Jaume Serra Cristalino Brut Cava

Photo courtesy Vinos García Carrión

My sweetie and I have been sipping lots of bubbly lately, and have become very fond of the Spanish Jaume Serra Cristalino cava. I enjoy a glass before dinner, or to celebrate a sunny day, or just because it’s above 45 degrees.

The wine is pale gold, and has a slightly floral aroma with a hint of lemon. It has lots of tiny bubbles while on the tongue and a minerally taste with a short but pleasant finish. I’ve been trying to understand the concept of “balanced” in wine parlance – I think this is it.  It has the right amount of bubbles, aroma, acid, and aftertaste. The word that describes this cava is crisp. It goes well on its own, with orange juice for mimosas, or with nearly any dinner. Really, is there anything that doesn’t go with sparkling wine?

The great thing about this wine is that it’s non-vintage, it’s Spanish, and it’s not well known, so it’s very inexpensive. I’ve found it at our local wine shop and New Seasons for $7 or so.

The grapes that make up this cava are Parellada, Macabeo, and Xarel-lo. They’re grown on a  slope in Cataluña that descends toward the Mediterranean, near Barcelona.

Salud! Or menja bé, caga fort i no tinguis por a la mort! which translates to something like “Eat well, shit strongly and don’t be afraid of death!” The Catalans are fond of defecation humor. A polite “salut” will also do.

Recchia Le Muraie Valpolicella Classico Superiore 2005

One of my Christmas presents was a trip to Portland Wine Merchants, a local wine store that has a decent selection of inexpensive, sometimes offbeat wines, many of which are European. It was great fun wandering around looking at all the choices. I selected some French reds and this Italian valpolicella. We also saw one of our go-to cavas there, which I’ll share with you in a later post.

Wine: Le Muraie Ripasso Valpolicella Doc Classico Superiore
Vintage: 2005
Winery: Recchia This family owned winery is located in Veneto, close to Lake Garda in northern Italy.
Grapes: 70% corvina Veronese, 25% rondinella, 5% sangiovese
Alcohol content: 14%

The color of this wine was a pretty, dark red. The aroma reminded me of ripe cherries and black pepper. The taste was pleasant, with some tannins and a bit of pepper at the back of the throat. The finish was fairly short. After letting the bottle aerate for a bit, it was mellower and very drinkable. With a bit of brie, it was wonderful. Definitely something I’ll buy again.

2009 Black Label Diamond Collection Francis Coppola Claret

My sweet husband gave me a bottle of Francis Coppola claret for our anniversary. I’ve seen the term used most often to describe red wine in stories by English authors; it generally refers to a bordeaux but this wine is from California.

The wine was a deep, inky purple; very opaque. The aroma was like a subtle perfume – orange blossoms and ripe bananas are what I percieved. I enjoyed sniffing it more than I do most wines because the fragrance was wonderful yet subtle.

I took my first taste after it’d only been out of the bottle for a minute or two. It was pleasantly tannic. After being exposed to the air for about 20 minutes, the tannins softened, and the wine tasted wonderful. It has a bit of acidity, a bit of tannin, and enough body to eat with a steak. The aroma adds to the mix, making it a more complex wine than I usually drink. I’d definitely drink this again. It was a gift, so I’m not going to look up the price, but let’s just say it’s not our usual $6 swill.

Grapes: Blend: 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Petit Verdot, 5% Malbec, 3% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc

Sangiovese and a bit of Fellini

Montetauro Colli Di Rimini Sangiovese

We bought a bottle of this wine in Bologna for a picnic in our room one evening. The color was a deep purple and smelled like ripe figs with an earthy undertone. (Actually, my notes say“ripe figs and meat”.”) The wine was acidic with a medium finish. It was a pleasant wine with food but by itself it may be too acidic for some tastes. We drank it with Italian cheeses and some good crusty bread, which complemented each other nicely.

Podere Vecciano sangiovese

It was interesting to that learn this wine is from Rimini (bottled or produced?), a town and province on the Adriatic Sea in Italy. We didn’t make it there this trip, but it’s high on our list because it’s where Federico Fellini was born and raised.  He’s one of my favorite directors and his film I Vitteloni is one of my favorites. It’s a 1953 post-war comedy about five 20-something guys aimlessly living their lives in a small town and hoping to escape. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

I Vitteloni

At the Costume Party

Lazy Bones Cabernet Franc

Wine makes daily living easier, less hurried, with fewer tensions and more tolerance. – Benjamin Franklin

The label on this wine completely seduced me.  I love the name of the wine, Lazy Bones, since lazing is one of my favorite activities. I was intrigued.  (I know full well a pretty/clever/artistic label does not mean a wine has any merit, but I appreciate a funny name and a pretty label.) The illustration shows the outline of a nude woman lounging. What a life! An end of the day glass of wine relaxes me and makes the transition from work to the comfort of home more  pleasant. And who wouldn’t want to lounge around all day drinking wine?

When I held this glass up to the light, it was a deep ruby red. The aroma was of prunes and earth, so I knew it’d be more Old World than the less earthy New World kinds of wine. I made the mistake of taking a sip only minutes after I opened it – I got a mouth full of tannin and my tongue felt very fuzzy though the actual taste was good. The magic that comes from letting wine be exposed to air was apparent when I tasted it a few hours later. It was a robust, slightly tannic wine that I liked with a bit of Manchego Viejo cheese. I’ll definitely buy this again but I’ll let it breathe for a few hours before the first sip. It’s from Trader Joe’s, so there’s the usual caveat that your bottle may differ significantly.

Thirst Wine Bar & Bistro

I met some colleagues at Thirst Wine Bar at the RiverPlace on the waterfront tonight,  a place I don’t go to often enough. It’s just outside my usual geographic range but I always like the wine, the service, and the food. Tuesday nights they have a wine flight and cheese pairing, so I tried three wines and three cheeses.

Thirst’s Willamette White (Chardonnay and Viogner) with Rogue Oregon Blue
Witness Tree Pinot Noir with Goat’s Gouda from Holland
Oswego Hills Cabernet Sauvignon with Beecher’s Flagship cheddar from Seattle

My favorite pairing was  with the Beecher’s  Flagship cheddar with the Cabernet.  The flavors complemented each other so nicely.

I didn’t take notes at the time, and couldn’t remember the wines’ names so I emailed one of the co-owners, Leslie Palmer, who emailed me back very promptly telling me what the flights and cheeses were that night. Even more good service!

If you haven’t been to Thirst, go! Thursdays nights they pour tastes from 5-8, and you can try all kinds of wonderful wine. Their happy hour is really nice, too.  My next goal is to get my husband to join me for dinner…