A Perfect Friday Night....Wine and a Book

I recently learned from my friend Evelyn Basile of Fine Wine Buzz that the book Let's Talk About Wine by Steve Ratliff was available for free from Kindle for a limited time.  Steve Ratliff was offering this book to any who wanted it but requested that we post a review on Amazon upon completion of the book.

I immediately ordered the book but waited to read it until last night when I finished reading another novel.  I will be reviewing it for you very shortly.

I didn't realize I would be reviewing this book so quickly.  I prepped dinner and then had an hour or so before we were going to eat so I sat down with this book on my e-reader.  Frank asked if he could get me anything and since I was reading this book about wine and dinner was going to be Mahi Mahi Matacumbe I told him I would like a glass of white wine.

Frank went into the wine fridge and pulled out a bottle of La Chiamata Trebbiano from Abruzzo, Italy.  This was perfect as I had not yet tasted nor reviewed this wine and I was open to suggestions from this book.

Let's Talk About Wine is a quick, easy, and unpretentious read.  I finished it in less than an hour while I sipped a glass of wine.  This book is straightforward with no fancy French words or descriptions containing fruits, berries, or flowers.  It was a breath of fresh air to me and I was happy to post a review for Steve on Amazon but I also wanted to post a review here for my readers that may not see the Amazon review.

This leads me to my review of this wine that I got from my WSJ wine club.  I enjoy belonging to this wine club that uses the same approach to choosing my wine that Steve teaches in this book.  I filled out a questionnaire when I first joined.  This asked me what varietal of wines I had enjoyed in the past.  It asked whether I preferred red/white or both.  It asked if I liked dry or sweet.  It never asked if I wanted berries, leather, or smoke.  

The results were that I get four shipments of a mixture of reds and whites each year from wineries throughout the world that would normally not be on my radar.  This is one such wine.  I have never had it before so I was happy to taste it, using the new knowledge provided by Stever for my tasting notes.

Following the advice from the book, I read the label on the back of the bottle to learn more about this varietal.  La Chiamata translates to The Calling and pays tribute to the winemaker's, Ludovica Crugnale, home and inspiration.  Crugnale then goes on to talk about the Abruzzo terroir and continues to say that it tastes of floral orchard fruit with zesty citrus notes.

A search about the Trebbiano grape resulted in this blurb from Wikepedia.....

Trebbiano is an Italian wine grape, one of the most widely planted grape varieties in the world. It gives good yields, but tends to yield undistinguished wine. It can be fresh and fruity, but does not keep long. Wikipedia

Now I will give my review of this wine based on the lessons in Let's Talk About Wine.  

This wine is bright and crisp.  It pours a very light yellow, nearly white.  It is citrusy, however it does not make me pucker.  I enjoyed a glass as an aperitif while reading the book, as a pairing with fish for dinner, and another after dinner as I am writing this post. 

I enjoyed it in all three applications.  It is not a wine that you are going to cellar and age.  It is a wine that you will enjoy immediately upon purchase with or without food.  It paired very nicely with the fish and I was happy that Frank chose it.

If you enjoy a light, crisp white wine then this bottle at an RSV of $15 is a perfect choice.  

If you want a quick read that will make you feel like you are doing a great job describing the wine just based on your own personal experiences, where there are no right or wrong answers, where you acknowledge that all reviews are simply opinions based on the author's tastes and palates they this book is a perfect choice too.

I am sharing this book over at Foodies Read.  While it is not food-centric it is all about wine and, in my humble opinion....wine is all about food.  Stop by and see what the other Foodies are reading this month.