Unfussy Wine Enthusiasts | Wine Reviews & Articles

Full disclosure here, we absolutely love La Mascota Wines. They make one of our go-to wines in their Cabernet Franc and their Unanime Red is amazing but this Cabernet Sauvignon is also a standout. We particularly like red with both body and balance and this wine delivers that in spades. As it is an Argentinian wine from the Mendoza it has those notes of a good purple wine. Whether steak or tapas this wine will hold up to bold flavours. It looks like Malbec but definitely smells like Cab Sauv. Sticking your nose in the glass you are immediately hit with violets, toasted oak and blackberries. There is a boldness to the bouquet which doesn't overpower but is strong and consistent even after swirling the wine. The end of that is blueberry jam and leather.  The wine is dry but not overly so and the there is a tiny amount of residual sugar which allows for some roundness to the tannins which are firm. That's where the balance is really evident and it makes for a great tasting...

This is not the first choice many people make when choosing a Kim Crawford wine, but this often a mistake. Their Pinot Gris is well made and perfectly suited to the food one might eat when in New Zealand but for that matter pretty much anywhere. This Pinot Gris would pair perfectly with a ton of seafood or poultry dishes but is just as easy drinking on a sunny patio with some charcuterie and all the fixin's. The wine has a slight straw coloured hue to it but doesn't move into a particularly yellow colour which is interesting in comparison to its Italian Pinot Grigio cousins. It is surprisingly thick in the glass to the point of having some syrupy sensations as you taste it. At 13.0% one might think the alcohol / acid in there would thin that out but that's not the case. The nose is pure honey. There are very subtle notes of lemongrass and lychee in there but those are shoved aside pretty quickly for more honey. The interesting part is that the sweet nose does not re...

So.... we are a little bit late on this wine review. To be precise, we are 6 years, 11 months and 1 week late.  Yes, you read that right.  We received this wine in good faith from a PR Firm in Toronto for review in early December of 2013. We totally and unequivocally made a mess of this for them but in our defense we had a three month old at the time and it absolutely fell off our radar and then got locked in our cellar to only be pulled out for the Joe Biden / Kamala Harris 2020 election victory in the US today.  To Michelle at the PR Firm.... our deepest apologies. So, what should have been reviewed as a likely youthful and crisp Sauvignon Blanc sparkler is now and bottle aged wine that has been stored quite well since we received it. The original notes we received in support of the wine make note of the following: "Brilliantly clear and almost pale straw in colour, the bouquet of this wine is an elegant mélange of tropical fruits, lychees, green peppers, pineap...

We received the Üllo Wine Purifier  from the manufacturer to review last year and it has taken us literally this long to get ourselves sorted out to write this Blog post. We planned to do a video post and all kinds of other fancy stuff but here we are. Apologies to all involved for the massive delay. Without further adieu, here's our review of the Üllo based upon tasting a 2016 Dominio de Heredia Rioja that has and has not passed through the filter. As background, the premise of the purifier is the use of a food grade polymer filter to take sulfites out of wine. This can be beneficial to those with sensitivities to sulfites in wine and it applies to white and red wine. Üllo can optionally act as an aerator as the wine passes through it. If you turn the bottom of the filtration unit it can be set to add air or not. The Üllo retails for about $70 US ($100 CDN) and comes with four filters in the package and additional filters can be purchased in a 15 pack for ab...

We have to admit to having missed this on CollegeHumor.com but it is a good one.  The gist is that wine experts are faking it and can't tell anything more about wine than anyone else.  For the most part we agree with that statement.  Wine is a highly complex and subjective thing and in no way do we consider ourselves experts in what's right for someone else.  Everyone likes what they like and Chris learned that lesson firsthand at a recent holiday party where he tried to "show" someone why a particular wine was lesser than others.  Boy, was that a bad idea and really stupid to boot.  Who the hell are we to tell anyone that something is not as good as something else? It is UNFUSSYwine.com after all, right?  Lesson firmly learned and wine snobbery has been banished from the kingdom yet again.  Regardless, a video is a good reminder to leave the superiority complex at the door and just enjoy the damn wine. Give it a watch, it is good humor. ...

