Tasting Homemade Wine As Though It Were Commercial

We were given a bottle of homemade wine to taste just for fun.  The wine was made by someone in our extended family and we liked the idea of seeing how someone else makes wine.  We thought about it and decided to give it a review as though we were tasting a commercially made wine, not as formal as we would normally but a review nonetheless.

Now we don't know a lot about this wine, in the sense that it was labeled for an event and not as a variety and vintage.  That said, we will give it a guess and see how close we are (we won't be close, we are sure).  Either way, that is not as important as how it tastes.  Is it good or not so good?

Well, here we go....

Sight:

This wine is pretty middle of the road, not too dark and not too light.  That makes it difficult to determine the style of wine.  It does not look like a Malbec or Cabernet Sauvignon (dark) nor does it look like Pinot Noir or Valpolicella (light).  The wine clings to the glass but the legs run pretty quickly so we would consider this a medium bodied wine from the look of things.

Smell:

The wine has some alcohol on the nose but the predominant smell we get is fruit.  Plum or strawberry maybe?  The only trouble is that there is a bit of discord between the two, which pushes the nose into the church wine territory.  We have made wine which has a funky nose to it that this wine does not have.  It is just a touch on the sweet side when you smell it which is not bad.  However, this would be the weak point in the wine.

Taste:

This wine tastes perfectly fine for a homemade version.  It is a very fruity and medium bodied wine which would appeal to a wide range of palates.  There is a touch of residual sugar in the wine which adds to the fruitiness which is not too bad at all.  The wine is not overly tannic at all, and there is some balance between the fruit and acid.  As it is homemade wine there is no oak to speak of nor do we detect any savory flavours (i.e. leather, tobacco, etc).

Overall, this wine is not too bad at all and would be pretty good with food.  Think home style roast chicken or roast beef dinner.

Soooo, what is this wine?  Hmmmm, we are certainly not sure, could be a blend and it could be a single grape.  Our answer (on a wing and a prayer) is:

Shiraz / Syrah

Once we get we answer we will let everyone know.

Keep on tasting!

Chris & Shannon