I don’t always go into my posts with a plan of attack.  It’s a blog.  It’s mean to be fun.   And the adventure is not knowing what I’m going to write about next.  Sometimes I find the wine.  Sometimes it finds me.   The bonus is any complements I may find, to go with that selection, happenstance or not.  Well all of that came together today, with the 2011 Prisma Pinot Noir from Chile and distributed/supplied by Brazos Wine Imports.

I would like to thank Chesapeake Wine Company for their recommendation of this bottle.   I will admit, that the label had me sold.  As you can see above, I wasn’t alone in that sentiment.    The hippiness and pizzazz of the image caught my eye.   And as we approach Spring, this is a kind of lighter wine that may appeal more, than the fuller ones we drink in the colder seasons.

From there, I read the owners review. It may be hard to read in the notes above, but, this is a light bodied, fruit oriented wine, containing strawberries and cherries.   The kicker, for me, was that orange and floral peel smells were detected.   I was intrigued.   Funny how things work out though…

Minutes after purchasing this bottle, I stopped by a fundraiser/bake sale nearby, and one of the items for sale, were candied orange peels.  I’m thinking to myself, how serendipitous is that?

And here is how I paired my vino.    Now, for the wine itself, it’s not my favorite.   When I smell it, I do detect a small amount of oak, as the bottle describes.  For reds, my mantra has always been, the more oak the better!  When there’s a small scent of it, you may not always find it when drinking.  And that’s what happened, for me, here.   The candied orange peels definitely heightened something after I had a sip.  And the after taste lingered for a little while, which is a good thing.   And while I do like light wines, this one did not wow me completely.   I could also say it tastes like strawberry preserves, which is charming.  But, something just seemed missing.  I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I wasn’t blown away.

And at a price tag of $16, which is reasonable, I wanted a little something more.   If this were $10 and under, I might feel better about this purchase.

But, for overall label, and for me having candied orange feels (which were awesome by the way), I am happy I tried a little something different.  And that’s the fun of wine drinking.  There’s so many to choose from, it’s sometimes just fun to go with your instincts, or in this case, a beautiful label.

All the best,

Ideen