Tom and Melody's wine blog » Chianti

Placido Chianti 2008

Sat, 06 Aug 2011 01:22:55 +0000

Melody is teaching tonight so I’m having modest fare: a ham-and-swiss sandwich with Placido Chianti 2008.

The Placido was inexpensive in our grocery store (on sale for $6), but it’s nonetheless quite good. It’s dry, tannic, slightly bitter, with dark-fruit taste. A very nice table wine.

Besides, the Placido wine label has a cool picture of “the legendary Count Placido, a 13th century Tuscan nobleman” on horseback.

Collezione di Paolo Chianti 2009

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 14:18:38 +0000

We had this Collezione di Paolo Chianti 2009 with pizza. Dry, pleasant, light-medium body, light fruit taste. Very drinkable, and very good with the pizza.

A very nice evening: during cocktails we worked quite a while on last Friday’s Wall Street Journal crossword puzzle because Melody will be out of town the rest of the week. (If you’re working on it, 79 Across “River to Cairo” is Ohio, not Nile.)

Poggio Vignoso Chianti (2008)

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 09:23:10 +0000

I stopped at the Plum Market on my way home from work to buy ingredients for my dinner tonight and I picked up this Chianti because I thought it would be perfect for this dinner. And, yes, it was! Really quite delicious. (Such a welcome change from last night’s wine which was not drinkable for me.)

This Italian Poggio Vignoso Chianti 2008 has a fragrant nose of violets and licorice. The palate is fruity without being the least bit sweet, which I love, with a mineral finish. This complemented our dinner beautifully. We enjoyed dinner which was a new recipe. I made penne pasta with sauteed garlic, fresh tomatoes, baby spinach, and feta cheese tossed with some crispy italian sausage wheels. Now (I shamefully admit) I need to see who makes it to the top 24 in American Idol!

Bolla Chianti (2008)

Sun, 12 Sep 2010 23:14:20 +0000

Sunday night cocktail hour is here. The picture was taken on the table next to my chair. That is my glass of wine in front of our Squeezebox, which is our music source. It plays all of our favorite tunes while we read the paper, talk, do crossword puzzles, etc.

So, I have chicken and rice casserole in the oven. I am going to make a salad or a vegetable . . . haven’t decided which. We had to search high and low for a wine for our dinner tonight. We were going to have a Pinot Noir but we only had cabernets and malbecs upstairs. So I went downstairs and found this Bolla Chianti 2008 amongst cabernets and malbecs. That is okay . . . we buy what we like and we like . . . you guessed it. . .cabs and malbecs.

This is a delicious chianti that will go well with our homey chicken and rice dinner. Although it is generally a pasta wine, it also goes very well with chicken dishes. This is fruity, dry, and robust with plenty of berries (particularly raspberries) on the palate.

What a lovely close to a beautiful day. Happy Sunday!

Collezione di Paolo Poggerissi (2008)

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 00:13:50 +0000

Ahhhh, Friday night after a very eventful and demanding week (which is why we haven’t posted in quite awhile). But, we made it through. We said goodbye to our youngest this morning (just writing this makes me want to cry). He is on a jet now to Seoul for one month and then on to Australia for who knows how long? Be smart, be safe. . .

So, I just finished teaching a week-long graduate-level class in the evenings after my day job. What a great class! Loved it! And now we are winding down. I have a pot of spaghetti sauce with meatballs simmering. I chose this Italian Chianti made with 100% Sangiovese grapes for our dinner. This is a lovely sipping wine. I could just sit here and relax all night — and forget about dinner if I could! The color is a bright purple and the nose has opened considerably since I opened it, yet it is still quite subtle — a touch of cherry and vanilla. The taste is very smooth with a bit of caramel on the finish. This will be perfect with spaghetti and meatballs.

Happy Friday; here’s to a slow-moving weekend (let’s not let it end too soon)!

