Country Rose' by Galena Wine Cellars for under $15

This wine is made from the Catawba grape and is classified as a semi-sweet wine. The confusion may be that the alternative to the semi-sweet is dry, but this wine is not dry at all, it is tart which makes it only semi-sweet. Catawba is used a lot in Illinois wines and from previously blogs you will note that generally it is made into a sweet wine versus a semi-sweet. I find this wine best on the first day you open it and more tart after it sat in the refrigerator for 2 days. I think this was my fault not the wines, I could have pumped it, but I thought with the screw top, which I love, it would be fine. I thought it was more tart 2 days later, but still very light and fun. I think this is a great summer wine, and very good wine for Easter that is coming up this weekend. This wine is also a great brunch wine, and I would definitely buy it again.

American Frizzante di Muscat Canelli by Galena Cellars under $15 in Geneva, Il

I love the wines made by Galena Cellars and when we went to Geneva we obviously needed to go to Galena Cellars. We did not need to join their case club, but they have a lot of great wine and I was getting very low on wine. This wine is less sweet than a Moscato d'Asti, but still has that touch of sweetness that keeps it from the dry Champagne class or Brut class. This wine would be considered more of demi-sec, and I liked the sparkling Muscat Canelli a lot better then the non-sparkling Muscat Canelli. You can't beat the selection and the prices on the wines at this winery. I will be blogging on them a lot in the future, I just bought a case of their wine, so I have to recommend if you are in the area head up to Galena Wine Cellars in Geneva.

2009 Innocent Bystander Moscato out of Austrailia 375 ml for $10 at Gibby's Wine Den

This wine came in a half bottle with a bottle top that made it look like a large bottle of pop. According to my better half, this was a pink Moscato d'Asti out of Austrailia. I thought it was good, just a little too sweet for me, but my better half made quick work of the pop bottle of sweet bubbly. We picked up this wine at Gibby's Wine Den in Geneva when we decided this last Saturday to taste wine for the day. A very cute store, with a lot of different wines, however, some is quite pricey compared to a Binnys or a Costco, but the offered a tasting of about 4 wines, were extremely friendly and had some unique wines that only are available at their store. They have some wine tastings for $10 that we may check out in the future also.

Brazilio under $10 at Vintages

I brought this wine for dinner with friends at an Italian Restaurant, and it was fantastic. This wine is a blend of grapes from Brazil that were just bursting with fruit flavors with no tannic aftertaste. My friends are more about drinking than talking about the wine, but this wine was really a crowd pleaser for me. My better half that it was dry, I just did not taste any dryness. I will definitely be buying this wine again, and would consider making this wine one of my house reds, since it seemed to be so versatile.

LuLu Island Late Harvest Merlot $21 at the winery in Vancouver 375ml

This wine totally smells of cranberry, but is much sweeter than a cranberry wine. My better half told me that this county is the largest producer of cranberries in the world so we are wondering if the soil was previously used for cranberries. This wine is sweet and good, but at this price tag, I would not be buying it on a regular basis. However, this is the only late harvest Merlot I have ever tasted and I like it just not enough for this price tag.

Line 39 2007 North Coast Petite Sirah for under $10 at Binnys

This wine was your typical Petite Sirah fruity with some tannins on the finish. This wine was a little too dry for my palate, and not enough fruit on the initial sip. This wine is best with food preferably with pizza or red meat. I just found this wine to be very unmemorable. I would not buy it again, one of my least favorite Petite Sirahs.

2007 Conundrum 375ml for $7 at Binnys

This wine was a half bottle on sale in the dessert section of Binnys so I wrongly assumed this was a desert wine. No such luck, this wine is a white table wine like it says on the bottle. The wine tastes like a Viognier full of orange, peach, pineapple flavors without much acidity. I thought the wine was good overall, however, my better half thought it tasted better the second day because the first day he thought it was awful. Honestly, I think it was his mood that was awful, not the wine. Well, I think this wine would go well with a chicken or fish dish as long as the preparation did not surround butter and was more of a fruit flavor, like Orange Chicken. Overall, I am glad we only bought the half bottle because this is a relatively expensive wine and we would not make this our first choice.