weekday wines – botani moscatel seco

One of my favorite ways to spend an evening is at a wine tasting, especially when I get to taste wines that I am completely unfamiliar with. A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I went to a wine tasting featuring the wines of Finca Allende, a Spanish winery in the Rioja region. Spanish wines are, for me, a bit of a mystery – much like Italian and French wines – so I was happy to learn a little more about them.

The wines we tasted ranged in price from $15 a bottle to (hold on to your seats) $200 a bottle. The priciest of the wines were the 2004 Pago Del Calvario Rioja – my personal favorite of the reds that we tasted – and the Finca Allende Aurus Rioja.

But I’m not going to tell you more about these reds, because that’s not what we walked out with at the end of the night. We left with a couple of bottles of a lovely white wine that started off the tasting – a bottle called Jorge Ordoñez & Co. Botani Moscatel Seco.

This wine is a beautiful wine, very easy to sip and linger over. It’s crisp and refreshing, and even though it’s made with the Muscat grape, this is not a sweet wine (hence seco, which means dry). This is the type of wine that is great on it’s own, as an aperitif, or with seafood or Chinese takeout or just about anything else you’d want to eat in the summer.  It cost about $15 a bottle, so maybe it’s a little pricier than one might like for a typical bargain wine, but it’s so, so worth it.

I wish I could write about wine in as beautiful a fashion as Jancis Robinson is able to do, but I just can’t. I don’t speak that beautiful wine language. Since she does – and did – please go read what she said about this wine. And then go find a bottle or three.

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8 Responses to “weekday wines – botani moscatel seco”

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    Eileen — September 26, 2010 @ 7:19 pm

    What a fun time! I love wine tasting too. There is so much to learn about all the different kinds. So many wines, so little time!

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    Jason Phelps — September 26, 2010 @ 7:30 pm

    I have found that deferring to others who you perceive as have a better voice with wines is not always a good choice. What you experienced is what you want to write about and the special language can often be a veil that prevents others from understanding what to expect.

    Your ideas of what to pair it with are what I will explore.

    Thank You

    Jason

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    Brian @ A Thought For Food — September 26, 2010 @ 7:53 pm

    I love learning about new wines! Thank you for sharing this one with all of us.

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    Carol (CGtheFoodie) — September 26, 2010 @ 10:22 pm

    I am always down for learning about new wines. That wine class looks familiar… 🙂

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    Baking Serendipity — September 26, 2010 @ 11:01 pm

    I love wine tastings! Though I have to admit, I can’t imagine spending $200 on a bottle! I haven’t become too much of a wine snob yet, so I can keep my prices reasonable 🙂

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    Mindy — September 27, 2010 @ 9:29 am

    That glass looks strikingly like the one from the IFBC goodie bag. hmmm:) Sounds like a great wine.

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    Barbara @ VinoLuciStyle — September 27, 2010 @ 12:41 pm

    I love wine tastings and hold several at my home. Not because I am an expert but because I love learning new things too! I actually run a Meetup group for doing just that. We determine a theme…whether varietal or region and everyone brings a bottle of wine and an appetizer to share; it allows everyone a greater opportunity to try a lot of different wines.

    But have to say, what I loved most about your post? That glass in the last photo. Beautiful.

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    Gail — September 28, 2010 @ 11:08 am

    I love crisp summer white wines like this. Adding it to my list! Thanks, MJ!

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