Pink Prosecco

I first tasted this little pink Italian sparkler way back in November, I loved it, ordered 10 cases and wrote it up for the holiday newsletter…..then I got the news, you know, after going to print of course, that the wine was not coming in until January, cannot tell you how much I hate it when that happens. “Oh here is this super yummy wine that would be perfect for your party, but you can’t have it” lame. So when the rep approached me about a feature for Valentine’s Day I shook him off, so not going to put my neck out for that wine again…and not in back to back newsletters! But with a hole needing to filled for a tasting I ordered 5 cases without really remembering what the wine tasted like….could have checked my notes, or the freaking newsletter from December but I didn’t.

Yesterday afternoon I crammed 6 bottles in the cold box and awaited my reunion. Half an hour before the tasting was to start I began popping bottles and tasting to set the order, I had to dash off to the kitchen to grab an opener….with all my “Bubbles on the brain” I had forgotten that the little Prosecco was fashioned with a regular cork, held down with a little string. A snip of the string, a twist of the corkscrew, an exuberant “Pop” of the cork, glug-glug-glug in the glass and a “Damn….that’s good!” later and I knew which wine was going to win Best In Show that evening.

Flew through over 2 cases of this wine yesterday and even snagged a couple bottles to take to dinner last night, with Chinese food….this wine was a Rock Star! NV Villa Granda Pinot Prosecco, ($12.99) first of all let me just say, the packaging is way cute and when you buy a bottle Villa Granda makes a donation to help fight breast cancer, so that is all good. The wine is a playful, bright pink color, the bubbles are very fine and on the palate it is packed with fresh watermelon and wild strawberries. Ultra clean and refreshing with a snappy crisp finish that keep you reaching for the glass. We plowed through two bottles at dinner and I toyed with opening another when I got home last night….it’s that good and at this retarded low price, it is a wine I plan on drinking way too much of!