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Yesterday, the Mrs. and I went to a farm the next town over from us for a baby goat snuggling session. Baby goats are all the rage apparently because they are not just for snuggling but you can do yoga with them as well. I would be interested to see how that works but not willing to try it for myself. ANYWAY, I say all of this because it played an important factor in deciding which wine to try out for this week’s amateur wine review. This week’s selection from Trader Joe’s is a white wine blend called La Ferme Julien that was selected simply because it had a goat on the label.
Quick Facts
Type: White Blend
From: France
Alcohol Content: 13%
Price
This bottle checks in at $5.99 + tax and deposit. We are one for two on wines with this price point so it was a toss up on whether or not it would be tasty. For six bucks, you generally can’t expect much but Trader Joe’s has some of the best cheap wine around so it was worth a shot.
Rating: 5/5
Taste
This white blend was put on ice. Upon removing the screw cap (shout out to never needing a wine cork) the first scent was not a good indicator. It smells like cheap wine. Not saying I am an expert on wine across the board, hence the title of the column, but I do know my way around cheap wine and this smells exactly like your kitchen floor after that bag of Franzia in your fridge has developed a leak.
Having to get over the scent, I dove in and was glad that it tastes better than it smells. It’s very simple. The wine is a tad sour on the front but it finishes smooth as long as you don’t keep the wine in your mouth. I took a sip and swished it around and held it there for half a second and regretted it deeply. It doesn’t keep well. It didn’t take me long to finish the glass and pour another one because it was pretty refreshing. Drinking it cold most certainly helped the flavor and the crushability. I bet it would be very difficult to drink warm. One other thing to note is that it tastes more grapey than citrusy or fruity. I wasn’t enthralled by the wine but was happy that it didn’t taste like ass.
The label states that the wine is “best experienced with food” which is another way of just making an excuse for its flavor, which I don’t really think is all that necessary. Like I said, both the Mrs. and I thought it was a fair wine just drinking it by itself with a few ice cubes. It tastes slightly better than your typical cheap white wine so I am giving this a passing grade for flavor.
Rating: 3/5
Label
The label is actually what sold us but that’s only because of the circumstances having goat snuggling on the same day. This brand certainly put more effort into their label than the “Too Uncanny” series, but really the only thing that stands out is the goat. The wine name has terribly boring font. They’ve got a nice write-up on the back of the label but you typically aren’t spending the time reading all of that if the front of the bottle isn’t grabbing your attention.
Rating: 3/5
This wine is mostly sold because of its price point. Taste is slightly above-average, label is equally as average, but anything with a price tag as low as $5.99 is hard to fail. I probably won’t buy it again but it was at least something cold and not terrible on a fine summer evening. Give it a try and let me know if you agree. .
Respond
@207Cush
“This wine has subtle notes of the hope I once had for the future as a young child. With the fabulously faint smokey aftertaste, it actually begins to make my pheromones flair up and foreshadow what’s to come” lol
But were they fainting goats? Those things are hilarious.