Red Alert

It's fall and I couldn't be more excited! The sun is still shining, but the air has a chill that begs for red wine. So, I tasted blends from Italy and Australia to kick off my red wine drinking season.

Vigna Flaminio
Brindisi Do Rosso Riserva 2004
Grapes: Negroamaro, Montepulciano, Malvasia Nera
Medium-bodied with flavors of red cherry, tobacco and herbs. Also got a little meaty-ness on the palate. A little lighter bodied than I was expecting but found a nice roundness to it that will compliment loads of foods.


Razor's Edge
McLaren Vale 2008
Grapes: Shiraz, Grenache
Listed as #22 for Wine Enthusiast Mag's Top 100 Best Buys for 2010. This wine has rich flavors or dark fruit and plum, probably coming from the Shiraz, with minerality and hints of spice on the finish from the Grenache in the blend. The 2 grapes come together to form a very well balanced wine with ripe cherry, good tannins and acidity. Luckily for me I have never had bad luck with these 2 grapes in a blend.

Falling For Wine

A hot weekend of 90+ temps, and a week in the 70s...I hope Fall is really here this time! I love fall, the leaves change colors, cute sweaters and cardigans, and Fall wine! Didn't know Fall had its own wine? Not technically, but in the Fall I tend to move away from the lighter, crisper, refreshing wines that I enjoyed during the hot Summer days to heavier more full-bodied wines to warm me up on those cold nights.

Today I tried out two wines to see how I feel about these going forward into the Fall season.

2008 Seghesio Dolcetto d'Alba
Piedmont, Italy
Grape: Dolcetto
Very fruity and floral, with violet and berry undertones. Full-bodied, with lots of fruit and a balance of acidity and tannins. Need a heavy food for pairing with this as the tannins are quite high. Steak, stew maybe. This is nice, but maybe closer to winter.

2009 JP Azeitao
Peninsula de Setubal, Portugal
Grapes: Castelao, Aragonez, Syrah
Ripe fruity red wine with decent tannins and acidity. Very food friendly (I drank this with pizza) and easy on the wallet retailing at around $8.

Guess I'm going to have to go with the 2nd one as the best wine for me, right now. But a wine that goes with pizza is pretty much going to be an easy sell for me.