Another holiday season has come and gone. Time to put away the decorations, break all of the new resolutions I’ve made, and reflect on which traditions are outdated, and which are worth keeping. As I wearily walk down the lane of recent memories made, I laugh a bit at the dual personality I don during the holiday season: I’m happy, excited, and full of love and a giving spirit, all while I’m cussing, stressing, and absolutely HATING all of the work, rushing around, cleaning, cooking, and struggling to find the perfect gifts in an over-commercialized cacophony of forced generosity. I decide that perhaps it’s time to pick one personality and stick with it…until I remember the KRIS Pinot Noir I tried for the first time over Christmas.
If ever there was a dual personality wine, this is it. Even as I write, I’m still not exactly sure how to describe this wine, other than to say I am truly smitten.
When you think of Pinot Noir, you don’t think of Italy. You think of the big, bold Super Tuscans, or the brazen Sangioveses and Nebbiolos. You don’t think of subtleties or light fruits. You think of wines that will wrangle you into submission. Pinot Noirs are subtle and delicate and complicated and oh-so-very French. If not French, then they at least have the savvy and sophistication of Northern California, Washington, and Oregon…they just don’t have the boisterous Italian ‘personality.’
Apparently no one told KRIS wines that.
Ruby red in the glass, a little lighter than I’d have expected, and lovely Pinot aromas of black cherry, and something reminiscent of wet stone.
It’s the taste that’s got me wondering what wine I’m drinking.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s DIVINE, but it’s unlike any Pinot Noir I’ve ever had before. Tart cherries, cranberries, balanced tannins, and what I can only describe as ‘red dirt.’ I don’t know how to explain it. Rusty? Dusty? That doesn’t sound good, and yet, it IS. The only way to describe it is to say it tastes like ‘Italy.’ That certain characteristic flavor you find only in Italian wines…it’s in this one…but yet, it’s still got all of the characteristics of a delightful, light, Pinot Noir.
It’s got a dual personality…a double secret life, if you will.
And with that duality comes an incredible ability to pair it with darn near anything! I paired it with the Christmas spaghetti…ground beef and sausage, rich marinara sauce with mushrooms…and OH how it works with mushrooms. I could just as easily pair it with salmon, chicken, veal, steak, pork chops…well, you get the idea…and OH how it works with cheese…lots of glorious cheese.
To say this wine has versatility is an understatement. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE this wine???
Unlike the majority of Italian wines, or good Pinot Noirs for that matter, you won’t have to sell your first born child to enjoy this romantic taste of heaven. At right around $13 a bottle, heaven just became an affordable luxury.
Corked Cowgirl 