#98- Muscadelle

On the 6th day of Wine-mas my true self gave to me- a bottle of Tokay from Hungary.

Now I've had a Tokay before, but it was a Tokay D'Alsace, similar to a Pinot Gris. But this one is the Muscadelle grape and known as Tokay in that country.

This is also a dessert wine.

And boy was it sweet. Super sweet but it was also very good. I hated the other Tokay but this one I enjoyed very much.

It was very thick and syrupy. A beautiful copper colour almost bordering on the orange colours and full of caramel and vanilla flavours.

The grape is of noble rot and hence gives it the dessert like quality to it. It is ranked a four star wine so it is of very high quality. Bill at Unwined suggested the wine to me.

Chateau Megyer  produces this wine. The Muscadelle grape is a white grape and is often blended with other grapes to create sauternes in France. In Hungary, it is often used as a single variety grape for dessert wines.

I paired this wine with dessert- carnation milk and a mixture of fresh blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries. This was an absolutely delicious dessert.

I think I'll be bringing this to Christmas dinner to share with the family. I'm sure it'll go with a nice spread of baking or something of the like. It should certainly last a while that's for sure. That's now two sherries and a dessert wine on the list of six so far. I'm definitely in the mood for sharing!

#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!

#17- Gruner Veltliner

It finally happened. I have actually been to the country where the wine is from in Europe! While I have had the pleasure of visiting the Sonoma and Napa Valleys in California, the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia and the Niagara Region in Ontario, I have yet to visit another country where I've drank their wine. Until now. All hail the Austrian Gruner Veltliner. Some of the other countres that produce this grape variety are the Czech Republic, Hungary and the United States (and amazingly enough, I've been to all four of those countries but not once did I drink a Gruner Veltliner when I was there. At least not that I know of!)

Specifically a 2006 Kurt Angerer from Legenfeld, Austria, I purchased this wine at the Sherbrooke Liquor Store in Edmonton for about $21. This store is amazing. Confusing as first because they don't put up signs indicating what country the wine is from, it's either stupidity or genius to do that because I spent a lot of time in there looking for a specific wine (it was sold out) but discovered many other wines I'd like to try. And I stumbled across this Gruner Veltliner.

A barbeque was necessary this evening as it was beautiful outside. I had 6 salmon fillets to barbeque (note: I ate salmon for the next six meals, good thing I liked it). So for this meal, I barbequed the salmon with just some olive oil, salt and pepper and grilled some vegetables as the side.

This wine went very well with the salmon and a Gruner Veltliner is known as a food friendly wine. Very easy to drink. Crisp and dry, it left no aftertaste in the mouth. Pleasant on the tongue for sure. And you could taste just the slightest of pepper or spice in the wine, a very nice compliment with fish.

I had no problem drinking a couple of glasses of this wine. And neither did my brother. I dropped the wine off  a couple of days later at my brother's so he could stay caught up with me. I saw him last night and he said he really enjoyed the Gruner Veltliner. He must have as the bottle was empty and ready for me to take back home. I think he's liking this wine drinking thing...the next wine on tap is an Italian wine- a red (of course) with an un-Italian name, the Zweigelt.