News and Another Douro

Today's post includes some news about a busy January for wine events and another Douro wine. I periodically attend a monthly wine tasting group in my area. This group of people meets every 1st Tuesday of the month (except for holidays.) This month's theme is organic and biodynamic wines. I hope to go to more meetings this year as the tastings always expose me to more wines than I would find on my own and the people in the group are very friendly. Plus its nice to actually meet face to face with people who share a passion for wine! If you live in the Sacramento area, feel free to join the Midtown Winers (email me if you'd like more information.)

In an effort to immerse myself in the wine blogging world, I'm taking part in Wine Blogging Wednesday #41, a virtual wine tasting where wine bloggers all over the world pick a wine based on the theme and share their tasting notes. This month's theme is wines from the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia in Northern Italy. I've had a Tocai Friulano before, but I want to try something new, so I've lined up a red wine made from the Refosco grape. Even if you don't have a blog, you can participate by posting your tasting notes at the Wine Blogging Site before Wednesday, January 16th.



Dr. Debs from Good Wine Under $20 has formed a new blog group for reading and reviewing wine books. Similar to Wine Blogging Wednesday only with books, we'll all be reading the same wine book and sharing our opinions. Only the "meetings" are every other month to give you more time to read the book. This is a good thing because the first book is "Vino Italiano: The Regional Wines of Italy", a 544 page book on the vast and varied wine regions of the second largest producer of wine in the world! Reviews are due February 26th. You can read all the details over on Good Wine Under $20 or on the host for the first event at McDuff's Food and Wine Trail. I've ordered my copy of the book (surprisingly affordable at $18 including shipping for a used copy) and it will arrive soon. (This means I've got to finish the book I started while on vacation, "Enemy at the Gate" about the battle at Stalingrad in World War II. I'm half way through the book and the Russians have just launched a counter offensive against the German invaiders. It's the beggining of winter on the Russian Steppe and I can't leave those poor soldiers waiting while I read a wine book!)

I hope to attend my first barrel tasting at the end of the month at a couple Fair Play wineries in the El Dorado foothills. I'll have a lot of material for wine blogging, but let me talk about another Douro wine first.

Yesterday I posted my pleasant experience with a 2005 Valtorto Douro. I had previously had another Douro and wanted to try it again to see if it too would resemble the taste of Port if left to breathe for awhile. Unfortunately, I did't get the same results. I don't know if this is because the wine has one more varietal than the Valtorto had (Tinta Barroca) or because of the different vintages. The wine was a nice wine, especially given it's $7.00 price, but it didn't have the same spicyness I enjoyed in yesterday's wine.

Charamba Tinto 2004

Tasting Notes:

Color: Ruby red

Aroma: Cherry (smelled like similar to a tempranillo)

Taste: Mild fruit with light tannins

Finish: Slight