January 2012 Wine Club

A new year, a new monthly selection! I went online tonight to see what I could find out about this month's selections. The first is Benessere Sangoivese, a Napa Valley winery that specializes in Italian grapes/wines. "Benessere" is the Italian word for well being and prosperity. Sangoivese is an ancient Tuscan grape that blends as many as six different clones of this noble variety, grown on an estate north of Saint Helena, whose gravelly clay and loam soils are perfectly suited to the production of this aromatic and complex wine. Their website mentions that this would go well served in a large glass at room temperature with a Tuscan style steak. I'm not sure what exactly a Tuscan style steak is [I will have to utilize my Google-fu skills to find a recipe], but this sounds like a good reason (like I needed one) to purchase extra large wine glasses, ala Cougar Town.

The 2nd is another American wine, but from Washington State. I must admit I am really enjoying both Washington and Oregon wines. And I'm rather looking forward to the Milbrandt Evergreen Chardonnay. Several hints of banana, pineapple, papaya and nectarines, along with smoke and vanilla, are promised. Sue says there is a lush finish and a food-worthy acidity. And now, to decide what to make with it!

The final wine, Faustino VII, was a bit trickier to find. Google was not my friend for this search. A search for Faustino brought up Married with Children's Bud. I finally found Bodegas Faustino, but it was difficult to navigate. So, to make things easier, I finally just got the bottle and was finally able to locate the wine on wine.com. A review on wine.com said this is a nice every day wine, so I decided to open it this weekend. I'm, unfortunately, not very impressed. I think it probably should have been kept for a while to age a bit, as even my new aerator did not help. I may use the rest of it to make pot roast. [update: as the wine sat, I did enjoy it a bit more. I know I wouldn't seek this wine out again, but may enjoy the rest of it later this week, perhaps with a hearty meal to even out the leathery smell/taste.]