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Red Wine of the Week | Red Wine Reviews

Archeo Nero d’Avola

Cost: Average price $5

Where buy now: Trader Joe’s for $4.99

Grapes: Nero d’Avola

Region: Sicily, Italy

Vintage: 2010

Archeo Nero d’Avola

Archeo Nero d’Avola “Neh-roe DAH-voe-lah” by Ruggero di Tasso is a delightful wine that hails from Sicily. Like the dark-black grapes this wine is named after, they have been blasted by the Southern Mediterranean heat providing the wine with a deep, rich crimson hue. It is a fuller bodied wine with lots of juicy flavor. It tastes of black cherry, raspberry and a teensy-bit of sweet baking spices and chocolate to round it out. The tannins are mild as was the acidity.

I know lots of folks love Cabernet, Syrah and Zinfandel, but dammit, give Nero d’Avola a chance!

As it’s a milder Nero d’Avola, this is the one I’d strongly suggest for the uninitiated. Also, it can hang with all three of those varietals, and I bet you’ll find as good [if not better] a bottle for much less dough. I love me some Cab and steak, so, substitute the Cab with Nero d’Avola, and that’s exactly how I enjoyed a home grilled porterhouse the other night.

Dining al fresco

Great thing is, this wine pairs well with grilled meats, but would also go really well with your Tuesday night frozen pizza.

If you’re already making the sojourn to Trader Joe’s (which, if you live near the St. Louis Park location, pack a lunch) to pick up the “Skank Wine of the Month” Primitivo, then grab a bottle of this Archeo Nero d’Avola. Make sure you get the Archeo priced at $4.99, not the Epicuro priced at $5.99! I just don’t care for the taste of the $6 Epicuro Nero d’Avola nearly as much as the $5 Archeo. I just asked a friend to pick up a few more bottles for me because, while my recent vacation was fun, MAN did it kill my vino budget! It’s simply not an option to run short on great, staple wines, now, is it?

White Wine of the Week | White Wine Reviews

Nora Albariño

Cost: Average price $14

Where buy now: Surdyk’s

Grapes: Albariño

Region: Spain

Vintage: 2010

Nora Albariño

So it was yet another hot weekend, and I was home alone. What’s a girl to do? Well, let me tell you what I did. Feeling a bit nostalgic, I watched the classic 90’s movie “Singles”. This will surely date me, but I don’t care. I totally bought into the grunge era: music, wardrobe, dirty hair and all. I had a bowlful of white gazpacho left and looked into my wine selection. Aha, Nora Albariño, that sounds good. I cued up the movie and garnished my soup with chives, cucumbers and fresh sweet tomatoes. The Albariño was chilled perfectly so pour away I did.

I’m new to Albariño, but know that they can vary in sweetness. It may be “dumbing it down”, but I’d explain it as sitting on the spectrum between Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. The Nora Albariño definitely sides more toward the acidic & tart variety. I’d liken it to a Sauvignon Blanc, but with a slightly fuller body due to the aging in oak. Also, this is not as thick and syrupy as some Chardonnays, for those who say they don’t like oaked Chards.

This wine was light golden in color and the fragrance included hints of apple, green grapes, peach and herbs. On the palate, citrus fruit, herbs and floral minerality emerge. I did some digging and the vineyard where the grapes are grown are surrounded by pine and eucalyptus. Aha, those scents must waft and swirl around the vines imparting their essence into the grapes. I am not saying you are drinking a glass of gin; but rather suggesting that, beyond the citrus and stone fruit, you get hints of the surroundings that play along.

I continued to enjoy the way the crisp and vibrant Albariño danced in my mouth, and I must say, this went swimmingly with the creamy gazpacho.

White Gazpacho

This taste experience was made even better, as I enjoyed watching a young Eddie Vedder [hey, that kind of rhymed] portray the Citizen Dick drummer, and 20-somethings are “finding themselves” in Seattle set to the sounds of the late 80s-early 90s. I finished the soup but continued sipping the Albariño. I noticed a smile on my face as I was listening to Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, and Jimi Hendrix (yep, from Seattle, and on the must-have soundtrack).

While I’m not rushing to bring back that whole look, I did go in search of my old flannel that I’ve kept in the bottom of a storage box. Some things, like comfy clothes or a good gazpacho/wine pairing, never really go out of style.

Snob Wine of the Month | Wine Reviews

I Greco Savu Rosato

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Cost: Average price $19

Where buy now: Zipp’s Liquor Store

Grapes: Gaglioppo

Region: Calabria, Italy

Vintage: 2011

i Greco Savu Rosato

Savu in my heart

Calabria I listen

My mouth awakens

I present Savu, the Calabrian wonder Rosé. Well, I don’t think that’s how they market their wine but that’s how I’m describing it. It had been a couple months since my last haiku, but this was plenty enough to inspire me.

Why am I gushing about Calabria, well it’s simply a matter of history. My history, yes, but I’m selfish like that. My Grandma’s side of the family comes from Calabria so therefore, it instantly peaks my curiosity. Calabria is the “toe” of the Italian boot. It’s a region that has been raped and pillaged by several different warring conquerors. It’s rough terrain, wrought with earthquakes, and due to a long standing feudal system, people weren’t able to own land and suffered from poverty. Hmm, sounds great! No wonder there was a mass exodus in the late 19th-early 20th century to the new world, mainly the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Australia.

Times, they are a-changing. Calabria is becoming more of a travel destination as is the rest of Southern Italy. They are exporting delicious olives, olive oils, figs and what’s this. . .wine? The main grape indicative to Calabria is called Gaglioppo (gah-L’yee-OHP-poh). It is used to make Ciro, probably one of their more popular wines. The grape is known to provide a full-bodied red wine that is rich in spices, smoke and tannins. This is indicative of Calabrian wines made with grapes grown toward the bottom of the mountains. They grow in warmer temperatures near the sea which bring out the grapes’ intensity.

The Savuto wines are made with Gaglioppo grapes grown at a higher altitude. This creates a little more balance, the wines are softer and lighter in that the grapes get the warmth of the sun during the day but in the evenings, it cools off. Tis what’s happened with the grapes used to make the I Greco Savu Rosato (Rosé in Italian). This Rosé isn’t that bright pink color like we’ve been seeing in other Rose’s. This one has an orange-pinkish hue. It’s interesting, not in a Yoko Ono-odd kind of way. But it’s mildly complex and delicious! It’s wine you’ll drink in and feel transported to the Calabrian hills.

Unlike some Rosé’s that have that strawberry fruit forward taste, this one does have red fruit character but it’s layered with a floral, salty and spicy quality.

If the price was lower, I’d cellar up with this baby for the Summer. Alas, it does toggle my $15 price point so I Greco Savu Rosato is my Snob Wine of the Month. I’m glad to have enjoyed it and hope you’ll give the Calabrian wine a chance to wet your whistle!