Week 7, Wine Blog 1 (Principe Verdejo Frizzante)

                                                                      5 March, 2023

                                                The Wine: Principe Verdejo Frizzante

Varietal: Verdejo  Region&Country: Rueda, Spain

Year: N.V. | Price: $28 for the bottle at Wine Lab, $7 per glass

• Source of blue color according to Taylor's Wine Shop: "In most cases the blue wine is a white wine, colored with a natural substance, called anthocyanins. It can also be obtained if you add a chemical called indigocin. This substance anthocyanin, is found in the skins of red grapes and in some fruits such as blackberries, plums or blueberries. Blue wines can also be obtained from rosé wines, or red wines, although it is normal to obtain white wines, usually dry." (https://taylorswineshop.com/products/principe-verdejo-frizzante)
• Tasting notes according to Ibero Wine: "Nose: tropical aromas and floral notes. Mouth: soft and pleasant with its touch of carbon." (https://www.iberowine.com/wine/principe-azul-frizzante-verdejo)
• Notes on Verdejo wines from Wine Folly: "flavors of lime, Meyer lemon, grapefruit, grass, fennel, and citrus blossom", "...continues to improve over several years of bottle-aging, where it gains a rich texture and flavors of toasted Marcona almonds, supported by sparkly acidity. The bitter flavors of grass and fennel come in on the finish and almost make the wine taste crunchy." (https://winefolly.com/deep-dive/tasters-guide-to-verdejo-wine/)

  I had this wine at Boyer's Wine Lab as part of the "Slightly Sweet" flight of 3 wines. I even got to meet Boyer and talk to him for a bit that night! 

The wine was startlingly, very very blue. Melted Jolly Rancher blue. It had an interesting nose- hints of things like citrus, shuttle pops, Windex, and blue raspberry candy. I wonder if it was psychosomatic though, since my brain has learned to expect that raspberry smell with things this color. The inital taste was similar to the smell- blue raspberry candy, sweet mandarin orange, and a hint of cherry. It also had a bit of a chemical/gasoline finish.  Overall, a very strange but tasty wine!

I paired this whole flight with a dip trio of whipped sundried tomato feta, hummus, and olive tapenade. This bright blue wine wasn't a great pairing, but of the three, I'd say it tasted best with the hummus. The starchiness of the hummus helped to ground the crazy flavors of the wine.

In the photos below, the wine is (obviously) the blue one in the center of the three. You can see a friend across from me was also brave enough to get a whole glass of it.