Tag Archives: red wine

Nov 30 2012
17 Comments
2009, Apulia, Italy

2009 Epicuro Salice Salentino Riserva

2009 Epicuro Salice Salentine Riserva

Some of you might remember that I wrote a quite fond review for this wine’s 2007 Riserva, if you don’t you can find it here. It is available at Trader Joe’s for $5.99. Let me just repost some of the information on Salice Salentino from my previous post:

“Salice Salentino is a red wine from Southern Italy and has had DOC (denominanzione di origine controllata) status since 1976. The village it is named after is in the heel of the Italian boot. The main grape in a salice salentino is negroamaro, which is generally described as a rustic and earthy grape.

This red has 80% negroamaro and 20% malvasia nera in it. It has 13% ABV.”

The wine poured in a dark, blackberry red into the glass. On the nose, I initially got some floral notes, possibly violets, then some mint. The wine smelled very”fresh”, not sure how else to describe it, with hints of acidity. On the palate the first impression was very spicy and floral. It had a medium bodied mouth-feel to it and the fruit I noticed was strawberry. There was a nice acidity in this wine that kept it fresh. The finish was herbal and tangy with some leather notes, and of medium length. It was a tad too acidic for my taste, but all in all a pretty decent and interesting red.

This 2009 vintage tasted significantly different from the 2007 vintage. It lacked the depth that I seem to remember (probably because I don’t get much leather and tobacco in this one), but it was still an enjoyable wine. I also am never quite sure whether I remember wines that I liked in the past more fondly than they actually were…but that is another story.The acidity is definitely more prominent and the wine seems lighter and fresher in total. I am pretty certain I will buy this one again.

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Nov 22 2012
16 Comments
Chianti, Italy, Spain

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010 Melini Chianti and N.V. Seguras Viudas Brut Reserva

These are the two magnum bottles we’re taking to the feast. The Cava (a Spanish sparkler) will be pimped with Creme de Cassis to make Kir Royal.

This is my fifth Thanksgiving. I celebrated the first one in Louisville, KY in 2008, meeting Nina at the Chicago Airport and then heading on to my friends in the Bluegrass State. 2009 and 2010 was celebrated with our international bunch of friends in Trier, Germany at American friends’ of ours. We fried turkey both times and it is still my favorite way of preparing it. 2011, I had just arrived in AA a few days before heading to friends of ours’ here for a small Thanksgiving with them. This year, we are going to go to their house again, and some of their family will be there, too.

I have to say, Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday: tons of great food, no commercialized gift giving and stuff, just focused on food and company really. I have been able to successfully incorporate a German dish into the routine by now: Red cabbage (the red cabbage is marinated in red wine vinegar and then cooked with apples, onions, cloves, cinnamon and red wine). It goes amazingly well with turkey and mashed potatoes. Nina loves it, and I always liked this savory, sweet and sour dish.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

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Nov 20 2012
6 Comments
2010, Food and Wine Pairings, Italy, Piedmont

2010 Franco Serra Barbera d’Alba DOC

2010 Franco Serra Barbera d’Alba

We had this wine a while back with a minestrone I made. We picked it up at Plum Market for $10, and when I checked some of the reviews on Cellartracker later, they seemed quite unanimous in that this wine is better with food than on its own. So when we had minestrone with our friends, I decided to pop the bottle.

I am still very puzzled by it. I am not very familiar with wines from Northern Italy, and given that we were having a feast, I also did not bother to properly taste it and take notes. What I can say is that it worked marvelously with the tomato based minestrone I had made, giving it an herbal depth and adding distinct earthy flavors. On its own, it seemed quite tannic and acidic and I also found some slight bitter notes, but with the food this bitterness vanished. I simply could not wrap my head around this one, it was intriguing. I will probably pick up some more bottles, because I like to make minestrone throughout winter, and I really thought this pairing worked very nicely. Would not have thought that when I first tasted the wine. I definitely agree that it should be paired with hearty food.

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