Wine #2- Grenache

I was so looking forward to this week as the grenache grape is one of my favourites. And this wine did not let me down!

This week I tried Las Rocas from the San Alejandro vineyard in Spain. The vintage year is 2007 and was purchased for $19.95 from Vines Riverbend Wine Merchants. This wine was given 91 points by Robert Parker.

The grenache grape produces a wine that is very low in acidity and is considered a super heavyweight. In my opinion, the wine is just plain super.

I opened the bottle of wine and let it breathe while I cooked my meal. Tonight's meal was Montreal peppered steak with broccoli florets and jumbo shrimp with cocktail sauce. I had a long week and wasn't really into cooking a big dinner. So simple surf n' turf it was.

Let's put it this way. I had two glasses of wine with the meal and had a third even when dinner was log gone. I can't say enough how much I loved this wine. Often wines can leave an aftertaste in your mouth (such as the Chardonnay) but this one leaves nothing behind making it a very easy wine to drink. It is a dry wine. Its flavours are soft and subtle and this bottle had just enough hints of fruits, such as strawberry to make it a very pleasant drink.

As my brother put it (I kept a glass for him and brought it to him on Saturday), the wine is subtle and creates "the right type of spit" (I have no idea what that means but he assures me it's a good thing!). Not a red wine drinker, he had no problems sipping this wine before heading out to the hot tub.

The red wine paired nicely with the steak and even though seafood is typically a white wine food, I didn't mind at all drinking the wine while chomping down on my shrimp.

The grenache wine is a very enjoyable wine and I would recommend it to anyone who isn't a fan of red wines to try it and see why red wines can be so pleasant to the palette.

I also have another recommendation for a grenache wine. I do put a warning on this wine-- I drank a bottle of it in less than 40 minutes it's that good! Try the Fire Block Dry Grenache Rose (2006). Just make sure you don't have to drive anywhere after!

Next week I'm going to tackle the Riesling.

Wine #1- Chardonnay

Well, I didn't hate it. But Chardonnay is still not a favourite of wine nor will I run out anytime soon to buy a bottle. I am still confused as to how Chardonnay is one of the most popular grapes and wines in the world. If you happen to like Chardonnay, please enlighten me as to why when there are so many other good wines to choose from.

The wine we chose to try was a 2008 Chardonnay from the Catena Winery in Argentina. Robert Parker reviewed this wine and gave it 91 points. I purchased this bottle of wine at Vines Riverbend Wine Merchants for $21.95.

My brother came over for dinner and I tried my best to match the food to the wine. I tried a new recipe-- Sicilian Pasta with cauliflower florets. The hope was to serve this dish with seasoned chicken but I managed to screw up the timing on the chicken so we actually ate dinner in two parts.

It didn't really matter. Both Craig and I had similar opinions on the wine. We tolerated it and finished the bottle, but overall, disappointed with the wine. Craig initially found the Chardonnay to have a bold taste and he could really pick out the spices used in the vintage. I didn't so much pick out the spices but the fruitiness of the wine. The oak taste was there but certainly not overpowering like some Chardonnays are.

When we first opened the bottle and began to drink, we both noticed the lingering taste in our mouths, a quite unpleasant feeling. To me, it almost left a burning sensation in my throat.

As the wine warmed up however, the lingering lessened so perhaps I had the wine chilled a little too much. It certainly became easier to drink as the night wore on. The wine complimented both dishes well I thought and Craig, ever the picky eater, finished his meal and actually gave me props for a good meal.


By the way, I am choosing recipes from Lucy Waverman's newest cookbook- A Year in Lucy's Kitchen. Throughout the book, Lucy's husband Bruce offers wine pairing recommendations which has helped me plan my first few weeks tremendously.

Overall, my opinion of Chardonnay hasn't changed much and am still not a fan. I have had worse though and if I absolutely had to drink a Chardonnay again, I'd definitely consider purchasing this bottle again. I appreciated that the wine didn't overpower me with oakiness and I found I could taste just enough of the fruits within the wine to make me want to continue to drink it. Craig changed his opinion on the wine being bold as the temperature of the wine changed and it became a lot more mellow in taste.

I am happy to have this wine tasting out of the way. I'm looking forward to next week already as I get to drink one of my favourite grapes of all time, the grenache grape.