A trip to Spain was in store with this week’s wine, Rioja to be exact. As with several previous weeks, Wine Awesomeness was sending me on a journey to a place I had never been before with a wine varietal I had never tried. Therefore, the research began. There are four main levels when it comes to Rioja wines. It starts with the Rioja level and then moves upward to Crianza, then Reserva, and finally Gran Reserva. In the case of this wine, a Crianza, I learned that these wine generally age in oak barrels for six months to a…
Category: Red
Zazou Minervois
Moving back to the Wine Awesomeness monthly box this week, meant trying another type of wine that I had never seen before. This time, it was a Minervois. I quickly discovered that Minervois is an appellation, the title given to a specifically styled product from a specific place or region, for red wines in western Languedoc France. Although the Minervois title is usually bestowed upon red wines, it also covers rosés and white wines as well. This wine was made up of the most prominent varietals for the region. It was 60% Syrah, 30% Grenache, and 10% Mouvedre. * It…
Murrieta’s Well Red Blend
It was time for another “Out of the Box” week. This week, I was still sourcing my bottles from the haul that my husband had surprised me with and I chose a red blend from Livermore Valley. I had never heard of Livermore Valley before, so I started my research there. Livermore Valley is about 30 miles east of San Francisco, CA. It is one of California’s oldest regions, with grapes first being planted there by Spanish missionaries in the 1760s. However, it wasn’t until almost 100 years later that pioneers began planting there. Then in 1889, the valley earned…
Shatter Grenache
This week marked the end of the parade of Portuguese wines. I was ready to move on. We had also been having a cold few days so I had made a pot of chili and was ready to get down to work. This bottle of Grenache was gorgeous for starters. The label felt like a printed work of art and I know it sounds funny, but the chosen font appealed to me. I had never tried Grenache before so I started in on my research. There are three main types of Grenache wine, Spanish, French, and American. While Spanish and…
Caves Velhas Cardeal Selected Harvest Red
Well I can honestly say, that this week I had no idea what to expect from my last wine from Portugal. My first red was no good, but the second bottle, which was a white, turned out to be amazing. I was a little nervous about trying a second red, but I figured that an entire region would not be able to let me down twice right? This red was also made from a selection of Portuguese grapes. It was 35% Tinta-Roriz, 35% Alfrocheiro, and 30% Touriga-Nacional. I hoped that this would turn out to be one of the “elegant…
Caves Velhas Vinho Tinto
I received my next box from Wine Awesomeness this week and inside I found all Portuguese wines. I had never tried any Portuguese wines, so I was quite eager to get down to business on these. The first I chose from the box was the Caves Velhas Vinho Tinto. This red wine was made from a mixture of three different grapes. It was 35% Touriga-Nacional, 35% Tinta-Roriz, and 30% Touriga-Franca. After a little research, I discovered that Portugal is famous for Port. Which makes sense right? Port? Portugal? HaHa! Anyway… I went back to my Wine Awesomeness box to see…
Fall Creek Vineyards Tempranillo
This week marked another week for an “Out of the Box” wine. This was a wine that my husband picked up for me while driving home from a business trip. He stopped at the famous Salt Lick BBQ in Driftwood, TX for lunch and saw that they had set up a cellar shop next door. Since, my husband knows me well, he knew he would have to pick me up a bottle. I knew that tempranillo grapes were popular for growing in Texas, but I was not exactly sure why. The research ensued! As it turns out, Texas is not…
Prodigo Nero d’Avola
At first glance I fell in love with this bottle from Prodigo. At the time, I did not need to know that it was from Sicily or that it was made from the most important red wine grapes. * All I needed to know was that this dark tinted bottle and beautiful gold filigree was speaking to me. I found I had to pull myself away from that intriguing stamp that resembled a wax seal from the Middle Ages. This small touch was also decorated with gold filigree and seemed to look out at me just as I was looking…
La Pinot Pinot Noir
This week was an exciting one. I got a new box from Wine Awesomeness and inside I discovered that they had partnered with a winery in order to create their own wine. My first thought was this is either going to be very good or possibly very bad. Of course I had to try this one first, so I pulled it out and began my research. After some research, I found that Wine Awesomeness had made this wine in collaboration with Carrier Wines. * However, all I could really find on Carrier Wines was a Facebook page with a link…
Cellar el Masroig Vi Novell
I have tried a few Spanish wines in the past and I found them to be about average. I was hoping this week would change my mind, as I would be trying a red blend from Monsant, Spain. Vi Novell is Catalan for “New Wine” and is released in celebration of San Marti on November 11th. This wine blends Grenache, Carignan, and Syrah. * As the story of San Marti goes, he was living as a soldier and one night he came across a beggar with no clothing. He cut his own cloak in half and wrapped the beggar in…