Today we’re going to “double down” with Dark Horse’s new wine and I’m tasting through other great wines. Thanks for joining.

Wine Tasting Lineup

I’m going to be tasting through five wines today. I’ll give you some notes and tell you a little bit about each one. We’re going to start with this New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc called Whitehaven. Most New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs have a very strong grapefruit flavor and aroma to them. This wine, it does have a little bit of grapefruit and some citrus on the nose but it also has some peach aromas to it as well which makes it a little bit unique.

It’s very pale, very white colored. Some Sauvignon Blancs have a little bit of a straw tinge to them. It does have some grapefruit on the palette as well and a little bit of citrus notes but it’s not overpoweringly grapefruit or citrus. A little bit of acidity on the finish. It kind of grabs your tongue and it cleanses your palette and makes it ready for a nice bite of food. A very good wine, very well balanced, easy drinking, goes down well, very nice Sauvignon Blanc.

Dark Horse Rosé – Great Summer Wine

Up next, we have the Dark Horse Rosé. As you may have seen in the previous video, Rosés are drier wines. This one is no exception. Dark Horse has been doing some great wines at great values lately. Their Rosé is something that we do a lot with it in the summer. Very light-colored, very pinkish, very light berries like strawberries and some raspberries on the nose. Some berry on the palate along with a little bit of watermelon, a little bit of light acidity, just a touch of sweetness but it’s mostly from those red berries that you get at the beginning. Again, a very well-balanced wine and a really great value for the price.

A Deep Dark Pinot Noir

Next up, we have Love Noir Pinot Noir. The brand is actually called Love Noir and it’s a great Pinot Noir wine. They do blend some other grapes into this, make it a little bit darker and heavier than the traditional Pinot Noir. As you can see. A traditional 100% straight Pinot Noir, a lot of times you can see right through the wine when you hold it in your glass. This obviously has some weight to it. On the nose, you get something like plums, almost blueberry or blackberry aromas.

At the beginning of the sip, you get a lot of the berry sweetness flavors and it’s very smooth and easy drinking. But then, it evolves in your mouth and the tannins come in which are that little bit of harsh, grabby feeling on your tongue that dries out the wine nicely. It’s almost a little too harsh when it grabs you. The finish is pretty nice. It smooths out again a little bit but that bite in the middle is a little bit strong. But overall, not a bad wine. It’s been quite a popular wine for us, it goes over really well. I think, just that easy drinking nature of it is what people like.

Dark Horse Double Down Red Blend

Next up is a new one from Dark Horse. This is a limited release called Double Down Red Blend. They are using some grapes that you might not have heard of before including Tannat and Teroldego. Tannat is an up and coming grape from Uruguay. I’ve been seeing more and more of them lately. We don’t currently have any in the store but it is something on my radar and should be on your radar. If you happen to see it on a restaurant menu or something, it might be worth a try if you like dry red grapes.

This, you can see from the color, is very dark, very rich. It has a very fresh and fruity aroma. Definitely some red fruit, plums, almost a little watermelon on the nose. A lot of jaminess up front. When I say jaminess, I mean like taking a spoonful of jam, but just at the beginning. It does change. The tannins from some of those grapes really kick in. It’s very strong, very powerful wine, kind of half way through there, after the jaminess clears away.

I get a little bit of earthiness, a little bit of almost like tobacco or leather in there as well and the finish is short and quick. There’s nothing lingering or doesn’t leave your mouth feeling a little dry, but it’s worth a try if you’re into dry red blends. You might want to give that a try before it disappears because it is a limited release.

Finish Off With Some Sweet Riesling

Last up, I’m going to finish with Covey Run Riesling. This is from the Columbia Valley in Washington State and I am finishing with this white wine because it is on the sweeter side and I didn’t want to ruin my palate for the other drier wines leaving residual sugar in my mouth.

I get a lot of pear aromas on the nose for this one. You can kind of smell the sweetness as well but it smells like fresh, really overripe pears. A lot of sugar at the beginning, especially after sipping on some of these drier reds. More pears and some stone fruit like peach or apricot type flavors as well mixed in there and it has a little bit of acidity in the finish which is again that feeling that grips your tongue and cleans off your tongue which makes this a great wine to drink with food. Rieslings are known, especially, to pair with spicy dishes, especially with Asian food, but this would really go well with anything.

That’s it for our wines today. We had the White Haven Sauvignon Blanc, the Dark Horse Dry Rosé, the Love Noir Pinot Noir, the Dark Horse Double Down Red Blend, and the Covey Run Riesling. We really appreciate you joining us and I really look forward to your comments and feedback on the videos and if you have any other questions about wine or liquor, please feel free to ask in the comments below. Thanks for joining. Cheers.

For more videos like this, please visit our blog or subscribe to our YouTube Channel.