#41- Torrontes

Oh my life has been a circus as of late so it seems wholly appropriate to be drinking a wine called Circus! Without feeling sorry for myself, I'll give you the two second scoop on what I've been dealing with- I've been laid off. It's the first time I've ever been laid off (and let's be clear here, it has all to do with budgets woes and nothing to do with my performance) so I'm experiencing something new- facing the prospect of having no job in a few weeks.

But I'm not worried. My life is/stressful with the job I'm in currently and it's likely a very good thing to be switching it up! Change is good. I'm ready for it (though I just wish it could happen without a fight which I fear is in my near future...) So drinking a circus wine seems tres appropose.

It was Kristin's birthday (happy birthday sis!) and we headed out to her house for a party that her husband organized. I helped- I picked up the cake (and drank wine #42 with it...). In any case, the Circus wine drinking began at dinner. Dinner was barbaqued steak with all the fixings. Now, if you see below, you're wondering perhaps what my definition of steak is. Well, Kristin and I actually began this wine drinking the night before- a birthday weekend so to speak. Pizza was ordered (our usual- pepperoni, mushroom and green pepper and mediterranean)- a perfect dish to go with the Torrontes wine!

So I finally get to it- the wine itself. The wine is from Argentina, specifically Bordegas Escoriheula winery.
The Torrontes grape is a white grape and is extremely aromatic. They are a young wine (not bottled very long). It's hard to describe this wine other than to say it was very fresh tasting, almost refreshing to swirl it into the mouth. I tried to figure out what flavours are in this wine but as you can see, the back of the bottle tells a story (rather good) but nothing about the wine itself. Can you spot the spelling mistake? I even tried to find more information on the website but it doesn't list this wine on the site (though the Circus wines are listed and three other grape varietals are there).

The Torrontes grape is often used for high class (read that as expensive) wines that come out of Argentina. I can't remember what I paid for this wine at Sherbrooke Liquor but I'm pretty sure it was less than $20. While it was a decent wine to drink, I wasn't overly impressed. Wine Diva though however gave this wine 89 points so apparently this is a very good wine. It was an okay wine, that's all I can really give it. We'll see what Craig says. He hasn't let me know his verdict yet but as soon as he does, I'll let you know!

Recapping wines 21 - 40

So we're now 40 wines in and on our way to finishing the required 52 by year's end. At the end of 40 grapes, we are liking more than we're disliking so our overall satisfaction rating is: pretty darn satisfied! I give you the grape varietal, whether it's red or white, the name of the winery, the country and of course my rating (a very simple one- like, dislike or neutral).

Like: 15
Dislike: 1
Neutral: 4

Red:11
White: 9

Countries: Australia, Spain, Italy, South Africa, Argentina, Germany, Canada, New Zealand

21. Petit Verdot (Red) LIKE
Deen de Bortolo Vat Series Winery, Australia

22. Verdehlo (White) LIKE
Bleasdale Winery, Australia

23. Primitivo/Zinfandel (Red) LIKE
Layer Cake Winery, Italy

24. Xarel-lo (White) LIKE
Txakali de Alava Winery, Spain

25. Muscat of Alexandria (White) LIKE
Coppe Moncalvina Moscato D’Asti Winery, Italy

26. Chenin Blanc (White) LIKE
Winery of Good Hope, South Africa

27. Catarratto (White) NEUTRAL
Terri de Genestra, Italy

28. Bonarda (Red) LIKE
El Escondido Don Domenico Winery, Argentina

29. Albarino (White) LIKE
Rias Baixus Winery, Spain

30. Pinotage (Red) LIKE
Graham Beck Winery, South Africa

31. Tempranillo (Red) LIKE
Bordegas Ercavio Mas Que Vinos, Spain

32. Pinot Noir (Red) LIKE
Weingut Schloss Rheinfels, Germany

33. Kerner (White) LIKE
Gray Monk Winery, Canada

34. Petite Sirah (Red) NEUTRAL
de Bortoli Winery, Australia

35. Muller-Thurgau/Rivaner (White) LIKE
Black Tower Winery, Germany

36. Shiraz/Syrah (Red) NEUTRAL
Nugan Estate Winery, Australia

37. Nebbiolo (Red) LIKE
Bastasiolo Winery, Italy

38. Barbera (Red) NEUTRAL
Ricossa Winery, Italy

39. Sauvignon Blanc (White) LIKE
Kim Crawford Winery, New Zealand

40. Sangiovese (Red) DISLIKE
Torre del Sale (Toscana), Italy

#40- Sangiovese

Blah blah blah. I'm not one to usually paint the Italian as boring but my God this wine is boring. And I have unanimous agreement on this (Kristin even agreed without trying the wine- she remembered drinking this varietal before and thought the exact same thing).

