Bubbles Galore: Blind Tasting Sparkling wines

Sparkling wine is a carbonated wine that can be made from any white or red grape. Though white grapes are the most common. Michael and I collected four different sparkling wines for our friend, Amber, to try and do a blind tasting.

Two of the wines were actually from Missouri Wineries, while the other two were from Italy. We have one of Belvoir Winery’s newest sparkling wines, the Angelina which is a sweet white with floral notes and a sweet finish. The other Missouri sparkling wine is from Crown Valley and is a Moscato. The two from Italy are Relax Prosecco and Astoria Moscato. Relax Prosecco we had bought from the event Wine About Winter and was our favorite during that event. Astoria Moscato is Amber and my favorite sparkling wine that we accidently discovered during a camping trip in Iowa.

Time to blind taste 4 sparkling wines

Here are our takes on the wine without knowing which is which:

No. 1. – This wine had a sharp nose and was acidic. It was a deep golden color and while the nose was sweet the taste of it was surprisingly dry.

No. 2 – It was pinkish in color. With aromas of pennies, acetone on the nose, and tasted like maybe strawberries. It was also dry.

No. 3 – The nose was flat, maybe even a little gassy. The color of the wine was almost white. There were notes of granny apples.

No. 4 – The nose was melon and floral. It was by far the sweetest of the bunch.

We discussed these and by far number 3 was the one we kept trying to figure out since the taste was weird only when I noted that it was like a granny apple did it register to Amber and Michael that is what they were tasting.

Here are our rankings:

Micheal – 4, 2, 1, 3

Vicky – 4, 2, 1, 3

Amber – 4, 1, 2, 3

To us number 4 was far the superior sparkling wine. Unlike the other blind tastings, we done there was a very clear good and bad wine. And number 4 was far and beyond the others in this tasting.  

The reveal:

No.1 – Crown Valley Moscato

No. 2 – Belvoir Winery Angelina

No. 3 – Relax Prosecco

No. 4 – Astoria Moscato