Canaiolo

So far the "C" grapes in this journey have been blends in some really delicious red wines. The next "C" grape, Canaiolo (kah-nah-YAW-loh) is an Italian red grape found in the Italian regions of Tuscany, Umbria, Latium, Marche and Emila-Romagna. Its official name is Canaiolo Nero. It's traditionally part of the blend of Chianti but less than 10%. The wine that I chose to explore this grape was a bottle of Querciavalle Chianti Classico 2005 that I found at Jimmy's. I served the wine to Meredith and my niece, Devon with a large platter of Mama's meatballs (from Jimmy's), pasta and an Italian cream cake. Heaven!! The wine had such a beautiful floral aroma, that both Meredith and Devon commented that it would make a great perfume. It was light, fruity and very refreshing. We even paired it with two different cheeses, a blue cheese and Drunken Goat (both from Whole Foods Market). The blue cheese overpowered the wine and the wine brought out the flavors of the drunken goat. We were amazed at how much the wine enhanced the oregano spice in the meatballs and was the perfect match to the Italian cream cake. Since we all agreed that this wine was a keeper, I ran back to Jimmy's to pick up a bottle for Devon's birthday.