Winos Tour Italy

Our wine club continued our journey around the world on to Italy, a country Erica chose to honor in preparation for her upcoming nuptials to a bonafide Italian-American. Because my favorite food group is carbs, I was pretty excited. 

Erica served up pizza margherita ...

Fettucine alfredo...

this delicious combo of toasted baguettes topped with goat cheese, fig jam and prosciutto...

and this strangely wonderful combo of drunken grapes and shrimp...

With strawberries stuffed with mascarpone!

Ashleigh brought this chocolate raspberry port that a coworker specially mixed and bottled! It was very good, like a liquid truffle.

We also had this Le Rime chardonnay and pinot grigio blend, which was a bit too spicy for my taste, but everyone else liked.

Jen visited Italy a few years ago and brought us two bottles of the same wine from the Castello Del Trebbio winery in Tuscany — one from 2004 and one from 2011. We compared both and although the older bottle really held up well, the younger one was a bit tastier.

We also sampled another chianti from La Castellina winery, and it was fruity and smooth. I'm just a chianti fan...it's so easy to drink, but it'll sneak up on you if you don't watch how much you've had!

I brought Tormaresca Neprica, a great blend of negroamaro, primitivo and cabernet sauvignon that was just the right mix of fruity and spicy.

Italian wine night was pretty much a success, as evidence by the tipsy conclusion of a mostly clothed swim in Erica's new pool! Nothing like swimming in your work clothes to finish the night.