My First Experience With Uva di Troia

During a recent stop at one of my favorite Indianapolis wine shops, the proprietor asked me if I had tried "uva di Troia." Of course, I answered: "Huh?"

I have to admit I had not only never tasted the grape but had never heard of it.

It's grown in the Italian region of Puglia, near the Italian coast. I really liked the Santa Lucia Vigna del Melogram Uva di Troia a lot.

I found it a fresher taste on the palate than most Italian wines. It certainly was a very dry wine, as most Italian grapes, but the tannins were soft and it had a nice long finish.

There is a bit of a spice to the taste and a really nice balance. This would be good with red meat, mild pasta, and it was dynamite with chocolate.

I paid $14.99 for this bottle at Cork& Cracker in Indy. Santa Lucia practices organic farming.

This was one of the better inexpensive Italian wines I've tasted in a long time.

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Maybe Pinot Noir Shouldn't Be Made Everywhere

I get adventurous on my trips to wine shops and advise others to do the same. You're going to have some misses for sure, but you're also going to get to experience some exciting grapes/wines you'd never enjoy without an adventursome spirit.

A week ago I bought a Pinot Noir from Italy. I haven't opened that yet. After tonight, I'm not so sure. This afternoon I bought a Pinot from Argentina. It was Trivento Select 2008 Pinot Noir. And it was from the famed Mendoza region so well known for its Malbec wines.

I tried it alone, with some cheese, good bread, and then chocolate. It had the texture and light feel of a Pinot but I couldn't start to identify the taste characteristics.

My call on any wine is does it taste like the grape. Does it taste like Pinot Noir? I didn't think this one tasted like Pinot at all.

I might add it was palatable, it wasn't bad. I guess the winemaker made the wine he/she wanted to make. It just didn't taste like Pinot Noir.

So the moral of this story is be adventurous, the reward will more often than not out-weigh the risk!

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A Nice, Smooth Spanish Tempranillo

Trempranillo and Malbec usually top my list of value wines new wine drinkers should try. If you're tired of lame Merlot, cheap and tannic Cabernet, and bad Chianti, then you should try some Malbec from Argentina and Spanish Tempranillo.

I went though a phase about a year ago where I drank lots and lots of Tempranillo. I sort of wore myself out with it. I recently picked up a couple bottles and last night opened Creta Roble 2006.

Tempranillo is often blended with other grapes to make great Spanish offerings but I like it by itself. This wine is 100 percent Tempranillo aged in a combination of American and French oak.

The taste is really smooth on the palate - easy to drink. There is a hint of earthiness while being fresh and juicy with a little spice.

When you see Spanish Rioja wines the chances are there is Tempranillo in the bottle. But also you should try it by itself for a real taste of Spain. This wine is produced from 70-year-old vineyards. Old vines like that almost always produce rich wines. The vineyards are in the Ribera Del Duero region of Spain.

It has moderately high alcohol at 14.5 percent and is an Eric Soloman selection. I paid $12.99 for it at Cork and Cracker in Indianapolis.

This is one of better Spanish wines for the price point that I've had in a long while.

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My First Post on Palate Press Up Today

The wine blogging thing has been fun. A few months back I was contacted by fellow Indiana wine blogger David Honig to ask if I'd be interested in contributing to a new national online wine magazine - Palate Press.

Of course, I said yes!

The online magazine was launched about two weeks ago and is getting tremendous hits. They have rounded up some of the top wine bloggers in the nation as contributors. I'm not sure how I got invited but was happy to participate.

The magazine's editor is W.R. Tish, the editor of Wine Enthusiast from 1988 to 1998.

I was asked to do something on Portugal's emerging table wine values. If you read my blog regularly, you've noticed all the Portuguese wines over the past month.

Well the piece is up today! I worked for nearly four years at the Indianapolis Star, which at the time had circulation exceeding 400,000 on Sundays. Palate Press hit 3,000 and 4,000 hits in its first week. Still, there is something exciting about contributing to a national effort with such great contributors.

You can go directly to my story here. But check out Palate Press and all the great stories regularly.

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