First Taste Test

As some of my friends know, I have tried a wine tasting before. The party ended up being nothing less than a wine tasting competition. twenty people with twenty bottles of wine and less than a bottle left after four hours. Not exactly the best way to learn anything about new wines. To date I still struggle to, in experiment, find any success in differentiating wines that I taste. Now yes, I think i've had enough wine to tell the difference between at Cab and a Merlot or a Zinfandel and a Pinot Noir. But when it comes to two Cabernet Sauvignons, I realized I have never sat down and made any effort to understand any of the wine tasting terms I learn in my books for myself. I know tannins means astringency and I know full-bodied refers to mouthfeel. I know smells and legs and acidity. But I am young and poor and I don't buy two bottles of wine at a time very often.
So with recent blogs and drinkings of the Columbia Crest wines I have enjoyed so much recently I figured It is time to figure out what is really going on with my taste buds and these wines. As I've mentioned before, Columbia Crest mass produces two main lines of wine; two vines and grand estates. My last blog described how amazed I was at how four dollars difference in price makes. I found a liquor store recently (Applejack's in denver, co) that provided me with cabs of each line for $5.99 and $7.99 (Two Vines, Grand Estates respectively). With these two wines at a price I could afford and a taste I am familiar with I have been able to break down what it is that I enjoy so much about these wines.
After two days I think I have found what I have been looking for. I think I can tell the difference between these two wines from the same winery. here is what I have taken from them:

Columbia Crest Two Vines 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon:
-Medium Bodied
-High Alcohol, High Acidity
-Semi-Sweet and Slightly Unbalanced (You can feel the initial tannin bite and the acidity really shows in comparison to the other wine.
-Smells Lovely; you can definitely smell the grapes but I think I could really smell the alcohol. This is only important in comparison to the Grand Estates

Columbia Crest Grand Estates 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon
-Full-Bodied
-High Alcohol, High Acidity (harder to taste the alcohol though with a full mouthfeel of wine and intensified flavors stealing your focus)
-More Dry than Semi-Sweet but very balanced for the price.
-Tannins; as expressed as in the Two Vines but the flavors seem to steal away my attention. (I only wish I had the ability at this point to know what kind of berries compliment the grape or what kind of grape blend this is).
-As with the Two Vines, this wine smells incredible. I love how I feel so frustrated at how to describe the difference between these wines in my olfactory. Both are sweet but the difference i feel has to lie in the acidity and body of the wine. Its almost as if I knew ahead of time that the Grand Estates was going to be more dry and full-bodied than the two vines.

So in the end I still enjoy both of these wines. In the end after a glass or two, both of these wines go down smoothly and incredibly enjoyable. Its just that for the first time in my wine drinking life I really feel that I understand the effort and hard work that goes into Grand Estates and I can see why a person would want to spend more money for this line from Columbia Crest Rather than just saving more money for a greater drunk. Welp, I think I know when i've said enough so I greatly encourage all to find these wines and try them out. Cheers.