Middle Sister and a Californian no less

I am actually the little sister. No middle, just my big sis and me, terrorizing our parents as much as possible. That hasn't stopped, though I'm almost thirty.  But now dad and I can share a glass of wine over those crazy moments and laugh.

Middle Sister is a wine company out of Santa Rosa, CA and they have a variety of whites and reds to choose from.  All for about 9 dollars at Target. This particular bottle is their Rebel Red.  It is a blend of zinfandel, merlot and cabernet sauvignon. The bottles label states the following "sassy blend of our three favorite red varieties perfect for sipping before, during and after our favorite family meals."  There is also a lot of witty banter about middle siblings and such with makes the bottle an appealing choice for me.  I like the funny.

The bottle is at room temp which is 70 deg in my house so I have chilled it for about 5 mins to bring the temp down to 65 which is perfect for a full body red.  I open the bottle and let it breath.  For most reds 5 to 10 mins is perfect unless your lucky and can afford a nice fancy decanter. (The Melting Pot restaurant has a really cool one that you get to use if you get a bottle of red for dinner.  Unfortunately it's around 150 to buy for your personal use.)  It's not necessary to have wine glasses but I like them (particularly the stemless, I talk with my hands a lot!) any glass that is wide will work just remember to never fill it up.1/4 to1/3 is best.

So I always smell the cork, although that doesn't always tell you what you need to know, and frankly the reason you are shown a cork in the restaurant is so that you see it isn't broken or cracked and red hasn't seeped in.  You don't really smell the cork at a restaurant, just look.  If it looks okay you're fine.

But I did smell the cork, and it smelled sweet, which I don't like in my reds.  So now I am a bit scared. So I pour the wine and smell.  Much better.  A pleasant relief. It smells: Chocolaty and strong, acidic, and I may smell a bit of roses and wood maybe cedar. (I'm not as good with the woods)

Now for the taste. It's nice, smooth, not too heavy. It has a subtle alcohol taste but it's not overwhelming, definitely fuller than any white but it still is refreshing.  I think I could drink this red in the hot sun in other words. It has depth because I can taste a variety of flavors and those flavors change when it's on my tongue and after I swallow it.  It does have that hint of sweet that lingers after I swallow at the back of my throat.  I'm not sure I like that.  Also, I don't care for the smell in the glass when I inhale for every drink.  Luckily it tastes different than it smells. :)

Back to the taste:  There are subtle flavors that remind me of spices (savory like oregano and pepper) It's a bit dry on my tongue but it doesn't dry my mouth out. Something does seem to be out of balance however.  I feel as though the tannin rules over everything else (the sweetness, acidity, and alcohol) then all of a sudden once you swallow the sweetness wins out and lingers.  Normally, I like my wine to linger, it slows my consumption of it down :) but this sweetness is almost too much.  This seems to be closer to a desert wine than a table wine.  It says it doesn't have pino noir in it but it seems like it should.

It's an okay wine over all but 9 bucks is way too much.  It my opinion, skip the Middle Sister and save four dollars on Barefoot's Pino Noir.

Good drinking with you and Happy Vino!!      

P.S. thought this was a fun fact.  The spell checker on Blogger (this site) doesn't like any wine names.  So if your responding trust yourself.  Merlot is spelled correctly :)