No wine for Lent.

So, I have given alcohol up for Lent. I don't know what, if anything, I will be posting. I will have something for my birthday, March 26, though. I could write some thoughts, but who wants to read those anyway? Maybe, who knows. Maybe something technical? Well, honestly I do not know enough yet to really do that. I am coming into about $15k, so I'll be nigger-rich, which seems to be one of the few times a white person can say the n-word, although we should keep in mind:

But I might buy a bottle of Don Perignon. And ride first class maybe. Do they still give free champagne or is that just in the movies? Oh, and a nice meal from a French place. The rest goes to the banks, I mean what this guy

would call them, the cause of all my damn problems, meaning Sallie Mae. And I am reading Merchant of Venice so blaming the usurious Jews is in order, eh Mel? Being politically correct, aside, yes I will buy a bottle of Don Perignon and a nice French meal, pay a little off my student debt, and save the rest. I also think I will travel out here to stay with the monks for a week or two:

Well, see everyone at Pascha/Easter! Happy drinking to you drunken, hedonist heathens! Your godless Epicurean ways shall confound you, for yay, it is written of ye "whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things", though elsewhere, sayeth the Lord, "Give wine unto those who are sad". Sit Dominus vobiscum, Baccho quoque.

2013 Dellatorri Chianti

This young Chianti greets with black cherries, vanilla, and spice, an enjoyable sophisticated wine for around a dime. Leather and spice on the tongue, with dark fruit that I can't place. I want to say dark cherry on the one hand, but that is perhaps too often used, and here I am not sure that is what I am getting. The leatheriness and pepper cover the fruit up, and the fruit is there at the end and on the finish. It is pleasant to me all around, as I prefer wines that do not have a lot of new world fruitiness. Medium dryness and a lingering finish. I rank this wine an 83. To me there is something slightly unpleasant on the finish, the fruits trying to make their way through the leather, and the combination detracts from the wine, but not enough to make it a wine I would not buy again because of the price and decent quality.


EDIT : I opened the wine and drank it immediately. However, as I drank it and it opened up (in the bottle) it softened and improved, raising it to, I would say, an 85. The fruits came out and rather than "dark cherry" I got pomegranate. Obviously it is best to open wine up with a decanter, and I have read that you really cannot decant wine in the bottle because of the small size of the neck. I suppose not technically, and not effectively if the wine actually needs decanting, but experience shows me that a decent wine can improve simply with the cork off.

 

2012 Bolla Valpoicella

I have been wanting to try a Valpoicella since watching a favourite movie last year, Death in Venice, Valpoicella being close  to Venice. 

The wine would also be proper for that play "in fair Verona where we lay our scene" since that is ust where the wine is from. Now when Hannibal returns to NBC this year, it shall be a Chianti to set it off, hopefully with lamb chops.  This tonight I bought a budget brand that has turned out very well when I have drank it, a sort of Italian form on Yellow Tail I would say. It's a couple dollars more, but if you want something a bit more sophisticated, and yet easy on the wallet, this is the brand to go with.

This wine greets me with floral aromas, sweet and light, and then darkens upon further investigation. I get raisins or cranberries, with a sort of pungent smell associated with good cheese, though not being a stinky cheese guru, I cannot say what kind. It is pleasant,  however, in its own way, and certainly not repulsive.

The taste matches what is on the nose and the tannins are very strong, reminding more of Ocean Spray than wine, with dark fruit, so I think I will let it breath.

After letting it breath for more than an hour, it did lighten up, but still was not anything special. It was mostly dark fruits, namely pomegranate and dark cherry, and the character as not anything special. I give this wine an 81. However, it should not necessarily keep one from trying the brand, as it has been pleasant before. Perhaps some of the other wines, like the Chianti, will prove better.