This little guy doesn’t have a guilty bone in his body. Neither should you. Every Wednesday (though it could be Tuesday or Thursday) I will write-up a wine that I feel delivers good value for drinking in the middle of the week. Aside from quality, my only other criteria is price. To start, less than $15, but ideally less than $10, for a 750 ml bottle.
I will also add any recipes that I paired with the wine. I hope to leave you with a recipe that you can use to match up with a wine of your choice if you can’t locate the one I recommend.
No-Guilt Wednesday is not about compromising on quality. It’s about all about drinking good wine that does not break the bank, eating good food and of course, it’s about sharing with the ones you love.
Some weeks things just don’t work out the way you planned them. This was one of those weeks. In the fun tug of war that Ms. R and I have when it comes to our social calendar, she won this week. We were out of the house pretty much every night. However, before she could get me out of the house last night, I managed to sneak in this week’s offering. Yep, I know yesterday was Friday– but that is the hand I was dealt. Just after 5 pm, as a colleague, whom I like very much, and I were finishing up some work related matters at the house, I thought, “It’s now or never”. So I offered him a taste of this week’s offering:
Bodegas Gormaz Vina Gormaz Blanco 2009 ($7). Verdejo is an interesting grape. While it does not offer overwhelming complexity, it offers enough. It also carries such a different flavor profile from the more everyday Sauvignon blanc/chardonnay offerings in the marketplace that it is worth seeking out. Straight out of the bottle, from the Spanish region of Rueda northwest of Madrid), this blend of 70% Verdejo and 30% Viura (also known as macabeo) put out an almost nut-like bouquet with hints of some sweet spice mixed with mineral and a touch of elastin. Once it opened, it offered some tropical fruit notes including pineapple. There were soft fruits on the palate and the wine seemed to have more body to it than one would typically expect from a white wine. The wine was balanced by a touch of mouth-watering acidity on the clean finish. This would be a great wine for a crowd– not expensive, easy to drink and different enough that people will ask you where to buy it. Rated **
After writing this review, I consulted Jancis Robinson’s excellent Oxford Companion to Wine in which she notes that wines produced from Verdejo are “aromatic, herbaceous (somewhat reminiscent of laurel), but with great substance and extract, capable of ageing well into an almost nutty character.” The Vina Gormaz Blanco 2009 definitely has that nutty character to which she refers. But it had not occurred to me to age this wine. But now that it’s out there, why not? I may buy a couple of bottles and just let them sit for another 2-3 years to see what happens. At seven smackers a bot, this is a low-risk proposition.
No Recipe this week folks– though I may have a little something coming out of this weekend. But put this out with a little Manchego Cheese with some quince paste and you won’t be disappointed.
sybaritesauvage 
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