Posts Tagged ‘red meat’
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon
Region: Chile
Cost: $10
Garnet color with flavors of cherry and bold tannins. Pair this wine with red meat or a boldly flavored meal.
Recommendations: For a dinner alone, I swung by my local Fresh Market (which if you have one you should visit often) and picked up a steak and this bottle of wine, partially for the price, and partly because the card with the wine recommended it for steaks.
I opened up the wine while my steak cooked on the grill and let it breathe a bit, finally pouring some as my steak came off the grill. Paired with the steak, the wine was excellent. Bold tannins and some flavors of red fruit came through, and the high alcohol content (14%) was balanced well by the juiciness of the steak. Read the rest of this entry »
Varietal: Chianti
Region: Italy
Cost: $10
Ruby coloring with a smooth taste of fruit and just a hint of tannins at the end. Pair with pasta, pizza, roasted meat.
Recommendations: The wife and I picked this up while having dinner at Verde the other night as they were out of the Sauvignon Blanc we wanted, and this would pair well. I should preface this by saying, for anybody that hasn’t read this blog before, that I am a fan of Chianti. It’s probably the first wine that I really fell in love with and was certainly my introduction into red wines.
Now, all that being said, the Toscolo Chianti was not, by my standard, a Chianti. That’s not to say that it wasn’t made with the Sangiovese grape, but if the bottle hadn’t said Chianti on it, I would have thought it was something else. I honestly thought it had been labeled wrong and was actually a Tempranillo.
I’m not saying it wasn’t good with our meal of paninis and chips, but it just wasn’t what I was expecting. That being said, at $10, it’s not a complete waste – I wouldn’t pay more for it though. If you’re curious I’d say try it, but otherwise you can find a better Chianti for about the same price.
Varietal: Chianti
Region: Italy
Cost: $8.99
Slightly dry red wine that will hit you on the back of the tongue. Slight cherry flavors and good tannins on the finish make this a good red for pasta, pizza, or red meat.
Recommendations: I’m a sucker for chianti, and Gabbiano is one that I always find myself returning to. On an evening by myself, I paired this chianti with a pasta dish. The dryness of the wine was a nice compliment to the sauciness of the meal.
For the price, Gabbiano is great in that it’s a consistently good chianti. While I’m certain you can find a better chianti, you’ll be hard pressed to find one for this price that will consistently impress. For a dinner of pasta or pizza this is worth keeping on hand.
Paso A Paso La Mancha Tempranillo
Varietal: Tempranillo
Region: Spain
Cost: $19.49
A dark red wine with aromas of bright berry and vanilla which are mimiced in the flavors of this wine. The first sip will present berry and spice that will mellow as the wine is allowed to open up in either a decanter or in the glass. Pairs well with red meat, pasta with red sauce, and traditional antipasta.
Recommendation: If you’ve been reading this blog long enough, you know that Spanish wine has this habit of finding its way into my wine selection, particularly Tempranillo. There’s a good reason for that – it’s a great varietal. This offering is no exception. The first thing you’ll notice with this wine is the deep color with doesn’t let any light through. You would think this would lend itself to a more robust wine, but in fact the Paso A Paso is very much a medium-bodied wine.
My wife and I paired this wine with a simple meal of wheat pasta and red sauce, which we mixed a bit of the wine in with. The pairing of the bright berry and spice flavors with the rich pasta was a great mix, and was enjoyable even after we had finished our meal.
I can’t say for certain if this is my favorite Tempranillo, but I was definitely enamored of the deep color and bright flavors of this wine. For the price point it’s a definitely worth picking up.
Special thanks to the International Wine of the Month Club.
Can’t find the Paso A Paso La Mancha Tempranillo near you? Find it here.