Placido Chianti (2008)

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 00:10:15 +0000

A beautiful June Michigan evening. The sun is shining brightly at 8:00 p.m., the birds are chirping and the temperature is in the high 70′s. Tom & I just finished our (last Friday’s) Wall Street Journal crossword puzzle. I am mentioning this tonight because we sailed through this particular puzzle. So, therefore, we are celebrating (natch).

We are very much enjoying this Placido Chianti 2008. We bought this wine at our local grocery store for $8.95. It’s very good. Placido Chianti is a fun, light-hearted quaff with a touch of floral on the nose. The taste is dry and slightly tannic.

For dinner tonight, we are having some leftover casserole that I made a few nights ago. The casserole was made with ground beef, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, cheese, etc.,. . .all yummy ingredients. That is reheating and I am making a fresh salad with lettuce and green onions from my garden (and my homemade vinaigrette).

Tom: This Placido Chianti 2008 is a very pleasant red, quite dry, with a floral (I’m copying Melody’s word) and peppery nose and a medium body. Very drinkable. I’m sure this wine is very Italian food-friendly: fragrant, pleasantly acidic. A fun discovery for $9.

Aquila D’Oro Chianti 2008

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 00:38:58 +0000

This Aquila D’Oro Chianti 2008 is pleasant and earthy, and very sippable.

Medium-bodied, and medium-dry/dry. Nothing striking in the nose, but also nothing off-putting.

I think we got this at Trader Joe’s and probably under $10.

An altogether pleasant Italian table wine.

Chianti Gabbiano

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 15:25:32 +0000

I have recently returned from a once-a-year committee meeting. This year’s meeting was in St. Louis, Missouri.

Our chair, Kurt, and fellow committee members Katie, Janis, Jeff, Nicole and I all went to dinner together at “Charlie Gitto’s Downtown” restaurant. We chose the Chianti Gabbiano (of which we ordered and consumed three bottles). The wine was light and pasta-friendly with a nose of berries and tobacco. The six of us had a lovely evening. . .processing and discussing the day’s meeting together, sharing bits of our personal lives (e.g., children, nieces and nephews choosing colleges, dogs, student loans, meeting our mates) and enjoying delicious Italian food and wine. It was a great way to wrap up a long day. The wine was reasonably priced at $29 (or was it $24?) a bottle.

To my fellow “NCAA Research Committee” members, until next year. . .cheers!

Bella Sera Chianti (2006)

Thu, 28 May 2009 23:12:25 +0000

I bought this Italian Bella Sera Chianti at our local grocery store for about $9. I chose this wine tonight to go with our spaghetti dinner. I started the sauce in the afternoon and it has been simmering in my big old cast iron skillet for hours. (There is something about spaghetti sauce in a cast-iron skillet; I am convinced it tastes better that way.) This was my third vacation day and I am loving my time off. I suppose many people would wish for some entertainment for their vacation, however, I just like being home and doing simple things. I really enjoy it.

This wine starts with a spicy nose. The taste is fruity (raspberries) and dry; to me, this is a very typical Italian table wine. It is light bodied with medium tannins. I would definitely purchase this again and I would save it for our spaghetti nights!

Crete Rosse Chianti (2007)

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:03:54 +0000

It is a rainy, cold April Monday night but we are cozy and happy inside. We have music on the Bose and our son, Tommy, and his girlfriend Amanda are out in the kitchen making a salad to go with our spaghetti dinner. Wow, it is nice to have them making the salad; it gives me time to blog!

The last time we had this wine, I found it to be. . .well, thin. Thin in taste and in the overall body and aroma. I don’t feel that way tonight. This is a light-bodied wine but the taste is fresh and spicy. I like this wine very much!

Tommy & Amanda just showed me the big and beautiful salad they made (romaine lettuce with dried cherries, walnuts, cucumbers, tomatoes, avocados and bleu cheese) so it is time for me to start the water boiling to finish off the spaghetti dinner.