For those of you who don’t know, I’m currently training to be a Wine Manager at one of the Total Wine locations in Charlotte, NC.  Training is happening in Tampa, FL, and I’m there for a total of four weeks with three other trainees.  One night after work, we decided to each bring a bottle of wine that we were curious about, and we opened them up, ordered a pizza, and tasted through our themeless flight.

Here’s a collection of my tweet-length reviews from that night:

2007 Edgewood Cabernet Sauvignon - $18
blackberry, cassis, sweet cigar smoke, touch of earth

2005 Accordini Amarone Classico - $50
baguette crust, black peppercorns, dried cherry

2009 Château Arnauton Fronsac - $25
strawberry Twizzlers, silt, cherry brandy

2008 Hugh Hamilton Jekyll & Hyde Shiraz/Viognier - $40
blueberry central, dense velvet, grape Blowpop 

The Amarone & the Shiraz were probably my favorites, but every single one of those bottles was super tasty.

—a

Region: California

Price: $8.99 at Total Wine

Sight: pale yellow

Smell: vibrant tangerine, Anjou pear

Taste: pineapple, tropical fruit, citrus, oily, full-bodied, dry

Overall:  This wine is deceptively big.  From the nose, I’m expecting an acidic, soprano, light-bodied little thing, but the actual taste of it is unexpectedly hefty and full.  There’s not a whole lot of crisping minerality going on—instead there’s this voluptuous amalgamation of citrus and tropical fruits that completely saturates the palate.  And miraculously, in spite of all that fruit, the wine still finishes dry.  Something about how this tastes makes me feel like I’m getting something for free—I’m experiencing a myriad of fruit flavor, but none of the sugar that usually comes with it.  It’s like eating dessert for days and not gaining any weight.  Pineapple, guava, hints of banana, tangerine, pear… and a nice, dry finish.  What more could you ask for?