Storm Wine!

Well most of Atlantic Canada got pummeled by a snow storm this past week.  And they are calling for another one today!  So I was thinking, it’s only the middle of January – it probably won’t be the last one.  You know what the best part of a snow day is?  Storm wine!  That’s right, you can take your storm chips – I will take Storm Wine any day of the week.  And this past week I tried a few beauties.

I have gone ahead and fallen in love again.  This time it’s with the Peachy Canyon Incredible Red Zinfandel.  This wine has  The perfect description right in the title – Incredible.  And incredibly rich and delicious it is.  It has smoky bacon notes but this is very important.  The smoky bacon notes do not overpower the taste of the wine like some Zinfandel wines.  They are very subtle, as a matter of fact I found the tart cherry flavors and notes of mocha the more interesting part of this wine.  I loved it, and its my new favorite Zinfandel.

You’ve heard of OMG!  Well this is OVG – Old Vines Garnacha!   You may know it as the Grenache grape, but this wine is from Spain, the grape is called Garnacha.  This is the perfect wine for a storm day, or any other day of the winter.  It’s full-bodied and flavorful with lovely raspberry, dark cherry and pepper.  This is a great wine for your favorite comfort food.  Beef stew, lamb, pork – any hearty meal – this is the wine.  And a great value at around the $20 mark.

This is the great value find of the week.  I loved this wine.  This Chilean blend of Carmenere, Grenache and Merlot from Santa Carolina is rich and full-bodied.  Lots of juicy flavor on the palate with notes of coffee.  This wine is so good I photocopied the picture and brought it around to my wine loving friends in the radio station.  AT $16.99 this is going to be a staple in my wine rack, so you should give it a try.

And my new favorite find of the week is a wine that I still have a hard time pronouncing.   It is the Trinca Bolotos Alentejo.  Say that after a couple of glasses.  A blend of Alicante and Touriga Nacional, this delicious wine from Portugal is earthy and dry and just a great wine for beef and pork.  Alicante, also known as Alicante Bouschet was widely planted in California during Prohibition, and because of its high yields and low maintenance has been adopted by other countries including Bordeaux and of course Portugal.  Touriga Nacional is considered Portugal’s finest grape.   It has low yields, but is still used in many blends as well as in Port wines.   This wine was really interesting, extremely tasty and a great value at under $20.

If you’re like me you probably prefer flip flops over winter, but hey, if you live in Canada, you might as well make the most of it.. and this will be me tonight.  Glass of wine in front of the fireplace.  Like I said, making the most of it.

Till next week, stay warm and Cheers

Darlene