#72- Dornfelder

Good ol' Dr. Zen Zen. Sometimes the familiar is the best. I picked up a bottle of Dr. Zen Zen the other day from the local Liquor Depot. The bottle wasn't quite $20. The winery itself makes quite a few different wines and you can usually count on them to make a fairly decent product. The wine is German but the Dr. Zen Zen label is often imported under a USA label so if you're looking to pick a bottle up, you may want to check both spots.

Worth it? You betcha! This bottle did not disappoint. I had paired the wine with a lovely dinner that I was pretty proud of- barbequed steak with side salad and fresh corn on the cob. My house has been excrutiatingly hot lately so any excuse not to have to cook indoors suits me fine. The steak was absolutely melt in your mouth and the corn on the cob is especially good this year (maybe it's all the rain we've had...)

In any case, the Dornfelder wine is pretty darn good and my brother Craig has had it before and agrees with me. It was very juicy and aromatic and was sweet enough to go really well with the juicy, bloody steak. It's not very tannic so it's an easy wine to drink and I think most red wine drinkers would find this a pleasant wine.

The Dornfelder grape is of German origin and is a pretty popular grape to grow. It's not the easiest grape to get in these parts but I often find that Canada is lacking in its selection of wines, especially here in Alberta. I wish we'd see more variety- my God how many bottles of Chardonnay and Shiraz can one girl drink? The variety is there- just within the limited grapes we bring in. I find it rather sad. There are so many grape varieties out there, we need to be doing more to encourage importers to broaden our wine palettes a lot more.

Enough of the rant. The wine was great and it would be a great wine to pick up if you're in the mood for an easy drinking red but aren't feeling like your usual Shiraz or Cabernet Sauvignon.