A taste of Tuscany for half the price…sort of!

This weekend my good Brandon came to visit Baltimore. He drove down Friday from Michigan and after a long drive, was ready to relax and have some wine. We went over to The Wine Source (Hampden, Baltimore, MD) for a free wine tasting (every Friday afternoon) of Portuguese wines and picked up a few meats, cheeses, breads, and most importantly some wine.

As I’ve been very interested in Italian food and wine lately, and since Brandon has had very little Italian wine, I focused on Italy. We grabbed some prosciutto di parma and two salami’s, as well as two cheeses. Seeing as all of our food items were from Tuscany, I picked 3 tuscany reds, as well as one bottle of Gavi to get the night started (all 375 mL bottles). The following tasting notes outline our wines for the evening. The half-bottles allowed us to try 4 different wines for less than half the price of the full bottles without wasting a drop!

Villa Sparina Gavi (2004) - Nose of lavender, minerals and reminances of the ocean. Floral notes with pear, honey and melon. Crisp with a light, refreshing, semi-sweet finish. My rating- 87 pts

Ruffino Chianti (2004) - Nice nose - earthy with cherry, raspberry, hint of plum. Acidity is refreshing and balanced with the smooth tannin structure. Great finish makes this a nice everyday wine at a good price. My rating - 90 pts

Avignonesi - Vino Nobile di Montepulciano (2003) - Ruby color. Green pepper, butter, cherry, clay on the nose. Truffles and berry with a hazelnut finish. Needs more time to open up. My rating - 88 pts

La Gerla - Brunello di Montalcino(2001) - Big nose, blackcherry, toasted oak. Silky and well integrated tannins. Nice wine. My rating - 91 pts

One last note: We enjoyed a Bianchetta al Tartufo goat cheese (Tuscany) with all three of the reds, especially the Avignonesi. The truffle in the wine really complemented this truffle-infused goat cheese - one of the best wine/cheese pairings I’ve had to date! Note: Image linked from: http://www.wineroutes.co.uk