Brachetto - Spring Sweetness and Bubbles

It’s Spring, and this bottle of Acquesi Brachetto says it all. Just looking at the beautiful design of the bottle makes me smile and think of warm weather and bubbles.

Brachetto is a black-skinned Italian grape grown in the Piedmont region of Italy. The grape is usually produced as sparkling wine and low in alcohol. Rules around making wine with this grape is the wine needs to be 100% Brachetto. For two days, the grapes are macerated (sit on the skins and seeds). During this time, the color and flavors are extracted from the grapes.

Brachetto does have a level of sweetness. If you like your wine on the sweeter side, you will like this. If you are looking for a nice wine with personality with your berry pie, strawberry shortcake or fruit cup, this is the wine for the pairing.

Acquesi Brachetto D’Acqui DOC $13.99

Tasting notes: Beautiful garnet red in color - fresh mountain sweetness on the nose with hints of strawberry, juicy red raspberry and lilacs. It is frizzante, so the bubbles are light.

The palate is sweet and bursting with red fruit with a hint of anise spice on the finish. Low in alcohol at only 6.5%

This wine will pair well with chocolate and berry desserts. Or as a Sunday afternoon sparkling at the beach or pool.

Areni: A Dark & Mysterious Grape

Areni is a grape that is grown in Armenia and for our first episode of Winephabet Street we got a double-A.

Winephabet Street is a monthly series where Lori Budd of Exploring the Wine Glass and I work our way through the alphabet exploring wine and wine regions one letter at a time. The show is live on the third Monday at 8pm and is free, but you must register to attend. Put it on your calendar, pour yourself a glass of wine and hang out with us.

Armenia is considered the birthplace of viticulture. It’s a dark and mysterious grape that comes from the village of Areni located in southwest Armenia.

On this episode, we were joined by Wines of Armenia’s Stepan Baghdassarian and we tasted 3 different wines that expressed the grape differently and priced from $25-$50

Please watch the webinar or listen to the podcast and hear the excitement in Stephan’s voice and expressions as he talks about the grape and wine region he loves.

The Wines:

Noah of Areni 2017 - Aromas of blackberry, tobacco and violet lead to a palate that is easy drinking. Juicy blackberry, light mouthfeel with dark fruit and a hint of black pepper spice on the finish.

Old Bridge Areni Noir Reserve 2014 Estate Bottled - Aromas are dense, very berry with a hint of menthol. The palate has a very nice structure, more tannin structure. Notes of sour cherry and raspberry. This wine spent 24 months in oak.

Voskeni Old Vines 130 Reserve Areni - very complex in both aromas and palate. 130-year-old vines that are bushes and low-yielding. Aromas of ripe black raspberry, plum, clove and tobacco leads to a palate that is smooth and complex yet elegant. Lots of red and black fruit with mouth-watering tannins.

Webinar

Podcast