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... was last Saturday and we 'travelled' through Italy and its wine regions. The only thing I knew about Italian wine is that I love a good Prosecco (go to Cafe Paradiso and try theirs) and that a good Amerone beats all. So it was a revelation on how complex Italian wine actually is. We were also very lucky to have Sabrina (originally from Rome) to give us a presentation about Italy and its wines (thanks again Sabrina).
We also welcomed 2 new members to our little club, Linda and Dorothy - hope they enjoyed the experience (and chaos :-) and that we will see them again at the next tasting.
The following list has the wines in the order we tasted them with their score (out of 100):
- Vignadoro Prosecco, Venetio, Wine Buff, € 18.99, 61% (high acidity, fresh)
- Icardi Balera, Piedmont, Bubble Brothers, € 16.50, 34.4% (too flat, no finish)
- Canti Rose Sangiovese-Merlot, Piedmont, Dunnes Stores, € 9.99, 54% (nice summer wine, girlie)
- Canaletto Montepulciano, Abruzzo, SuperValue, € 10.94, 77% (full aroma, long smooth finish)
- Chianti Superiore, Tuscany, Aldi, € 9.99, 55% (compared to wine before - felt flat and not very exciting)
- Nero D'Avola, Sicily, Tesco, € 11.69, 73% (full flavour, deep fruit and long finish)
- Barbera D'Asti, Piemonte, Bubble Brothers, € 16.99, 78% (spicy fruit, lively finish)
- Masi Costasera Amarone, Veneto, SuperValue, € 30.62, 90.5% (amazing wine, deep flavours, exciting)
- La Caliera, Piemonte, (no info), 86.8% (fizzy, sweet and fresh - one person only marked 50 out of 100. If we exclude this, the score would have been 90.5%)
All in all, the deeper the wine, the more the score was with the Amarone being the favourite (has been one of my favourite for a couple of years now). I am not the biggest fan of dessert wines but love it with blue cheese. In this case I served simple Gorgonzola with the Moscato and it went down a treat.
Our next wine tasting will take place early June (before the main holiday season begins) and I am hoping to have either Spanish or Portuguese wines available. Since we have a Spanish and a Portuguese girl in our little club - who knows we might be in for a treat when they tell us all about their country. Watch this space.
Our next wine tasting will take place early June (before the main holiday season begins) and I am hoping to have either Spanish or Portuguese wines available. Since we have a Spanish and a Portuguese girl in our little club - who knows we might be in for a treat when they tell us all about their country. Watch this space.
4 comments:
Hello Elke,A tasty line-up, and thank you for representing us so well! I'm sorry the Icardis' Balera didn't convince you; maybe the relatively high acidity of the Prosecco before it took its edge away.
I just thought I'd express surprise that you still have a bottle of the La Caliera Moscato that we used to import. I'm delighted it got so much approval, though I'm afraid we've no longer any stock. I have a (possibly even more delicious) replacement lined up for when the right moment arrives, though!
Hi Julian,
I remember having bought the La Caliera quite some time ago but never opened it to the dessert I was serving. Will pay Austin a visit soon to get a bottle of the replacement :-)
Yeah, I was surprised as well that the Icardi didn't do very well. Normally Austin's choice is bang on. But in this case it wasn't a winner. The prosecco wasn't my favourite either - the Prosecco di Valdobbiadene still being my favourite so far.
Elke
Prosecco wars - the worst kind.
I know there is no O'Briens in Cork, but they have an excellent Prosecco called "Mionetto", about €20. I had it for my wedding, actually, back in August.
Hi Paul,
That is really weird that there is no O'Briens in Cork...could have sworn, but checked it and nope...no O'Briens. Anyhow, will have to try to get Mionetto elsewhere. Thanks for the tip.
By the way, I got a lovely Prosecco the other day called La Tordera.... amazing. One of the best I had in a long time.
Elke
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