Shaya Verdejo DO `09 $14.99 ***

Tart is good.  Tart and crisp is yummy.  Tart, crisp with a lingering finish?  You have this 100% Spanish Verdejo, 13.5% ETOH. Minerality with a long grapefruit finish. Which is really strange because their tasting notes say crisp tart apple. hmm, I guess I just disagree on the flavors. It is flavorful, smooth and delicious.

I like it as a stand alone sipping wine (I am sipping as I type this) and also as a foil for heavier meats.  (we had it with leftover Superbowl BBQ, and it worked!)  But I imagine this with a thick slab of rich salmon or even a spicy seared tuna.

Either way, it is a good wine. A slug of flavor with each mouthful, a slowly dissolving citrus finish and a side of the tongue tingling minerality.  A really nice combination.

I am really liking the white wines from Spain's Roueda region. The full Spanish name for this wine is:Bodegas Y Vinedos Shaya Rueda Old Vines.  When they say old vines, they mean between 75 and 112 years old.  For $14.99, it is a great value.

Javier Sanz Villa Narcisa Verdejo `09 D.O. $17.99 (Not TJ's) ****

I was conflicted today.  I knew that we were having leftover risotto as a main for dinner, but I had no clue as to what we would have for sides. JPH came through by choosing mushrooms & fennel, both to be sauteed separately.  Then it came time to choose the wine...  He and S. had been to Marquis Wines and Spirits to stock up the wine rack last month and this Verdejo was right there -  with its green labels and neon green plastic cork, it was screaming to be picked from the rack.  (Ok, we didn't know that the cork was neon green until JPH unwrapped the foil, but a neon green plastic cork was a first for us...)  JPH grabbed the bottle from the rack and I quickly splashed it down, sleeved it and threw it in the freezer for a quick chill.

First sip:  This is a complex Spanish white wine.  What do I mean by complex?  When you first sip it, it has an acidic bite, JPH noted that it would be really good with Spanish Olives - WOW, would it ever.  But then, in the middle, you get an exotic fruitiness, I would go so far as to say mango, and then boom, the sweet finish that leaves you wanting more. Javier Sanz @ Villa Narcisa, well done.  You make a great white wine. By the third glass, it was just as complex and very easy to drink.

100% Verdejo, a Spanish grape that originated in North Africa, and had been used in a heavier way (historically in Sherry), suddenly, in the 20th Century became a lovely, crisp, complex white wine that has no oak.  (always a hit in my books)  Awarded a DO for being up to national standards in Rueda, Spain, this wine is an excellent ambassador. We'll have it again. 

Dinner Menu: (it was a GREAT leftovers night!)
Marcella's Sauasage Risotto
Marcella's Braised Fennel (yikes, I just saw in their picture @ Pomodori e Vino that I was supposed to caramelize it... oops, it was yummie anyway!)
Sauteed Mushrooms

Sitios de Bodega Con Class Verdejo Rueda `07 D.O. $14.99 (Not TJ's) **(*)

I took a sip and went running to the internet. What the heck am I drinking?  What was that taste? JPH was busy cooking dinner, and he looked a bit quizzical as well when he tried a sip. It wasn't bad, it was, well, in a word, different. The internet told me that I was tasting Pink Grapefruit, Lemon and Lime.  I took another well chilled sip and said "Huh?" I get the pink grapefruit, but lemon and lime??? I shook my head and wondered if I was missing something.

My first sip was a surprise, a dry, puckering, citrusy (as yet undefined) mouth cleansing swallow. It is definitely a food wine.  I would go so far as to say it is a white fleshed fish in caper butter sauce wine. Or maybe scallops wrapped in bacon.  This wine does have a place at the table.  But it is for a very specific table.  On second sip, I got the pink grapefruit.  Yes, that is the predominant taste.  Serve it very well chilled is my advice.

Rueda, Spain is known for making crisp, dry, refreshing wine.  Which is a yes on all three for this wine, it is more of a well chilled August refreshing wine than a cold rainy NY October wine. But it could also be considered a bit of Summer in a glass were I feeling generous.

During dinner, I tasted the lime.  It really was a good wine to serve with the fresh porcini/bacon quiche that JPH threw together and the frisee salad that I put too much garlic in.  This was a meal of strong flavors, and this wine held up to them bravely.  It was a good clean palate cleanser in between alternate bites of garlic and porcini.