Rosa Fiorelli Winery Manatee Red & Bella Vitano Gold Cheese

This week we will try a Florida wine from our recent trip. The wine is produced by a family owned vineyard, Rosa Fiorelli Winery. (Www.fiorelliwinery.com). This also happens to be the winery Maria worked for before moving out to California.

This wine is being relaunched by Rosa Fiorelli winery, they have not produced it since 2007. Maria did not work for them then so she was anxious to taste this wine in their tasting room back in May!

The cheese we’ve chosen this week should be a nice match since “it is inspired by traditional Italian farmstead cheeses”. The cheese is called Bella Vitano Gold cheese and is a cheese Maria and Neil tried with wine another evening when joined by friends. (http://www.sartoricheese.com/products/reserve-cheese/bellavitano-gold/)

So onto the wine tasting. During our initial sips Neil noticed a very grapey aroma, with a sweet taste, but dry and spicy on the throat. He found it to be very red, which he said is different than the other wines that he has had, that are more purple! Maria could smell alcohol and it tasted dry and a little tangy. It was also light bodied and flavorful.

The cheese scored some great marks. This is Neil’s favorite cheese so far and the wine stands up to cheese! Delicious ! Nutty! Maria rated it as a drier, flaky cheese with great flavor and a little crunchy.

When the cheese and wine were combined Neil thought the fruit flavors were brought out, such as grape & raspberry. Maria had a different experience, she could taste the oak more after the cheese.

Overall notes, Neil really likes the wine, and Maria is still trying to figure out, due to a strong flavor.

A few days later, Maria and Neil finished the wine with their dinner, and Maria noticed a sweeter flavor in the wine and preferred it that way.