Miscellaneous Winetasting Notes: Unusual White Varietals @ The Corner Club

(...in my own innovative "I don't know winetasting words" vocabulary...)

Deakin Estate Moscato, Australia, 2007: like drinking granny-smith apple flavoured soda (possibly due to 5% alcohol content).

Old Broke Block Semillon, Australia, 2004: upon first swallow, produces a warm, goose-pimply feeling in the body.  ever so slightly burnt, if you stick your nose deep into the glass; reminiscent of dry grass hills, ranches in a hot climate.

Alamos Torrontes, Argentina, 2007: my favorite of the night.  offers about 1,000 flavours in each sip, ending with a warm, satisfied feeling.  feels like a burst of fruits, flowers, and bitter tastes in the mouth.

Piropo, Pinot Blanc, Argentina, 2007: very bitter taste, not especially smellable.

Bisceglia Falanghina Beneventano, Terre di Vulcano, Italy, 2007: very drinkable and pleasant, not too sweet, mild aftertaste.  better balanced than the next Italian (below).

Thesaurum Zibibo, Sicily, 2007: cheese and fruit smell, with a wisp of designer perfume just before the first sip.  rich, flowery taste, which is gorgeous but would be overpowering and ultimately tiring in any quantity--a show off wine, perhaps.

Vivanco Viura/Malvasia, Spain 2006/7: faintest whiff of smoke, followed by a slight sparkle at first taste.  extremely drinkable white rioja.

Oviacion Rueda Superior Verdejo, Spain, 2007: very strange taste!  overpowering chocolate smell, mixed with smoke, the result being an extremely chocolaty-and-woody flavour.  literally uncomfortable at first taste, but a pleasant aftertaste that coats the mouth in an almost meaty way.

Corbieres Blanc Vielles Vignes, France, 2006: delicious wood-fire smoke smell.  produces a slightly sharp feeling on the tongue, but has a sweetish, thickish taste.  very pleasant at first, but has a hollow aftertaste, as if it can't live up to itself.  an emptiness about it.

Chateau Berranger, Picpoul de Pinet, Languedoc, France, 2006: extremely drinkable; something the tiniest bit bitter at the end of a sip.  notable especially for its name, "picpoul," which the frenchman at our table translates literally as, "poke the chicken."