YELLOW TAIL MERLOT // A SIPPER // BAREFOOT RED // SUGAR BOMB

YELLOW TAIL MERLOT // A SIPPER // BAREFOOT RED // SUGAR BOMB

Yellow Tail Merlot comes from Casella Wines in South Eastern Australia. Casella is the family that runs the business and they are up to their sixth generation of family members in the business.
The wine’s website has some interesting information you don’t normally find. For the Merlot, they state that the wine is Gluten-Free and each 6 ounce glass contains 120 calories.
There’s also a flavor map that puts Yellow Tail Merlot on the light and dry side of their wines.
In the glass, this wine is ruby to plum in color. A little bit of light shines through.
After allowing the wine to get some air I noted several small legs on the sides of the glass that fell slowly.
Yellow Tail Merlot is fairly aromatic. The aroma was noticeable from a foot away from the glass. On the nose were hints of cherry and a little spice.
Also noticed was a decent whiff of alcohol, which was a little surprising given the percentage of alcohol in the wine. My initial guess was at least 14%, but I was wrong. Actual Yellow Tail Merlot alcohol content 13.0% by volume, according to the bottle.
The wine’s flavors included plum and a hint of spice and vanilla. There was just a touch of sweetness that did a good job smoothing out the dryness of this wine.
Mouthfeel was of cotton and well behaved tannins were felt all over the palate.
Finish of the Yellow Tail Merlot was medium to long. I noticed a slight buttery bitterness in the finish as well.
Overall, this is my favorite of the Yellow Tail wines I’ve reviewed so far. I’ve also reviewed the Cabernet and the Moscato.
Although I wouldn’t say this is a fantastic Merlot, I do think it’s enjoyable and is a sipper on its own. I liked the way the plum, spice and vanilla worked together with the dryness of this wine.
Yellow Tail suggests pairing this wine with antipasto and I agree that would work well with this wine.
Yellow Tail Merlot price $6.99. For that price, give it a try!

Barefoot Sweet Red Wine
Barefoot Sweet Red wine comes from Barefoot Cellars in Modesto, California.
The wine I tasted did not have a vintage on the bottle. It was labeled as a Red Wine Blend. Additionally, “Red Table Wine” was stated on the label.
Per the Barefoot Cellars website, Jennifer Well is the winemaker and she joined Barefoot Cellars in 1995.
I was unable to locate any “official” listings of which grapes make up the blend for Barefoot Sweet Red wine. I did see some anecdotal reports of Zinfandel, Pinot Noir, Petite Sirah, Grenache and Barbera on other web sites.
Although Barefoot Cellars recommends chilling this wine, I chose to taste it at room temperature. I did chill it later and re-tasted it. I found that the only difference was some muting of the tannins and finish. And also a slightly crisper taste. It did not change my overall opinion of this wine.
In the glass, this wine is light garnet in color. A pretty good amount of light shines through, leaving dancing red lights under the glass.
The wine appears quite thin with no apparent legs at the outset. However, it became more leggy with air and time.
Very little alcohol was noted in the aroma. I would describe the aroma as raspberry candy with cherry mixed in.
Barefoot Sweet Red Wine alcohol content 10.5% per the bottle.
As the name suggests, this wine is sweet in flavor. It’s actually extremely sweet. Similar to Beringer White Zinfandel in terms of sweetness.
The flavor is a combination of raspberry, strawberry and pomegranate. Truthfully it’s a sugar bomb and you’ll find no dryness in this wine at all.
The wine has a delicate syrupy mouthfeel. Very slight tannins noted on the palate.
Barefoot Sweet Red’s finish was medium to long. Shorter when chilled. Given the abundance of sweetness, I was surprised the finish wasn’t longer.
Overall, I didn’t like this wine. For a sweet red I’d prefer something with at least a little dryness like Cupcake Red Velvet.
I found Barefoot Sweet Red to be too sweet for my tastes. It certainly delivers on its promise as a sweet red wine. And, it might be good for someone who really really likes their wine sweet. But, to me this was comparable to a fruit wine, given its juicy pomegranate flavors.
I also wasn’t pleased there was no way to tell what the varietals were.
Barefoot Sweet Red wine price $10.99 for the 1.5 L bottle.

The post Yellow Tail Merlot appeared first on Honest Wine Reviews.

The post Barefoot Sweet Red appeared first on Honest Wine Reviews.