During lockdown Anna and I became our support bubble. We spent a lot of time together working on the blog but we are also best friends. We had to come up with new ideas of how to spend time together and keep each other sane during these crazy times. With kids and work and the world collapsing, it was really stressful at times so we decided we needed to have some quality time once a week.
We declared Fridays our official Movie Nights. We would wait for the kids to go to bed and hang out with some delicious wine and a selection of funny films. We will review two amazing wines we had for one of our Movie Nights in this post so read on to see why we fell in love with them.
The first one is Feudi di Guagnano, Rosarò 2019 | Salice Salentino Negroamaro Rosato DOC and it is definitely my favourite. I absolutely love the freshness of Roses and had to try this one first. It is gorgeous and so refreshing. Reminds me of Summer even though the weather in the UK is far from warm, this wine makes you feel like you are on holidays in Spain. It has a vibrant coral shade and tastes of fresh raspberry, cranberry, and a hint of sea salt. It’s made from Negroamaro grapes grown on 50-year old vines near Guagnano, in southern Puglia. This unique wine offers a much higher flavour concentration than a typical rosé – you can almost sense aromas of Negroamaro rosso in the glass. This is because the winemaker uses long skin contact to obtain a deep flavour profile and luminous colour, setting this rosé apart from the others.
But most importantly, during winemaking, they separate the best 30% of the fermented wine and use it to produce Rosarò. The rest is used for other, less premium wines. The Negroamaro grapes for this wine are harvested by hand. The grape juice is kept in contact with its skins for 24 hours after crushing, which extracts a lot of aroma and colour. This period of skin contact is much longer than a typical rosé, which explains why this wine has more vibrant flavours. Fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks.
Then, at the time of racking the best fraction of the resulting wine – the clearest part which has the most pronounced aromas – is separated into a stainless steel tank. It ages here for 3 months, and finally becomes Rosarò. The wine has pronounced aromas of raspberry, cranberry and blood orange, with a touch of fresh juniper bitterness and a hint of saltiness from the sea breezes. In the mouth, the wine is dry, with a high level of refreshing acidity, medium body and a slightly oily texture. This is an unusually rich and flavoursome rosé, with lots going on. Please serve lightly chilled.
Then we moved on the the red wine. Kurtatsch Curtis 2018 Merlot Cabernet | Alto Adige DOC is rich but also incredibly smooth. Saint-Émilion-style blend from the Dolomite Alps, with flavours of blackcurrant, blueberry and black pepper. Crafted by Kurtatsch in the Dolomite Alps, in the German-speaking corner of Italy, this red wine benefits from a deep flavour of black fruits. It’s a similar blend to Pomerol or Saint-Émilion from the Bordeaux Right Bank: made from 60% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. Despite this similarity, this wine shows the specificity of Alto Adige. The climate is very favourable for sun-loving Merlot and Cabernet, helping them to ripen and develop.
The soil is very different here, too: red-brown sandy loam soil with dolomite minerals. The resulting wines have pronounced flavours and a deep ruby colour. This wine has deep ruby colour in the glass. On the nose, this blend of Merlot and Cabernet offers pronounced aromas of blackcurrant, blackberry, black cherry and lilac flowers, as well as notes of black pepper, sweet pastry, coconut and raisin. In the mouth, the wine is dry, with medium acidity. It benefits from a visible texture, silky tannins, a high level of alcohol and a full body. Long pleasant finish.
Now that you can finally have friends over and indoors, it’s time to organize some gatherings with amazing wine. Independent Wine has an amazing variety of them and they offer free delivery to the mainland UK and free gift wrap!
Luciana joined our team as a mum blogger in 2020. A dedicated mum to a lively daughter and a dog, Luna, Luciana brings authenticity and passion to every post. Her expertise in parenting and lifestyle topics offers practical, relatable advice for real-life situations.