Good Morning!

This past weekend I had my best friend Cubby in town for a total of 5 days. We drank a lot of wine, we tasted a lot of wines and paired many wines with foods and cheeses. We cooked chef level food (or at least we cooked food from cookbooks chefs have written). There was not a time when we ever just sat around a had a glass of water. By the photos and tasting notes on my iPhone it seems we tried 34 wines in total.

I think I had 4 wines that I am looking forward to having again to re-try and make sure I was not blinded in a blaze of fun and gave it a better score than it might deserve without the excellent company. But this beautiful red we had with dinner on Sunday night was a real hit with 4 of us and I’d like to share it with you.

I rarely buy Italian wines, I love them, but for some reason I do not purchase them often. I found this wine Belnero 2007 at the wine shop and paid $29.99 for the bottle. We were grilling skirt steak and made very gourmet mac n cheese. This smooth, beautiful, well-balanced wine had it all. It was a big wine but without the booziness, without the fruit bomb flavor but it was like liquid velvet. It really tasted so polished, and restrained. I rarely ever find this level of balance from young reds.

My friends were here from Indiana fell in love with the wine immediately as well. They normally love big, young California Cabs that are a big, fat, smack in the taste buds. I can not wait to open the 2nd bottle I purchased of this wine and have it alone without food. If this wine performs the same way alone….I know this wine will make my year end list of great wines!

I hope you had some awesome wines this weekend and I look forward to your thoughts about Belnero 2007.

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi