A Wine Lover's Weekly Guide Montenegro Red

This is our first review of a wine from Montenegro, a small country in southeastern Europe, which was part of Yugoslavia. Montenegro has been producing wine for more than two thousand years, so maybe it's time to take a look at one of their products. This particular wine is produced by the red Vranac grape whose name means black stallion. So let's guess that we are looking at a strong wine. Its vineyard is one of the largest in Europe, containing over 10 million vines.

Our wine review policy All wines that we taste and treatment have been purchased at full retail price.

Wine Review Palmate Monte Cheval Vranac, 2006 11.5% alcohol about $ 8.00

Let us start with the marketing materials. Tasting Notes: Medium garnet, leather and earth with a touch of plum and spice, earthy dried fruit flavors with a hint of spice. Serving Suggestions: Stew and casseroles. And now for my review.

At the first tasting the wine was dark and okay with round tannins. It was mouth filling and tough, but relatively short. The original meal involved slow cooked beef rib and potatoes. I tasted cherries and chocolate. Its palate cleansing acidity was good because the meat was fat, but this Vranac seemed to fade. It did not pick up when I added a lot of spicy green jalapeno pepper sauce to the meat.

The second meal consisted of grilled chicken thighs commercially in a light herb sauce and deli potato salad. The wine was strong, but perhaps a bit too acidic. While the wine had a dark fruit does not overpower the mild flavor dish.

The final meal was based on the Morgues, a spicy North African lamb sausage. The wine was filling his mouth and I tasted stewed fruits. It really did cut the fat, and believe me, this meal was greasy. The deli potato salad subdued wine. When I added the spicy green jalapeno pepper sauce, this time the wine came into the background and its fruit was gone.

I finished the tasting with two cheeses. The first cheese was a marbled cheddar. The wine was dark and tasted of cherries and plums. It worked well balanced. When accompanying a sheep's milk feta wine lost much of its character. This cheese is simply overwhelmed the wine.