Wine Life - Houston

My husband asked me to make Bolognese sauce with pasta the other day so I took the opportunity to open this bottle of Tenute Lunelli Ziggurat Montefalco Rosso 2010* that I just received. While the most prominent reds of Umbria are labeled Montefalco Sagrantino DOCG and are made from 100% Sagrantino grapes, the easier drinking Montefalco Rosso DOC wines are made from a blend of grapes with food-friendly Sangiovese being one of the main components.  The Tenute Lunelli Ziggurat Montefalco Rosso 2010  contains 70% Sangiovese, 15% Sagrantino and 15% Cabernet and Merlot sourced from the family owned vineyards in Montefalco and Bevagna. This wine spent 12 months aging in barrel and 6 months in the bottle before it was released. The high percentage of Sangiovese makes it a classic pairing with pasta and tomato based sauce while the addition of the Sagrantino and the other international varieties makes the wine even more meat friendly. We enjoyed it with our simple week night me...

An issue with my outdoor grill has forced me back into my kitchen this summer which is not my favorite place to cook in the Houston summertime. Unable to cook outside along with the need for a large family dinner meant that I was slow roasting a pork shoulder inside. Since I wasn't just throwing some hamburgers on the grill, I had to start early which gave me time to stare into my wine "cellar" fridge and contemplate what I wanted to open. I also needed a little bit of wine to add into the roasting pan. This bottle of  2007 Tenuta Castelbuono Montefalco Sagrantino seemed the perfect choice. I popped it open and poured myself a taste. It was big, it was powerful and it had a higher level of tannins than most of the wines that I've been enjoying lately. I poured a quarter cup over my roast, decanted the rest and then re-poured it into the bottle. I then put it back in my wine fridge to keep it at cellar temperature until dinner. I also picked out some other light...