Happy New Year / Wine Tasting 12.30.05

Greetings from New London
Thames River Wine & Spirits - 860-443-9463
Thames River Greenery - 860-443-6817
Brie & Bleu - 860-437-2474

Calendar of Events: http://thamesriver.com/wine/calendar.html
Featured Wines: http://thamesriver.com/wine/instock.html
Featured TRGreenery: http://www.thamesriver.com/trg/featured.html

It has been a great and busy week- we hope everyone had a wonderful holiday.
New Years Eve is just around the corner and we have everything you need to celebrate - we will even deliver it right to your front door.

This week just a quick listing of our wines for Friday night. - Happy New Year to all.


Wine Tasting Please join us Friday December 30 - 6-9 p.m. - No Charge


1 - Vernaccia Montenidoli Sardinia - $19
This is made by following local tradition; it is subjected to long skin contact in order to capture the character and flavors of the Vernaccia grape and the Tuscan land. It has a deep golden color produced by the extended contact with the grape skins; the color was so important that in the old days producers used to add caramel to achieve it in off years. This wine has a rich floral bouquet, aromas of peaches and apricots with a nice backbone of mineral tones. It is full bodied and very well-balanced with a nice almond component on the finish. This is why people go to Italy - it is authentic and "Delicioso"!

2 - Sella & Mosca Cannonau - $14
Sella & Mosca's wines are original and affordable. How about a red that is relatively light,fruity and spicy, but intense enough to hold up to most meats, roast chicken and maybe vegetable dishes. The red is Cannonau, if you're not familiar with it, is the Italian name for the French Grenache and the Spanish Garnacha. The grape is also grown in California and Australia. For me, it is at its best when it shows an earthiness combined with intense berry fruit, which is the case here, despite the wine's relatively light color. The aromas project ripe red berry, including strawberry and raspberry jam. In the mouth, coffee, spices and herbs, including sage, emerge. There is definite evidence of oak aging (three years, it turns out), but the wood is well integrated, framing the wine rather than defining it.
 If you want a great bottle of wine that goes well with food try this one.

3 - Cantina Porroco Barbaresco -
Barbaresco is one of the great wines of Piedmont and should be drunk with all due respect. It is a wine of extremely ancient origin and was mentioned by Livy in his monumental History of Rome. According to an old tradition, the Gauls were attracted to Italy and descended into the peninsula because of the goodness of the wine of Barbaritium, from which the word "Barbariscum" and later Barbaresco were derived. However, some experts argue that the wine derived its name from the barbarian hordes that raided extensively in Italy before and after the fall of Rome.
Barbaresco, the aristocratic red wine we know today, was mentioned in 1799, when Austrian General Melas requested "Nebbiolo di Barbaresco" to celebrate in worthy fashion his victory over the French. Hey - a little bit of history is not going to kill you.....

4 - Costozza Cabernet - $23 - http://www.costozza-villadaschio.it/ing/index.htm
From year to year, Italy and France trade the title of world's leading wine producer. But Italians point out it was the ancient Romans who introduced wine making to France. In fact, Italians were cultivating grapes some 2,500 years ago, before the rise of the Roman Empire. The Veneto produces more premium wines than any other part of Italy. In the heart of the region, an hour's drive west of Venice, fields of grapes surround charming hill towns. The village of Costozza lies at the base of Monte Brosimo. This 1,312-foot hill is part of the Colli Berici, a mountain range of volcanic origin. Both the soil and mild climate are ideal for growing grapes. Costozza has been documented as a winemaking center since at least 1250, but archaeological excavations indicate it's possible that wine was being made in the Berici Hills thousands of years earlier. The village of 2,000 has a delightful old restaurant, Taverna Aeolia. Astronomer Galileo Galilei mentioned in his memoirs that he was a guest there 400 years ago.

Thanks for all of your support - we appreciate it.
And we would like to take a minute to wish everyone a happy, healthy,and safe New Year.


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