The Holiday Season is upon us and we have been having some great wines this December. Including a lovely 2009 Etude Pinot Noir with Christmas Dinner. As part of our celebrations we received from Lakeview Wine Co. a Mommy Mix Gift Pack  which contains a bottle of 2011 EastDell Cuvée Brut and a bottle of 2016 Lakeview Vidal Icewine (plus a two bottle winebad to boot). It would make a great gift for New Years or anytime frankly and certainly doesn't need to be limited to Mommy's but hey let's give Mommies their due. Lakeview Wine Co. is based in Niagara-On-The-Lake (NOTL), Ontario which is one of our favorite wine regions to visit. This area is very popular as a wine destination in Canada but is still a hidden gem for many wine lovers. Now to the wines... We started our meal of turkey leftovers with the 2011 EastDell Cuvée Brut is a blend of Pinot Noir (55%) and Chardonnay made in the Traditional Method. The nose on the wine is very fresh with a bright citrus n...

This article was brought to our attention by WineTurtle.com and we wanted to pass this along. Fun fact: There's a New World Winery on this list but it's not where you'd expect! Enjoy!!

This is a great series and if you love tasting wine it is super interesting to watch wine professionals struggle with blind tasting wines. Previous seasons had comedian Sean Cullen as host. We particularly enjoyed the comments in the YouTube episodes from folks who were the opposite of unfussy about their wines and Sean's hosting ability. Some people sure are funny, especially Sean Cullen, for the record. It epitomizes the problem with pretentious wine people. Puke... This season's host James Chatto does an admirable but predictable job with managing the wine tastings but there's little in terms of spark or pure entertainment. The Wine Academy in Toronto is the location of the series and it looks absolutely stunning. Give this season a watch when you get the chance. It was excellent to see the wines chosen and how the experts did. It's a fun exercise for your own wine tasting parties as well. Keep on tasting, Chris & Shannon

So, this video from Whitney Adams gave us some pause. We have built a Wine Blog and a Brand around tasting wines and scoring them. There is a lot of legitimate points here, but fundamentally the scoring should never be the focus. It is an aspect of what we taste but we are not you nor do we have your palate. You might love Sauternes or have a passion for Sparkling Wine and we respect these wines immensely and will drink these wines regularly but we would be hard pressed to present either as 100 point wines because our palates aren't shaped to "love" these wines blindly. We will like them, maybe even a lot, but our personal preference and biases will always play a role in how we score something. Now, we tend to be fairly hard-minded when it comes to scoring wines so if we do score it in the 90's it's really something special in our minds. Typically, for us, a wine registers in the 80's most times but that is OUR take on things. We agree in principal with Wh...

Last weekend we spent a wonderful Saturday afternoon in the Annapolis Valley touring a few wineries. Check out our quick summary below: If you're in NS or coming for a visit we recommend checking out our wine region using this form of transportation for safety, convenience, and fun! Really if you're traveling to any wine region to tour some wineries these types of services are great options. Uncork Nova Scotia Wines of Nova Scotia Keep on tasting, Chris & Shannon

We are way past being on task with posting but here's a new one for your reading pleasure. We've had a couple of Niagara wines this week and this one is the latest from Vintage Ink Wines . The wine is medium in body which has a slight transparency to it. It has a slightly crimson colour with a hint of mahogany at the edges. The legs are very slow in the glass and make it seem like a thick wine which it isn't. The nose is plummy with a hint of raspberries and toasted oak. It is a very nice smelling wine but not really that complex. There are some volatile alcohol notes that make the wine seem to smell a bit medicinal but not in a bad way. The medicinal notes carry over to the flavor profile but again not in a bad way. It doesn't have the barnyard nature we love from Niagara wines but it tastes pretty good. It is a tart and tannic wine that comes across as slightly thin which makes sense given the transparent nature of the wine. The notes of sour cherry and...

Winter is getting more intense and so why not an equally intense white wine. Check out our 1 Minute / 1 Take Wine Review for the 2013 Wente Vineyards Morning Fog Chardonnay... If you buy it we hope you like it. Keep on tasting, Chris & Shannon

Happy New Year to you! Check out our first, kinda - sorta 1 Minute / 1 Take Wine Review for the 2012 Ventisquero Grey Cabernet Sauvignon. We LOVE this wine. Buy It!! More to come with lots of potential variations on the format. Keep on tasting, Chris & Shannon

So the coming year will mark five years for the Unfussy Wine Blog.  We can't believe that it has been FIVE freaking years!  That said, our social contract with you, our audience, has been in a shambles for the bulk of 2015 and we are going to try and remedy this with a new approach to posting.  We could write more about it but why not tell you in a more interactive medium. Without further adieu, Chris will explain our newly proposed format: OK, that's just a teaser. Let us tell you more... But, really Chris, what IS this all about?! Hopefully this piques your interest to come back and check out our old reviews and maybe watch our One Minute / One Take Wine Reviews.  We have always felt that brevity keeps people interested and this certainly follows that thought-process but we would love your thoughts and feedback.  Tell us what you think.  Will this be interesting to you?  Would you watch a one minute (+/-) review in store with a b...

