Day 162-Blackberry Wine by Lynfred Winery of Roselle, Il for $10.00

In September, Lynfred started a fruit wine club which we joined in addition to the white wine club. Now all the fruit wines cost us $10 per bottle. This is a deal, because the full bottles, the 750 ml, are all generally over $10. This wine is 100% blackberries, and that is the flavor some tart balanced with some sweet, but totally blackberry. I found the wine to go much better with chocolate than on its own, however it is good on its own, it is superb with chocolate. This wine needs to be chilled and probably one glass is enough. I have found that with fruit wines you need to drink them in a short period of time from the time they are bottled. This wine was just bottled, as when the fruit wines by the case were on sale, it was not available. And once you open the bottle, you need to finish it in 1 to 2 days or the vinegar takes over since there is so much sugar in the wine.

Day 161-Beaches by Lavender Crest Winery in Colona, Il for under $15

This is a sweet white wine made from the Niagara grape or the grape that ,makes white grape juice. My in-laws use to love the Concord or the Niagara grape, but since their introduction to the Moscato grape, they have not really gone back to any other type of wine. I think this wine is a nice change of pace for a sweet white wine. This is a great summer white wine for a barbeque. a lot of people will find this wine too sweet. This wine is not complex, just a simple white wine that is sweet and reminds you of white grape juice. I great introduction wine.

Day 160- 2008 Saintsbury Carneros Vin Gris of Pinot Noir for $7.99 at Binnys

This wine was another recommendation of the wine manager for the rose wines that were on sale. He says that the wine was fruit forward and not that dry. This wine has beautiful art on the bottle and is 13.5 % alcohol. The manager was mistaken, this wine is dry to the bone with only some fruit on the nose. I would never take the managers recommendation again, I would buy what I have tried previously.

Day 159- Beringer Moscato under $10 at any Binnys, CVS, local liquor store

My in-laws love Moscato and Moscato di' Asti. Hence, why they have this wine chilled when we drove up there to drop off our little one for a week. This wine is a very reasonably priced crowd pleaser. This wine has a slight sweetness that is not overpowering and still has enough fruit flavors to make it taste like a Moscato. This is the wine you buy by the case for a party, this wine is good for the non-wine drinkers, or new wine drinkers. This wine is perfect for the summer time and any type of barbeque that you are invited to that people really know nothing about wine.

Day 158-2008 Viognier by Lynfred Winery for under $20 for White Wine Club members

This is the September White Wine Club of the Month. It is fruit forward with peach and other orange flavors, with a dry finish. This wine requires food for me, a little dry to casually sip at home. I think this wine with chicken or fish, and various cheeses would be a good pairing. I drank this over a long period of time and do not think I gave this wine the food it needed to bring out its many layers. I like Viognier, but it needs to have a clean aftertaste versus a dry finish.

Day 157 -2008 Chateay Marqui Corteaux Varois en Provence for $3.99 at Binnys

Binny's is having a huge sale this month on rose' wines. This wine was almost 50% off so I picked it up. Generally, I do not like french wines because they tend to be drier and have earthier smells and tastes and are not generally described as fruity. The vintner describes this wine as a "delicate mix of white flowers, woodland berries and classic garrique scents." This wine has some scent of fruit, strawberries and peaches, and is a pale peach/pink color. However, this wine was very dry. It was very acidic also, which means my better half would not drink this wine. Therefore I am blogging with a headache because I finished off the wine myself, versus keep it around for another day. Generally speaking, I really like Rose', generally they are very light, crisp, and fruity. This wine is too acidic and too dry for me. Similar to a Sauvignon Blanc this wine has that type of acidity and that type of mineral flavor with only a hint of some berries. I should have known better then to buy a french wine, there is a reason it was so cheap. I would definitely not buy this wine again, and I would not reccomend it to a friend either.

Day 156-Cracklin Apple for $10.50 by Galena Wine Cellars of Geneva, Il

I have tasted at this winery before, and they have numerous good wines, however they give such small tasters and they only allow 6. This wine tastes like sparkling apple cider. I loved this wine and drank probably 75% of the bottle. My better half does not like apple cider and therefore just thought this wine was ok. This wine is described as biting into a crisp apple and I would describe it as a light, crisp, carbonation infused apple cider/juice. This is a great summer wine, so light and refreshing, just a tad tart which is why someone would think the wine tasted more like cider than juice. Apples signal Fall, and Lynfred also makes a great Apple wine which I like a lot also. However, this is wine is more a late summer wine and for a fall barbecue when it is still warm outside. If I had nothing but money, I would keep this wine on stock year around, because I really like apples and can't think of an occasion I would not want to drink this wine.

