, grapevines within the 5,400 acres they owned.  By starting this winery here at the Belle Meade Plantation they are trying to continue the tradition of hospitality provided more than a century ago.  Nothing is better than learning a little bit of history about the place and then getting to enjoy a beverage that probably many guests got to indulge in, in the 1800s.  I would highly recommend visiting this winery.  It is definitely a different experience from your "everyday winery".  It is just a very unique experience.  I will always remember visiting this plantation and winery.  This was one of the best things we have ever "stumbled upon". The old timey feel of the place truly just takes you back to a time when things were not as hustle and bustle.  You can sit and relax with "homemade" wine on their porches of stone buildings or anywhere around the large mansion.  They have a really good thing going with making the winery a part of the plantation and tour because it really makes you feel a part of the past obviously.

However if you are unable to visit the winery, you can still purchase the wine (which I highly recommend).  The wine itself is just as unique as the winery.  It honestly was different, in a good way, from most wine I have tasted before.

Grape Varietal-Marsanne

This is the Marsanne grape variety.  It is a white wine grape

with gold, green, and brown hues.  It is a relatively new

grape when considering varietal.  It does have great

popularity in the Rhone Valley though.  It is the most popular

white wine grape in Northern Rhone Valley.    It has helped

to increase the popularity of the "Rhone Style" wine in

California and the United States in a general sense.  Its skin

is said to be sort of like a peach, semi-thick.  To me this

grape looks like those grapes you can get as decoration that

are made of rubber and are hollowed.  This is beside the

point though.  This grape is delicate, as you may say, to

produce.  If it is in a climate that is too hot then it can over-

ripen and if turned into wine can make the wine very "flabby".  This grape is highly susceptible to

molds and other disease that grape varieties are in danger of.    On the other hand, if the climate is too

cool then the grape does not fully ripen and you get a very bland tasteless wine.    That

being said, most harvesters try and harvest the grapes before they are fully ripened.  It's place of

origin is in France.  It began in the region known as the Northern Rhone Valley in a town called

Marsanne.  This grape is unique in that it has a nutty taste to it as a grape and also an orange type

flavor.  It is moderate in acidity and has a mid-palate richness to it.  It grows best in a granite soil

base, which is what the Northern Rhone Valley provides for this gentle grape.  This grape obviously

grows there still and has found its way to growing extensively in California as well as Washington.  It

also has found a "natural" home in Australia dating back even a century ago.  As this grapes vines age

(up to 15 years) their flavoring becomes more nutty and deeper.  These are the flavorings that they

add to wine.  They are known for giving depth to wine and richness.

    In the map above Marsanne is highlighted in red so that it is clear where Marsanne is located.

This grape when used to make wine can transform into a more honeysuckle and melon taste.  In

weight structure the Marsanne is similar to a Chardonnay.  Yet, much of the time because of

the fragility of this grape and its flavorings, it is not usually alone.  Most of the time this grape variety

is blended with others to make a full bodied wine.  Roussanne is the most common variety to be

blended with Marsanne.  The Marsanne settles down the acidity of the Roussanne and they make a

nice blend together, instead of the bland Marsanne all by itself.  Alone it has a waxy and oily type

feel, and tastes of almond paste.  It has citric notes along with a floral and melon note.  In its finish

you may have the sensations of the oaky, vanilla, or toast type.  It is versatile in the fact that it can be

a dry wine or a sweet wine.  That being said, since Marsanne has a low acidic content it is best to be

consumed young.  Obviously from the descriptions Marsanne can be a heavy wine.  This is why most

are blended with an acidic grape variety.  This is needed to cut through the dense content of

Marsanne wine.

There is one wine called Tahbilk Marsanne.  This vineyard still produces Marsannes dating back to

1927 vines.  They state that this wine they have made is very versatile and can pair very well with

food.  They state that it has a lot of complexity.  This particular wine has won 19 trophies, 79 gold,

109 silver, and 277 bronze medals awarded since 1992.

   You can buy this wine online for around $13 with

a 2012 vintage.  Note: remember to drink in a

sooner than later amount of time because of the

low acidity in this wine.  It has a 12.5% alcohol

content.


As for the blended variety of Marsanne-Roussanne,

they are different in that you can age them for up to

ten years.  The Roussanne allows for the Marsanne

to stay delectable for a little while longer.

Under  Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) regulations

the red wines of Hermitage are allowed to have up to 15%

of Marsanne in them.  The Marsanne wines can be oak aged to provide more body to the wine.  It is important to

know that some Marsanne wines can have a very high alcohol content.  This wine is known to be delicate and

with exciting flavor.  I know I want a bottle as we speak.  This blend is most popular in Hermitage.  The top

producers in Hermitage are JL Chave and Chapoutier.  For those living in the United States, you may be I

interested in knowing that in California the top wineries having the most success with Marsanne are Tablas Creek

and Sine Qua Non.  The Sine Qua Non winery has also produced a non-traditional blend that also included a

blend of Chardonnay.  Still, after finding all the producers of Marsanne in the world, France is still the strongest

leader in producing the most Marsanne viticulture.  There are common synonyms for the Marsanne grape are

Avilleran, Champagne Piacentina, Ermitage, Grosse Roussette, Hermitage, Johannisberg, Marsan

Belyi, Marsanne Blanche, Metternich, Rhin, Rousseau, Roussette de Sainte-Peray, Roussette Grosse,

Seme du Rhin, White Hermitage, Zrmitazh.  If you are interested in trying this grape varietal then just

look for the Marsanne name or any of the other synonyms. 
Lets give this wine a try.  Especially if it is going to be as inexpensive as this wine here.  

References

Marsanne Wine Grape. (n.d.). Retrieved December 16, 2012, from Wine-Searcher website: 

     http://www.wine-searcher.com/grape-268-marsanne

Marsanne. (n.d.). Retrieved from Wineaccess website: http://www.wineaccess.com/wine/grape/marsanne

Lamar, J. (n.d.). Marsanne. Retrieved from Professional Friends of Wine website: 
     http://www.winepros.org/wine101/grape_profiles/marsanne.htm