Bottle Shock, Moscato d' Asti, Apothic Red, and Pizza. Win.

So last night the girlfriend and I decided to have a few (several) glasses of wine, some pizza and watch a couple movies. She had never seen Bottle Shock before and I consider this a complete travesty for a supposed wine lover, so I picked it up. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. Its a great movie about the Judgement of Paris, the 1976 blind tasting held in Paris (Hence the name) that put some of the best French wines against some of the best new wines coming out of California. At the time, France was considered the Juggernaut of wine and nobody thought anything from the USA could come close to matching them. You might be surprised at the results.

Bottle Shock Movie

A friend of mine had given me a couple of bottles of wine for my birthday so I decided to try them while we ate and watched the movies. The first one was Apothic Red. I'd had it before, and enjoyed it, so it was nice to be able to give it another try. It is a blended wine so it won't be for everyone but I really enjoy it as a "table" wine. It isn't too bold or complex, just a simple, very slightly sweet red.

Apothic Red - Winemaker's Blend 2009

The girlfriend started off with her usual, Umberto Fiore Moscato d' Asti. I'd never had it until recently but it quickly became one of my favorites. It is a very light and crisp wine. I'm normally not a big fan of sparkling wines but this one is just really, really nice. Very fruity and not overly sweet, which is usually my main complaint with white and sparkling wines.

Umberto Fiore - Moscato d' Asti

When my bottle of Apothic Red was gone, not wanting to drink all of the Umberto Fiore, I decided to try the other bottle my friend had gotten me. Il Conte Moscato d' Asti. This one is much sweeter than the Umberto Fiore and doesn't have as much carbonation. It still isn't TOO sweet though. It is a really nice d' Asti as well. The girlfriend mentioned that she picked up a lot more of a pear note from this one compared to the Fiore. I didn't detect too much pear but I did get a bit of a smooth pineapple note. It is definitely worth another try. I'm going to try to pick up another bottle soon.

Il Conte - Moscato d' Asti

All in all it was a really nice night. We watched Bottle Shock and A Walk in the Clouds and knocked out almost 3 bottles of wine with our pizza. It was a pretty lazy evening. I'm really hoping to do it again sometime soon.