Week 8 - Virtual Tasting for Charity - Pizza Wines for Rescue.org !!! Last event of the series

Theme: Pizza wines! Everybody loves pizza and wine
Host: Chris Blum
Matching donors: any takers?
Date: January 13th - 20th
Format: So here is the challenge:

Post a tasting note for a “pizza wine” and I will donate $10 to the charity. For purposes of this challenge, a “Pizza Wine” is any inexpensive wine that goes great with any style of pizza. If you post a picture of you enjoying your pizza, or just your wine and pizza if you are ugly, then I will double the donation to $20.

About this week’s charity: http://www.rescue.org
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. At work in over 40 countries and 25 U.S. cities to restore safety, dignity and hope, the IRC leads the way from harm to home.

Excellent! I have pizza planned for Saturday.

What is a pizza wine? Is it the wine or the pizza? I can’t eat pizza - too many carbs.

It’s wine you’d drink with pizza. Pizza not required but maybe they’ll be a bonus for pizza when Chris Blum jumps in on the format.

Zins and simple quaffers are what I call Pizza wines. Popped one last night, a 2012 Filliateau Les Grands Vignole Saumur Champigny. Lovely crisp bright red cherries and cranberries, some dry forest floor and hint of tobacco. Would pair well with a greasy meat lovers pizza. Costs about $18, good for about 88-89 points. Refreshing, inexpensive drink that my wife even enjoyed.

Then you may consider the cauliflower crust pizza route as an alternative… Low-Carb Cauliflower Crust Pizza Recipe | POPSUGAR Fitness

Sorry for the delay. Work has been…work.

“Pizza is like sex. Even when it’s not great, it’s still pretty good”
~ Mahatma Ghandi



“All we are saying is 'Give pizza a chance”
~ John Lennon



"I would have been here earlier, but I stopped for pizza…Gaaa> aaahhh> hhhhh> "
~ Pheidippides of Marathon



“I hate Pizza. Oh, > and Communists> , them too.”
~ Joseph McCarthy

So here is the challenge:

Post a tasting note for a “pizza wine” and I will donate $10 to the charity. For purposes of this challenge, a “Pizza Wine” is any inexpensive wine that goes great with any style of pizza. If you post a picture of you enjoying your pizza, or just your wine and pizza if you are ugly, then I will double the donation to $20.

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Imagine through no fault of your own, you suddenly had to leave everything you’ve worked for; your home and all of your belongings, and flee with your family to another country. You don’t speak the language, you aren’t welcome, you haven’t fed your kids in days, everyone is cold and miserable, and a cloud of desperation hangs like a fog around your impromptu camp You know that only a small number of the people in your group will make it to safety and security. I think that would be terrifying. The powerlessness, terror and shame that I would feel trying to protect and provide for my family, not knowing what the next day might bring. So, with that thought, my adopted charity is:

IRC responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. At work in over 40 countries and 25 U.S. cities to restore safety, dignity and hope, the IRC leads the way from harm to home.

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IRC is a solid steward of donors’ money. They are rated A+ by CharityWatch and 4 stars by Charity Navigator.

Okay friends, let’s do this…Give my checkbook an ass kicking!

If you look at this thread, you’ll see the Berserkers will drink anything with pizza. Check out the first post with 2014/2015 wines brought to Di Fara’s. 4th Annual Di Fara's Pizza - Brooklyn - February 9, 2016 - Event Planner - Online or Offline - WineBerserkers

Great topic, Chris - I love pizza wines.

Opened two tonight, by the same producer:

2010 Produttori di Carema Carema
2011 Produttori di Carema Carema

With the advent of global warming, I have started to explore the northern reaches of Piemonte over the past couple of years - towns like Ghemme, Gattinara, Boca and Carema. While most folks will be familiar with Ferrando’s work in Carema, these wines are from a cooperative, and while they will not make you forget the Produttori del Barbaresco, they are solidly-made Nebbiolo-based wines that offer good QPR.

