#58- Touriga Nacional

It is not a subtle wine by any stretch of the imagination. This nearly black in colour heavyweight leaves a lasting impression on you for sure. The Touriga Nacional wine is a wine to behold, and love. Needless to say, this wine didn't last long between the wine drinkers.

I picked this bottle of wine up at Liquor Select and it was, for our standards, a very cheap wine- $15.49!! I had a ton of fun actually at Liquor Select. Christina was very helpful and once she found out what I was doing for the blog, she went out of her way to help me grapes that I hadn't tasted yet. We managed to find nine and I bought a dozen bottle for my 10% discount!

I did note that the wine was quite acidic or tannic (though it's supposed to be quite moderate but not this one!). The winery is the Alianca Winery from Portugal. The Touriga Nacional grape is often considered Portugal's finest grape and judging by this wine, I think I'll agree.

The bottle describes the wine, aged in French oak barrels for 12 months, is a warm, mouth filling wine with great concentration and structure. What a fantastic description. Again, I'm really starting to like oaky red wines and this one fits the bill. It's not too overpowering  at all and just slides nicely down throat. What struck me though is how well the fruit came through in the wine and blended nicely with the oak.

The winery recommends pairing it with a meaty dish or casserole so I dug into the meal my mom gave me (have I mentioned that I haven't gone shopping in weeks and am running out of food?)- so she sent me home with some chili. And it was a perfect match.

Bringing it to dad's birthday celebration, Kristin, my mom and Craig managed to polish off a lot of wine, including this one. But all three of them liked it (I think- I may have forgotten to ask). While this is a wine not to be drunk by the white wine lover, if you appreciate a full bodied wine, the Touriga Nacional grape is for you. So a big happy Valentine's to this red as well- all thumbs up. We drank another red that night that is coming up for review in a couple of days....and let's put it this way-- we're on a wine roll!

#56- Negroamaro

Black and bitter. A direct translation of the name of the Negroamaro grape. And boy does it nail this wine right on the head. And yes, I love love love this wine. As I sit here drinking it (day 2) and into my third glass, I'm almost disappointed I have to keep some for the brother to try. You're lucky I'm a good person Craig!

After a string of white wines, it was time to jump back into the reds. And with temperatures hovering around -35 degrees here in the city, it made sense to warm up with a nice glass of red wine. I first tasted the Negroamaro with my mom at the Rocky Mountain Wine Festival a couple of months ago and it took a while to find a store that carried it. And I am embarrassed to say I can't even remember where I purchased it. So bad of me.

I paired the red (an Italian wine) with a nice plate of bow tie pasta, homemade pasta sauce and some mozzarrella cheese. It was an absolute perfect combination. Luckily so as I had the exact same dinner again tonight! Sometimes it's good being single and leftovers make your life so much easier. Though when you eat the same food for five days in a row, I have an entirely different opinion.

But nonetheless, this wine is fantastic! The wine is called Nero and the winery is Giorgio & Gianni in Italy. Right away you notice the fullness of this wine. A sip turns into a full blown experience in your mouth. I smiled right away and knew that this was a wine to be sipped and enjoyed and that it would not disappoint. It is an oaked wine and while I amnormally not a fan of oaked wines, I'm determining the pattern is oaked whites and that I'm turning into quite the lover of oaked reds.

By the name of the wine, you can determine this wine is very dark, almost black in colour. It is also very aromatic- you can smell the deliciousness of the wine as it approaches your nose and your mouth. Often a Negroamaro is spicy and astringent yet this particular wine isn't. It's just plain fantastic.

#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.

#37- Nebbiolo

The wine we drank was a Barolo but the grape varietal it's known as is the Nebbiolo grape. It is also known as Italy's most noble grape so I ensured that we would indeed be trying an Italian wine. I picked up a ton of International wines (I think when I went in, I was expecting to buy two wines, I left with eight) from Sherbrooke Liquor store in Edmonton.

Now, I have been slightly lazy in my blog writing as I've been intertwining some other blog postings with the grape reviews so I'm actually four ahead (completed #40 tonight) but one thing it did allow to do was try and retry the Barolo wine along with the Barbera D'Asti wine (#38). I found both wines quite similar and I can't say that like one more than the other. But let me get back to focusing on the Barolo. The wine is from the Batasiolo winery in the Piedmont region of Italy and while the winery makes more than one Barolo wine, this is the wine that we tasted!

The Nebbiolo grape is also known as Barolo so you may or may not encounter that on the bottle when you're reading it (I had to look it up to make sure that Barolo was indeed the Nebbiolo grape). Craig tried these wines and admittedly was more descriptive in his descriptions of the wine. Now remember, Craig isn't usually a fan of red wine and recently dismissed the Shiraz! But he did not mind this wine and observed that it wasn't took oaky and a bit on the dry side. Interestingly enough, I didn't notice any oakiness taste even though I knew that this wine was in fact barreled. My taste buds are failing me.

Nebbiolo based wines can often take on tastes such as tar and roses and depending the particular region in the Piedmont, can have other tastes of rasperries, violets, tar, wild herbs and cherries. Like Craig noted, it is kind of dry and that is due to the Nebbiolo grape being very high in tannins (causing the puckering in your mouth and the feeling of dryness). Often, this wine is left to age a bit to lessen the tannins and make the wine drinkable.

Dinner that night was perogies (they were whole wheat). And in case you're not familiar with what perogies are, they are this fabulous Ukrainian dish that we are all very familiar with here in Alberta. And so easy to make!! You can either fry them up or boil them for a healthier choice. Add a little sour cream, some chives and bacon bits and you got yourself a meal. Sometimes it's really hard to cook for one person and when you have just come home from the gym after having worked out for an hour PLUS an hour of hot yoga (this is why I'm drinking wine in workout gear) and coming home at 8pm, the last thing you want to do is make a big meal. Perogies it is! Ciao!