Top Etna Rosso Wines Blind Taste Test

I think I was inspired by March Madness.  College basketball at this time of year is impossible to ignore, especially because my Alma mater ( Michigan State) is a regular contender. Except this year!!!  I was thinking to myself there are so many wines from just Etna alone how can we figure out our favorites?  Why not have a bunch of Etna Rosso wines and taste them all in the same day and directly compare to find the winners and losers?  So I started picking up all the Etna Rosso wines I could find.  I thought that at most it would be an “Elite 8”, but all of the sudden I ended up with 12 and still left a couple out!  For the test they had to be true Etna Rosso DOC meaning that they could only contain Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio grapes.  No blends with Nero d’Avola, Syrah, Cabernet, etc.

I brought out these old wine tasting party kits Continue reading “Top Etna Rosso Wines Blind Taste Test”

Antichi Vini di Sicilia Wine Review – No Buono

Had a really bad experience with a few wines that I bought and wanted to share and warn.  Also it has been a while since I have pretended to be a wine expert, but for these wines no expertise was needed.  We ended up dumping most of the 6 bottles that we got.  The winery is Antichi Vini di Sicilia and they have a lineup of whites and reds that are all Sicilian.  They were having a tasting at the wine shop on base and I kind of felt bad for them as I was looking at other wines.  No one was giving them the time of day and that should have been a warning. haha.  I went over and started up a conversation Continue reading “Antichi Vini di Sicilia Wine Review – No Buono”

Pontormo Chianti 2008 – Wine

We were looking for a good Chianti to go with our steak tonight and this was a bust.  I got this wine as a half bottle to try at $3.00, so I guess I shouldn’t have expected much.  I also like to use the empty half bottles for storing extra wine from normal sized bottles.  This purchase ended up being solely for the half bottle! ha.  Better Chiantis are out there!

Rating: Mini Donkey

 

Rosso di Montalcino – Castello Banfi 2009 – Wine

Rosso di Montalcino – Castello Banfi 2009

We were looking forward to trying this wine with a great dinner at home.  It’s an 100% Sangiovese from the world famous Montalcino area of Tuscany. The bottle cost $15.99.  It is definitely at the lower end of the price range for wine from this region, but we figured its worth a shot.

Unfortunately this wine just didn’t live up to our expectations.  It was pretty bland.   Im thinking if we aged it for a while we would probably get some different results.

Although this wine fell flat for us we are still looking to try many of the other wines from Banfi.  We have also heard great things about visiting the Banfi winery in Tuscany… sounds like a plan to me!

 

I feel bad doing this, but this wine gets the Mini Donkey rating

Rapitala Nero D’Avola 2010 – Wine

This wine was another recommendation that we picked up at an Italian grocery store for €4.99.  This Nero D’Avola was a downer with some bad flavors working against it.  The word rancid almost comes to mind.  There are a lot better Nero D’Avolas out there!

Rating:  Mini Donkey

 

Corvo Glicine 2010 Sicilia – Wine

Picked up this wine at the Italian grocery store based on a recommendation.  I liked the clarity of the wine in that Jess and I enjoy whites that are very light.    Unfortunately this white leaned towards the sweeter end of the scale, which we did not like.  €4.99 per bottle.

Rating: Mini Donkey