I have to thank one of my readers who is also a member of my NJ Chapter of Women for Winesense for emailing me to find out about our last event. She had expected to read about it on my blog! Oops! Here's my w(h)ine... it's been a busy week.. company here.. getting ready for the holiday etc. etc. Ok. that's enough. So, here it goes.

Upon arrival at a dark, locked and empty restaurant on Sunday I was quite concerned that we would end up having our event at the local White Castle. Thankfully, someone arrived in the nick of time and proceeded to rush around and get our space prepared ..and on time! Thanks to our guests who were all very relaxed about it.

The guest speaker, our very own woman in wine,  Debbie Miller Nelson ..aka "The Wine Goddess" of nj.com and Wine portfolio Manager of Italian Wine Merchants led us in a description of the wines she chose to pair with our meal and a little bit about her working in a boutique wine shop in Manhattan. We listened while sipping our first wine, the Ruggeri Prosecco. What a fabulous prosecco... light, fruity, refreshing. It had excellent bubbles which gave it a nice crisp finish. The 2 bottles were finished promptly. We carried on to the Vigna dei Dardi Rosso dei Dardi 2005 which was paired with our appetizer platter containing veal spiedini, clam oreganata, eggplant rollatini and stuffed mushroom. The wine is a blend of Nebbiolo, some Barbera and another grape I never heard of before called Freisa. The acidity and fruit in the wine worked well with all the different flavors on the plate. I have had this wine before and enjoyed it. Next was the Rigatoni Bolognese paired with Villa Mangiacane Chianti Classico 2003. While this was not Debbie's first Chianti choice, it nevertheless was a nice smooth Sangiovese with intense dark fruit , good body and some spice. There was a choice of entrees for everyone that included veal sorrentino, chicken with rosemary or sole florentine. With this we had the Bovio Barbera Il Cioto 2001. Barbera is a good food wine matching well with many things which is the undoubtedly the reason Debbie chose it. At first, I didn't get much fruit from the wine . It was quite minerally and even minty on my palate. But, with each successive taste the flavors evolved especially when combining with the flavors of the veal dish I was eating. This was a pleasant wine.. maybe not my favorite Barbera but enjoybale. We finished with a very interesting dessert wine the Accornero Brigantino 2005. Made from the Malvasia di Casorzo grape this wine screamed raspberries. With its slight fizziness it was a real wow for everyone who expected a sickeningly sweet disaster. Well done Deb.. I know that everyone really learned a lot and found some new wines to love.

Cheers,

The Wining Woman

PLEASE VOTE FOR OUR BLOG EVERY DAY! THANK YOU!