So how long do you write about a plain wine? I'm not sure if we're just red Italian wined out (with the lovely interruption of the NZ white) or if that the Sangiovese is just a really forgettable and neutral wine. I'm running out of descriptors here to basically say "eh- nothing special"

So, the Sangiovese grape is often used as a blend (I'll have to try it and see if I like it better as a blend) and it's very adaptable to many different types of soil conditions and absorbs all sorts of aromas- from fruity flavours like strawberry to a more distinct and oaky taste. Apparently this Sangiovese, from the Torre del Sale Winery in Tuscany (Toscana) is fruity. I didn't taste fruit and neither did anyone else.

I love Tuscany and I loved all the wine I drank in Florence (see my previous post about Italy and Amore) but I'm pretty sure I didn't drink a Sangiovese. The red wines always had a strong and distinct flavour to them. Definitely not this.

So with a flavourless wine, I had to have some spicy food so I made myself some dumplings. I think they're vegetable. Anyway, super easy to make and super delicious. I even whipped out the chopsticks to make it a little more authentic!

I'm not sure but I'm starting to develop a theory about some Italian reds- that they are deliberately plain when drunk alone. The key is to drink the wines with big plates of pasta in front of you. The mix of the tannins and pasta noodles creates some type of magic concoction in your mouth where you can suddenly pull out the subtle flavours and unique properties of the wine. I've made it my  mission to eat pasta with my next red wine from Italy. I'm pretty sure I've got one sitting in my wine cabinet to be drunk before the end of the year.

#39- Sauvignon Blanc

It took all the power in the world for me NOT to finish this bottle of wine! If you want a winner- go out right now and pick yourself up a Kim Crawfold Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. This wine is damn delicious and you'll have a very hard time picking out anything you don't like about this wine.

In fact, this wine inspires me so much I'm tempted to book a ticket to New Zealand right now and enjoy a winery tour of this place! Wow. Okay, so you get that I love this wine. I love the crispness of it as it envelopes my mouth with its delicious flavours. The citrus flavours slap your tongue with piercing flavours, so well blended you are immediately transported to a warm climate with views of a never ending sand beach and waves gently rolling in to welcome you to the southern part of the world. Believe me, when it's -30 outside, this is easy enough to do.

So you get that I am a fan of this Sauvignon Blanc, but is Craig? Wait for it, wait for it. The answer is yes! Craig pulled pineapple flavours and while he's close, he's probably actually tasting gooseberry and passionfruit! Now there a combination you don't often fine but oh my, does it ever work here.

Kim Crawford Winery has certainly set the bar if not set the standard for an excellent white wine. This winery has consistently put out a Sauvignon Blanc with rave reviews (even from Parker in the +90 points range for the last 8 years).

The Sauvignon Blanc grape is so versatile and can take on a range of flavours. Its crisp and light on the palette and just a delicious wine to have on its own or with food like seafood or chicken.

Which is what I made myself for dinner. I'm always disappointed that I can't really capture the food well. It doesn't look appearling, but the chicken stirfry (with wild rice, green beans, peppers and red onions) was absolutely delicious and I found paired absolutely beautifully with the wine.

The Winery itself isn't very old and I tried to research to see if it was named after a Kim Crawford but I didn't find anything one way or another. If you do find any info about this winery out, do let me know. If I go to New Zealand (on the bucket list), I will definitely put this on my list of wineries to visit! Those sheep are so damn lucky...

#38- Barbera

The name of the winery is Ricossa in the Piedmont region of Italy. As you can note, this is the second Italian red wine from the Piedmont region. Not done on purpose, I ended up tasting Italy's Nebbiolo and Barbera grapes one right after another. Both bought at Sherbrooke Liquor, it is interesting to note couple of things:

1. I thought the wines tasted quite similar and it took a lot for me to really tell the difference. I'm sure any wine connoisseur worth their weight would have absolutely no problem making the distinction but I didn't really notice much. The big difference is how is is aged. The Barolo (Nebbiolo) grape is aged in oak barrels. While Barbera based wines can be aged in oak, this one wasn't. This wine- the Barbera D'Asti wine is a very dark purple wine and tasted of cherries and slightly smoky (perhaps why I couldn't tell the difference).

2. Craig actually liked this wine better, calling it milder and he's right. When it comes to its weight, the Barbera is a light middleweight while the Nebbiolo is a light heavyweight so Craig was quite observant in pointing this out.

It was our brother's birthday (happy 30th Jim) and mom had made a home cooked meal of roast beef and gravy with roasted potatoes and carrots- a great pairing with the wine- gee it's almost like I planned that! The dinner was delicious and I too really enjoyed this wine as well even though I can't say the wine sticks out for me as a favourite nor would I likely be able to recall a couple of months from now what this wine tasted like at all.

It's too bad because any description of a Barbera based wine seems to be exciting and full of description. And what are my thoughts?Would I go out of my way to go and get another bottle of Barbera D'Asti? Probably not. I guess to me this wine is a little too neutral for my tastes and doesn't offer me enough on my pallette. It's almost as if it would make a great table red, I doubt it would offend anyone very much but wouldn't leave a lasting impression either. At least that's how I'll remember it...or won't.