As we watched “The Hurt Locker” put a hurtin’ on fellow nominees, we were putting a hurtin’ on a couple great bottles of wine!

The first of the evening was the 2009 Finca La Linda Torrontes bottled by Luigi Bosca.  This wine was produced in Argentina and consists of 100% Torrontes grape.  Torrontes is the wonderful and distinctively aromatic signature white grape of Argentina.  If you’ve never tried a Torrontes before, this one will certainly make a great first impression on you!  There’s a lot of interesting layers of flavors swirling around in this wine.  It’s a bombshell of racy, crisp acidity, packed full of tropical flavors, that reminded me of a Pina Colada.  The 2009 Finca La Linda Torrontes was a big winner and left us wanting more.  Costing less than $10, it secures a lofty 4 star WineLife365 taste rating and also earned itself many repeat visits as the weather in our neck of the woods continues to warm up.

Next up was the 2006 La Corte Solyss Negroamaro.  This red wine is from the South of Italy in the Puglia (Apulia) region.  Negroamaro, also known as Negro amaro, is one of the most widely planted native red grapes grown in the Southern regions of Italy.  It’s grown almost exclusively in Puglia (Apulia) and also in Salento, which is located at the “heel” of Italy.  The Negroamaro grape and the winemakers in this region tend to allow these wines to express rustic, earthy, and natural tasting characteristics.  This particular Old World red showcases some really interesting mineral, herbaceous and cherry twists that will undoubtedly make you question whether you’re a fan of it or not.  We were fans of 2006 La Corte Solyss Negroamaro and give it 3 stars out of 4 on our taste scale.  One final note on this wine – I paid $12 for it at a local retailer, but I’ve seen it as high as $25 online.  I’m not sure whether or not I’d be willing to fork over 25 bones for it, but if you can find it for less than $20, it’s certainly worth a shot!

With the 2010 Oscars behind us, I can’t say that there were many moments that will replay in my mind for any length of time.  However, I did find some winners that will have repeat performances in my glass.

Share and Enjoy!

Hide Sites

Hey baby don’t you worry, even though the road is rocky
I’ll be coming home to you again
And if you thought that I was lost, I have to bury my cross
Now I’m free from all these chains.  Stephen Marley

There’s a whole big world of wine out there just waiting to be discovered.  As I looked over my own experiences from last year, one whole big world that I sure was missing out on was Italy.  Italy is home to some of the oldest wine producing regions in the world.  Long before the Romans started planting vines, there were the Etruscans and Greeks. Two thousand years later, Italy has become one of the world’s foremost producers, responsible for approximately one-fifth of the world’s overall wine production.  

Located in the province of Verona, Italy, east of Lake Garda is the very hilly and marble rich soil of Valpolicella.  Winemaking has existed in this Italian region since the time of the ancient Greeks.  The name Valpolicella is derived from a Latin and Greek mixture, which translated in English means “Valley of Cellars.” Today, the “Valley of Cellars” economy rests heavily on the production of wine.  The hallmark or signature wine of this region is the recognizable full-bodied style red wine known as Amarone.

However, one not so familiar style of red wine from this Italian region is Ripasso.  Ripasso comes from the verb, ripassare, meaning to “pass over” or to do something again.  The process of making Ripasso wine is by first taking the leftover skins, pulp, and seeds of a previously made Amarone wine, then having this liquid go through a second fermentation that can sometimes last for as long as 3 weeks. The result of this technique gives the wine an increased level of alcohol that clocks in around 14%, yet compared to a traditional Amarone, Ripasso wine will be a bit softer, fruitier and less tannic in its youth. The process of creating a Ripasso wine only occurs in exceptional vintage years. Think of Ripasso as being the “Baby Amarone” that you drink today.  The best part about this style of wine is that it costs a fraction of what you’d pay for an Amarone.  

I recently had the pleasure of trying one of these “Baby Amarones” and sure was kicking myself for passing them over time and time again in the past.  The 2006 Tezza Corte Majoli Valpolicella Ripasso is a terrific example of “Old World” winemaking with just the right splash of “New World” style to liven it up a bit.  This wine is made with a blend of estate grown grapes, mostly Corvina. The double fermentation or ‘Ripasso’ method gives this wine big fruit flavors that reminds one of ‘New World’ wine, but being Italian, there’s plenty of dried cherry and rich spicy flavors that let drinkers know where this baby was born.

