2006 Cesari Mara Valpolicella Superiore Ripasso

Hello! Wow, did we have a great meal last night! We had black and blue steaks, baked potato, sauteed onions and mushrooms, and side salads. It was all great with the Mara Ripasso! The steaks were easy to fix. I took two filet mignon from Kroger's and cut a pocket into the width of the steak. Then I put a little salt in the pocket and stuffed it with blue cheese. I then wrapped the steak with a strip of bacon, and then lightly salted the steaks. Then I pressed cracked pepper into the steaks. Then I sauteed the steaks in olive oil. Once the steaks were done, I removed the excess fat from the pan and sauteed a shallot, then deglazed the pan with some beef broth. I reduced the broth and spooned it over the steaks. Delicious! The wine was such a nice compliment. It started out with a lot of black licorice on the nose along with dark cherry and a nice undercurrent of earthiness like dry leaves. On the palate there was cherry, plum, and raisin. The tannins were firm, but smooth, leaving a feeling of silkiness. As it opened the flavors became more integrated and mellow. $27 at McScrooges.

2007 Castillero del Diablo Gerwurztraminer from Concha Y Toro

Hello!! Here's another wine I've never tried before, this Gerwurztraminer from Chile. I have mixed feelings about this wine. it starts out with a bright grapefruit and has this really bright acidity on the mid-palate along with the nice nutmeg spiciness one generally finds in a Gerwurztraminer. On the finish there is a pleasant lingering minerality. What I don't like about this wine is that it's so unexpected. It's extremely dry for a Gerwurtztraminer. The greapefruit flavor is also a little unusual. In fact, this wine is more than a little reminiscent of a Savignon Blanc. A nice dry, complex Savignon Blanc. So, overall, a very nice crisp dry white wine with good acidity and a spiciness and minerality which adds a level of complexity. Still it's not a typical Gerwurtztraminer, and if that's what you're looking for, reach for a different label.

2009 Ropiteau Vin de Pays D'0c Pinot Noir (French)

This wine is from a winery established in 1848 in the South of France. It's one of the wines we picked up at Total Wine in Atlanta for $9 a bottle (I just wish I had bought more). We had it with a black and blue salad, but it would have been better paired with the classic duck. Pinot noir is very food friendly and is a good choice when you want a red, but not one that is too heavy for the food. When first opened it had this unique blend of cherry and strawberry with a bit of dry leaf aroma. As it opened over the course of an hour or more, this wonderful leafy, forrest aroma developed and the tannins emerge, giving the wine more structure. It has a very nice balance of acid and tannin and the fruit forward characteristic develops into something more subtle and complex as it opens. I really like this wine. It's one of my favorite pinot noirs ever. I can't believe I paid $9 a bottle for this. I don't know if it's available in Knoxville, but I think I'll look for it.

2007 Vesevo Sannio Falanghina

This is a delicious white wine that we picked up on our trip to Atlanta. It's from the area of Compangia in Italy. It has a light golden color, and a fairly complex nose of honeysuckle, citrus and minerals. It's pretty aromatic for a white wine. The taste is similar with good acidity, pleasant citrus notes that are more orange than lemon, and a little white peach. It has good minerality and has a nice weight to it. It's one of my favorite whites, dry but complex and full bodied. This wine is from Total Wines in Atlanta and cost $12 a bottle. 87 points from Wine Spectator. We had this with pasta with calamari, scallops, and clams in a light tomato based sauce. A very good pairing.

trip to Atlanta

We had a big time last weekend!! Al and I went to Alanta to visit our older son and to check out some Atlanta wine stores. We started out by stopping at Total Wines and More North of Atlanta. I had such a big time there!! It was like the Home Depot of wine. Loads and loads of wine at fabulous prices! We may have to visit Mike more often, or give him a list when he come to visit us. There were wines I couldn't find there that I've purchased in Knoxville, but overall, the selection was great! I also liked their catalog. it was a listing of all the wines in the store, so I really can give Mike a detailed list, and he should be able to get everything on it. The prices are so good because they buy in the kind of bulk that smaller stores just can't compete with. I bought a mixed case, including a 2004 Brunello. There will be many postings as I work my way through these wines.

Next event was a stop at "The Grape", an Atlanta wine bar. It was written up in Wine Spectator. I was pretty excited about going there. They did have an extensive wine list. We had a Spanish red from La Mancha, an '07 Borsao Campo de Borja ($8 at Total Wine, more at The Grape). We ordered a cheese board with the Borsao and also an appetizer with hummus and flatbread. The wine was very good, fairly fruit forward but with some cedar and spice especially on the finish. Very pleasant with fairly soft tannins. We shared this with Mike and Ken, a friend of Mike's from out of town. The Grape also features live jazz at the Atlantic Station location.

Later in the evening we stopped at Murphy's in Virginia Highlands. They have a wine shop, a bar, and a restaurant. We had dessert and wine. I had Creme Brulee and a sauternes. Al had plum cobbler with port. Both were classic pairings and both were delicious. I also picked up two bottles at their wine store. A great way to end our day in Atlanta.

We spent the night in a cosy little bed and breakfast called the Gaslight Inn, also in the Virginian Highlands area. our hosts were extremely gracious and everything was arranged to make us as comfortable as possible.

