Welcome to Carolyn’s Tasting Room, an event series here at Access Luxury where you can taste exciting wines with wine critic Carolyn Evans-Hammond. Join in and discover for yourself that you don’t need to spend a lot to get a great tasting wine. You just need to know which bottle to buy!
During this episode, we taste a flight of affordable wines for New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day and beyond.
Here’s the program:
NV Foss Marai Extra Dry Prosecco, Veneto, Italy
NV Colio Extra Dry White, IDB, Canada in 4L box
2022 Mezzacorona Pinot Grigio Delle Venezie DOC, Italy
2021 Carmen Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon, D.O. Maipo, Chile
Grab the wines and taste along! So you can drink better and learn how.
Carolyn Evans-Hammond is a seasoned wine critic, media personality, and best-selling author. And she’s on a mission to find you your next great wine. Connect with her: https://linktr.ee/thewinefind
Hi I’m Carolyn Evans Hammond and welcome to my Tasting Room Carolyn’s tasting room is where you can taste exciting wines with me and tonight we feature affordable wines for New Year’s Eve New Year’s Day and Beyond it’s an exciting lineup so let’s Dive In the wines include the non-vintage fos marai extra
Dry prco from Italy the non-vintage kolio extra dry white wine in 4 lit bag in box the 2022 mesona pinio from Italy and the 2021 Carmen Grand Reserva Cabernet SEL from Chile let’s Taste so the first wine in our flight is sparkling because New Year’s Eve is coming up and we need a bottle of bubbly but maybe maybe you don’t want to spend a fortune maybe you don’t quite want to Splash out you know upwards of $100 on a
Bottle of champagne so this wine is a good choice it’s about $20 in Canada and about 15 in the US and I think it’s lovely so it’s a fos marai prco it’s an extra dry so it means it’s got between 12 and 17 G per liter of sugar this
Actually has 13 G per liter so it’s on the drier end of that Spectrum um so pour yourself a glass and let’s taste First Take a Look Now what I love here is the Persistence of the bubbles and the size of the bubbles you know prco is
Made tank method so it can have larger bubbles um it’s just not made second fermentation in bottle but that’s not so here the bubbles are tiny they bead up in a nice persistent stream and they foam sort of you know they form a bit of
A crown on the side of the glass which is which is exactly what you want it means it’s probably going to contribute a bit of a creamy mouth feel so on the nose clean and fresh do you notice that love that yes it smells like pear
That’s what I always get from G and G is a great variety that is prco beautiful clear fresh maybe a hint of lemon zest going on too and a and a light scoring maybe of minerality you get that sort of wet stoniness so nice and on the palette bright clean refreshing
Juicy and venous too do you notice how the immediate flavor is absolutely pure freshly sliced pear and there’s a sweetness there but that sweetness do you notice how well offset It Is by bright mouthwatering acidity that balance is really important because it makes sure that the wine doesn’t cloy or
Taste too sweet it’s just lip smacking really it’s a kind of wine that’s fantastic with just a handful of nuts to get that fruit and nut thing going on beautifully or any salty snack really so chips yes nuts yes but you could also you know serve it with something like
Deep fried prawns or or poached prawns and it would just work marvelously the flavors are you know they’re not too forward they’re still nice and restrained um and yet pure so the Hallmark of this one is wonderful purity of fruit it does linger longer than many
Pros which I also like and it’s a wine I think you can count on for New Year’s Eve and the second one in our flight is colio estate bag and box it’s the extra dry white wine and it’s an international blend of imported and domestic wine so it’s not fancy it is non-vintage dated but it is Affordable at $42 for 4 L which means it’s less than $10 a bottle
So pour yourself a glass let’s take a look first it’s clear and bright which suggests stability it’s a nice clear color it’s bright it’s pretty in the glass and on the nose clean clean fruit not a lot of complexity here but we’re not looking for that we’re looking for
Purity so Apple maybe sliced green apple a touch of lemon lime a little bit like lemon lime sorbet maybe even a touch of pineapple so let’s have a taste silky smooth beams in floods out light lifted dry balanced this is bone dry at only around 3 gam per liter and
It’s light and Lively I know the body is very light and it’s 12.5% alcohol so it’s also you know light lifted and easy to enjoy glass after glass this is not a fancy wine but it doesn’t need to be it needs to be clean it needs to be pure
Fruited and it needs to be tasty and this is all of those things it’s refreshing it’s clean it’s easy and it’s affordable it’s even more affordable when you think about the fact that this will last about 6 weeks in your fridge because you know the way it works is
There’s a bladder inside so when you dispense wine from the spout the bladder inside collapses in on itself and no air enters and so voila the wine remains fresh the other thing about this is you know it’s handy the size um you know it’s a box it’s easy to store and so you
