Birthday celebrations with Rotari and two strong Italian reds

For birthday it is good to have good food and wine and this time the food consisted of three different parmesans, a four year old, a three year old and a Modena bianco 30+ months and two different Pecorino, one stored in a grotta. Extras were parma ham and three different salamis.

The wines served for this food delight were all Italians. The first wine served were a sparkling wine from Trentino made by producer Mezzacorona and it is an old Rotari from 1996 which were sboccatura in 2013. The taste is very good. Strong citrus notes with some apples followed by bread notes. Excellent wine and it is fun to taste an older Italian sparkling wine. I have to admit that this wine were all drank before the food as it was such an easy drinking.

The first wine together with the food were something new for me. A Brunello di Montalcino by producer Castiglion del Bosco from 2008. Very strong wine that goes very well together with the food. Tastes of cherries, dark berries with a hint of tobacco. Very interesting.

The next wine is an amarone, Castelforte Amarone della Valpolicella from 2007. Now this wine is very complex and also has very strong flavous and it also goes very well with the food. Wonderful wine. Both of these red wines need food or they will be to strong.

Eiswein and two Italians

I have a love for icewines but unfortunately they are hard to find and often very expensive due to the way they are produced. This time I had the the chance to try an icewine by weingut Krughof made from Reisling grapes from 2007. The smell as always is very good for a an icewine. The taste if of riesling, deep and mineralic. Unfortunately there is almost no aftertaste and leaves a very sugary feeling in my mouth, leaving me dissapointed.

Recently I have tried several different Italian sparkling wines. This time it is a Prosecco by producer Pizzolato. The taste is dry with just small taste of pear. Not the best one I have had but okay for its price.

The last wine of the day is Macrina. A wine by producer Garofoli and made from Verdicchio grapes from the region Marche in Italy or Verdicchio dei castelli Jesi. It is a very nice wine and it need some food to go with it. Sea food would have been the perfect accompaniment.

Only 12 euros or the second cheapest wine

I tend to avoid buying bag in box wines as I like to try out many different wines than drinking one wine. But sometime you are offered the chance to drink the second cheapest wine or 12 euro and good.

The wine 12 euro und gut is a white wine that cost 12 euro and is a decent drinking wine. Unfortunately no aftertaste but for that maybe I need to find one that cost 15 euro und sehr gut?

Donnafugata Tancredi and two other Italian wines

The wineproducer Donnafugata from Sicily makes an excellent passito wine from Pantelleria and that got me interested in Donnafugata. Unfortunately their wine has been hard to find in Sweden but finally I found their wine Tancredi for sale. Tancredi is a powerful red wine. It is from 2008 and the grapes used is a mix of Cabernet Sauvignon, Nero d'Avola and some other grapes. The alcohol content is around 13%. Has a very strong nose and the taste is of cacao and red cherries. This strong wine goes well with meats or flavourful pasta dishes. Will be interesting to taste the other wines from donnafugata if I can find them. Next time I will try to find one of their white dry wines.

When in Bologna I bought a bottle Chardonnay made by producer Cossentino in Sicily. It is from 2010 and the nose is of apples and some hints of herbs. The taste is very sharp and dry at first but the sharpness goes away and leaves almost an oxidised taste. Should it be like that or is it a defect? Will never know as I only have one bottle. But this wine would have worked very well with seafood which would have takes away some of the sharpness.

And finally I have tasted a bottle from Collis, an extra dry Prosecco.Works well as an apeteriff and the taste is dry with notes of apples.

La Galtiere Cuvee Prestige

The Normandy area in France produces some of the best ciders in the world and I saw that Systembolaget had gotten some new ciders from Normandy. At last a chance to try some new ones. The one I tasted is La Galotiere Cuvee Prestige  with an alcohol level of 5%. It is from the area Pays d'Auge which is also famous for the Camenbert cheeses. The smell is vcery clear and distinct. The apple flavours cames straight through. The taste is very sharp and is full of apples as the Normandy ciders are famous for. A bit of honey also I can feel in the taste. Very good and goes very well with pork. Highly recommended.

Four Italians

I have had the choice to test a couple of different wines the last month. First up is La Vis Gewürztraminer. I didn't have much expectations for this wine as it was very cheap but to my suprise it were very nice. Very light and tastes of elderberries and spices. Perfect as an aperitif wine.

Next wine is from the beautiful medieval town of San Gimignano, a so called vernaccia San Gimignano by producer I Mocali and from 2008. Very good and a bit stronger than the Vernaccia I had in Sam Gimignano. Not as much bitter almond in the finish but a very strong clear flavour. Unfortunately it is very hard to find this wine in Sweden.

The third wine is an older wine from Valpolicella from the year 2000. It is by producer Vigneti di Torbe and is a ripasso wine. This bottle has the label Domini Veneti, aka the golden era which is  a label for good wines by Cantina Valpolicella Negrar. Now this Vigneti di Torbe is very strong and it took at least half an hour for the wine to open up in the glass. When it did it was majestic. Strong black currant taste and a long finish. Would go really well together with red meat.

When eating an Italian dessert, panatone from Siena, what better wine to go with it then an Italian sweet wine and this time it was a Recioto Di Soave. Good taste and worked very well together with the dolci.

Sparkling wine from Luxembourg

A first time for me, a sparkling wine from Luxembourg and the first ever wine I have drank from that country. I like sparkling wines as it brings a fun factor to a dinner. This Bernard-Massard Brut is a good wine and have undertones of bread so it is a good wine to have with food. I would not choose it as an aperitif wine

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