Day 155-Bonny Doon 2007 Angel Paille 375 ml for $5 for wine club members

I am not joking, this wine cost me $5 a bottle. I get the emails from the Bonny Doon Vineyard, and they have specials monthly for their wine club members. I have balked at joining the wine club for the last few months, because the vineyard is in California which means high shipping costs, which means for 2 bottles of wine every other month $60 when I never spend $30 for a bottle of wine. However, this wine was described as similar to a late harvest/ice wine/sauternes wines. Generally, these wines are extremely pricey and sweet. This wine is very good, tastes like honey with a gold color. The wine has some legs however, is not thick like cough syrup by any means. This wine is similar to the Kracher wines that I have previously blogged upon, and at the Festival of the Vine this weekend, when we tasted numerous wines, sweet and others we found this one was just as good or even better than a lot of the Ice wines and late harvests wines. At this price, my better half loved this wine and is excited and about giving a bottle to his parents. I will give a bottle to my friend at work, I am sure she is going to love it. I may need to buy another case.

Day 154-Peachard for $13.99 by the Village Vintner in Carpentersville, Il

We are guessing this peach wine is blended with Chardonnay, hence the name Peachard. I don't like Chardonnay, but I really like Peaches, and have tried the Lynfred Peach wine previously and really liked it, so we bought this wine and kept our fingers crossed. I was not disappointed, and either was my better half who does not care for eating peaches, but has taken a liking for peach wine. This wine is crisp, not overly sweet with great peach flavor. This wine, similar to Melon Delight is a great summer wine. We drank this wine without food, but this would make a great brunch wine, bridal shower, and baby shower wine. I would recommend this wine to anyone actually, people who say they don't like sweet wines, this is not a sweet wine, it is a fruit wine, and when you drink a Viognier which generally smells of peaches, but only tastes a bit like peaches, you may buy. Generally speaking if you like a Viognier, you will like this wine. But anyone who likes peaches or even the smell of peaches should try this wine.

Day 153-2007 Pinot Noir for $17.99 by the Village Vintner in Carpentersville, Il

We tried some Pinot Noir's on the Friday before we went to the Village Vintner and really didn't find one in our price range that we liked too much. However, this vintner tends to make very mellow reds and we bought this wine without trying it first. We were not disappointed this is a very mellow red, with dark fruit flavors, that paired well with pasta. We drank this wine with and without food, as it was smooth enough, without the dry, tannic feel of som other Pinot Noirs. We would definitely buy this red again, however, it is a little on the pricier side and so this would not be my every day red. If you like Pinot Noir, this is still a good price for the quality.

Day 152-Melon Delight for $13.99 by the Village Vintner in Carpentersville, Il

We, my better half and I, have been members of the fruit/sweet wine club of the Village Vintner since October 2008 and this is the first time we tried this fruit wine in the wine tasting of the month. We loved this fruit wine. We were shocked that this fruit wine was blended with Pinot Grigio because we both dislike Pinot Grigio. The vintner states that the wine is Pinot Grigio, but generally in blending the wine does not really matter it could have been any white wine. The wine is describes as having honeydew, watermelon, and kiwi fruit flavors. The wine smells of honeydew and melon, and it reminds you of sunshine and summer. We drank this wine on Labor Day which turned out to be a beautiful warm, sunny day. This wine is great alone, I would not pair it with food, just horseshoes, rocking chairs, friends and families. This wine is so smooth, not to sweet or tart, just perfect. If you like melons, and fruity wines you would definitely like this wine.

Day 151-Classic Demi-Sec by Tabor Hill Winery of Buchanan, Michigan for $7.99 at Binnys

This wine was bought on a lark since we did not like any of the Pinot Noir we tried at the Pinot Noir tasting at Binnys this last Friday. This wine did not say what type of grape was used, however the wine was described as a soft, semi-dry white wine. I believe the grape to be the Traiminette. The wine is slightly sweet with some spice of ginger or cinnamon that I find to be indicative of the Traiminette grape. At this price, this is another great summer wine to have with barbecue. We had this wine with grilled chicken breast, baked beans, and more taco dip. The wine was a hit with my better half, despite him being heavy into sweet wines, and my sister who prefers a dry wine. I would almost buy this wine by the case due to its price and its variability to appeal to a lot of wine drinkers.

Day 150-American Rose' by Lynfred Winery for $10.89 for wine club mbrs

This wine was the first wine I served to a guest at our new home we just moved into on Sept. 2. The guest was my sister and she enjoyed the wine as much as I did. This wine went great with the taco dip she brought over and was great alone. It is very fruit forward with very little acidity. The wine is not sweet and it is not dry, however I do not know if I would consider it off-dry. It has flavors of strawberry with a pretty pinkish, red hue that made it a great summer wine which we polished off while setting up the grill. I would definitely buy this wine again, but as summer comes to a close, I may hold off until spring.

Day 149-2007 White Truck Unoaked Santa Barbara Chardonnay for $8.00 at Costco

I thought that since this Chardonnay was unoaked it would be full of fruit and crisp. I have tried unoaked Chardonnay before, and prefer it to oaked Chardonnay, but I still did not like this wine. Despite being unoaked it still tastes like Chardonnay which I just don't like very much. This wine was made by the Red Truck Winery in Napa, Calif. I had eat food with this wine because on its own it was too dry and acidic for me to enjoy. I just have to realize that I am not a Chardonnay person, no matter what they do or not do to the grape.