Wednesday, January 9, 2019

WIYG–A Round-Up Of Wines We Love

Whew. With guests and special events over the last few weeks, we’ve popped open a lovely assortment of wines. Here’s a look at what we’ve been sipping. What about you? WIYG? (What’s In Your Glass?)

Shadow Ranch 2015 Grenache, El Dorado


Shadow Ranch is a small family owned winery in California’s Sierra Foothills. Built in 1888, the buildings have a Gold Rush era feel. They specialize in small batch, single vineyard wines from high elevation sites in El Dorado County.


Enjoyed this in on Christmas Eve. Has swirling flavors of strawberry and cherry.

Honoro Vera Blanco 2017 Rueda

This Spanish wine is made primarily from Verdejo grapes blended with Viura and Sauvignon Blanc. We love it because of the stunning label and it proved a good match for our shrimp and pasta dish. The wine has a nice crispness, but also nice fruit and some herbaciousness.



Magic Box 2017 Red Blend, Spain
This bottle was a $7 pick-up at Total Wines. It overdelivered on value. It is 90% Syrah and 10% Grenache and 100% fun. Bold fruit flavors and medium plus body belies its low price tag.


Candoni Elviana 2015 Red Blend, Veneto

We enjoyed this bottle with friends during dinner at Garibaldi's in Fuquay-Varina. For our Italian dishes we selected from their outstanding wine list and chose this blend from the Veneto region in northeast Italy. It is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Malbec. 

This bottle is soft and silky and paired nicely with four very different dishes ranging from chicken parmesan to my cavatelli in garlic sauce.

Via Romano 2015 Primitivo

This is another bottle from El Dorado County and is a fresh take on Primitivo – the grape also known as Zinfandel. The wine has raspberry flavors and cooking spice and it was a perfect accompaniment to our beef tenderloin meal. Primitivo is an ancient European grape with deep roots in Italy. It can shine  as shown in this wonderful bottle.

Raats 2014 Red Jasper, StellenboschYes, we love South African wines! We brought this red blend from Stellenbosch to a neighborhood wine tasting. It is a Cabernet Franc based blend (60%) with Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Merlot and Malbec. This is flowing with black cherry and blackberry flavors. It is a full-bodied beauty with solid tannins and notes of dark chocolate.

This is an example of why we love the superb winemaking of South Africa.

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