2008 Lapostolle Casa Carmemere from Rapel Valley in Chile

Hello everyone!! I love this wine!! I don't believe I've blogged this before, but we've had it before maybe a year or more ago. It was the 2005 vintage and I was very impressed with it. Unfortunately, I had to hunt around a bit to find it again, and when I did it was in the 2008 vintage. This wine won an award from Wine Enthusiast for "best new world wine". We had this with broiled flank steak, onion and shitake, and cheesy polenta. This was a very good pairing. The wine had a lovely deep purple violet color. The nose carried aromas of blackberry with some cherry, plum, and blueberry. There is also a nice toasty vanilla component. On the palate it has a beautiful silky mouth feel. It is medium to full bodied with this beautiful smoothness to the tannins. It has a lingering finish. Very fruity but a bit of chocolate and a little spiciness on the finish. This wine is very well structured. I need to find more of it. Indeed, because of this wine I now had 3 other chilean carmeneres sitting in my little "stash". I'm looking forward to trying them.

2009 Statti Gaglioppo from Calabria Itally

Hello everyone!! we had this wine last night with shepherd's pork chops and Calabrese potato salad. The recipes were both from the region of Calabria. I had planned on having a Salice Salentino with this, but I was shopping at Bob's and noticed this Calabrese wine. I thought, "what could be better?" This was actually an excellent pairing and another example of how beautiful it is to pair the cuisine of an area with a local wine. I knew we would want something with bright acid and soft tannins, because I had read about wines from this region, and because we had none of the heavier elements in this meal to stand up to big tannins. This wine was a bright cherry red with a bit of violet. It had aromas of cherry, raspberry and plum with a little vanilla. On the palate it had a fresh, crisp quality along with the fresh fruit and bit of vanilla. The acidity was not too much, but enough to brighten the wine and carry the fruit to a nice crisp finish. We really enjoyed this wine, especially with this particular meal. It reminded me of a nicely developed beaujoulais, but from Italy. It had that light, fresh quality about it. The body was light to medium. This would be a good summer wine for grilled chicken and salads. I got this at Bob's for $18.

2009 Analivia Rueda Verdejo

Hello everyone!! We had this wine earlier tonight with a seafood and veggie dish. I was not wild about this wine at first, but it improved quite a bit as it opened in the glass. At first it had an unpleasant bitterness and seemed a bit disjointed, but as it opened the flavors mellowed and the bitterness took on the taste of zesty lemon peel. It had a bright golden color. On the nose there was lemon and some tropical fruit mixed with a crisp minerality. On the palate there was fresh lemon, lemon peel, a herbal character (rosemary?) and a seashell-like minerality. It was of medium body with a nice full mouth feel. It had a tingling acidic finish that contained the fresh citric and mineral flavors. I paid $13 dollars for this wine at Total Wines in Atlanta.

2009 Caleo Salento Primitivo

Hello everyone!! We had this great little wine the other night with hoagies ala Al. The color was a deep violet ruby. The nose was not real big, but contained aromas of blueberry, cherry, and black raspberry along with toasty vanilla and a little spice. On the palate it was smooth and fruity with soft tannins and enough acid to support the fresh fruit. It also had a lingering fruit filled finish. Overall, it was yummy! And I only paid $8 for this at Total Wines in Atlanta. It was actually a very nice pairing with the spicy meats and onion of the hoagies.

2008 Villa Maffei Valpolicella Classico Ripasso

Hello everyone!! We enjoyed this terrific wine tonight with bolognese sauce and pasta. It was a great pairing with the brightness of the wine cutting through the richness of the sauce. It was a deep ruby red in color. The nose contained aromas of cherry, almond, vanilla, and spice. It was fresh and crisp with bright cherry flavor. The tannins were very smooth. It was of medium body. I really liked this wine. it was extremely pleasant and easy drinking and not too heavy. I paid $15 for this at Total wines in Atlanta.

2007 Catena Malbec

Hello everyone! We had this wine last night with chicken tacos. The tacos were a little on the too hot side, so we weren't really able to fully appreciate the wine until after dinner. Fortunately, it was even better for opening a little longer. The color was a deep inky purple red. On the nose there was cherry, vanilla and a little smokey tobacco. On the palate there was blueberry and cherry followed by soft, smooth tannins and bright (but not too bright) acids. On the finish there was tobacco, licorice and bitter chocolate. The finish was long and lingering. It had a beautiful, silky texture and great complexity. I paid about $18 for this at Total Wines in Atlanta. It was a fabulous wine and I wish I had more of it.

2009 Caleo Nero d'Avola

Hello everyone! We had this really surprising wine a few nights ago. We first had it with pork chops stuffed with fontina and prosciutto, We had the second half bottle the next night with home-made pizza. This wine was much better on the second night. The color was an inky violet red. On the nose there was cherry, vanilla and licorice. On the palate there was cherry, vanilla and much more dark flavor than on the nose. There was licorice, tar and tobacco. This wine was really interesting because the body was medium, but the flavor profile was very dark. It had soft tannins, but a bright acidity. It was a little disjointed on the first night, but on the second night everything had smoothed out and it was very enjoyable. We paid $8 for this wine at Total Wine in Atlanta. This was a really great find!