Monday, April 04, 2005

Fresh, Nutty, Wild and Crazy

I don't usually admit this but there is rarely a wine I don't enjoy. To prove it, I buy Carlo Rossi, 3 liter bottles, by the case. I happen to enjoy Carlo Rossi so right there, you know that I am no wine snob. I also enjoy fine wines and I don't mind paying for them. It's hard for me to make the acquaintance of a wine I don't like. Cheap wine can be fun. Excellent wine is very much appreciated. Everything in between will be enjoyed as well. Give it to Flaurella, she'll drink anything!

That said, it was a weekend of disappointing wines. Friday night, we forced ourselves to drink the second bottle of Italian Bottaro. We bought two bottles back at the end of December since they were cute Italian basket bottles with wavy necks and we just knew our daughter would love them as tall candle stick holders on the table in her soon-to-be new apartment. :::insert flashback here of college days, first apartments, romantic, inexpensive mood lighting with candles stuck in basketed Italian wine bottles, candle wax drizzled down the sides in colorful patterns, oh! Those were the days, but I digress::: Anyway, we just knew DD would like these bottles and really, how bad could the wine be?

We opened a bottle in January to go with a nice little stuffed shell dinner. Yowza! Pucker power! The Bottaro tasted like it had just been bottled a couple of weeks ago - the nouveau-beau of The Boot. Yikes! We went ahead and forced it down with the pasta and tomato gravy. It's a young wine, that's all. It's supposed to be tart, ummm, let's call it fresh, really, really fresh.

So, here it is April and we have yet to drink the other bottle. DD still needs romantic apartment lighting. She's visiting later in the weekend so we have to drink the other bottle of Bottaro. The kidlet needs her Boho set of candle holders. We are brave and kind parents. We suffered through it. I don't recommend that you do so unless you need cute empty bottles for your drippy candles.

I cooked a nice little pork loin roast the next day. Rummaged through the wine rack and came up with Pinot Grigio della Venezie. On a glorious spring day, a little Pinot Grigio would be dandy for dinner. Even the color was like springtime but, the vino was not what I was expecting. I was thinking fruity and fresh. I sipped. Puzzled, I sipped again. Nutty. Not fruity, purely and totally nutty, like ground pistachio nuts. I wasn't at all expecting nutty. I drank it anyway but unless you like your Pinot Grigio to taste like nuts, you can skip this one.

I think I'll drink some Rossi Paisano with supper tonight.
Salute!

4 comments:

Neil Robinson said...

Thanks! We've had our bottle of Bottàro for a few years now and i've been wondering when my wife was going to take it down for us to drink. After what you've said, we'll just keep it on display. It is a pretty bottle after all.

winetaster said...

I agree Bottaro is poor attempt at a good table wine. The mouth feel is to tannic and the taste hints at water that could have been possibly used in a pig kill.

Anonymous said...

I also have a bottle of bottaro sitting on a shelf looking pretty, been trying to find more info on it for quite a while now. After finally finding a review i agree it will probably stay on the shelf!

Anonymous said...

Would yall sell it?