Posts Tagged ‘Dry Wine’
Varietal: 100% Malbec
Region: Patagonia, Argentina
Cost: $13 (SRP)
Winemaker’s Notes: A deep ruby-colored wine with rich, smooth blackberry flavors and vanilla aromas. Pairs well with red meats, cheeses, and pastas.
My Review: I’ve been a fan of Malbec for some time now, I’ve found it to be, on the whole, a nice inexpensive alternative to numerous other budget wines where you can get far better quality than your dollar would lead you to believe, especially coming out of South America, and it tends to pair well with the foods I like to eat. Because of that, I was pleased to receive a bottle of Malbec as a sample right at the end of the year, and my wife and I finally decided to pop the cork and give it a try last night.
Varietal: Tempranillo
Region: Rioja – Spain
Cost: $18
Winemaker’s Notes: A deep red in color with bright flavors of ripe berries and oak that will pair with duck, any red meats, and roasted vegetables.
My Review: A few weeks ago a pair of bottles showed up to my office. Whereas most samples I get have at least some tasting notes, if not a letter from the winemaker/vineyard owner/head of marketing letting me know something about the wine that might not be in the tasting notes, the two bottles of Montecillo (one the 2003 Reserva, another to be reviewed later), had nothing. In fact I took a moment to look over the shipping label to make sure that they were in fact intended for me.
Knowing what I know now, I would have at least kept the 2003 Reserva anyways.
Varietal: Gewurztraminer
Region: Virginia – USA
Cost: 17
Light in the glass with orange peel on the nose. Effervescent with a mineral finish that pairs well with chicken, sausage, cheese, smoked salmon, and fruit.
Recommendations: I’ll be the first to admit that I was hesitant when my wife and I were doing a tasting at Afton Mountain Vineyards some months ago and saw Gewurztraminer on the list. However, our pourer assured us that we would enjoy it and we decided to trust him. I’m really glad we did. When most people think of Gewurztraminer they think of a sweet, almost syrupy white wine that is better suited for dessert than anything else, and they would be partially correct in that assumption. However, as I’ve learned recently both from Afton Mountains and from a tasting of Gewurztraminer from the Finger Lakes, that’s not all there is to it.
Light in the glass, the Afton Mountains Gewurztraminer offered up slight citrus on the nose while having a great efferevescent and mineral flavor with just a hint of apple. A dry wine that will remind more people of a Champagne than anything else, this is a great deck wine as the heat continues to increase, and my only regret in opening this bottle was that we only have the one. Read the rest of this entry »
Varietal: Sangiovese
Region: Italy
Cost: $6
Garnet colored in the glass with aromas of cherry and crushed fruit on the nose. Cherry, crushed fruit and a spice finish in the mouth. Pair with pasta or meat.
Recommendations: Given that my wife and I have been snowed in for the better part of two weeks, our supplies of wine are starting to run low. While watching a movie (The Neverending Story for those that care), we opened up a this bottle of Sangiovese that I had picked up at our local Trader Joe’s in anticipation of the coming snow storms.
Fairly light in the glass and on the palate, I got flavors of cherry and spice, along with a little fresh crushed fruit. In typical Sangiovese style, the wine was rather dry and would have paired great with a pasta dish or some red meat, though it was a good compliment to the realization that the movies from my childhood may not have been as good as I thought they were. Read the rest of this entry »
Varietal: Sanviovese
Region: Italy
Cost: $10
Violets, berries, spices and leather on the nose of this garnet colored wine with flavors of ripe fruit that pair with pizza, pasta, and grilled meats.
Recommendations: I grabbed this bottle of wine at a local store because, quite frankly, the price point was too good to pass on for a Sangiovese that had been highly rated by The Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator in previous years. Also, as Chianti is my first love of red wine, I have a hard time walking away from any Sangiovese.
Paired with a meal of pasta with red sauce and ground Italian sausage, the dryness of this wine was a perfect compliment. A bit of ripe fruit on the palate does take the edge off the wine, making it enjoyable well after the meal is gone (my mark of a good wine), and the price means you can pick this wine up in bulk to keep around for any occasion.
If you’re not a fan of dry wines, you might want to pass on this one, but if you are a fan of Chianti or any dry wine, or are looking to get into them, this is absolutely one you should pick up – easily one of the best values I’ve found for any red wine.
Varietal: Red Blend
Region: Italy
Cost: $20
Deep purple coloring with aromas of roses, violets, and woodlands. Red and black fruits on the palate, with hints of truffle and chocolate. Pair with veal, hearty soups, hard cheeses such as Parmesan or Pecorino, lamb, Osso Bucco.
Recommendations: I’ve been sitting on this bottle for a few weeks since receiving it just before Thanksgiving waiting to pair it with some steaks that have been sitting in my fridge waiting to be cooked. I was so glad that I did. I’m a fan of dry red wines, and the Canneto Rosso did not disappoint.
Tons of earthiness on the nose lead into a very dry wine that still managed to exhibit flavors of ripe berries. Although the wine has a high alcohol content (14%/vol), it doesn’t show either on the nose or on the palate, a huge selling point for me.
Paired with a well seasoned steak, the dryness of the wine was a great compliment to the juiciness of the meat, and the earthiness on the nose mixed well with the herbs I used on the steak (rosemary is my friend). While this wine is a bit expensive to use as an everyday table wine, it’s certainly in that vein and if you’re looking for a fancier table wine, this is certainly what you’re looking for. Definitely worth grabbing.
Special thanks to the International Wine of the Month Club for supplying the wine.
