When I was in Seattle, I had the PLEASURE of visiting the Truffle Cafe in Pike Place Market. They do wine tastings and sell all kinds of wonderful wines and truffle products. We had the sweetest woman serving us, Ann, we heard her life story and she poured us a few extra wines to taste. It was delightful.
First off! A Prosecco:
Alvise Lanciere
Prosecco D.O.C. Extra Dry
Veneto, Italy
$14.99/bottle
Smell: Picked up a lot of raspberry and apple notes. Very light and fruity.
Tasted: Caught lots of apple. It was clean and light, yummy yummy. A little bit bitter but would be great with dessert or sweet things.
The Bottom Line: A great prosecco. Cheap and yummy. Classy bottle. Sign me up.
Vega Murillo
100% Verdejo 2011
Sitio de la Erilla D.O. Rueda.
$11.99/bottle
Okay this wine was actually heinous.
They say: This wine is fermented for 15 days in stainless steel tanks at a temperature of 55ºF. It is a fresh and dry wine with intense fresh fruit aromas on the nose and volume on the palate.
Smelled: Like lemon pine sol
Tasted: It was such a shock to my senses. I'd never had a 100% verdejo and I don't think I'll be tasting any more of them. It tasted like I was drinking mustard wine. However, Ann brought us some truffle pesto to try with it and it was immediately less disgusting.
The Bottom Line: NO thank you. Maybe with food. Maybe. Depends on what's cooking.
Fior D'Arancio
Moscato d'Asti
Veneto, Italy
$14.99/bottle
They say: From the heart of Veneto comes one of the rare gems of the wine world–a
tickling sparkler, reminiscent of a Moscato d’Asti, but with
extraordinary natural flavors of orange imbued from the soils of the
Colli Euganei. Lightly sweet, it is both an aperitif and dessert wine, a
celebratory quaff or a summer sipper. Only from one small area of the
world, in its original, locally favored bottle, this is a special
opportunity to experience a truly unique wine.
Smelled like: Rose water, daisies, oranges
Tasted: There was such sharp carbonation! It was very good. Clean and fruity -- a lovely bouquet. We tried it with chocolate and it was the best thing ever. Ann said to try it with popcorn and boy do I support that claim. Such a beautiful dessert wine.
The Bottom Line: I'm smitten. With a moscato. Who am I?
Mignanego
Dolce Rosso
Italy
$11.99/bottle
Smelled: Like maple syrup and vanilla.
Taste: So yummy despite being sweet. It is light and almost a dessert in and of itself. Plums, apples and Summer Sunday afternoons.
The Bottom Line: Couldn't drink it very often but it is definitely a sweet treat for the sweet tooth in all of us.
Tamarack Cellars
Cabernet Franc 2010
Walla Walla, Washington
$28/bottle
They say: Pie spices, huckleberry and leather on the nose, with caramel,
raspberries and ripe plums, a bit of toasty barrel smoke giving way to
lucious, velvety tannins and a length finish.
Smelled: Like bread, butter, leather and mulch. Very pungent.
Tasted: GREAT! Dry and warm. Had it with a sundried tomato trffle pesto and it was DELICIOUS. The grape apparently has a thick skin which contributes to the dryness. This wine is 100% cab franc. Such a great aftertaste, would definitely go well with dinner (something tomato based).
Another cool thing I learned about at the Truffle Cafe was the Soiree in-bottle Wine Aerator. It aerates the wine as your pour. You swish about a glass or two's worth of wine into the aerator and then back into the bottle, then pour regularly. Works great! I picked one up and I love it.
