#60- Blaufrankisch (Kekfrankos)

I have a very special place in my heart for Hungary. Almost a year ago, I was privileged enough to have visited this amazing country as part of an Eastern European tour. Our last stop was Hungary, Budapest to be exact. During out tour, the most amazing thing happened- a volcano in Iceland started blowing ash across Europe, effectively putting air travel at a standstill. We were stuck in Budapest for an extra six days. The city is lovely, the people are kind and generous and I now hold this country near and dear to me.

Last weekend for my dad's birthday, I brought over a botle of red wine from Hungary. The grape is the Kekfrankos grape and the winery is J & J Eger (2006). The Kekfrankos grape is also known as Blaufrankisch grape- blau meaning blue. This grape is very popular in Eastern Europe and is often known as the Pinot Noir of the East. The wine is described as being natural in taste and the soil is rich in volcanic tufa soils.

The wine is quite dark and it had a nice spicy kick to it (cinnamon I've read). Kristin and I really liked this wine. Craig seemed to enjoy it as well. We polished off the whole bottle within the hour (and then Craig and Kristine proceeded to make their way through a few other bottles of wine as well). The wine also had a very distinct berry taste, perhaps strawberries and a slight hint of vanilla. All around, this was a very pleasant bottle of wine. The wine was $26.99 and was purchased at Liquor Select at 149th St. It is quickly becoming one of my favourite stores.

The wine paired nicely with a lovely lasagna my mom made from scratch. That's right, I said from scratch. She absolutely refuses to buy store bought lasagna and even makes her own pasta. Of course I'm full of b.s. but there's not much else to say about lasagna.

I will definitely be buying this wine again. It'll be one of those wines that I bring to a party as a nice pleasant surprise and for a couple of people to step away from their regular wine drinking. Chalk this one up in the wine column! 

As you can see from my picture, I wore red on Valentine's day. I may not at this time have any reason to celebrate Valentine's day other than my dad's birthday, I can still appreciate the day and hope that many of you had a fabulous day! I love wine too!