Week Three - Life Through Rosado Colored Glasses

If I had share just one thing I have learned in the past few weeks of this project it would be that if you want lots of choices and aren't flush with cash you should head to the Spanish section of your wine store. Sure there are good things coming out of South America, South Africa and elsewhere around the world; but Spain is putting out a lot of good wine at the $10 price point. With guidance from some wine clerks at my local wine store I started doing some exploration of Spanish wines and bought a pair of reds and a pair of roses (or Spanish rosad0 wines). All four are from the same region in the northeast of Spain. Their Denominacion de Origen (DO) is Calatayud, a small region near the better known Rioja. I learned that the DO is an official classification system used for wines in Spain but also applies to fine foods, such as olive oil.

This week was full of ups and downs for us after attending an unexpected family funeral early in the week and continuing to muddle through unseasonably cold and rainy weather that was no good for the spirits. However, on Friday afternoon the weather turned sunny and near 80 degrees; something that felt like an unexplainable gift. We made an impromptu trip to Target and bought chairs and a table for the front porch of our relatively new house to celebrate the coming of nice weather. We enjoyed the remains of last week's wines of Friday evening with some cheese. On Saturday, we ran in a road race in the morning, I mowed the lawn and then settled in to open up two bottles. The two rosados were already chilled and seemed like the perfect fit. We opened the two noted below and enjoyed a glass of each on the porch before heading to dinner with some work friends.

The first wine that I tasted was the 2007 Tres Ojos Rosado. It is a blend of Garnacha and Tempranillo grapes. It was fruity and had some sweetness to it, but was perfect for a warm afternoon. The strawberry really comes through but isn't overpowering and we're looking forward to enjoying it with a few meals this week. Kysela Pere et Fils website has some great information on the region and this particular winemaker, you can check out their link at: http://www.kysela.com/spain/tresojos.htm

The Bottle: 2007 Tres Ojos Rosado

Price: $8.99

Would I Buy This Wine Again: I would. Too many people ignore rose wines in favor of reds and whites. They can be a great pairing with foods and this one is a real value.

The second wine I picked up was the 2007 Cruz de Piedra Garnacha Rosado. I chose this simply because it was also a rose from the Calatayud DO. Matt tasted this one first and then the Tres Ojos second. I think he put it best in saying that the Tres Ojos is sweet like cake but the Cruz de Piedra was sweet like icing. Too much so for me. The difference is that this wine is 100% Garnacha and didn't have the Tempranillo to add the slightly more austere quality that the Tres Ojos had. This was also fruity and tasting notes describe almost identically to the Tres Ojos (raspberry and strawberry notes). One intersting suprise on this wine was the synthetic cork - it's bright pink!

The Bottle: 2007 Cruz de Piedra Garnach Rosado

Price: $6.99
Would I Buy This Wine Again: I don't think so, especially if I had to choose between this and the Tres Ojos. This one is a little one dimensional.

Week Two - If You Want a Good $10 Bottle - Insist on it!

This week has been fun in terms of really getting into this project. I've bought a few wines for the upcoming weeks and begun to think more about how I want to structure this next year and the blog. I've also learned a few things too.

First, I've learned that I am really lucky to have a decent sized wine store nearby that really caters to this price point. To really appreciate my local wine store I had to visit another one to realize how great I've got it here. In town my go to store is Big Red Liquors, affectionately named to reference the Indiana University Hoosiers since the university is located here in Bloomington. When I've told some of the wine guys at Big Red about my project, they were excited to show off some of their favorites. It's here that I bought the Santa Ema Merlot that I'll write about below.

However, I went up to Indianapolis last weekend for a little day trip and stopped into a liquor store up there. I'll omit the store's name in the event that my experience was an anomaly. I excitedly told the first person who offered to help about my project and rather than responding with excitement or even going to look for a bottle, he told me that I should change the project to wines in the $10 to $20 range. WHAT?! Of course I should be able to buy decent bottles in that range, that's not a challenge at all for me or for him. If I wasn't doing this blog I think I would have been embarrassed and shamed into buying a $15 bottle when I really didn't want to. But, since I'm on a mission I smiled politely and said I know that would be easier but that's not what I needed. After wondering around the store for a bit he found a "staff favorite" that was on big display in the middle of the store - now that wasn't so hard after all. This is the Chateau La Rose Du Pin, a French white that I'll write about below.

I have a few pairs that I'll be reviewing in the coming weeks. In these few that I have coming up there is a similarity between them; they're the same varietal or from the same region. However these two have very little in common other than they're both half empty bottles in my kitchen and won't even be that for much longer!

We tried the Santa Ema, a Chilean Merlot last night before and during dinner. It's from the Maipo Valley region of Chile which is located in the central part of the country. The label describes how the founder of the winery moved to Chile from Italy and placed emphasis on making the best wine possible in Chile using the Italian wine making tradition. Well - I think they did. It was robust and full and stood up nicely to the pasta with chicken I was eating. It would be great with a steak or red meat.

The Bottle: 2006 Santa Ema Reserve Merlot

Price: $9.99
Would I Buy This Wine Again: Definitely. This would make a great host/hostess gift at a dinner party.

The second bottle was the "staff favorite" from the liquor store in Indianapolis I mentioned above and is called the (Blanc/White). I'm really glad I copied down the tasting notes at the store because there are none on the bottle and I couldn't find anything on the internet. Most notably, I couldn't identify the varietals of the wine and know only that it's from Bordeaux. The notes at the store described it as having a nose of grapefruit and cut grass and an herbaceous finish. I definitely picked up on the grapefruit nose and the finish is fresh. The herb/cut grass almost became too much for me but I still enjoyed the bottle.

The Bottle: 2007 Chateau La Rose Du Pin (white)

Price: $9.99

Would I Buy This Wine Again: Probably. My husband Matt really liked it and it would make a nice accompaniment to a summer meal.

Week One - The Bottle That Started It All

On a Thursday evening, after coming back from a run after work that was capped off by a quickly approaching thunderstorm I hurried in the house thinking only about dinner. It was 8 o’clock and we ordered a pizza from local restaurant that delivers good food and fast. A beer sounded like the perfect accompaniment but we were out and so I opened a bottle of 2007 Resonata Nero D’Avola that my husband, Matt, bought and had sitting on the counter. It was wonderful and perfect with the pizza. After my second glass I pressed him about how much he had paid for this bottle – if it wasn’t outrageous I knew I wanted more! To my luck and surprise he paid just $7.99 for the bottle. I remarked that in a blind tasting I easily would have believed it was a $50 bottle and quipped that if this was so good I don’t think I ever want to pay more than $10 a bottle again. Matt suggested that maybe we shouldn’t – for a whole year. In an instant it seemed that this would be a great challenge for us. I vowed not to buy any wine that costs over $10 per bottle for one year and to try at least one new bottle each week. So, this is week one and the bottle that started it all.

Perhaps the most fun part of this challenge is that it is forcing me to educate myself about wine. There is certainly enough information on the internet and in my local wine stores for a good start. We found the 2007 Nero D’Avola to smell fruity and floral on the nose and even more so in the mouth. On www.kysela.com they describe the wine as being heavy with blackberry, cherry and plum. The blackberry resonated most with me on the palate and the finish. It comes from Sicily, a large island that lies just off the tip of Italy’s boot. The nero d’avola is a type of grape that grows naturally in Sicily.

The Bottle: 2007 Resonata Nero D'Avola

Price: $7.99
Would I Buy This Wine Again: Definitely! But not for a year, I’m trying something new each week.