Fiat Vino

I was "volunteered" to take care of a friend's cat for the weekend. I tried to explain to her that the cat would be asleep most of the time and probably wouldn't even know she was gone. That didn't work. So we went to her house, only to find the cat waiting by the door and a cat poo waiting in the shower. Lovely. After the gagging subsided we noticed that our friend left us a bottle of wine, and this gesture did not go unnoticed. I opened it only to find that it was really tasty! (see photo) Well, thank you Coco the Cat! You keep leaving the good stuff on the table and I'll rinse your shower out and chase you into your little tent anytime. You sly old cat, you.

Great wine for the money! About $6 at Trader Joe's, I will be getting this again.

Supposedly Orvieto's are made from the Grechetto and Trebbiano grapes and come from Umbria (Italy). This one is about $7 from Trder Joes and is pretty tasty. This was the second bottle we've gone through in recent memory. Try it for something different.

This is from Central Otago in New Zealand, we picked it up for $18.99 at the Jug Shop on a recommendation from the staff. This is awesome, there is plenty of rich stone fruit flavor but it is not over the top. Very well balanced. Fantastic pinot, try some.

$8.99 on sale from (maybe) $12.99 from Safeway. It is light and crisp and totally worth $9. Try it sometime if you're in the mood for a dainty white.

Tasty option. Grab this if you see it for less than $6.

What a wonderful and balanced wine! We've been sitting on this for years and a lovely (foggy), lazy, Sunday afternoon felt like the time was just right. And it was. There are strong notes of stone fruit, a good amount of oak, black pepper, a solid amount of tannins - all working harmoniously to level out what could otherwise be a hot wine at 14.3% alcohol. We still have the 2006... But we'll save that for next year. A great buy.