And the winner is.....

What an education.

I think I have compiled a decent list of light to full bodied wines. To compliment my list making sensibilities, I am sipping on a Chianti which I will describe in detail momentarily.

In my mind, I tend to clump together wines, grapes and regions and then don't quite know what all that means. Actually, I still do that, but it is becoming somewhat clearer.

So, lets begin with light bodied - Beaujolais Neoveau (gamay grape), and Pinot Noir (Burgundy's most famous grape). As an FYI - France has 3 famous red wine producing regions which are Burgundy, Bordeaux and Rhone. As a side note, my next blog will be on a Burgundy. I read an article recently that describes Burgundy as seductively graceful. That sounds magnificent, and I simply must have some.

A light to medium bodied wine is Dornfelder - this is Germany's primary grape for red wine. I visited Germany several years ago and remember sharing a Dornfelder red wine with my relatives. I really enjoyed it, but couldn't understand what kind of red wine it was. My dear German relatives speak no English and I do not sprecken se Deutsch. My Mother, who was the translator did not do so well with the information translation. So, I never really knew what I was drinking.

Moving on to medium bodied - Merlot, Shriaz, Chianti (Sangiovesi grape) Pinotage (blend of South African's cross between a Pinot noir and Cinsault grape)

A medium to full bodied wine is a Tempranillo which is a Spanish wine from the Rioja region. Other countries seem to name their wines based on the region it was grown versus they way we do it by typically naming it after the actual grape. I like our way much better.

Malbecs are another medium to full bodied wine and used to typically be a blend from the Bordeaux region. However, Argentina changed all that and made it a single varietal wine which has become quite popular.

Other medium full bodied wines include Italian Borolo or Barbarescos (nebbiolo grape) and Petite Verdots - which is very often used in Bordeaux blends. Zinfandels are thought of as medium to full bodied as well.

Finally the big daddies. The number one full bodied big red is.....drum roll please....Cabernet Sauvignon of course. Was there ever any doubt?? Well yeah, I guess there was, I actually thought that Zinfindels might be a bit fuller bodied than Cabs. And there are some other full bodied contenders as well such as the Italian Super Tuscans and Bordeaux. Bordeaux are typically made from 3 varietals which are most often the Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. Super Tuscans are Tuscan wines that don't adhere to the traditional blending laws for the region. Just as another FYI - Italy has over 20 wine producing regions that account for 1/5 of the worlds wine production. Thats so awesome.

A quick note on the the Chianti. It was ok. Somewhat of a sharp finish. Definitely cherry spice, with soft tannins. We paired it with spicy pulled pork sandwiches. I don't know how we come up with these pairings, but spicy wasn't the best thing for this wine. But all in all, it was ok and reasonably priced. Would I buy it again? Probably not.

Finally to end this novel sized blog. I noted a visit to 2 wineries. Barrel Oak was very nice. This lovely picture is the beautiful view from the deck at Barrel Oak. At first, our wine server seemed a little tired and uninterested, but she quickly came about and we had a wonderful tasting and bought something called Chocolate Lab. It's a dessert wine. Port style Chambourcin (French-American hybrid grape)infused with cocoa. It's either infused with Brandy as well or aged in a Brandy barrel, I can't remember which, but either way, it was excellent!!! We are going to savor it this weekend with dear friends and cigars.

The suck fest was Chrysalis. This is the second time I've been made to feel unwelcome there. When we first entered, both wine servers were busy with tastings - I waited patiently at the counter. After a few moments, one of the wine servers rather curtly asked me if he could help me. I advised him my hubby and I were here for a wine tasting. He said he would be with us in about 5 minutes. Well, after about 10 minutes, the other wine tasting party had left and he cleaned up their mess and made his way into the back and disappeared with out a word. The other wine server was still knee deep with her tasting party and still unavailable. We decided we weren't feeling the love. Not only were they not interested in helping us, they weren't even interested in telling us.

Except for that minor negative moment, everything else was wonderful.

So, I'll sign off with dreams of Cabernets and Super Tuscans. Oh, BTW, I'm practically a celebrity in my own home. Thanks to my beautiful, generous daughter, I now have a Little Miss Vino t-shirt and business cards. I plan on planting the business cards at various and sundry locations through out the contiguous United States. So be alert. If you find one, you could win a prize!!!

Until then...Cheers!!