Villa d'Rosso Toscano 2008

Wine Facts for Villa d' Rosso Toscano
Grape Varietal:  Sangiovese
Vintage: 2008
Country: Italy
Region: Tuscany, near the town of Montepulciano
Producer: Villa d'
Price: $8.99
Place of Purchase: Vintage Wines, Harrisonburg, VA

Additional facts:
This wine is further classified as Indicazione Geografica Tipica (IGT), which means that the wine has been sorted into the second of four classifications of wine designated by the Italian government. Created to recognize the unusually high quality of the class of wines known as Super Tuscans, IGT wines are labeled with the locality of their creation, but do not meet the requirements of the stricter DOC or DOCG designations, which are generally intended to protect traditional wine formulations such as Chianti or Barolo. As a side note, I've always loved classifications since I read Huxley's Brave New World, so go classifications!!  :)

Characteristics of Villa d' Rosso Toscano
Appearance: fading purplish-reddish color; very thin, low viscosity
Bouquet: a tingling sweetness hits the nose, but there's flowery overtones as well

Adam's Overall Thoughts:
This wine goes done very smoothly, but leaves a touch of bitterness behind, as if it's asking you to try once more with a wink-wink promise that it won't finish bitterly again. It paired beautifully with the sausage and is best enjoyed with something hearty. 

Cathy's Overall Thoughts:
Full of spice, especially after it sits on the tongue for awhile. It's very robust, sometimes overwhelming the food, but it's a fine, deep red wine for an evening drink. A slight hint of bitters near the end of a sip but a deep current jam-like overall taste. It's a pretty sassy wine.
On my scale, it's a 8.28.

We paired with: pasta with sausage and veggies

We recommend this: hearty meals

Cheers!

Family Tree of Wine Grapes

I came across this article and picture last night before bed while browsing through www.good.is on the iPad and found it quite interesting. Here's a link to the good.is write-up and here's a link to the article in the Proceeding of the National Academy of Science. Enjoy!

Note: The above picture is a lot more detailed in the pdf of the article at pnas.org.

Christobal 1492 (2008)

Wine Facts for Christobal 1492
Grape Varietal: Malbec
Vintage: 2008
Country: Argentina
Region: Mendoza
Producer: La Santa Maria
Price: $11.99
Place of Purchase: Vintage Wines, Harrisonburg, VA

Additional facts: I quite liked how detailed this wine label was! I'm not a winemaker or producer or bottler (or have any actual job connected to wine), but I love studying about it. Yes, I can make wine dorky.  :)  Anyway, this label shared the following information: Within the La Santa Maria vineyard in Argentina, this wine came from Lot 1A-2A and was handmade in cases of 15 kg during the 4th week of March. Pretty awesome! If I ever visit this winery, I'll know exactly where to go, and (dorky) me thinks it's kind of cool to know that info!

The label also described that the wine undergoes cold pre-maceration for one week (different from just placing the grapes straight into maceration barrels and starting the juicing process immediately) and then is fermented between 72-degrees and 75-degrees Fahrenheit. Hey, if the fermentation temperature of Malbecs is ever asked on Jeopardy, you'll be glad I'm a dork!



Characteristics of Cristobal 1492
Appearance:very deep plum
Bouquet: not overly spicy, but it has hints of strawberry and deeper red fruits; very intoxicating

Adam's Overall Thoughts:
This would be a very nice sipping red. The slight spiciness lightly jumps on and off the tongue, quite carefree. It was a good dinner wine; the fish we had had a very clean taste, allowing the wine to be a bit bolder than it would have been had we paired it with a red meat, though I think it would be better paired with such. A great, full wine.

Cathy's Overall Thoughts:
I enjoyed this wine immensely; it had a rich jammyness to it that made me want to keep savoring it; there was a deep, succulent spice (almost straight down the center of my throat) as I swallowed, but it dissolved into pleasurable fruityness rather quickly. Quite lovely!
On my scale, it's a 9.39.

We paired with: ocean perch and veggies

We recommend this: with red meat and maybe a crackling fireplace

Cheers!

Wine in the News

I used to work for Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences so this is a doubly exciting article for me:
New grapes needed...BBC News!


Cheers!

Les Rials 2009

Wine Facts for Les Rials
Grape Varietal: Loin de l'OEil--Sur Lie
Vintage: 2009
Country: France
Region: South-West, Gaillac
Producer: Domaine de la Chanade
Price: $11.99
Place of Purchase: Vintage Wines, Harrisonburg, VA

Additional facts:
Loin de l'OEil is an interesting and rather rare grape varietal. Although it is grown in France, it isn't that popular of a grape varietal. Whereas other grapes have been appropriated world-wide (champagne, etc), this varietal is only grown in France and there are a limited amount of vines. (The proprieter of where we bought the wine estimated about 2,000 vines in total.) Loin de l'OEil translates to "far from the eye" because this varietal is known for extremely long stems, making the grapes "far from" the eye of the plant.  Sur lie means "on the leaves" and refers to how the wine is produced; after the first fermention, Sur lie wine is left in contact with the yeast deposits left from the brewing and bottled immediately thereafter. Basically, Sur lie wines may have a more yeasty aroma and taste thanks to this unique process and the fact that they are not further filtered.

Characteristics of Les Rials
Appearance: pale golden yellow
Bouquet: very pleasant; citrus, fruity, and flowery notes combine for a delightful aroma; peach is prevalent; a light, playful freshness tickles the nose

Adam's Overall Thoughts: 
The Les Rials was an excellent compliment to a light dinner. It was advertized as an ideal summer wine and its refreshing notes were quite welcome on this January night. Not usually a big fan of white wines, its light dance across my taste buds make me want to get another bottle to save for summer.

Cathy's Overall Thoughts:
I loved the bouquet of this wine, but the taste was quite crisp and inviting as well. Initially, a slight sourness interested the tastebuds and delivered some juiciness to what could be labeled a slightly dry wine. As the wine lingered in the mouth, the pert citrus really came to the forefront. I enjoyed this wine but I wasn't bowled over by it. It has a bubbly, unique charm but don't underestimate how much of a punch citrus can pack.
On my scale, it's a 7.87--high for a white and I think a lot of people would also enjoy this wine.  :)

We paired with: Sauteed ocean perch and roasted vegetables
We recommend this: as a summertime selection; with fish, chicken, and light meals

Cheers!

It's Wine O'Clock Somewhere!

Adam and Cathy, newlyweds in Virginia, have decided to start a wine blog! We enjoy wine and, though we aren't wealthy wine snobs, we love to try different wines and discuss our thoughts about wine. We hope that our blog will spur some great comments from readers and, hopefully, introduce us even more wines to try!

Cheers!