(Bob Gregg, 4:45 pm)
We had our friends Joel and Eunjae over this evening, and had a great time. Joel knows his music, and always shows up wherever he goes with an iPod chock full of 80’s songs. We plugged that sucker into our local sound system (the front input of my TV, as it turns out), and it was party time. Joel also brought a great wine which was the hit of the evening, and taught me something new. (more >>)
(Bob Gregg, 10:19 pm)
Tonight we opened a bottle of Rosa Del Golfo “Scaliere” 2004. This wine is classified as a Salento Rosso, which is an Italian IGT designation. Sometimes the IGT wines can be better than DOC or DOCG wines, just like sometimes a Vin de Pays wine can be a smash. Going outside of the “big” appellation systems can give a great wine maker the freedom to do something special. Sometimes those wines can even be great bargains. No guarantees though. (more >>)
(Bob Gregg, 10:08 pm)
Opened a bottle of Lozano Añoranza Crianza 2004 tonight, a 100% Tempranillo wine from La Mancha. I don’t know much about Spanish wines yet, so I thought I would give this one a chance. (more >>)
(Bob Gregg, 8:15 pm)
Tonight, Sonnet made a very simple but delicious Etruscan seafood stew - chunks of salmon filet, jumbo shrimp, sauted with sliced onions, capers, olives, garlic, lemon zest and some leftover marinara sauce. She wanted a white to cook with, so I opened a bottle of Kretikos Boutari White 2005. This is a basic white wine from Crete, bought for just a few bucks from Total Wine, made from 100% Vilana grapes, a varietal indigenous to the island. (more >>)
(Bob Gregg, 7:00 am)
Tried another new varietal tonight - Piedirosso. The name basically means “red foot” in Italian; it’s a red, indigenous grape from Campania in southern Italy (the region where Naples is). (more >>)
(Bob Gregg, 7:47 pm)
One of the great things about wine, I think, is that everyone’s subjective experience of it is different. Like all great sensory experiences, your experience of a particular wine is often going to be due as much to the surroundings - the meal, the company, whatever - as to the wine itself. And you get to own that experience; whatever else it is, it’s yours. (more >>)
(Bob Gregg, 9:49 pm)
A few weeks back, one of my favorite local wine haunts sent me an email saying they had gotten in a Cannonau di Sardegna, special-order. I’d heard of this stuff before - Cannonau is an indigenous grape on the island of Sardegna, one of the thousands (literally) of indigenous Italian grapes. Except - it turns out that Cannonau is “actually” Grenache - or more like Garnacha, the vines having originally come from Spain (or vice versa, depending on who you ask). I’ve been meaning to try Cannonau for a while, but it’s one of those things that just doesn’t come around very much. Anyway, I snagged a bottle (somewhere around $20) and socked it away for some future time. (more >>)
(Bob Gregg, 10:21 pm)
When I heard about the theme of the latest Wine Blogging Wednesday assignment, I got excited: try wine made from some region’s “indigenous” grapes - veering off the beaten path big-six varietals and going native. Being a member of the Wine Century Club (currently over 140 varietals and counting), I’ve been meaning to get started writing something about what I drink. I love trying something new, even if the odds may not favor it being the next Côte-Rôtie. (more >>)