#27- Catarratto

It was the yellowest wine we'd seen in a while. Now one could perhaps blame the silver goblets we were drinking the wine from but no, it was freaking urine yellow. Craig really liked the wine. I thought it was so so. Split decision. I could end this blog right here, right now. But I won't.

There is just so much more to tell!! The grape we were trying on our first day, first hike was the Catarratto wine from Sicily, a product of Italy. Bought for $15.99 at Crown Liquor in Spruce Grove, the wine was chilled prior to Craig and I heading up on our first hike at Mt. Robson Provincial Park in British Columbia. More on the hike later.

The winery is from Terre di Ginestra in Italy (and as far as I can find, no website for the winery- please let me know if this is not the case). It's also cheap wine and I can tell by the label. On the label itself it says "Indicazione Geografica Tipica" or IGT which in layman's terms means less than, or cheap wine. Well $15.99 is cheap here but would be one hell of a bottle in Italy me thinks! Well, I'll let you know whether the latter part is true when I'm in Italy in just a couple of weeks!  But again, more of that later- say Wednesday.

My first thought about this wine was that it tasted exactly like apple juice. It looked like it, it smelled like it, it had the consistency of it. It reminded me of no other wine I had tasted in recent memory, perhaps the closest being the Vermentino wine. I was pretty neutral on it but Craig really seemed to enjoy it. I blame the fact that he was sick as anything and couldn't taste much.

We drank this wine after a pleasant 7km hike from the Mt. Robson Visitor Centre (at the base of Mt. Robson, the tallest mountain in the Canadian Rockies. Part of a larger hike to Berg Lake, Craig and I had left mid afternoon for the hike so we only (and planned) to make it to Kinney Lake. Berg Lake is a two day hike up the mountain and some climbers choose to stay at Kinney Lake as a pit stop. We pitstopped.

I ate chocolate and beef jerky with my wine. What can I say? I was hiking people!! I was not about to bring anything much more than that. I was busy trying out my new pack (love it) and my new trekking poles (love them!). Eating wasn't something we'd really thought about for the afternoon as we were in between meals.

Craig and I rested for a bit, drank our wine and observed that our hike was telling us to drink. On the mountain across the lake, the trees were growing in the shape of an upside down wine glass! So we took our pics, got our sugars up and headed back down the mountain. We hit a bit of rain on the way down but overall this was a very pleasant hike.

#16- Vermentino

I need to taste another Vermentino. Not because I loved this one, but because I didn't love this one. Oh Italy, while the Trebbiano D'Abruzzo was a roaring success, your Vermentino has left me a tad disappointed.The best thing about this wine unfortunately was the the picture I took (nice no?)

Now, it's possible I didn't buy the best bottle of wine. It was on sale for $11.85 so how much could I really expect from a cheap bottle of wine? (which by the way, after my travels in Europe, would be an expensive bottle of wine. I did learn that wine is cheaper than water in many places in Europe). But here, anything under $20 and the label doesn't say Boone's is cheap!

Also bought at Liquor on McLeod in Spruce Grove, and purchased at the same time as the Trebbiano, this was my white Italian wine weekend! i can't find much information yet on the Poggio Turri winery but I'll keep looking.

At my parents house for Father's Day, it was a beautiful and hot Alberta summer (summer's eve really with it being June 20). Craig was in charge of making dinner which of course, was barbeque!!! The dinner consisted of fantastic Alberta AAA beef, baked potato and side salad. Now usually you do drink red wine with with red meat but the thought of drinking a red wine instead of a nice crisp white wine outside on this beautiful day just wasn't sitting well with me. So breaking the rule, white it was! The dinner was great, however the wine left us wanting more- and by that I mean another wine.

Craig and I agreed, this wine left no impact on us. It was just there, something to be drunk but not enjoyed. A very light coloured wine, it was light on taste. It was dry but I found it to be lacking anything distinct. Usually Vermentino's are quite aromatic but this one just didn't give me anything. Craig and I sat there for a good while trying to pull any flavour out of this wine but just couldn't. This grape variety is becoming increadingly popular and apparently really good Vermentino's do exist. So the hunt is now on for a good bottle of white. Let me know if you've had one and I'll be sure to try it out.

I have no idea what wine #17 will be. It will all be very weather dependent (if it's nice, I'm going with white) and here's to hoping I don't taste another red until fall!

#15- Bombino Bianco (Trebbiano D'Abruzzo)

Living in Edmonton, you learn to appreciate the very short summers we had here. This past weekend was a beautiful weekend, with temperatures in the mid to late twenties, perfect weather for a nice crisp white wine. I picked up two bottles of white wine at Liquor On McLeod in Spruce Grove prepared to drink my weekend away in the bright shining sun!

Craig picked the first wine to drink with our mish mash of a dinner on Saturday. A combination of coleslaw, chicken fingers, Spanish rice and Italian bread, Craig chose the Trebbiano D'Abruzzo wine (the label said it went well with white meat). It is also known as Bombino Bianco and not much is available on the grape itself. The Vermentino would just have to wait until tomorrow. While the dinner wasn't a typical Stevenson feast, the meal would do just fine. Besides, it was the weather we were enjoying, not necessarily the food.
A light coloured wine, the Trebbiano D'Abruzzo is from the Citra Winery in Abruzzi (hence the name) was purchased for about $17. This bottle of wine was also a screw top, a trend I've noticed more and more. I know years ago there was a rumour the world was running out of cork (since been debunked) but I do wonder why we are moving away from corks versus the screw top. Is it about aaccessibility? Being able to take it on picnics and not worrying about a corkscrew? It is because it is more mainstream now to drink wine? Did this happen to beer bottles and the bottle cap? I digress...

This bottle (which by the way was a one litre bottle and not the customary 750ml), was a hit! We all commented on how smooth the wine went down. It didn't leave an aftertaste and was very very easy to drink. A sweeter wine, this complimented the chicken very nicely. We all agreed that this wine was definitely a good pick for a hot summer's day. There was no aftertaste as the wine is quite dry and it didn't linger long in your mouth. No bad aftertaste!! With hints of citrus, the wine was just perfect.

If you're not looking to do your regular wines like a Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay but want a wine that is easy enough to find, then the Trebbiano is the way to go. The next wine to try, as mentioned earlier, is a little harder to find, the Vermentino grape!