Wednesday, October 09, 2013

Naked Vine Double Barrel -- A Party Starting Pair

Keeping with our theme this week of wine for fun social events, here are a couple of additional bottles for consideration as party season gets under way. This pair of bottles – courtesy of Nicole at R/West – would be perfectly workable suggestions for a shindig at any time of day. 

Clean Slate 2012 Riesling Mosel – A brunch wine if I’ve ever tasted one. I was initially a little concerned when I saw the 10.5% ABV on the label. I half-expected a thick, syrupy glassful. Thankfully, this Riesling from the Mosel region of Germany dispelled that apprehension in short order. There is some sweetness here, but it’s in the “honeycrisp apple” family of sweet. Alongside the orange and peach flavors in the body is a fair amount of the mineral implied by its moniker. It finishes sweet and a tad acidic. Overall, it’s really pleasant to drink. It’s recommended with spicy foods – Asian and Tex-Mex – or sushi. We made a Thai-ish tofu stir fry in a spicy sauce and it worked wonderfully. Just the same, I can absolutely see ordering a bottle of this with eggs benedict. Heck, at 10.5%, you should have it for breakfast. And at $11, you can do it without batting an eye.



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Zardetto (NV) Prosecco Brut Treviso DOC – After an exceptionally busy week at Vine HQ, the Sweet Partner in Crime and I discovered that we were basically out of ingredients from which we could cobble together dinner. The cupboard was bare and neither of us had the energy to make a store run. We initially thought about ordering Chinese takeout, but our neighborhood place was closed for remodeling. The call went out to the local pizza joint instead. Happily, Winebow had sent us a bottle of Zardetto Prosecco for sampling. As long time readers know, I find pizza and drier bubbly to be a divine combination. The Zardetto came through nicely in a pinch. It’s a little more fruit forward than I ordinarily would have wanted with pizza, but the pairing worked well enough. Flavorwise, it’s on the peachy end of the scale alongside a nice mineral character. Good firmness on the bubbles, too. I liked it quite well with the pizza, but I think it would be more in its element either as an aperitif alongside a fruit and creamy cheese plate – or as another brunch option. I think it would be wonderful with a cheesy omelette.  Not a bad price at $14, either.

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