Italian Style

The 2003 Ferrari Carano Siena has been in the cellar for two years after I found it in a local store.

The wine is a blend of Sangiovese (mostly) with Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon playing supporting roles. The nose was very closed on opening so I decanted half the bottle and let it breathe for fifteen minutes. While still somewhat closed it did begin to offer some fruit and spices.

There were strawberries in the taste but the bright cherries usually in Sangiovese were tempered somewhat into a darker tasting cherry and almost a blueberry taste. That was probably the tempering from the Malbec and Cabernet. There was earth and some cinnamon and vanilla in the taste as well. Definitely full flavored with surprisingly mild tannic grip on the sides of the tongue. The acid adequate and it made for a nice, but not great wine. Normally around $25 the sale tag was still on this wine for $15 and that makes it a good wine. It was fully mature.

With the wine we ate a fillet of farm raised salmon that was pan seared and then quickly baked. I topped it with a dollop of pesto sauce. The pasta was fusilli and the sauce was a small amount of milk, some red pepper flakes and a nice chunk of fresh Gorgonzola all cooked together. A very easy dish to fix, it was better with the wine than the salmon.

Scott ate some of the leftover pasta and some of the salmon skin in his dog food and judging by the amount of movement in his tail it was greatly appreciated.

Snow is moving in again this morning. The weather people yesterday were calling for little to no accumulation, but this morning they are now going for 1 to 3 inches.