2000 Apollonio Terragnolo Salento Primitivo
This is a guest wine review by Katharine, aka PointedView. Many thanks to Katharine for her tasting notes!
Initial Impressions:
Nose: Slight mineral, earthy characteristic with a bit of dried cherry and spice.
Color: Deep, dark purple, edging into garnet.
Alcohol content: 14.50%
Tasting notes: Primitivo is believed to be an ancestor of the Zinfandel grape planted in California today, but I definitely don't taste the same jammy fruit characteristic of that grape in this wine. Perhaps it's the terroir, but the berry notes, while definitely present, and even big, seem tamed a bit: the sour cherry and currant syrupy aspect is balanced by a hint of pepper and earthy spice.
Mouthfeel: lightly tannic, medium-full body. Medium-long finish.
Impressions after being paired with room-temperature aged Manchego cheese:
The wine mellowed the sharp edge of this hard sheep's milk cheese from La Mancha, Spain and brought out the nuttiness. This wine is often considered to be a good pairing with Parmigiano-Reggiano, so I felt rewarded by the cheese-wine synthesis that happened with the slightly salty, nutty Manchego.
Price: $15.99 at The Fresh Market.
Would I buy it again? I might well do so if I were fixing a robust Pasta Puttanesca, and if I happened to find it on sale for $7 - $9. It's table wine: not much complexity at all. I can't consider it a good value at $15.99: there are much better wines on the market in this price range.
-- Reviewed by Katharine, aka PointedView (http://www.livejournal.com/users/pointedview/ )
Initial Impressions:
Nose: Slight mineral, earthy characteristic with a bit of dried cherry and spice.
Color: Deep, dark purple, edging into garnet.
Alcohol content: 14.50%
Tasting notes: Primitivo is believed to be an ancestor of the Zinfandel grape planted in California today, but I definitely don't taste the same jammy fruit characteristic of that grape in this wine. Perhaps it's the terroir, but the berry notes, while definitely present, and even big, seem tamed a bit: the sour cherry and currant syrupy aspect is balanced by a hint of pepper and earthy spice.
Mouthfeel: lightly tannic, medium-full body. Medium-long finish.
Impressions after being paired with room-temperature aged Manchego cheese:
The wine mellowed the sharp edge of this hard sheep's milk cheese from La Mancha, Spain and brought out the nuttiness. This wine is often considered to be a good pairing with Parmigiano-Reggiano, so I felt rewarded by the cheese-wine synthesis that happened with the slightly salty, nutty Manchego.
Price: $15.99 at The Fresh Market.
Would I buy it again? I might well do so if I were fixing a robust Pasta Puttanesca, and if I happened to find it on sale for $7 - $9. It's table wine: not much complexity at all. I can't consider it a good value at $15.99: there are much better wines on the market in this price range.
-- Reviewed by Katharine, aka PointedView (http://www.livejournal.com
