After finishing two bottles of wine for WBW #32 - Regular vs. Reserve (post to follow), we moved on to the "after dinner" wine. I am a big fan of Di Majo Norante, a winery that produces a lineup of wines that seem to perfectly capture the passion and 'rusticity' I seek in an Italian wine. Norante's wines are also excellent values, and a nice change from barbera, sangiovese and corvina - their wines use aglianico, prugnolo and montepulciano grapes, amongst others.The 2003 Contado uses 100% aglianico grapes from the Molise region of Italy. A deep cherry red, the nose was dominated by tarry, nutty, and tannic aromas, with some background spiciness (cloves), musk, cedar, tobacco, mint and strawberries. Fully-bodied, with a very long finish, the leathery fruit masks the substantial tannin in this wine, which put it slightly off balance. I should have decanted this wine, the Contado should improve with some more bottle time. It was an excellent match for a game of cribbage and lightly salted pretzels. 13.5% alcohol
Score: 16/20
Cost: C$18 (LCBO)
Great Value!
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8 comments:
A cribbage match! Good on you.
Hey I'm having a hard time here with the WBW 32 theme. Care to toss out a few suggestions other than the one you're using for your entry?
BTW I was away from my computer all day April 1 -- generally a good idea -- but I seem to have missed your gag and now the Yellow Tail is back down between your blog's legs (getting trampled upon...?)
OK enough with that YT conceit. Any chance you can archive the YT gag so I can see it?
Saturday night cribbage with the Bro in Law - a tradition!
I just went straight to my cellar. Depends on what you want to do - how about Beaujolais Villages vs. Morgon? Or Crianza vs. Reserva (i.e. Montecillo). Or a Zenato Valpolicella vs. the Ripassa? Clavel Garrigues vs. Copa Santa? Moulin Lagrezette vs. Lagrezette? Let me know if that helps.
I won't put the gag as a post (too many hits, might be taken seriously), but I did put it in a response to the BKG.
Cheers!
These are good suggestions. Thanks for taking the time. I see now that the limits on this WBW have been lifted somewhat so that more Old World wines are eligible. I still wonder about how the theme seem to revolve around varietals though. Are any of those above varietal wines? I think I'm going to break that rule anyway. I'm looking at two Niagara Cabernet-Merlots from 2004 -- one is $12 the other is $20 -- both from the same producer. Seems like a good enough subject.
Looking forward to your entry,
Marcus
And I forgot to mention...
I'm liking the YT gag. But what's this about NOT wanting hits? Is that part of the gag too or is your wife finally having an affect on you? Don't we all want to be Internet famous, really?
Niagara is a good choice, as there are not likely to be many competitors. I know nothing about Niagara, so I cannot help there. (Okanagan yes, Niagara no)
Well, ok, maybe the not wanting hits was a stretching it, but I suspect the comments that come with a Yellow Tail joke are not desirable...
I thought WBW was today! It's written, and I almost posted it last night.
Cheers!
Sorry, I forgot - the Beaujolais are Gamay, the Spanish are tempranillo, the Zenatos are corvina, and the Lagrezette is Malbec dominated. Perhaps the Clavels differ slightly...
Joe,
I just saw the Montecillo Crianza and Reserva back-to-back on the shelf as if waiting to be blogged about for WBW 32. Perfect idea, and so are the Valpolicellas, though I too have already written up a little something for my Niag Cab-Mer's. I thought this would adhere to the idea of different level of wine but same year, same vineyard, same appellation, same producer, same grape varieties (the Beaujolais miss on the appellation front; the Clavels miss on vineyard; the Lagrezettes miss on grapes). But then I nosed around too much with my pendantry and discovered the worst of all discoveries -- the low-level Niag wine is "cellared in Canada" which is code for Chilean juice. I really thought I was more astute than this. I may need to demit all functions as wineblogger now.
Hi Marcus. Out of town, so sorry for the delay. I thought vineyard meant winery - it is not often that the reserve wines come from the same vineyard. As for the Lagrezette, is it really different when you have 70% or 80% Malbec? And I don't think the guy who organized said anything about appelations? Anyway, Cellared in Ontario is fine...
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