Sorry I haven't done a wine post in awhile. Life got very hectic over the last few weeks. I was expecting to have a nice relaxing couple of weeks staying at Erik's house in North Carolina before I moved up to New Jersey to start my new job. Instead we ended up having to evacuate his house for Hurricane Florence and I headed up to New Jersey a week early and stayed with my parents. This weekend I moved in to my new apartment, and today I have my first day of orientation for my new job. I expect that now that I'm working full time with long lawyer hours I won't be able to be as consistent with my posting, but I still hope to be able to get at least three wine posts out each month. This week's wine is a sweet dessert wine that comes from the Piedmont region of Italy, Erik and I picked it up at Wine Authorities two or three months ago.. It comes from a tiny (only 5 acres) organically-farmed winery. The wine is made from 100% Brachetto grape, which is most commonly used to make this sweet wine. It's a very different type of sweet wine than Port or other common dessert wines. Instead of being fortified and somewhat syrupy, this sweet wine has only a 6.5% alcohol content, and it's made into a frizzante (slightly sparkling) wine similar to Lambrusco.
I served this wine chilled, which is how I typically serve sparkling red wines. When I poured myself a glass, it smelled very fruity, like strawberries, cherries, raspberries, and cranberries. The red fruit overwhelmed almost every other scent to the wine, except for a slight hint of nutmeg at the end. When I tasted the wine it matched the smell. It tasted very fruity and crisp, not like a typical syrupy dessert wine at all. I described it to Erik as tasting like cranberry juice with a splash of brandy poured in. In addition to the berry notes, there was a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg as I swallowed the wine. We paired this wine with almond cake topped with strawberries. It went so well with a light flavored cake and fruit, it would also go great with fresh raspberries or strawberries with cream or a strawberry mousse. It would definitely be better with lighter desserts than rich, heavy, or chocolatey desserts. I really enjoyed this wine. It has sweetness without syrup, which I appreciated, but it's not for everyone. Erik was not a big fan of it, but if you find that some dessert wines and Ports are too cloying or too sweet, then this sweet wine might be right up your alley instead.
Yum.
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