Week 7, Wine Blog 2 (Rinaldi Redream Sweet Red)

                                                                      5 March, 2023

                                                The Wine: Rinaldi ReDream Sweet Red

Varietal: 100% Malvasia Nera  Region&Country: Piedmonte, Italy

Year: N.V. | Price: $36 for the bottle at Wine Lab, $9 per glass

• Tasting notes according to Spirits and Spice: "Gorgeously fresh and frothy, with loads of cherry, honeysuckle, spice box and spring flowers, this is an exciting party wine that is brilliantly packaged, and I doubt a person can be found who would dislike it."  (https://spiritsandspice.com/products/rinaldi-redream)
• Meant to be drunk in its youth, about 6-12 months
• Wine Folly notes on Malvasia Fina (The white grape sibling to this Nera (red) varietal): "White peach, wildflowers, green almond, basil, seashell" (https://winefolly.com/grapes/malvasia-fina/)
• Malvasia Fina, or Boal, as it is known on the island of Madeira is one of the four main grapes used in Madeira production. In table wines, full aromatics and alcohol are of note."

 I had this wine at Boyer's Wine Lab as part of the "Slightly Sweet" flight of 3 wines. 

This is the first red wine that I have fully enjoyed drinking! I know it only sort of counts since it's a young, sweet red, but it was still delicious. On the nose it had heavy hits of muscatel, blackberry, and cherry jam. Lovely cooked fruit and pie smells. Boyer introduced me to the word "unctuous" while I was at the Wine Lab, and I think this wine's taste falls into that category- it really made my mouth water. It had a hearty, woody, and jammy body with a hint of something yeasty like fresh baked bread. The light fizz in this wine really helped to get the flavors around my mouth and keep things light and refreshing. This honestly might be one of my new favorite wines, period!

Like the blue Verdejo, I had this wine with a dip trio of whipped sundried tomato feta, hummus, and olive tapenade. In contrast to the previous wine, this one tasted delightful with all of the dips in that platter. It especially worked with the olive tapenade- the acidity of the olives just accentuated the heavier, jammy notes of the wine. Yum!

In the photos below, this wine is the red of the three (to the right of the neon blue one).