Wine of the Week: Grifone Sangiovese

Alison of Sassy Moms in the City, knows the way to become my friend: she asked me to participate in her Wine of the Week blog series. Since red wine is my drink of choice, I was excited to participate. If you know me, you might have heard me joke about being on a fermented grape juice cleanse. I absolutely love red wine, especially in winter since it warms me right up.

Alison instructed me to pick a wine and talk about it. I went against the rules a little, but only because I didn’t like the $17 bottle of wine I bought first. I was trying pick something more impressive than my Trader Joe’s standby, and failed! Saturday I was at the most darling local grocer, and another customer was raving about Cosimo Maria Masino’s Sangiovese, which they call “Nicole”. The wine is production is eco-friendly with the grapes being picked by hand and fermented naturally. But, I didn’t like the wine. I especially didn’t like the say it smelled, and when I don’t enjoy a beverage’s aroma, I have a very hard time drinking it. (Sidenote: this is why I don’t drink Stella Artois). The Nicole was easy to drink (despite the smell), but it wasn’t anything special.

Not wanting to recommend a funny smelling $17 wine that doesn’t taste like much, I headed to Trader Joe’s so I could write about a wine that I love. I spent on $3.99 on Grifone’s Sangiovese. It is made with the same grape varietal as the more expensive Nicole, but it was a more complex taste that makes it fun to drink. Grifone is exclusive to Trader Joe’s, and I feel that it is significantly better than Charles Shaw (aka two-buck-chuck). I also love the Grifone Primativo, which in my experience can be hard to find in Chicago.

The first thing I noticed about the Grifone Sangiovese after trying the Nicole, is that is doesn’t smell like feet. It is a medium bodied wine with just a hint of fruit that is balanced out with mild spice notes. It is a smooth wine with hints of balsamic and spice. it is very drinkable.

Sangiovese is a medium bodied wine that pairs very well with food. Sangiovese is generally a nice safe pick if you are bringing wine to a friend’s house for dinner. I highly recommend the Grifone Sangiovese because it is incredible inexpensive, but it tastes great. If you served this wine to friends they would never suspect that it was only $3.99. My advice is to skip the Nicole, and use that $17 to scoop up 4 bottles of Grifone instead. Plus, if you get 4 bottles of wine instead of one, you can invite your friends over and have a little party!

What is your go-to wine? Leave any suggestions in the comments. I am always up for trying something new. If you enjoyed Wine of the Week, you can follow the series of posts on SassyMomsintheCity.

I’m linking up with SassyMomsintheCity.com for #WineoftheWeek. Check out Alison’s post about Dead Bolt, a blend of Californian wine here.