Fetzer Quartz 2011

I may have built this wine up a little bit before I drank it. For one, I really love Fetzer Gewürztraminer so I had high hopes for the vineyard. And secondly, the label is awesome. I am a sucker for a great label and I happened to think this one was quite pretty.

It wasn’t bad, per se. I had just built it up that it was going to be awesome. It wasn’t awesome.

The taste kind of reminded me of a ripe pear – sweet but not coying. I definitely liked it more when I paired it with dinner (a shrimp salad with goat cheese and a yogurt-based dressing).

I’d say it would probably be a good wine for a new wine drinker that was trying to get a way from overtly sweet wines but still needed a little hint of residual sugars. A gateway dry wine, we’ll call it. Mom, put this one on your list.

Tasting Notes:

Wine Name: Fetzer Quartz 2011

Grape: Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer, Reisling, and Pinot Grigio

Origin: California

Price: $8.99 from Harris Teeter

General impression: tastes like pears, sweet but not over the top, pairs well with seafood, a likeable wine but not remarkable

Recommendations: Good for newbie wine drinkers who want to get away from sweet wines, fresh summer wine to go with seafood

Would you buy again? Maybe…