Sunday we visited the High Museum of fine art in Atlanta. We saw the Dali exhibit there, and also visited their collection of renaissance art.

We had a late lunch again at Murphy's. And In the late afternoon we had gelato at Paolo's in the Virginia Highlands neighborhood (no trip to Atlanta is complete without a trip to Paolo's).

Finally, we had dinner at La Tavola again in Virginia Highlands. They were celebrating their tomato feast with a special menu that utilized locally grown heirloom tomatoes. I had the handmade cheese ravioli with a light tomato sauce. Mike joined us for dinner and we shared a bottle of Nero d'Avela, a little young, but very nice with the food and it improved as it opened.

So, a big food and wine trip to Atlanta! A little bit of visiting and a whole lot of good food, wine and shopping. Loads of fun!! We left just as I ran out of money to spend, so it all worked out well.

Chanti

Hello!! I want to talk about chianti wines today. Last night was the Winers get together and we did pizza night. Everyone brought a food and a wine pairing. I have to say, the pairings get better and better with this group. Anyway, because there were pizzas, there were two different chianti wines. I love this wine. Chianti has gotten some bad press in the past. Forget about all that! There are some fabulous chiantis out there. And I'm always impressed with sangiovese varietals. Sangiovese is the main varietal in chianti, Brunello, Montepulciano di Nobile, Super Tuscans, and is sometimes labeled as Sangiovese, especially when produced outside Italy. I'm fascinated by how different these wines can be from each other and with how much variation exists between different chianti wines based on style and winemaker. I've personally discovered a very llightly oaked chianti, Tiziano, which is light and fruity. I often serve this wine instead of a rose (I'm not much of a rose person). It's a very good wine when having guests that are not big wine drinkers and food that begs for an Italian wine. I serve it with Italian food made with light tomato based sauces. A little heavier than the Tiziano is Da Vinci chianti. We had this last night paired with a pepperoni and cheese stromboli. It was very smooth and mellow, still with the characteristic cherry vanilla, a bit of earthiness, and fairly soft tannins. Bigger than the Tiziano, but still very easy to drink and a good choice for people who don't drink a lot of Italian wines. Not a very complex or challenging chianti, but pleasant. We also had a Gabbiano last night. It was a little harsher, with firmer tannins. I liked it, but it might be a little rough for some people. I believe it would have been better if it had more time to open. Then there's one of my favorites, Cecchi chianti classico. It's a bigger wine than any of the previously mentioned wines. I'd drink it a lot more often, but I spend a lot of time exploring different wines. There's so much out there. I think the Cecchi is a terrific food wine for many Italian dishes. It's great with lasagna, spaghetti, pizza, steaks, anything with a tomato based sauce. It's much like the Da Vinci, but with more structure and complexity. And finally I want to mention one of my all time favorite italian wines, Francobaldi Chianti Reserva. It's big but mellow, with a wonderful velvety weight on the palate. Maybe the Cecchi would become more like this with age, but I lack the patience to find out. The Francobaldi is a little more pricey, at close to $30 a bottle, but it's worth it. It approaches a really good Montepulciano di Nobile in character. I keep at least 3 different chiatis in my winerack. Right now, we have the Tiziano, the Cecchi Chinati Classico, and the Francobaldi Chianti Reserva. This way, I always have the right chianti at hand. I'm considering adding the Da Vinci just to round out my lineup.
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Dinner guests: 2008 Martin Codax Albarino, 2007 Sebastiani Pinot Noir, 2006 El Coto Rioja, 2005 Las Rocas Garnacha

Hello!! Well, we have been drinking wines this past week, but nothing new until this weekend. We had another couple over Saturday evening. For starters I fixed little crostini with green beans, zucchini, salsa verte, and feta cheese. We had the Albarino with this. It was very quite good. Subtle aromas of jasmine and white flowers. I picked up well integrated flavors of peach, mild citrus and hazelnut. It was very well balanced and had a nice rich body. It was my first Albarino and now I know what all the fuss is about. I'll be keeping one in my winerack. This particular wine was $16 at Ashes. They have one on sale now for $10 or $11 which was rated 90 or 91 by the Wine Spectator.

Next came Italian mushroom stuffed crepes and salad. Our guests brought the Sebastiani pinot noir, and we opened it with dinner. It was a pleasant, soft well balanced pinot, somewhat lacking in complexity, but it was a nice wine with dinner and took a bit of a back seat to the food. It had soft tannins and acids and pleasant, easy to drink fruit flavors of strawberry, cherry, and plum.

The other two wines were after dinner sippers. The Las Rocas is one we have had before, $19 at Ashes. This is one of my current favorites. It's a fairly big wine with a big, aromatic nose which rises right out of the glass to greet you. The aromas are dark cherry and a soft spiciness. On the palate it's dark cherry, blackberry, and cedar with a little bit of pepper. It's fairly smooth and full bodied with firm tannins and a nice balance of acid. It had a pleasant lingering finish. Lastly, we opened the El Coto. To me, this was a bit of a disappointment, but Al liked it better than I did. It had a big, in your face nose, with bright cherry and oak. The taste was pretty much the same. It seemed simple and very "new world" after having had the Las Rocas. It wasn't bad, but was a bit of a fruit bomb and the oak monster was definitely with us on this one. Personally, I think you can find better Spanish wines. To each his own.