Can enjoy it somebody might come by and have a glass of wine and you don’t have to worry about opening a whole bottle you’ll have this on hand for six weeks and it’s always ready to enjoy it’s a kind of wine you can also serve with all
Sorts of finger food so you know salt salted potato chips yes popcorn yes cheese absolutely it’s easy it’s affordable it’s a wine for the times the third one in our flight is a reliable Pino Grio now pinio is a wine that so many people enjoy because it’s
Breezy it’s easy it’s light it’s dry it’s quenching it’s all of those things and it’s affordable now this is a reliable expression it’s by mesac Corona it’s from the Veneto region of Italy and it’s a doc so quality wine and it sells for around $17 in Canada and just shy of
15 in the US so pour yourself a glass and let’s taste you’ll notice the color first now what I love about this is not only it’s clear and bright but it’s got these lovely silvery inflections do you notice that really like that I think it’s pretty and on the
Nose now this is always consistent this is a very consistent line and it always smells to me like lime salt and stones are you getting that so first you get the lime sort of a bitter lime as well as lime squirt and then underpinning that is sort of a wet
Stoniness and a salinity lends a bit of Gravitas I like that and on the palette isn’t that lovely streams in like sunshine or wind or something like that just Breezy easy and and pure it’s it’s also you know it Seasons the palette right now it’s still on the
Palette there’s quite a length going on and a little bit of chalkiness texturally on the finish too which is nice because the palette is left seasoned and ready to enjoy whatever you’re going to have with it everything we found on the nose is echoing on the palette absolutely lime yes and on the
Finishes where you’re noticing do you notice the wet stones and the the hint of brininess lovely so a nice clean pure wine that’s perfect for everything you want to you know enjoy with it foodwise and it’s it’s perfect for Holiday open houses many of us have an open house on
New Year’s Day or invited to one and this is a great one for That and the last one in our flight is a big bold red that I just love this is the 2021 Carmen Grand Reserva Cabernet sool it’s a single Vineyard wine and it’s Dio myo from Chile so pour yourself a glass immediately notice a color just
How you know how deep that color is and how concentrated because if you look you know the the opaque color carries on right to the rim of the glass which shows you just how much concentration is in this glass give it a swirl with me and let’s sniff
That can’t be anything other than Cabernet cuz it just smells like ciss like that black currant lure that you always get with a good cabernet just beautiful almost you know it’s almost sinuous that Aroma smells so heavy and deep but ripe too do you notice that and beneath that if you if you
Spend some time with this you’ll notice a lot of other things going on sort of Christmas cake or fruit cake dates maybe dried plum crushed nuts tobacco like toasted tobacco so lots going on and that’s because you know yes Cabernet soyon can be complex
And this has a couple of years on it so it’s going to gain a little bit of that but it’s also spent some time in French Oak so that’s going to be imparting some of those nuances so let’s have a taste streams in weighty but Lush the texture
If you notice is sort of cross between velvet and Cashmere wonderful Crush of sundrenched fruit yet there’s structure there’s acidity holding up that fruit keeping it lifted and refreshing and the pallet is scraped clean now this is 13.5% alcohol so it’s sort of medium to full bodied but it’s also bone dry so
There’s no residual sugar it’s to the tune of 2 or 3 gr per liter which is really nothing um and if you notice just on the tip of the tongue which is the best place to detect sweetness you’ll notice that it’s dry so let’s have another Sip and see what it’s saying to
Us beautiful yes there’s a ciss but there’s also blackberry and fresh black currant and as that recedes the Savory nuances come through do you notice that so of tobacco and a bit of dark chocolate maybe a hint of espresso bean perhaps bit of mushroom and on the tail end
Where it is now do you notice a little bit of white pepper maybe a hint of olive tube sort of like sucking on an Olive Pit lovely and it goes on and on so great value for money this is a wine that you know it sells for around less
Than 20 in Canada and I think less than 18 in the US so it’s good value for sure and it’s a kind of wine you can pour with confidence yes on New Year’s New Year’s Day um but you could you know at a feast or something like that with
Prime rib but you could also serve it um you know all through January with brazed Meats as the weather gets cold or a nibble of cheese by the fire and that is what I wanted to talk about So there you have it four affordable wines that will totally set you up for New Year’s Eve New Year’s Day and Beyond which one did you like best let me know on social and don’t forget to like And subscribe because I’m coming right back with another flight of delicious wines
Here on Caroline’s tasting room so you can drink better and learn How