#24- Xarel-lo

So I screwed up on this wine tasting but I swear it's not my fault. I gave my sister a list of wines that couldn't be found for purchase here in Alberta as she was doing her annual family trip to the States. On the list was the Xarel-lo grape, a spanish grape and the only grape starting with the letter X. 'Lo and behold she finds it, buys me a bottle and my brother and I proceed to try the wine almost immediately. The mistake I made was not leaving her any to try and that was the only bottle she brought back! Oops! My apologies to my sister and if anyone would like to help me make amends, ship me a bottle of Xarmant Txakoli.

Yup, that's the name of the wine and I'm not even really sure how you pronounce it. The vineyard is Txakoli de Alava in Spain. The whole website is also in Spanish so I'm not going to be able to add much here at all. The important thing to know is that Craig and I really liked this wine.

We had a lovely meal made of left overs from Craig's barbequed pot roast. It was his second meal of the roast, my first. I added a lovely side salad a la Greque.  It was a nice lovely weekend and I was prepared to enjoy a nice glass of chilled wine with my meal.

It was good! I wish Alberta would really import this wine! This grape is absolutely delicious. If you are familiar with Cava, then you have tried this grape. I did find the wine had a very fresh taste and smell to it, very refreshing to the senses for sure. It was quite aromatic, almost a grassy undertone to it. It didn't take us long to finish the bottle of wine (again, with apologies to Kristin).

Though an unusual grape, it packs a punch and it's really too bad that we can't get the grape variety here in Alberta. And just in case you're wondering how I do go about figuring this out, the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission has a website that they don't market at all but is a wonderful tool for anyone searching for wine, spirits or beer and want to know what liquor retailers carry it, if at all, and in proximity to their location. The website is the Alberta Liquor Guide. Bookmark it as it comes in very handy when you least expect it. I've let several friends of mine know about it and really- the AGLC should be doing a much better job promoting this great website, it's an excellent tool.

That's my rant for the evening (and yes, I've ranted about it before). Our next wine is another muscat, this time Muscat of Alexandria. And the perfect opportunity to drink this dessert wine- a birthday party! Can't wait!