Pizza Thursday and Grape Variety #98 - Negroamaro

The roads are all slush. It's cold. Winter needs to die.

Another Thursday has come so that means pizza night. Went back to an old standby, Tombstone Supreme. The weather isn't cooperating therefore the plows decided to take a day off. It was a fun little adventure trying to drive to the grocery store for a Tombstone pizza. I pretty much came to two conclusions: People forget how slippery snow is when they get in to a car and a good bottle of Italian wine will always help you ignore all of your surroundings.

I fired up the oven. Threw in my trusty pizza stone. Then I uncorked the 2006 Sfida Puglia Rosso. The blend changes from year to year. This year it is 70% Primitivo (Zinfandel) and 30% Negroamaro. You get the jammy flavor from the Primitivo and get the earthy, smoky notes from the Negroamaro. The Negroamaro makes 98 grapes tasted so far in my wine quest. I can see the end in sight but first I have to finish enjoying the bottles that I have open in my wine fridge.

It smells like smells like blueberries and dark cherries. Chewy with medium tannins. And tastes like raspberry preserve, mocha, and raisins. All I could think about were dark chocolate Raisinets. $11

To cap off the relaxing Thursday night, I decided to watch a movie that I hadn't seen in years. The choice was between Memento or The Lost Boys but I didn't feel like seeing Jack Bauer pick a fight with Jason Patrick. The movie then was Memento. I forgot how good the movie was. Although, I realized that as the amount of wine in my system increased, the more I thought I had the inability to form any short-term memory. If you have never heard of the movie, I'd suggest you just go pick it up. Look for a trailer but don't read about it because it might spoil the surprise. I'll give you one hint. The whole movie is played backwards. What a great movie!!

The streets are slush. I have the Puglia Rosso open, the Dom Martinho open and a Syrah/Malbec blend open. Now all I have to figure out what dinner is going to be. It's Friday and all I want to do is stay at home. Winter needs to seriously end.