Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Wino, I'm in Ontario so would be interested in your favourites. I will however admit to a fairly unsophisticated palette (sp?) for wine. We tend to drink chianti/valpolicella type wines in red, too much tannin give me migraines. And for whites I drink pinot grigio and sometimes a verdicchio. We also like 3 buck chuck when we can bring it home.
We used to make wine then stopped when the place went out of business but I just did 2 batches at a wine place in Toronto (thanks to a great groupon deal) so have 60 bottles to bottle ready in a couple of weeks. We'll hopefully age half till next summer. All depends on how good the weather is this summer.

Hi,

We continue to enjoy the unknown varietals of Spain and Italy. We had a wonderful Godello from Spain tonight (Castello du Papa 2009) which is a 90 point Wine Advocate selection at $13. More body than expected, delightful balanced with some minerality.

Tim

Well, wino, went to the liquor store and ended up bringing home a bottle of Veuve Cliquot. I'll admit, not the first time I fell prey to that impulse, but I blame you this time, you planted the seed in my head. Haven't decided what to drink it with yet, but I liked popcorn last time Hey, it is gourmet red popcorn at least (it really is good, quite firm and a very nice crunch)

I'll look for this. I'm with you...there are a number of fantastic wines (and bargains too) coming out of these two countries.

Amy

Hey, Tim, have you tried the Vina Zaco Rioja? All tempranillo, not much tannin but a hearty mouthful. It's one of our house reds (defined as under $15/bottle) and goes with an amazing amount of things.

Howdy, all. Back from the Amador wine country.

In fact, one of the best wines we got out there was the Narrow Gate Primitivo. Drank it already; an excellent, robust wine which stands up well to spicy foods and rustic Italian dishes (we drank it with a grilled vegetable pasta). http://www.narrowgatevineyards.com/wines.php

We also came back with a lot of grenache, and Roussane, a white grape which was new to me, but makes an excellent dry white wine.

I've never had a vianello, verdejo, or insolia. What are they like?

No comment on Kenji's tastings. Those are all wines I don't like, so I can't distinguish between them. Unoaked Chardonnay for the win!

Fuzzy,

Verdejo is grown in the Rueda region in Spain. The best of these are a quite intense with nicely balanced minerality. The premier producer is Martinsancho; I have not seen this wine. We see lots of Naia and Shaya verdejo.

The grape is also grown in South America (verdeho) and Australia (verdelho). Both are quite fruity,spicy and grassy. Not my favorite combination.

My NYC son has some real expertise with Italian wines. I have a list of not yet tasted whites which include Vianello, Italian Kerner, Arneis, Terlaner, Tocai (not Tokay) and Alto Adige Chardonnay.

Insolia or Inzolia, is grown in Sicily with Grillo, Catarrato. These grapes are blended to make Marsala. Insolia's are fruity, creamy and tart wines. Most good liquor stores carry one of Cusumano's wines with really cool ($1.50) glass stoppers.

Tim

that's where my family hails from. I will confess to buying wines from there soley for sentimental reasons but so think that the pinot grigios from there are the best.

Jean,

Your family is from the Alps?

La Grein is one of my favorite reds.

Fuzzy - Dolomites. Trentino Alto Adige - Val di Non. A little slice of heaven. My parents come from towns 15 minutes apart with a mountain between them and their dialects are pretty different. Head 2 towns up the mountain from my dad's village and everyone speaks German.