Olive Garden & Wine

Last evening we at Olive Garden. I haven't been there in years, but my husband received a gift card there for Christmas and we were down that way, so we stopped in.

We arrived at prime time – 7pm and had to wait for ½ hour. No big deal we headed for the bar. Very interesting on the bar drink menu…they don't list the vintage year of the wines. I started with a Sterling Vintners Collection, Napa Valley Cab and my husband started with a 2005 (he saw the bottle) XY Zin Zinfandel. My Cab was okay, nothing to write about. My husband's Zin wasn't that good. It had a fizz to it and had a week strawberry flavors. I couldn't tell you of any aromas due to the wine glass. They were small and filled so it didn't allow for the swirling and smelling.

The next wine my husband ordered was a glass of Rocca delle Macie Rubizzo Sangiovese. The bartender needed to open a new bottle for him. This was a good sign. So we watch as he tried to open the bottle and broke the cork. He did get the rest of the cork out and poured Paul his glass. (If the bartender only knew he was serving the "Wine Goddess" it would have made him more nervous than he already seemed.) This wine needed to open, was light on the fruit and had lots of tannins. Almost too much tannins.

We sat down for dinner and now I was ready for another glass of wine. I ordered a bottle of the 2003 Villa Antinori Super Tuscan. This wine had nice cherry flavors. It was a blend of Cab, Merlot and Syrah from Tuscany's most prestigious vineyards. This was by far the best wine on their menu as well as the most expensive.