Last Wednesday, my friends and I
got together to enjoy some delicious wine and food. We each focused on buying wine from different
regions and different grapes to test our palate and work towards our goal of
becoming more ‘experienced wine drinkers’.
I bought a
2010 Granacha de Fuego from Central Spain, which received 89 points from the
wine spectator. The bottle initially caught my eye with its black glass and
striking flame label. I was very pleased
with my choice and enjoyed sipping it with dinner.
First, I poured a little into a class and
gave it a whirl. The wine created decent
legs and upon my first “sniffy sniff” I smelled smokiness and a little hint of
berries and cherries. The wine was a
medium bodied wine and I tasted a little spice followed by bold fruit on the
palate.
Before
dinner, we paired our wine with Havarti cheese, salami, and crackers. I thought the Havarti cheese went very well
with the wine, because of it’s creamy texture and taste. I also found that the crackers helped cleanse
the palate slightly before I tasted the next wine.
 |
| I was sad because my glass was empty :( |
The next
wine I tried was an Alamos Malbec that Gary Vaynerchuck recently taste in one
of his shows. This 2007 bottle of Alamos
Malbec is from the Mendonza wine region of western Argentina. This is a dark purple wine that offers cheery
aromas with a little hint of floral tones to the nose. This Malbec is a full-bodied wine with black
cherry, raspberry, and chocolate tastes.
The finish is just as strong as the initial taste and offers apparent tannins.
The next
wine I tasted was a Senda 66 Tempranillo, which is a great bargain wine for
only $9.50. This wine spent 8 months in French oak and is a almost black in
color. This Tempranillo offered a spicy
and fruity fragrance. The wine was
incredibly smooth and rich with tastes of blueberry and tart-like fruits.
The next
wine I enjoyed was a 2007 Biagio Chianti Riserva. This Sangiovese varietal from
Tuscany is blood red and smelled of overwhelming spices. This medium-bodied
wine tasted like blackberries and currants.
This wine was not my favorite of the wines we sampled, because I felt
that the spice was almost overwhelming.
We paired this wine with spaghetti
and homemade tomato and meat sauce with sautéed zucchini and squash on the
side. I thought the spaghetti combined
with meat sauce complimented the wine very well and the veggies offered a
different taste to the palate. This wine
night was very successful and I was able to taste and learn about multiple
wines from different geographic regions around the world.
