(Bob Gregg, 8:15 pm) (Posted to: Wine)
2007-09-18: Vilana - wine from Crete
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. I figured, Mediterranean wine, Mediterranean dish, etc. Worked well enough. It’s a very basic white, nothing fancy or sophisticated - some lemon taste, decent acid, 12% alcohol. Pretty much alcoholic lemonade, but what do you want for a cheap white wine? Plus it made a good cooking wine, adding a real zest to the sauce.
What I paid: $6.99
What I would pay again: $6.99
All in all, pretty drinkable, and it’s another varietal for the life list.