#102- Grechetto

On the 10th day of Wine-mas my true self gave to me, a Grechetto from Sportoletti.

First and foremost, a Merry Christmas to everyone. Hope Santa was good to you this year. Apparently I was a good girl as I got some pretty amazing stuff. I have to say though I'm most excited about my new Ninja blender! I'm going to be a smoothie making ninja in no time. I wonder if there's a wine smoothie recipe out there?

So dinner was the usual fixings- turkey, potatoes, turnip, brussel sprouts, vegetables- you get it.  Mom makes a fabulous turkey each and every year. It was just the four of us (mom and dad and the two childless kids- Craig and I) but we enjoyed ourselves and had a lot of fun. Rounds of Family Feud and this Celebrity movie matching game were played and even a dip in the hot tub!

The wine is from Sportoletti in Italy from the Assisi region.

The first thing yo notice about the wine is how yellow it is. It's very dark. Remind me of apple juice. I'm not a particular fan of this grape to be honest. There is some sweetness to it but there's nothing about this wine that stands out for me. It's just rather blah.

The Grechetto grape is usually used as a blending grape and I would suggest that it is a better option. I'm just not a fan of it unfortunately. Maybe it's not cold enough or something but it's just not sitting well with me. The aftertaste is just not great.

So I'd say pass on this one for sure.

But hey it's Christmas- there's lot of other cheer to get into, so have at 'er!

And again, Merry Christmas!

#101- Vidal

On the 9th day of Wine-mas my true self gave to me, a bottle of vidal otherwise known as Canadian Icewine.

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, all the Stevenson's were gathered...

alright that's all I got. It's been a busy few days around here and I've already skipped a day so the 12 days will now end on the 27th. It's still the holidays at least.

My sister Kristin hosted our Christmas Eve dinner. With so many siblings and with all the in-law families, not every year is celebrated on Christmas Day as a family. Instead, those years that don't happen for us, it's Christmas Eve instead.

The whole family was there- mom and dad (or Grandma and Grandpa) my brother Craig, my brother Jim and his wife Sharon and their son Liam and my sister Kristin with her husband Mark and kids Owen and Quinlan.

Wine was drunk and presents opened and dinner had. Kristin made two different types of lasagna- regular and a spinach one.

Bot soooo good!

I drank a great red with the lasagna but it was a blend so it doesn't count towards my varietal count.

What we did is have the wine for dinner.

I brought over a 2005 Mike Weir Estate Winery Icewine Vidal. If you're not familiar with the golfing world, Mike Weir is a pretty famous Canadian golfer and has one some pretty prestigious golf tournaments (green jacket anyone?)


Mike Weir Estate is in Niagara, Ontario.

I had nothing to eat with the wine so wine was dessert. It's very sweet but very good. It tastes very much like apples. My mom liked it; Kristin wouldn't try it as she's not a fan.

There's not much on the Vidal grape except to say it has grapefruit and pineapple notes. I don't get that on this wine at all- this one is very much ripened fruit.

Christmas is tomorrow and I hope to try out a new white but I'm also bringing a Tavel (rose) to dinner tomorrow to go with the turkey.

Happy Christmas Eve everyone.

#51- Assyrtiko

Happy New Year! I hope 2011 has been spectacular for you. For me, the year is going by as well as it can for one who is without a job (long story but let's just say I was thrilled to see 2010 come to an end). I've been more relaxed than I've been in a long time and can't wait to see what awaits for me this year. 11 is my lucky number so I'm hoping this year is a turn around of sorts for me.

But no matter! Some things do stay the same and this blog is one of them. Okay, an excuse to say that the wine drinking continues but hey, all done in the name of research! Year two and 52 more wines to try. Craig, my family members and I are up to the task. I've got my lists ready of new wines to try, what stores carry them and we've got a half dozen already waiting in my wine cabinet.

We did manage to try 52 wines last year, I'm just slightly behind the writing (not a new year's resolution as that will never change). But I hope to be caught up this week as Craig and I have already had wine #1 for the year (and #53 on the list). So, let's get on with it shall we?

