Have Your Happy Hour at YaYa’s

Recently, we were asked why we hadn’t tasted the wine menu at YaYa’s, and we realized what an oversight it was! YaYa’s is one of Wichita’s quintessential dining experiences, and we always love our visits there. We quickly remedied this error and spent a lovely night in the YaYa’s bar with our wonderful server Carly and manager Juan Cordova.

It’s nearly winter, and it was a pretty chilly evening, so we opted to taste reds. YaYa’s has a pretty extensive wine list, and the two of us couldn’t taste them all! But we chose a few from each category to get us started.

Starting with the lighter wines, we chose two Pinots:

Firesteed Pinot Noir, Oregon

This is a real nice, light Pinot that smells of red fruits like cherries and raspberries. It smells like Pinot! The Pinots from Oregon are often somewhere between a fruity California Pinot and an earthy French Pinot. This one follows that trend, with some notes of earth and mushroom along with the fruit. If you’re a fan of red Burgundy, or French Pinot, you should try this one!

Boen ‘Coastal’ Pinot Noir, California

This is a totally different Pinot, fruitier and more full-bodied. Interestingly, it smells like dried grasses you get from a florist to put in an arrangement, but it tastes more like dark cherries that aren’t quite ripe yet. Like many California Pinots, it’s oaked, so it has a fair amount of vanilla in it. One of our family members loves Meiomi Pinot, and she would also love this!

Moving on to the bigger wines:

Padrillos Malbec, Argentina

Malbecs are fun wines! This one on the nose reminds us of caramel and sweet pipe tobacco. Like many Malbecs, however, this is fruity, with red fruit notes like raspberries and really ripe strawberries. There’s a little oak in it, but not much. It’s a delightful, fruity Malbec!

YaYa’s Red Blend, California

This is a blend of Grenache, Syrah, Merlot, and Cabernet. It’s bottled and labeled specifically for YaYa’s! This wine reminded us of raspberries, but there’s a fair amount of oak in this. This gives you the flavors and aromas of vanilla and coconut. If you’re a fan of the well-known oaky California reds, this is your wine. We hear there’s a limited supply of, though, so get it quick!

Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, California

Ok, we loved this one. Surprisingly, this wine has aromas of damp, loamy earth, like a damp forest by the ocean. Personally, Katie loves this in wines! It has oak in it, but just enough to appreciate a little vanilla/coconut, but not enough to overwhelm the other flavors. It’s fruity, like wild blackberries. It’s vibrant and delicious.

Chateau Pey La Tour Bordeaux, France

Bordeaux reds are always blends, and this one is a blend of 85% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2 % Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot. Bordeaux wines, like many French wines, also really reflect the ground they come from, so they are generally much earthier than wines from, say, the US. This one smells like a dusty French vineyard and like dried red fruits like raspberries, but also notes of black fruits like blackberries on the bush. It also has lingering notes of nuts, like hazelnuts or almonds. It’s much drier than the other wines we tried this night, but it’s a great example of French Bordeaux!

Now it’s time for you to head to YaYa’s and try for yourselves their wonderful wine list!! We’ll be back soon to try more, for sure!!