It has been a while since I drank French wine and when going through some wine in the corner of the cellar I found a bottle of Rochemorin from 2005, which I had totally forgotten about. It had been there for almost five years. Chateau De Rochemorin is in the region of Pessac-Leognan in Bordeaux and is a Grand Vin de Bordeaux. The colour is very dark straw yellow. It has a big taste of gooseberries. I had it with lentil soup and it overpowered the soup and also were to strong for pork schnitzel. However, it went well with breasola with Parmigana cheese.
The Italian wine Michele Chiaro from DOCG Gavi is a bit similar to the Rochemorin but lighter. But this wine is younger, from 2011. The colour is light straw yellow with some hint of green. It also has a taste of gooseberries but with stronger notes of citrus and a very dry aftertaste. A good wine.
I found the wine Regaleali Bianco so good that I bought Regaleali Nero D'Avola from producer Tasca D'Almerita in the middle of Sicily. Next time I visit Sicily I will see if I can visit this producer. As usual this Nero D'Avola wine is very dark in colour. The taste is of black currants, dark cherries, cacao and liquorice and the taste lingers in the mouth afterwards. Nice wine.
Marche is famous for its Verdicchio wines but this time I try a different wine. It is a wine made from the grape Pecorino and the wine is called Ofithe by producer Monarco. And the denomination is "Offida Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita Pecorino", Italians have such short names.
The wine is of a straw yellow colour with almost a greenish tinge. The taste is of pear, citrus with a long acidity bitter after taste. Works well with food.
I am trying wines from the different regions of Italy and this time it is Sicily yet again with one red wine and one white wine.
The red wine is a wine made from the grape Nero D'Avola from producer Cantine Minini caalled Coste dei Mori. The colour is a dark ruby red. The smell is good and the taste is of black currants and liquorice. It is smooth and good.
The white wine Regaleali Bianco is from producer Tasca d´Almerita. It is clear and slighty yellow and the wine is made from the grapes Catarratto, Grecanico, Inzolia, which are local Sicilian varieties. It has a taste of apples, pears and citrus and it feels very fresh. A delight to drink.
A riesling from Germany is never wrong and to drink something that is not available from Systembolaget is nice. Adam Müller is a wine producer of nine generations in Baden. The wine is a Leimener Herrenberg Kabinett made of Riesling from 2011. The colour is straw yellow and it smells of citrus. It tastes of citrus, grapefruit and minerals. There is a very long strong aftertaste of grapefruit. Very good.
I watched Youtube and saw an episode called Discover the wines of southern Italy. It is made by a television companyfrom Ontario Canada and it is very nice and informative. In this episode they go through the wines of southern Italy starting with Sicily and going up into Campania and Puglia.
The good thing about this series is that when they go through the different regions they take time to go through the grape specialties of each region. When talking about Campania the program talked about the grape aglianico which produce red wines of high quality. That gave me the inspiration to try it out.
Taurasi is a DOGC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita) area in Campania where the red wines are made aglianico grape. For a normal Taurasi wine it has to be stored at least three years of which one year is in a wooden barrel. For the Taurasi wines I looked at were all from 2008 so they are stored even longer before being sold. It has a very good storage capability.
I got my hands on a Taurasi by producer Feudi Di San Gregorio from 2008. Here the wine had been stored in wooden barrels for 18 months before being bottled. Everything is written in Italian on the label which means it is not made for the Swedish import market. The smell is very nice, cherries and dark berries. The colour is dark almost ruby red and looks pleasing to the eye The taste of dark berrmies and liquorice and an aftertaste that stays in the mouth. A very rich wine with nice tannins and would taste even better if stored for a couple of more years. Definitely need food with this wine. Why not a lamb roast or a red wine risotto?
I will buy several more bottles of this wine for storage and also will try out some more of the other brands. Unfortunately only four at Systembolaget here in Sweden.
Sicily may not be that known for wine but one grape that is famous is the Nero d'Avola. It is the only grape with red pigmentation in the fruit meat which means that one can only make red wines using Nero d'Avola. Producer Planeta has a wine called Plumbago made by the grape Nero d'Avola from 2011. It has a very good taste of red fruits, cacao and some plums. Not to strong and works very well with Mediterranean food. Not as deep red colour as red wines can have.