Christmas at the Stevenson household can be a little chaotic with 8 adults and 3 children (2 of which are just 7 months old) so I brought the wine to get us through the day. I chose a Greek wine to go with the turkey dinner (it is suggested the wine be paired with poultry) being prepared (mom thought it was a good idea to cook a 32lb turkey- the bugger was huge!). With nearly a dozen of us sitting around the table, the delivious meal was devoured and dessert inhaled. Mom and Sharon did a bunch of baking as did Kristin and I (we had a couple of disasters as neither of us are round the year bakers...). Christmas was fabulous as usual.

Too bad I can't say the same for the wine. My idealistic views of Greek wine are now evaporating before me as this is now two Greek wines in a row I haven't liked. The white wine is made from the Assyrtiko grape and the winery is the Boutari Santorini Winery in Greece.  But to be fair, Craig didn't mind it so we consider it a neutral pick.

All I could taste with this wine was apples. It tasted like very dull apple juice. And petroleum. The taste of alcohol was too overwhelming for me and left a really bad taste in my mouth afterwards. The taste is very lingering and aromatic.The acidity of this wine is very apparent when you drink it. You're supposed to be able to taste a citrus flavour but my tongue tasted none of that. It was almost as if the wine had started to go bad. It didn't taste enough like wine for me to like it.

#43- Xynomavro

I've always wanted to go to Greece. It's definitely on my list of near future travels. And the Greek wine I just drank- well, I am now wanting to go more than ever!

Greece doesn't get a good reputation here for making good wine but I've had some pretty good experiences so far and this wine- the Grande Reserva Naoussa Boutari- is bloody fantastic!

But first let's back up a bit and learn about the grape shall we? The Xynomavro grape (besides being the best new word you've learned to play Scrabble with!) is founs in several areas in Greece and is often considered the "Bordeaux of Greece". I would agree. Man it's easy to digress....the name itself means acidic black / bitter. It's not an easy grape to grow so the quantities are limited.  This is a Grande Reserva so it is implied that is a of higher quality or has been aged. This wine is both (the bottle notes it's been aged 4 years). The winery is the Boutari Winery located in Naoussa.

Let me set the scene for you shall I? So I'm single, mid (ahem) thirties with no kids and living in a pretty nice condo. I haven't decorated for Christmas in a while (why, just for me? really?) but for some reason this year I decided I would put up the tree and a few decorations around the place. Perhaps I'm just in a better place, or perhaps I'm in complete denial that my life is a bit of a shambles right now (have I mentioned at all yet that I got laid off? Nor fired- laid off) yeah, happy Christmas to me!

In any case, the boxes came down from storage and I went to town! But what is decorating without a little rum and eggnog? Well, with no eggnog in the house, I decided to bring out a bottle of red. To go along with the bottle, I made myself a platter of (spicy havarti) cheese and crackers with some Mundare sausage and edamame beans in a red garlic spice. The bottle recommends spicy food.

I took my first sip. As it hit my tongue, I was underwhelmed. Ah well, you can't win them all. I swallowed. I took a step and then suddenly it hit me-- the taste was overwhelming in my mouth. It was like a lovely warmth had blown itself into my mouth. This wine was all about the lingering, the after effect, the pregnant pause after the swallow. Oh my God this is a fabulous wine. I'm not even one to really appreciate an oaky wine but this- this one is just perfect! The delectable taste of oak danced delightfully on my tongue as my lips eagerly made their way back to the wine glass for more. This wine will be gone in no time! I so can't do the description of this wine justice so you can read about it- I need to get another bottle before everyone else finds out about it.

The spicy cheese enhanced the flavour of the wine beautifully and before I knew it, the tree was decorated, the house was Christmassy, and I was full of red wine goodness. A good night wouldn't you say?

If Craig doesn't like this red wine, I will have no doubt left in my mind that he is part alien.

UPDATE: Craig has tried the wine-- and he likes it!! Damn rights. "Dry, but not too dry" he says. So now you know. This is damn good wine.