Tasting: Rodney Strong Upshot Wine

 Name: Rodney Strong Upshot Wine

Variety: 36% Zinfandel, 32% Merlot, 21% Malbec, 6% Riesling, 5% Petit Verdot

Country: USA

Year: 2019

Price: $15

Winery Review: Let’s be real here, when a wine is over $20 there should be some layers. This wine has no defining structure or characteristics giving it any kind of uniqueness. If you are cool with that, then this bottle will do. The alcohol is too high to give the wine subtlety, making it hot and boozy. If you are in a pinch, and this bottle is there, it will work for a party where wine is not the focus, but may not work for a book club or a wine event.    -Vinepair

Personal Thoughts: I thought this review was harsh, as I continue to try wines I do not think I am super keen on picking up complexities but even still I found this wine to be very nice for a multitude of reasons. I still am gravitating towards drier red wines, and this wine was that but was slightly different than ones I have had before. Most of the red wines I have tried gravitate towards the darker fruits; specifically I have registered very resoundingly black cherry first and foremost, however this wine was more blackberry and to me even blueberry forward, likely a major contribution from the zinfandel, and definitely strawberry once I read through the page on wine folley (189). I get some of the "supple tannins" (131) from the merlot and a little bit of a floral note, perhaps from the riesling. On the whole I felt there was a vanilla aftertaste that was quite nice and an oaky taste as soon as it hit the mouth. On the whole this is a wine I can enjoy with many things, and I was able to use it for a red sauce for pasta and mussels and not only did it taste incredible in the sauce, but paired so well with the meal on the whole as well.