Red Wine – I’ve Come a Long Way, Baby!

It’s been a while since I blogged about my wine adventures. I’ve been to a couple of wine tastings where I was able to sample a variety of wines outside my scope of familiarity – namely red varities. I’ve also sampled numerous bottles on my own and I have to say, I’ve liked most of them. I went from being keen on sweeter reds such as Dornfelder and Muscatel table wines to really enjoying Cabernet & Shiraz. I’m still not a fan of Merlot but I suppose that takes time. I’m excited that my palate has matured because it really opens up the spectrum of what I consider to be tasty. I now believe that I can select a wine in nearly any situation and be reasonably satisfied with my selection. That makes me happy because that was the goal of my journey. I wanted to be able to understand the subtle and not so subtle differences in wine varieties and regions. I’ve even come so far as to determine that I prefer Australian varieties. I don’t discriminate though – if nothing else, this journey has taught me to be more open than I’ve ever been to trying new ones!

I’ve compiled a list of the ones that have stood out over the past couple of months as favorites that I would buy again:

- Bitch ~$13/bottle – Australian

- Black Opal (Shiraz, Shiraz/Cab & Cabernet – all are good!) ~ $5-7/bottle – Australian

- Black Swan (Shiraz) ~$5-6/bottle – Australian

- Bohemian Highway – (Cabernet) – California – $6-7/bottle

- San Sebastian Vintner’s Red (Muscatel) – Florida ~ $8-9/bottle

I have tried others that I liked enough to drink but that didn’t stick out as “fabulous”. This list above I consider to be gems because of their flavor, body & price. I have indeed found that good wine doesn’t have to be expensive!!