Picky Winers Club

I had never seen this bottle at any wine store, or maybe it just never caught my attention.

I was picking up my friend Louis at Lickerish, a trendy eatery in downtown Vancouver, and we were a little late for our little get-together wine party.  He picked up this bottle at the restaurant since all the wine stores were closing in 5 minutes.  

Hmm… Overpriced house wine at a restaurant.  I gave it a rather suspicious look. 

Two minutes later, I was loving this wine!

Going through a Italian wine tasting phase, another beautiful unique Italian wine had been found. There is a lot of fruitiness in the wine… cherries, and maybe black plums? Definitely a lot of other little spices that would tingle the palate. This medium to full-bodied red had enough drying tannins to make it a keeper. 

I had, for many times, found Italian red wine with strong smoky flavors, which were not exactly pleasant tasting experiences.  Although as a matter of fact, I probably had not drank enough Italian red to make such statement.  This bottle had definitely proved that I really should try more Italian wine before making that statement.  

With a reasonable price,  this full-bodied wine was loaded with pleasant berry flavors, easy going tannins, and lots of liveliness.  I could not help trying to think of the better dishes to pair with it. Maybe some good old home made meat lasagna?  The wine would go perfectly with the richness of the meat sauce and cheese.