Month: September 2018

Happy Sunday Everyone!   I decided to change life up a bit and go to Spain for my next wine selection.   Good thing there are wines from other countries at the local wine store.   I tried the 2015 Latitud Crianza from Rioja, Spain.  Spain is one of the top wine-producing countries in the world.   A report published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 2013 ranked Spain as the second wine-producing country in the world behind Italy.   However, France surpassed Spain according to a 2017 report and often ranks second.   Italy typically dominates as the top wine-producing country in the world.   At this point, I should initiate a dialog on the FIFA World cup competitors, but who knows what that might start.  Let’s get back to the Latitud 42.   This is typical of a Rioja-based red wine in that it is bold.   It has a mineral, slightly ashy taste up front.   It also has a hint of dark cherry with a solid oak tone throughout with a long finish as well.   Latitud 42 isn’t for the faint of heart even though its description says it is a medium-bodied red.  It would be best paired with relatively rich or strong foods.  It mellowed a bit with breathing, so that might help if you’re not as into bolder reds.  I did enjoy this wine a bit more when it had a chance to mellow.   I’d definitely recommend it for the heartier wine drinkers.  You can find it at Total Wines – the Mecca of Magnificence – for around $13.00 per bottle.  Have a great rest of the weekend and a wonderful week!!

Happy Saturday Everyone!   It’s not quite Fall, but I’ve got football on and enjoying a great Saturday.  I recently tried the 2015 Storyteller Cabernet Sauvignon.  This wine is from Sonoma and touts itself as a big, brawny Cabernet.  I drank it with pizza – again I’m a wine blogger for the common man.  This Cabernet was not particularly fruit forward, but was a little jammy in the middle with a hint of cocoa on the back end.   It was alright.   It didn’t have as much story to tell as I thought it would, but was solid enough for a relatively mild to medium-bodied Cabernet.  Which story is it going to tell?  It says it’s big and brawny, so I’m thinking the story of Moby Dick.   However, I found it more like the story of Finding Nemo.   Not so big and brawny, but with a little character.   This might work for you if you like milder Cabernets.   You can find it at Kroger for around $13 per bottle.  Have a great weekend!!

I had a wonderful time in Athens and Santorini with some great friends. Santorini is a beautiful island off the coast of Greece. We enjoyed a great wine tour with Santorini Wine Adventure Wine Tours and Anton Lianoudakis as our tour guide. Anton explained a great deal about Santorini history and the growing of wine grapes on the island. The Minoan civilization on Crete, a neighboring island of Santorini, learned about the Egyptian winemaking methods. Grapes were an important crop to Greece and the Greek islands. Santorini is a volcanic island, so its soil is rich with minerals that help sustain the grape vines. The Santorinians will throw in a few fava or other beans to help enrich the soil around the vine (cool fact!). Many insects cannot survive in the soil, so they do not use pesticides as a general rule. In effect, they’re growing organic grapes. However, given it is a relatively hot climate, the more prevalent grapes grown are white grapes, such as the Assyrtiko grape. Most of the vines are not grown on a wire, but are pruned to grow in a bird’s nest shape. This shape helps protect the grapes from the hot climate and higher winds. Santorini wines do not give wine drinkers headaches like most other wines because they don’t use pesticides or most other chemicals to grow the grapes. I’m all for scientific validation, so a few of my Wine-Loving Lab Mice and I decided to put that to the test. I would be considered the “control” in that experiment in that I drink wine pretty consistently therefore this experiment doesn’t vary from my everyday life. There were a couple of variable mice, in this experiment, who enjoy wine as much as I do, but demonstrate “control” in their everyday life by not partaking as consistently as I do. The results are in. Those wines did not give any of the control or variable mice a headache. The mice had a wine party every night even in the presence of a few stray cats that hung out with us. We, of course, also enjoyed cheese pairing with our wine. The Santorinian whites are crisp and lighter white wines with some having apple, melon or pear essence. They are not oaky as a general rule. They are a great wine for just drinking wine on a hot day or pairing with chicken, fish or some lighter dishes. However, the Santorinians can make a good dessert wine as well so check those out if you can find them. I’ve confirmed that Total Wines does have some Santorinian wines, but you can also find them on Wine.com.
Have a great week!