Matthew Orwig's Wine Blog

 Winking Owl Merlot This Winking Owl Merlot is from California and is Aldi's brand of wine. It does not have a vintage year written anywhere on the bottle or online. It is also the cheapest wine I could find nearby at $3. At first sniff, this wine gave me intense coffee scents and other notes of black cherry and chocolate. When tasting the wine it was very sweet to the point I considered it too sweet while having almost no acidity to me as well. The flavors it gave off were very fruity and of dark berries or fruit such as blackberries, There were also some hints of coffee/chocolate with a tad bit of oakiness. I tried this wine with parmesan and all in all it paired well and decreased the sweetness considerably, but I would rather drink any other wine I've ever had over this one for a higher price. Compare my taste to Others: https://www.vivino.com/US-VA/en/winking-owl-merlot/w/1144178

 19 Crimes Cabernet Sauvignon This is a 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon made by 19 Crimes from Victoria, Australia. This bottle cost me $9. This Cabernet was quite good. The smell had strong notes of raspberry and smaller notes of chocolate and vanilla. The taste was more on the dry side and had a good amount of acidity to it. It had again, notes of raspberry and other dark fruits and hints of vanilla and chocolate with a nice sweet aftertaste. I tried this wine with a parmesan cheddar and it paired very nicely with it, toning its acidity down while pulling the fruitiness of the wine out more and not overpowering the cheese. Compare my taste to others: https://www.vivino.com/US-VA/en/treasury-wine-cabernet-sauvignon-victoria-red-wine-v/w/3736213?year=2020&price_id=25107967

Terre Del Barolo This is the 2017 Terre Del Barolo from Barolo, Italy. It cost $27 and is made from Nebbiolo grapes. This wine had very distinct smoky and leathery smells with slight tones of strawberries and other red berries. By itself it tasted leathery with tones of red berries such as raspberries with a sweet and acidic aftertaste. I also tried it with Spring Truffle Pecorino and that just made this good wine into a great wine.  The truffle cheese and the wine paired so amazing together. The sweetness of the wine came out with the combination of the truffle and sharpness of the cheese made it almost the best thing I’ve ever tasted in my life. They complimented each other so well and the aftertaste of red berries and truffle lingered in my mouth and was a taste I would love to experience every day of my life if it wasn’t so expensive. The cheese also took the acidity down to a perfect amount with the cheese to just pucker my mouth a little and keep me longing for more. Compare my t

  Chocolate (Chocolate Lover's Wine) The Chocolate Shop wine is a Merlot from Washington that costs around $10-$20. This wine, however, does not have a vintage year labeled on it or anywhere online. At first, I thought this wine would be offputtingly sweet due to its name. Although it was sweet, it was just the right amount of sweet for a nice dessert wine. The smell of the wine was amazing with notes of dark cherries and chocolate that made it smell identical to that of a tootsie pop. The wine tasted sweet, floral, with a little bit of spice while having notes of cherry and chocolate just like the scent. I tried it with a piece of chocolate that happened to have bits of ginger in it and it paired really well bringing out the spice in both the ginger and the wine while still tasting really sweet and really good. Compare my taste to others: https://www.vivino.com/US/en/us-chocolate-shop-chocolate-the-chocolate-lover-s-wine/w/1188386

Wine and Cheese Pairing      Me (Left) and my friend Paul (Right) at the Wine lab trying  wine and cheese moments after meeting Prof. Boyer                                                       Manchego, Gouda, and Goat Cheese From left to right: Pinot Noir Without food, there were cherry notes, distinct berry smell, not too sweet, a little on the dry side, and it was a little acidic. With the manchego, it was less dry and acidic which made for a more fruity/floral flavor and it seemed to pair really well. With goat cheese, there were more earthy tones and a little nutty. It did not really pair well due to them both concealing the taste of the others. With gouda it was really cheesy and not a lot of wine taste, especially the fruity flavor tasted like artificial cheese with the wine and was too overpowering the wine which made it not pair well. Petit Sirah Without food, there were notes of strawberry and other darker berries, more acidic than the Pinot Noir, dry and sweet but not too m

 Arca Nova Vinho Verde Branco This 2020 Vinho Verde is from Portugal in the Minho province made from Trajadura grapes. This wine was very crisp and acidic. It had great apricot and peach notes that came out. It tasted a little less acidic when I ate it with Manchego but was overall very good and not too acidic or dry with or without the cheese. This wine was only $11 and I would easily buy it again, especially if I wanted something that was sparkling as I preferred it over a prosecco or champagne. Compare my taste to others: https://www.vivino.com/US/en/arca-nova-vinho-verde-branco/w/1164276

Maison No. 9 Rose by Post Malone Maison No. 9 is a 2020 "Rose Blend" that happens to be  Méditerranée IGP, 45% Grenache Noir, 25% Cinsault, 15% Syrah, and 15% Merlot  "From the Sun-Drenched Shores of the Mediterranee" in France. I bought this wine on sale for about $10, it usually goes for about$20-$25.  To me, this wine had a very nice and crisp taste with hints of peaches and red berries. I thought it would be too sweet as many people would assume of a Rose and especially a Rose "made by" a famous artist/rapper. However, the wine was not too sweet and even had a nice tart taste that lingered far after I put my glass down. I even happened to enjoy this wine with a nice piece of dark sea salt chocolate. The chocolate brought out the red berry flavor and increased its sweetness to a level that was increasingly enjoyable but did not overwhelm the pallet. Compare my taste to others: https://www.vivino.com/US/en/maison-no-9-rose/w/8357660?year=2019#:~:text=4.5