Our first rose from Provence was the Mathilde Chapoutier Grand Ferrage 2018 which was a blend of many grapes including Grenache, Cinsaut, Syrah, and Vermentino (listed as Rolle).
While this one had a relatively light flavor profile, we enjoyed the bottle of this all the same- especially with a heaping plate of homemade paella!
Any time we try a new grape for The Grape Pursuit project is a day worth celebrating, and cracking open the Planeta Frappato 2018 marked one such day.
This Sicilian red is known for being fairly light in body and packing full of delightful red fruit. In this case, we got a wealth of strawberry!
Normally when we try a Shiraz, we expect a full-body, fairly tannic wine. But the Torbreck Woodcutter's Shiraz 2018 from Australia was actually a bit less intense in both of those categories and actually caught us by surprise!
If you are a fan of wine with intense herb and spice notes, Gratavinum's 2Ï€r from Priorat, Spain is for you. This one is a blend of Grenache, Carignan, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah and is taglined “the well rounded wine” to play off of its name.
While we thought the 2016 vintage could do with more aging beyond the 4-year age we enjoyed it at, this one was simply intriguing.
If we were told to randomly pick a favorite French white, odds are good it would be Vouvray. This wine (comprised of Chenin Blanc grape) is often loaded with intense flavors that run the gamut from dry and acidic to sweet and mellow.
One bottle we absolutely fell in love with was the Chateau de Montfort Vouvray. We had first had a 2017 vintage of this one and immediately rushed out to purchase the 2018 vintage to enjoy shortly thereafter. In this review, we're going to be speaking on the 2018 vintage which we paired with a seafood feast.
We're diving into the world of Chardonnay thanks to a modest collection in our cellar, and recently cracked open a bottle of Chamisal Vineyard's Stainless Steel Chardonnay 2018.
While we wish this one would've had a bit more going on when sipping, we have to admit it went down fast all the same.
We have a soft spot for Gewurztraminer as this grape can offer some wonderful flavors with interesting floral notes that you do not get with many other varietals.
It only took a couple of sniffs and sips of the Pierre Sparr Gewurztraminer 2017 for us to realize that this bottle had all that (and then some) and was among the most intense Gewurztraminers we've had to date!
One of our goals in starting The Grape Pursuit was to try and find new varietals of wine we've never had with hopes that some would quickly become new favorites.
It only took a few sips into the Oro de Castilla Verdejo 2018 to know that this is a grape varietal we want to experience many more bottles of in the future.
This is simply a delicious wine!
Every once in a while we come upon a great wine deal and pick up a bottle purely because it is an attractive price compared to national averages.
Costa Di Bussia's Barbera d'Alba 2017 was one such bottle. While the flavor notes felt a bit one dimensional to us, it did pair quite well with a mushroom and truffle polenta with tallegio. A true Northern Italian pairing if there ever was one!
I was fortunate enough to visit a tasting room for Poggio Amorelli in Italy in 2019. I found myself here while on a Walks of Italy Tuscany day tour that included, Siena, San Gimignano, and the winery (a tour we cannot recommend highly enough even if the specific winery may vary). During our stopover, I was able to sample many of their products with a massive feast and put an order in for a few bottles to be shipped home.
One of these bottles was their Chianti Classico Reserva 2016 which we popped open to enjoy with a nice steak dinner in 2020.
