Bright Wine Reviews
I drank these 28 wines and tasted apple, bright, fruity, lemon, minerality, pear, red fruit, slightly sweet, spice, stone fruit. The wines are aged, dessert wine, food friendly, my favorites, natural, organic, organically farmed, small production, sur lies, whole cluster and came from a variety of sources, including wine clubs, wineries, and wine stores.
Wine reviews by: Jessyca Frederick |
NV Quinta de la Rosa 20-Year Old Tawny Port (500mL)
This wine has changed my mind about whether or not I want to explore Port wine.
Tasting notes: walnut, maple, bright
2019 Stag’s Leap Winery Oakville Cabernet Sauvingon
The nose was classic blackberry and graphite, with a hint of pyrazine. It was fairly bright for a Napa Cab, and lighter bodied than I expected, too. I tasted cedar and clove, blackcurrant, and some plum.
Tasting notes: bright, black fruit
2019 Stag’s Leap Winery Block 20 Merlot
Among the three wines I tried from Stag’s Leap Winery in April, this was my favorite. I like Merlot and I’m not ashamed to say so.
Tasting notes: smooth tannins, bright, black fruit, blue fruit
2021 Rustenberg Wines Rustenberg Chenin Blanc
A food-friendly white wine featuring typical Chenin Blanc floral and stone fruit flavors, but in a more subdued presentation (as compared with California).
Tasting notes: bright, apple, peach, floral, slightly sweet
2020 Titus Wines Titus Andronicus
Great crowd-pleasing Bordeaux-style blend. Fruit-forward but balanced with smooth tannins, great acidity, and just a touch of vanilla from the oak.
Tasting notes: red fruit, vanilla, bright, smooth tannin
Talinay is like Bourgogne in Chile, but with a fruit forward, new world sensibility. This is a winery to know if you like Pinot Noir (or Chablis-style Chardonnay)
Tasting notes: black cherry, berry, spice, bright
2020 Tabalí Talinay Chardonnay
A Chablis-style Chardonnay characterized by mineral-driven, saline, lemony citrus bursts, bracing acidity, and a light body from limestone soils near the coast in Chile.
Tasting notes: bright, lemon, minerality
2020 Penrose Hill Firstleaf La Douleur Exquise
A touch sweet, more so than I’m used to, for a Grenache Blanc, but it had excellent acidity to balance the sugar, making it very approachable and food friendly.
Tasting notes: slightly sweet, bright, food friendly
2019 Penrose Hill Firstleaf Scapolo’s Charm
This Sangiovese was slightly sweet and bright, had nice tannins, and savory notes. As $15 red wine goes, I gave this a thumbs up.
Tasting notes: bright, food friendly, lightly fruity, slightly sweet
2018 Francine et Olivier Savary Savary Chablis
This Chablis was on point with scents of apple, chalk, and a fresh energy that delivered subtle pear notes.
Tasting notes: apple, chalk, pear, bright
2017 Ken Brown Wines Envision Pinot Noir
The 2017 Envision, a blend of some of SYV’s best vineyards, represented a classic style of Pinot Noir common to the area.
Tasting notes: smoky, red fruit, bright
2018 Lone Madrone Chenin Blanc
With 4+ years of age on it, this Chenin was not especially fruity, but still aromatic and honeyed. The acidity and body were beautiful, offering interesting textures as the wine moved across my palate.
Tasting notes: bright, honey, apple
I enjoyed: white fruit cocktail, banana, lychee, something like Petrol (from the Picpoul), and mandarin. Still food-friendly, after all those years.
Tasting notes: bright, stone fruit
Strawberry was dominant on both the nose and the palate. This medium-body rosé has a round mouthfeel (due largely to the sur lies aging), is bright. But not too bright.
Tasting notes: strawberry, bright, round, jolly rancher
2021 Stolpman Vineyards Estate Rosé
This particular vintage was never especially fruity — sometimes the strawberry and watermelon leap make your mouth water, but in this vintage the fruit was way more subtle than that.
Tasting notes: bright, strawberry, watermelon
What an interesting wine! Initial impressions of stone fruit and floral notes on the nose. The honeyed character made me think of Viognier, but it was different... “waxiness.”
