#67- Tocai Fruilano

As soon as I got back from my two and half month journey, I jumped right back into the drinking (the writing part is a different story). I hadn't had much wine at all as wine seems to be very expensive in Asia. When I was in Indonesia (Bali to be specific), we ordered two bottles of Australian wine and the bill came to $80! And this is a country that is not at all far from Australia. So we stuck to beer mostly.

So as you can tell by the next couple of pictures, I got pretty tan! The Same Same shirt is from Thailand and if you've ever been there or Cambodia (which I also visited), you know exactly what that shirt means!

I didn't feel much like cooking so it was some home cooked meals and the parents house. The first meal I paired the white wine- Tocai Fruilano with was salmon cakes with swiss chard as the side. The meal was absolutely delicious. The wine- I'm neutral.

There is nothing about this wine that sticks out in particular except how bright yellow it is (interesting to note that two other whites I tried are very similar in colour to the Tocai and they appear very closely together on the Wine Grape Varietal table...). The wine is very fruity and super easy to drink. It's got a little kick to it- almost spicy. And pressed for it, I could taste the pears.

Tocai Fruilano . And today, you can't actually get a Tocai Fruilano any longer as the name has changed because of recent rulings by the wine police (I'm just kidding) but there have been name changes and an interesting article gives more details on why and when. Today it is now known as Sauvignon Vert (green) and if looked at in proper light, some have a green streak. When the wine is from Italy it's known now as just Fruilano. This wine is from Slovenia so I'm guessing they're still allowed to call it a Tocai Fruilano. Confused yet? I am because reading about Sauvignon Vert, it says that the Hungarian version is the Furmint but to me that's an entirely different grape. Can anyone sort this for me?

 I couldn't find a website for the Movia Winery but did confirm through some other blogs that it is indeed in Slovenia.

Next!

#18- Zweigelt

If you like a Valpolicella, you will like this wine! One of the very first wines I was ever introduced to was a Masi Valpolicella by my friend Mark in St. Catharines, Ontario. That's when I was living in Ottawa and made frequent trips to the Niagara region. It was here that I attended their wine festivals and began to appreciate wine for what it is.While a Valpolicella is a mix of 4 different grape varietals (and therefore I can't drink it as a part of this 185 grape experiment), the Zweigelt grape comes very very close to its taste.

The Zweigelt grape comes from Austria and this wine does also. The Pleil Winery in Weinvertel, Austria (two Austrian wines in a row!).I didn't realize until I started exploring more wines that Austria was such a big producer of wines! We've drank two of their most popular grapes varieties- the Gruner Veltliner and the Zweigelt but they do produce many good wines. I should mention too that Austria is the home of Schnaps and I had the pleasure of visiting the original Schnaps store in Vienna and brought a boatload back including their infamous Absinthe! That has nothing to do from wine but Austrians understand, know and market their alcohol very very well.

The wine is velvety, not unlike the Valpolicella. It is dry and leaves a subtle but apparent aftertaste in your mouth. It is not a wine to be sipped slowly and by itself on a warm evening but works well with food. I had a lot of salmon leftover from the previous evening and it was beautiful outside and I wasn't about to cook. So barbequed salmon in a  light garden salad it is. Not exactly a perfect meat and wine match but it worked for me on this occasion. It is usually flavoured with fruit such as cherries and while I could taste the fruit, I couldn't be sure that it was cherries. This is also a wine that definitely needs to breathe and I noticed a difference in taste as I let the wine sit there.

While I loved this wine, my brother could have cared less, even with the bottle having been opened for a few days already. He didn't particularly take to it and found the taste quite strong. I did notice however, that it stop him from drinking the glass! He is becoming more and more attuned to red wines but he still favours white wines and a white wine was up next so I'm pretty sure he was looking forward to that one! In any case, he won't be grabbing for a Zweigelt any time soon. That's okay. We still have a 165+ wines to go! The next one on our list is an Italian wine and it took some searching to find- the Fiano.

#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.