I first came across Wine Blogging Wednesday via Dr. Debs who is an avid participant. A brief history this a monthly online tasting event conceived by Lenn Thompson of Lenndevours. The premise is straight forward. A rotating host selects a theme for the month and a date. This month that is David McDuff of McDuff’s Food and Wine Trail. For his theme he picked the wines of Italy’s Piedmont region. A wide variety of people participate posting individually on their blogs. After they post those participating comment on the host’s blog and then the host produces a recap of all those that participated leading to a massive roundup of tasting notes for in this case Piedmont.

So, now that I am in what to drink? Thought about popping the Gaja Barbaresco or the Famiglia Anselma Barolo, decided those were a better fit for the upcoming Open That Bottle Night on February 28th. Passing on that, I decided to go through a sampling of my latest bargain bin buys from K&L. Let’s get to it:

First up the 2004 Giacomo Borgogno Barbera d’Alba ($17 marked down to $7) – This one is all cherries on the nose with just a bit of earth. Super sour and tight on entry to the palate, a bit astringent. Tart on the finish. I’m not a fan. Skip It.

Next the 2004 Campetti Malvasia L’Accesa ($11 marked down to $4) – this one is extremely interesting right out of the bottle. Extremely unusual color. The first sip leaves me puzzled, no idea what I just tasted. Certainly crisp but what else? Fruit? Lemon? Minerals? Nuts? Kerosene? Cut Grass? I never did figure it out but for $4 would buy another to see if I could crake the code. 12th Bottle.

And last the 2003 Mauro Molino Dolcetto d’Alba ($17 marked down to $6) – I was a big fan of this one, full of cherries but delivers a nice spice on the palate. Has a nice tongue feel and good depth. Good stuff! Buy It.

There you have it. What did I learn? Perhaps I am a Dolcetto man. That was fun, wonder what is on tap for next month!