Tasting notes: stone fruit, floral, aromatic, citrus, bright
2019 Weingut Moric Moric Blaufränkisch
A medium-bodied red wine that tastes a bit like Pinot Noir had a love child with Mourvèdre (red fruit forward, especially black cherry, mixed with violets and a little spice), and it tends to be brighter than either of those imaginary progenitors.
Tasting notes: red fruit, bright, black cherry, violets, spice
2021 Naked Wines Derek Rohlffs Pinot Gris
Fruity and bright, light white wine that tasted a little bit hot to me (the taste of alcohol). As with most Naked Wines whites, a great price for an easy drinking wine.
Tasting notes: apple, baked pear, bright, lemon
2021 Naked Wines Rick Boyer Unoaked Chardonnay
A beautiful expression of Central Coast Chardonnay which went easy on the winemaking to let the Chardonnay’s bright fruitiness shine on its own.
Tasting notes: creamy, fruity, bright
2020 Quinta Nova Pomares Duoro (Tinto)
This Duoro Tinto is smooth, with subtle fruit and spice. A bright and food-friendly wine that while enjoyable was not necessarily unique.
Tasting notes: smooth tannin, red fruit, spice, bright
2021 Taboadella 1255 Villae (Branco)
A food-friendly white wine (branco is white in Portuguese) was light and refreshing with flavors of stone fruit and minerality.
Tasting notes: bright, stone fruit, apricot, peach, minerality
2020 DeLille Cellars Chaleur Blanc
What I liked was that the Semillon added a bit of a honeyed, bitterish note to counteract the Sauv Blanc’s acidic fruitiness. It reminded me of a bright Viognier or a Viognier/Roussanne blend.
Tasting notes: honey, bitter, fruity, bright
2012 Champagne Collet Esprit Couture Premier Cru Brut
We very much enjoyed this Champagne, but it didn’t leave us wanting more. I smelled lemon custard and baking spice, and tasted a bright, complex blend of toasted brioche and appreciable salinity.
Tasting notes: lemon, baking spice, bright, brioche, saline
2019 Bernardus Winery Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands
A red-fruit forward Pinot Noir, well-balanced and bright but not overpowering acidity — all the things that make Pinot from Santa Lucia Highlands sought after.
Tasting notes: red fruit, bright
2018 Roger et Didier Raimbault Vieilles Vignes Sancerre
This particular Sancerre is typical (in a good way) of what you’d expect for Sauvignon Blanc from this region — it’s fruity and bright, featuring a lemony essence on the palate with a touch of minerality.
Tasting notes: fruity, bright, lemon, minerality
2020 Michi Lorenz Sauvignon Blanc Klassik
This particular Sauvignon Blanc was not super complex, but it was bright and food-friendly — a stated goal for Michi Lorenz, who wishes to make wine “not to be loud, and to fascinate people at the same time.”
Tasting notes: mineral, saline, bright
2020 Michi Lorenz Sausaler Klassik Zweigelt
This was not my first Zweigelt and I was excited to see it appear in this shipment. I love Pinot Noir and Zweigelt has similar characteristics, but is more acidic. It was as expected. The palate was “fruity with blackberry, cherry,” and a hint of vanilla from the oak.
Tasting notes: fruity, blackberry, cherry, vanilla, bright
2021 Camaraderie Cellars Pinot Gris Yakima Valley
This is an example of a wine that wasn’t especially distinctive, but was exactly as advertised, “Fresh, bright acidity matches aromatics of apple and pear.” Food-friendly, indeed.
Tasting notes: apple, pear, bright
Notice: I hold no formal wine credentials. I am a wine geek who has consumed 1000+ of bottles from 100+ different wine clubs and 1000s more bottles that didn’t come from those wine clubs. I do not accept payment for wine reviews, and I do not accept payments to influence my opinions. I happily accept free wine (and I buy wine).
Why read my wine reviews: Wine taste is subjective. What I like may not be what you like. I try to leave room for you to form your own opinions, so I don’t provide a score or a rating. I do point out wines that are an incredible value or truly not worth the money. I note flaws, wines that don’t have typicity (because this matters if you are buying wine without having tasted it yourself), when wines are out of balance, and when wines lack appropriate body.
I don’t like wasting money (or anything for that matter). I’m careful about where I spend my money and my mindset as a reviewer is to be careful about where you spend yours. I don’t believe a high price tag equals quality and I know for sure there are wines of very good quality that are also a great value.
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