It has been a busy few weeks for us with trips to San Francisco and Scottsdale and a hectic work schedule in between. This weekend things returned to normal as we slipped back into our normal routine of lazy mornings with our laptops, walks in Bellevue Square and casual cuisine with some tasty wines. Tonight, I made stuffed peppers and we enjoyed them with an excellent value wine from eastern Spain. This is the second vintage, available in the Seattle area, of Atalaya from
Almansa. The 2008 Atalaya is a blend of Monastrell, Garnacha, and other red grapes. This wine was aged for eight months in French and American oak. The color is deep purple with a violet rim.
This wine has a lovely bouquet of black cherries, blueberries, aged cheese and cotton candy. On the palate it has beautiful dark fruit flavors of dried plum, black cherry and blackberry along with some light spice, coco and white pepper on the finish. This is a medium bodied wine with mild tannins and gentle acidity that contribute to a smooth mouth-feel. This is a “new world” wine that is quite delicious and will go well with any hearty meal (like stuffed peppers) or with a nice chunk of dark chocolate. We bought this 2008 Atalaya at Pete’s Wine Shop, in Bellevue, for about $14.
It has been a busy few weeks for us with trips to San Francisco and Scottsdale and a hectic work schedule in between. This weekend things returned to normal as we slipped back into our normal routine of lazy mornings with our laptops, walks in Bellevue Square and casual cuisine with some tasty wines. Tonight, I made stuffed peppers and we enjoyed them with an excellent value wine from eastern Spain. This is the second vintage, available in the Seattle area, of Atalaya from Almansa. The 2008 Atalaya is a blend of Monastrell, Garnacha, and other red grapes. This wine was aged for eight months in French and American oak. The color is deep purple with a violet rim.
This wine has a lovely bouquet of black cherries, blueberries, aged cheese and cotton candy. On the palate it has beautiful dark fruit flavors of dried plum, black cherry and blackberry along with some light spice, coco and white pepper on the finish. This is a medium bodied wine with mild tannins and gentle acidity that contribute to a smooth mouth-feel. This is a “new world” wine that is quite delicious and will go well with any hearty meal (like stuffed peppers) or with a nice chunk of dark chocolate. We bought this 2008 Atalaya at Pete’s Wine Shop, in Bellevue, for about $14.
