I'll begin with the wines that we tried at Zeppoli's last night, and then back-track my way from there throughout the remainder of the semester. :)
First, I wanted to begin with a pretty cool wine craft that a friend showed me from Pinterest last week...Now, let's get back on topic.
I'll go one by one down the line of each wine that we tried at the tasting, but this time I'm going to talk about the flavors of each wine, as opposed to talking about how they went with the food that did accompany them at one point or another.
Here's a list of the wines that you can see above in the following format. In the past, I had done individual photos of each wine, but I didn't want to hold up the group of other students that were present as well. Also, I decided to only do the five that were very interesting to me, flavor-wise, and left the other ones in the dust - I have a lot of wines to work with with all of these upcoming blogs! Also, ALL WINES ARE FROM ITALY:
Name, Price, Alcohol Content
Bibi Graetz 2010 Casamata Toscana, $12.99, 12%
Fossi Bianco White Table Wine, $6.99, 11.5%
La Fiera Pinot Grigio Veneto, $7.99, 12%
Lodali 2009 Nebbiolo D'Alba Sant Ambrogrio, $17.99, 13.5%
Luca Primitivo del Salento Puglia, $8.99, 13%
1. Bibi Graetz 2010 Casamata Toscana, $12.99, 12%
After a bit of furhter research after the tasting, I researched the grape. I learned that the Casamatta comes from a leading Tuscan producer, Bibi Graetz, who makes traditional Italian wines using some of the best New World methods. It's made from the sangiovese grape, so tastes are gonna be pretty sour and acidic. It is Italy's most commonly planted red grape varietal, boasting over a dozen distinct clones, and it is a thin-skinned grape that tends to linger longer on the vine, and takes its time to mature (About.com).
Personally, since it's a Super Tuscan, I thought that it would be too much for me to handle. But lo and behold, it really did appeal to more of an American pallette. After tasting dozens of wines this semester, I've noticed that American wines may be fruitier than their European counterparts - and this definitely lends itself to being known as an American wine grown in Europe.
2. Fossi Bianco White Table Wine, $6.99, 11.5%
Dreadful. Just dreaful. Yes, I know that I said I was only going to include the good wines, but I just couldn't let this one out of my review unnoticed! Yes, it's inexpensive. Yes, it's good for a big gathering, and yes it tastes like a pot of fruit salad. But it's just dreadful. Alot of reviews that I read online talk about it being all purpose, but once I get down to the point of it - the blandness of the wine just overtook the flavor. I think it would only be blended well with equally bland foods.
3. La Fiera Pinot Grigio Veneto, $7.99, 12%
Lovely. Lovely. Lovely. It was definitely my favorite of the two that we tried. Apparently la fiera means "the fair" in Italian, and this is definitely a fair wine. It had a little bit of a bite to it, and had a pretty calm finish - nothing that was too overwhelming or made me want to take another bite of food or drink some more water. I'm actually not a big of fan of any pinot gris-made wine, but it's nice! It comesfrom the Veneto region, which is pretty popular of Pinot Grigio wines come from Italy (and I also learned that pinot means pine cone in French appareantly!). I thought that this was a very interesting wine, and didn't really try it with any of the foods - but I did notice the fruity undertones in it, which made it very appealing to me. When it comes to any wine, white or red, I definitely do prefer sweeter wines.
4. Lodali 2009 Nebbiolo D'Alba Sant Ambrogrio, $17.99, 13.5%
What to say about this one. It went fantastically with the salty creaminess of the ritz crackers and goat cheese that were served on the platter, and outside of that, I really couldn't get too much out of the flavor. After taking this week's online quizzes, I did feel like it was a little bit overwhelming - that the flavor of the grape really did linger in my mouth, although that wasn't really something that I noticed when I was trying it. The flavor is pretty full - it trys to coat your entire mouth without really being too direct about it. After further research I learned that despite its fickle growing and fermentation nature, these grapes are surprisingly resistant to disease and mold. The flavors are definitely resemblant of that characteristic of the grape.
5. Luca Primitivo del Salento Puglia, $8.99, 13%
And last, but certainly not least, is the othe rprimitivo wine that we tried. I actually had never heard of this prior to trying it, but I was definitely hapen to be introuced to it. I was impressed by the nature of the wine - and how similar it was to zinfandel. I had no idea that it was even considered the 'father of the zinfandels,' similar to the relaiontship between Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine itself proved to be pretty earthy, going great with a salad (contrary to what the gentlmen teaching us about them had suggested. I thought that the aroma and flavor was very similar to blackberries, violents, and a little bit of pepper - all of which are flavors I figure would be excellent with a bed of greens. :)
Until next week, Happy Wine Drinking! :)
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