Our first post in many moons but hopefully many more to come.  We have some news on where we've decided to take our little Blog here which we will share shortly.  In the interim, the nice folks at Love Abode  provided us with an infographic on making a great Mulled Wine. Check it out below and try it for yourself.  We can smell the spices now. Have a happy and healthy and wine-filled holiday season everyone.  May you spend time with those you hold dear and may your hearts and glasses be full. Keep on tasting, Chris & Shannon

So our posting habits are sorely lacking these days.  We have been doing a lot more social media posting than we have blogging.  Some of that is no time to sit and write and some of that is pure laziness.  Either way if you follow this Blog we apologize for the lack of action. On to the wine... We love the value that Chilean wines bring to the table.  Great wines at great price points.  Carménère, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabs, and Chards are all good from Chile.  Chile has a number of wine regions in the country and this wine hails from the Cachapoal Valley which is a region we are not that familiar with.  Regardless, this is a great wine. The wine is very bright purple in the glass.  Reminiscent of Carménère in colour there is a very slow journey of the legs rolling down the glass.  This makes you think that it would be syrupy but it really isn't.  The interesting visual is a clear halo around the edge of the glass.  A very ...

Our good friends at Ora TV brought this episode to our attention. We have been following the Brown Bag Wine Tasting series regularly. William Shatner is a Canadian legend/hero/genius and on and on it goes and for him to do a wine tasting series in this format is amazing. So awesome and if you only watch the episode below you are really missing out. One of the unique parts of the show is he asks guests to describe wines without using wine lingo and using words from the guests area of expertise. You'll see what we mean in the episode. His guest below Ray Isle  is the Executive Wine Editor for Food & Wine  and also the co-host of a PBS show that we REALLY loved called  Vine Talk .  If you've never watched THAT series you are also missing out. Ray co-hosted with Stanley Tucci and it is a really cool look at wine and wine tasting with some famous guests (but that's another post for another day). Other than being an entertaining episode in general, Ray talks about...

Adam at CorrChilled  (a kitchen and catering equipment company in the UK) sent us this infographic and we thought it was worth sharing. We always love having easy to reference pairing information available to folks trying to decide what wine might go best with dinner. So enjoy and we hope it helps... Source -  https://www.corrchilled.co.uk Keep on tasting! Chris & Shannon

We had this wine many years ago when we lived in the US and we remember enjoying it.  From Bodegas Borsao  and the Campo de Borja region, this is a 60% Garnacha, 20% Tempranillo, and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon blend which has been aged in oak for at least 8 months and then bottle aged for an additional 14 months.  It is this patience before going to market that makes this such a good wine. A medium bodied wine with deep purple colouring it certainly is showing it's age with some nice mahogany edges.  It looks really great and cascades down the glass in a sheet.  Extremely nice looking wine especially after a swirl. Chocolate AND vanilla bean hit you immediately when you stick your nose right in there.  That is quickly followed by plums and some toasty oak notes. A solid bouquet that makes one think the wine is earthier than it is but very nice. There are cherries and a recurrence of the chocolate on the palate but thi...

Courtesy IMDB.com This movie has been on our radar for a long time.  It originally came out in 2012 on the festival circuit in the US.  Nearly immediately it gained a cult following from wine enthusiasts for a couple of reasons.  First, there are few really strong documentaries about tasting wine out there.  Second, the reputation and mystery surrounding the Court of Master Sommelier exam and how hard it actually is. If you've never heard of this exam this movie will get you up to speed fast and it delivers a strong explanation of the requirements to take the tests and what it means to truly prepare for all aspects but especially the dreaded/beloved Tasting Exam.  The shear volume of information that needs to be consumed and remembered is astounding.  The theory test covers wine, spirits, beers, and cigars from around the World. There is the tasting exam and finally a formal dinner service to go through. If you have an interest in tasting wine and h...