Whenever we are up on 15th Ave, Robert and I make a point of stopping by our local wine shop. Sometimes, we are lucky and happen to come in on a day that they are hosting a wine tasting. Unfortunately, our timing is usually off, and we end up walking in just at the tail end of the tasting after most of the customers have left and the cheese plate has long since wilted. The shop’s proprietor, busy with other tasks at this point, will wave his hand across the multitude of open wine-stained bottles on the counter offering us to help ourselves to whatever is leftover. We keep meaning to actually go to a tasting at the scheduled time one of these days. But, until we are able to drum up the foresight and planning that that would entail, we’ll continue to happily sip on the leftover dregs.

A couple of weeks ago, the wine shop featured wines from Maryhill Winery in Glendale, Washington. I overhead someone say that the customers were most enthusiastic about Maryhill’s 2004 Sangiovese so I made a point of sampling that one. Maryhill Winery is one of a small, but growing, number of Washington wineries producing Sangiovese. Sangiovese, of course, is the most widely planted grape in Italy and is responsible for such famous Italian wines as Chianti and Brunello. Although Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon are still the most famous Washington reds, lesser known grapes, such as Sangiovese and Grenache, are beginning to make their mark here. In fact, although Maryhill Winery produces its fair share of the big name reds, it claims to focus more of its efforts on producing excellent Syrah and Sangiovese.

Last night, I served Maryhill Winery’s 2004 Sangiovese with pizza. Not a real creative match, but what can I say? Sangiovese is made for tomato-based dishes such as pizza. Since I didn’t want to overpower the wine, I kept my pizza very simple. I topped it with crushed tomatoes, sliced Sungold CSA tomatoes, purple basil and fresh mozzarella. It was a wonderful match! The sweet tomatoes and soft spiciness of the basil went beautifully with the fruity, spicy wine. Unlike many of the Italian Sangioveses I’ve tried, the Maryhill Sangiovese is not very acidic. It has enough acidity to be a good match with food but isn’t tart like some Italian wines can be (perhaps this is the Washington influence!) Robert impressed/annoyed me by completely nailing the description of this wine after just one sniff. “Cherry and cinnamon,” he shouts out. What does the wine label say about this wine? Flavors of cherry and cinnamon! And he claims to have a terrible sense of smell. I’m not buying it. Meanwhile, my idiot palate told me nothing except that the wine I was drinking was delicious and certainly worth seeking out.

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