I'm finishing up the Wolf Blass Yellow Label Cabernet Sauvignon (2001) that we opened on Sunday. It is still pretty yummy, although not as good as it was on Sunday. I find it interesting that the President's Selection, which is always a few dollars more, is invariably not as good. What's up with that? This is slightly tannic, with jammy, smoky aromas and plum and cherry in the mouth. Good with bread and oil, or by itself. Would also be great with a nice hearty steak, I expect - it always has been in the past.
I started doing this earlier, but my laptop battery ran out before I could get things properly shut down. I hate it when that happens.
So, anyways, The Wine Shop, in Nicholasville, had a wine tasting yesterday, in which they poured two italian wines:
Ruffino 2001 Orvieto Classico (d.o.c.)
Orvieto Classico is a white wine from italy - specifically from Umbria - and is composed of Grechetto, Drupreggio, Procanico and Trebbiano Toscano. Ruffino is an estate in Tuscany, and has a wonderful web site contaning a lot of information about their wines.
Although I caught a little bit of a nutty aroma, mostly I detected pear and tangerine, which was pretty cool. The taste was light, somewhat sweet, and bright (if that makes any sense - like a mouthfull of light - interesting sensation) and in the taste I found more of the nuts I had been told to expect. I suppose, for the most part, I'd rather people not tell me what to expect, because then I wonder if it is just the power of suggestion, or if it is really there.
The color is a wonderful straw color, reminiscent of summer.
This would be really good with an herbed chicken, or perhaps a baked fish - but then I tend to think that everything is good with baked fish, so you might want to discount that one! :-) Not everyone would agree with me on this, but I actually think that this would make a great sipping wine while sitting on the deck with a good book. It has enough sweetness to stand on its own, but also enough character and body to work with a meal.
Next, we tasted the:
Michele Chiarlo 2000 Barbera d'Asti (d.o.c.)
Barbera is red wine, made from the Barbera grape. Asti is a region in Italy. You can read more about Barbera d'Asti wines here.
If you have not had many (or any) Barberas, this is a good one to start with, as it has all the characteristics that I expect in a Barbera. It has a lovely dark ruby color, and the smoky, dark berry aromas that I want from a Barbera.
I felt, at the tasting, that this really would be a lot better with a meal - perhaps something simple, yet flavorful - like, say, spaghetti. So I got a bottle and brought it home, and made some spaghetti. Fortunately, I was right. The meal brought out the wonderful smoky flavor, as well as the plums and, perhaps, a little bit of strawberry (?) to go along with the rich berry flavors that just kept getting better as the wine opened up (having been just a little tart and acidic immediately after opening.)
Highly recommended, particularly if you like big, bold reds.
Additional notes: Italian wine labels can be hard to read - figuring out which is the producer, which is the appelation, and what the other stuff is, can be a little hard, particularly if you don't speak any italian. There's a good guide to reading wine labels at LeesMarket.com, including information about Italian labels.
Having received my first check from my agent, I took a small percentage of it and went wine shopping.
Rosemont Grenache/Shiraz - a constant favorite
Wolf Blass Yellow Label Cabernet Sauvignon
Ca' del Solo Big House White
Parducci Petite Sirah - never had it, but their selection of Petite was kinda lame, so I went with a well-known name, with which I've always had good results in other varietals
And a Mourvedre from some producer I don't remember. I suppose I could go look, but I'm just too lazy.