More to Celebrate...

I feel like it's been forever since I posted...and I guess it has, since we are into May! With life being so busy recently, I feel like I'm neglecting the wine! 

So you know I'm kind of into wines these days that conjure up good memories, evoke thoughts of wonderful time spent with loved ones.  This posting is no different. For those of you that follow this blog and are on facebook, you might remember the "anniversary wine".  This particular wine is special because it was purchased by my wonderful husband for me last year after I tried it at a wine tasting.  I promptly informed him that I would lay it down for the year, and open it on our 20th anniversary, which we celebrated just this past March.

What's really funny, is that my friend Isabel will laugh when she reads this post!  Because she KNOWS I don't like Tempranillo!  And what is this wine?  100% Tempranillo!



Sierra Cantabria Colleccion Privada
la Rioja, Spain
2000

Enter the Sierra Cantabria...starting to turn a bit brickish because of its age.  Remember I said in an earlier post, that as red wines age, they become lighter in colour.  With this bottle being 12 years old, expect that brickish colour.  Lots on the nose here: tobacco, leather and even some black fruit and chocolate left.  Younger wines tend to feature more of the fruity aromas we usually experience rather than the mature bouquets of leather, smoke and tobacco. On the palate, not too acidic, and not too tannic. Lots of mushrooms, and still that hint of black fruit.  And as you can see by the photo, we served up goat cheese, Camembert, smoked turkey, salami and Babybel cheese.  What I loved about these pairings, was that I didn't plan them.  Not that all those cheeses worked, but it sure was a lot of fun, which for me, is further proof that wine is not pretentious, and I don't need to go to great depths to find that perfect pairing! I have always said: "drink what you like".  I don't necessarily like Tempranillo, but the bottle itself was opened as part of a celebration.  And just because I don't like the grape, it doesn't mean I won't keep trying it over and over and over again.  Someday, I might like the taste of mushrooms, and barnyard, and forest floor in my wine, instead of the fruity, vanilla-y fresh flavours I appreciate so much more now! Right Isabel? ;)