Wine of the Week: Cartograph 2012 Sangiovese

More snow and epically cold temperatures mean more wine. It’s just the way it is. And since here in New England we are unlikely to see the grass (or sidewalk, in many cases) for weeks, it’s time to stock up on good wine, good food, and entertainment that pairs well with both.

On a particularly blue winter blues sort of evening recently, I decided to stop moping around went into the kitchen to work on something delicious. Less than an hour later I had a turkey meatloaf, speckled with spinach and garlic and parmesan cheese, served alongside a variety of roasted seasonal vegetables. It was the perfect cozy dinner, and it was even pretty healthy!

Of course we dug into our wine fridge for the perfect wine to go with it, and since Cartograph wines always bring us back to warmer days and vacation and wandering around Healdsburg, we went with the Cartograph 2012 Sangiovese.  It turned out to be a great choice for a cold night. It’s rustic, with notes of dried leaves and earth along with cooked berries, nice and dry, and great with food. This is Cartograph’s first Sangiovese  and comes from an extremely small lot that comes from the Redwood Valley’s Upton Vineyard.

We finally also sat down to watch the movie Somm, which I thought was really good but might have been even better as a several part reality series. The movie follows four sommeliers attempting to pass the Master Sommelier exam. As someone who has studied wine a little and found there to be a LOT of information to remember and process, I can’t even imagine getting to this level of expertise and the stress that candidates undergo both preparing and then going through the exam. I found some of the cast a little arrogant, but overall I liked the film and would recommend it to those interested in wine and wine education.

All in all, a great wine, hearty winter dinner, and great wine movie cheered up an otherwise dreary winter night.

We also watch The  Hundred Foot Journey recently; I love movies about food and wine. (We have watched Bottle Shock 100 times just to see Sonoma and Napa.)

Do you have any favorites?