Both my wife and I preferred the 2010, which had more “meat on the bones”. These wines are light translucent ruby in the glass, with red fruits and cool menthol on the nose. If you have an interest, apparently Polaner started bringing these in a few years ago, and they also produce a Riserva bottling that I have not gotten around to trying yet.

Yea, this is a great thread. Gonna do the grilled pizza thing on Friday. Not sure what I will pop.

Opened with burgers, not pizza, but it would work well with a nice pepperoni and meatball pizza, the 2002 Peachy Canyon Zinfandel Westside leads off with sweet plummy fruit and a little spice, and the sweetness combines with slightly gritty and bitter tannin to create a nice balance and texture. Not all that complex, but it is hard to stop drinking.

Get busy, folks:

• 2012 Conte di Bregonzo Amarone della Valpolicella - Italy, Veneto, Valpolicella, Amarone della Valpolicella (1/15/2016)
  Not so much amarone as Loren mentions. No prune but dark red fruit. Medium plus weight. I didn’t get the heat but I decanted for an hour. Good pizza or short ribs wine.

Posted from CellarTracker

2014 Idlewild The Bird Red - USA, California, North Coast, Mendocino County (1/15/2016)
Pizza for dinner and just like last month this wine was a perfect match. The dusty red fruit worked really well with the richness of the pizza toppings, and the fine tannins cut through the fat of cheese and meat. Easy drinking and good value at $22.

Posted from CellarTracker

Just opened two more pizza wines, although the pizza is a number of hours away right now (although my wife is slicing/prepping the onion, so the pizza-making process has commenced ).

First up, a 2011 La Gerla Rosso di Montalcino. I like La Gerla as an everyday drinking Brunello, but find their Rosso to be a little more vintage variable. I was so-so on both the 2010 and 2012, but this year they seem to have gotten it right, although their style of Rosso is not one I would recommend laying down.

And then, a little higher on the wine geek scale, a bottle of the 2012 Domaine Giudicelli Patrimonio Rouge. Same grape as the La Gerla, but on Corsica they refer to their Sangiovese as Nielluccio. This is more of a red & black fruit combination, more “substantial” than the La Gerla, and also more rustic. Not bad at all.

I tried the following bottle last night at Scopa (local Italian restaurant) – 2011 Heinrich Mayr (Nusserhof) Alto Adige - Elda. It was my first time tasting schiava. It had a very complex and immediately inviting nose of tart cherries, wild strawberries, with an intriguing note of pine and underbrush. Very quaffable though it had persistent, slightly green astringency at the tail end that never abated and of which I was not fond. Still, the wine went will enough with the restaurant’s signature dish – Nonna’s chicken (braised w/tomato sauce, chard and polenta) and I imagine it would go well enough with pizza. $58 off the list and about half that at retail.

One mo’ pizza wine as my better half begins to prep the dough ;

To pair up with the 2012 Patrimonio I opened earlier today, a bottle of the 2011 Domaine Giudicelli Patrimonio Rouge. This is notably darker in the glass than the younger wine, and the nose borders on overripe blackberry/blackerry liquer. Medium-bodied on the palate, with decent persistence on the finish. Quite different than the 2012, so I’ll have to try a glass of each side-by-side with the pizza to see which I prefer, but I’m leaning toward the earlier 2012 right now.

Did not have with pizza. Rather, enjoyed this with lentil soup. But I’ve had it with pizza before. 2013 Michele Alois “Campole” Aglianico, Campania IGT. Chewy, spicy, peppery, earthy. Yet, approachable–particularly with hearty fare. Black cherry, black pepper, black licorice. I love this wine with casual dinners or next to a fire. This time is was both.

2013 Juan Gil Jumilla is a good QPR and goes great with pizza. We drink a lot of this and find that it is good most vintages.

No pizza pics? You guys are being soft on me!