Uncorked: Firefly (blush) and Mosel (Riesling)

Here's a double dose of Uncorked!

Wine #2

Firefly by Fireside Winery (Marengo, IA)

 

Description

A fruity semi-sweet blush wine with distinct aromas of strawberry and raspberry and just a hint of citrus. While this casual wine can be served with lighter foods, it's best enjoyed with good conversation in the company of great friends."

Price

$10.99 at HyVee

Mike's review

So, here we go again. More adult grape beverages and more witty and sarcastic quotes from me!  Which one to start with?  The Boones Farm girly drink that isn't or the German Riesling that didn't know where it was or how it got there.  

I'll start with the girly drink.  Yes, it was made in Marengo, Iowa.  Yes, it was also made by the same people who brought us this other one that I can't remember right now (Jennie's note: it was called Spark).  We haven't written about it yet, but maybe we'll get another bottle and try not to forget what that one was called (only you forgot dear, says Jennie).  

Yes, you might say that they have both been rather forgettable.  Well, unless you count clearly remembering thinking to yourself when drinking Firefly, "If I really need to get my kids to start eating fruit loaded with sugar, why not start them on this?"  And while I'm at it, why don't I start tarting them up like French cross-dressers?  Or maybe just like the French? (they're very liberal, those French) 

Fireside Winery has made something that you could put on Fruit Loops, or maybe if you don't want to bastardize your childhood memories, Fruity Pebbles.  This wine was sweet, it was fruity, it was kind of like a boisterous fluffy Saint Bernard dog that you can't get to stop humping your leg.  Seriously, if you still want to consider yourself a real alcoholic you will not get this wine.  Unless you are going to feed it to your tarted up French children.  Then you can get this wine.  1 belch out of five.

Jennie's review

Unfortunately, my husband dearest has dismissed Firefly as "a girl wine."  I don't fulfill many gendered stereotypes, but this wine comes down on my "femininity" hardcore.

I enjoyed this wine.  We picked out the bottle for Valentine's Day (the color probably helped).  Firefly makes me want to call up the girls, gab over cheese and crackers, and sit in the sunshine on a deck.

Blushes are the middle of the road.  The red adds a little tartness, a bit of a pick-me-up.  The white tones down that acidity so the two aren't fighting over each other.  3 corks out of 5. 

Wine #3

Mosel Riesling by Landshut (Germany)

Description

"This exquisite, well balanced Riesling has a fruity bouquet with flavors of apricot and peach."   

Price

$4.99 at Aldi's

 

Mike's review

If it hasn't forgotten where it is again, Mosel is a wine we got from Aldi's. GASP!  I said ALDI!!!  Yes. We got a wine from Aldi.  And it wasn't bad.  It wasn't good, but it wasn't bad either.  It is a Riesling, and it isn't quite sure where it is.  

I want you to think of a party full of engineers.  They don't look at anything but their own feet.  Well, if this wine was a person, it would be an engineer looking at it's feet.  But it wasn't at the party, it was outside the house on the street.  Wondering if it should go in and be conspicuously unsocial with the other people or go home and sort its collection of unopened Toxic Avenger action figures.  

This didn't have really any form of body. The "apricot and peach flavors" came through only if you belched hard enough from the diaphragm.  Maybe if you like drinking a form of mildly sugared tap water this will taste awesome to you.  

If you need to get really torn up drunk, have a five dollar bill in your hand, and by some twist of happenstance are by an Aldi, you should probably buy this wine. But only to get torn up drunk.  And then only if you have absolutely zero need for any actual taste or direction from what you're drinking.  A generous 2.5 out of 5 belches, only because I can't be too hard on my Riesling.  Even though this was more like fancily bottled sparkling grape juice.  Without much spark.  Or grape for that matter.

Jennie's review
I'm not generally a fan of Rieslings.  They tend to be too dry for me.  Mosel, however, is surprisingly ok.  But just ok.  

It's like this wine can't commit.  The initial sip comes in a bit on the sweet and mild side.  But once you swallow, the taste pewters out and becomes distinctly oaky.  You tend to grimace and smack the tongue a bit from the sharpness.

One isn't quite sure if something got lost in overseas shipping, if 2009 wasn't a good bottling year, or if they spent more money on the blue glass than proper aging.  Or maybe this is just what a $5 wine tastes like <shrugs shoulders>

On the bright side, this wine is el cheaparino.  For 5 bux, you get a pretty bottle and an indecisive beverage that will still give you a buzz if you don't think about it too much.  2 corks out of 5.