Thinking About Obscure Regions and Varietals

Posted on January 25, 2007 by Sonadora

Yes, these are the types of thoughts that run through my head when I am sitting in a fairly dull training class all week. If I get lucky, I’ll remember them at lunch time so I can jot some notes down, and that’s what happened today (yay for lunch, the bright spot in an otherwise deadly boring day).

So as I sat in training, mesmorized, of course, by the topic at hand (types of government contracts and the risk assumed by the government based on each type, thrilling, huh?) my mind was running over some of the more obscure wines I’ve had lately. And I was wondering, what is the most obscure region or varietal you have tried in recent memory?

I didn’t write about this one (or at least I’m fairly certain I didn’t….I can’t find it if I did) but we had a red (forgive me, the type is slipping my mind) from Bulgaria this year. We have this kind of kitschy little Bulgarian place near our apartment building (very tasty and interesting food, especially for a cold night) and they carry Bulgarian wine on the menu. I remember thinking it was really reasonably priced for a restaurant ($18) and I really enjoyed the bottle, though it did need to be a touch cooler. I’d drink it again, and next time I’d remember. I think that was easily the most obscure region from which I’ve tasted a bottle.

So the question remains, what varietal or region has been your most obscure?

Filed under: Misc, Wine | 5 Comments »

WBW #30 Announced (Already!)

Posted on January 25, 2007 by Sonadora

And it’s soon, so get cracking on this assignment! Though I think it will be much easier this month to find a wine that fits!

WBW will be hosted by Tim of Wine Cast this month. You can find all the details over on Wine Cast in this post. The date is February 7th. That’s soon! Our assignment is to drink and review a bottle of New World Syrah/Shiraz….so really, from anywhere in the United States, Australia, South America, etc……there are definetly a lot of bottles to choose from. But still, only about 2 weeks to get on this one. Same deal as always, drink your wine and send your review to Tim on February 7th.

I’m pretty sure we have a few (cough, cough, I have a very loose definition of “a few”) bottles of Syrah hanging around from our trip. In fact, we drank a fabulous one from Quivira just the other night. It was the star of the wines of our dinner party and I’ll be happy to try one of our other Syrahs for this WBW. Thanks to Tim for hosting!

Filed under: Red, Shiraz, Syrah, WBW, Wine Cast | 2 Comments »

Drinking by my lonesome

Posted on January 25, 2007 by Sonadora

Last night Matt had to work very late and I still wanted a glass of wine to go with my Asian Basa filet. (Yummy fish by the way, I just sautee it lightly in a bit of butter, some salt and pepper.) I was originally planning to drink some Chantilly from Swedenburg with this meal, but we only have the one bottle and aren’t likely to head back out there anytime soon.

The wine I chose instead was a 2004 Mauritson Dry Creek Valley Sauvignon Blanc. Picked this up at Mauritson for $12.80, has a real cork closure and is 13.5% alcohol by volume.

On the nose there is citrus, green pepper, and grass.

In the mouth, it’s a little spicy, with some lime. As I made my way through my glass and a half (really, I had no chance of drinking much more than that if I wanted to be functioning at work) I thought some pineapple showed itself in the mouth. The wine has great acidity and structure and an excellent finish full of citrus. It’s a very thirst-quenching wine and I can just picture drinking this on a hot summer day by the pool.

Filed under: Mauritson, Sauvignon Blanc, White | Comments Off on Drinking by my lonesome