We paired the 2006 Tezza Corte Majoli Valpolicella Ripasso with a lobster mac-n-cheese dish that was, in a nutshell, pretty fantastico!  The 2006 Tezza Corte Majoli Valpolicella Ripasso is an outstanding value for under $15.

3 Stars out of 4.

Share and Enjoy!

Hide Sites

From: South Africa

Price: $8.79

Full Disclosure:  I openly admit that I am personally not a big fan of most red wines from South Africa, especially Pinotage.  Why my beef with South African red wines you ask?  Because most that I’ve tasted over the years are just way too smoky for my liking.  So many that I’ve tried have made me feel as if I was smoking the wine rather than drinking them.  And since I refrain from smoking cigarettes and other peace pipe offerings, I’d also prefer not consuming any nicotine in my liquid libation just the same.

But on this occasion, I had a pre-op plan before heading down that all too familiar smoky mountain, South African road.  To be on the safe side, before opening up the 16 Hands Cabernet Sauvignon, I slapped on a nicotine patch just in case this South African red was ready to deal me a generous amount of smoky tobacco flavors that would bring back memories of my grandfather’s beloved Red Man chewing tobacco and one little boy eager to try a pinch, and afterwards turning green inside and out.

So with my patch in place, I was ready to give this red wine a worry-free whirl.

Thank goodness for the pre-plan, because the 2006 16 Hands Cabernet Sauvignon screamed smoky!  I was greeted with a decent punch of sweet cherry tobacco, cedar, and dark fruit that left me feeling a little green like my childhood experience.  Needless to say, the 2006 16 Hands Cabernet Sauvignon was not for me.  But if you don’t personally mind a shot of nicotine in your gut, I mean glass, then this red wine might be palatable to your taste buds.

I award the 2006 16 Hands Cabernet Sauvignon 2 stars out of 4.  I realize now that the “smoky factor” is a common and “natural” trait found in most South African red wines – especially Pinotage.  Unfortunately, that cherry tobacco cigar box flavor just doesn’t sit right with me.

WineLife365 Rating: 2-Star

Share and Enjoy!

Hide Sites

Price: $10.99

I, like so many other people, have truly enjoyed watching many of the cinematic masterpieces that Mr. Francis Ford Coppola has directed, produced or written over the years.  Some might argue that movies like the Godfather Trilogy, The Outsiders, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and Apocalypse Now are some of the greatest films ever made.

Sadly however, it only took two sips of the 2006 Rosso blended red table wine for my taste buds to admit that this public offering was not going to be one of Mr. Coppola’s finer pieces of work.  

The 2006 Francis Ford Coppola Rosso is comprised of 48% Zinfandel, 27% Syrah, and 25% Cabernet Sauvignon.  It delivers a rather disappointing and mediocre script of cherry-vanilla flavors.  To my palate, this wine seemed to lack solid fruit concentration and gusto to take it from being a snore to making it yet another Francis Ford Coppola hit.

Oddly enough, I did however find this wine to be more enjoyable on the second night when I paired it with a thick juicy piece of steak.  And based on how it tasted with the steak, I’d imagine that this red would probably deliver a decent performance with a plate of spaghetti and meatballs. 

In the end though, the 2006 Francis Ford Coppola Rosso was a dud for me.  It just didn’t  “make me an offer that I couldn’t refuse” to award it a higher WineLife365 rating than 2 stars out of 4 – even after two nights of convincing.

Share and Enjoy!

Hide Sites

From: Spain

Price: 10.99

So I have to tell you – I didn’t think that it was possible to find a Spanish dud from the Ribera Del Duero wine growing region in Spain.  I have a personal fondness for red wines that are produced in the Ribera Del Duero.  The climate in this Spanish region can be described as hot days and cool nights with moderate rains.  This type of climate makes for ideal growing conditions for tempranillo, the most widely planted red grape in Spain.

I love Spanish Tempranillo wines for their awesome ripe cherry flavor.  The winemakers that work with this grape know how to precisely integrate oak and spices to really make them enjoyable, food-friendly wines.

However, in my opinion, the 2006 Torremoron Tinto is a very poor display of the type of Tempranillo wine that one can purchase at this price level.  I found this Spanish Tinto to be rather bland, with nothing going on in the way of spices.  It was simply tasteless and boring.  Unfortunately, I’d have to say that the 2006 Torremoron Tinto is one of the worst Spanish red wines that I’ve tried in a while.

WineLife365 Rating: 1-Star

Share and Enjoy!

Hide Sites