Astor Center has moved its Moscato d’Asti wines into its Cool Room (a lovely glassed-off room that’s kept at a chilly 57° at all times), or maybe they’ve always been there and the store is just now putting up signs saying that’s where they are. In any case, I’m grateful, because I could never find the stuff before. I think the first time I had it was as part of the ridiculous and wonderful tasting menu I had at the best dinner of my life at wd-50, where it appeared late in the courses, after many, many other glasses of wine. I think that’s what it was, at least. Like I said, many glasses of wine. Delightful and bubbly and sweet, just perfect for dessert.

My last experience with Moscato was with the Death in the Afternoon cocktails I was making with my bottle of Lucid Absinthe (which, I will report, was all drunk up in less than a week. ….I had help.) That was sweet and pleasant, but I wanted to try it on its own, so I picked up one of the lower priced bottles, that had a placard that talked about how it would be paired well with yellow cake. Presumably not uranium, but what do I know about wine pairings?

As I sipped this, nicely chilled and so very gently bubbly, I was delighted by how softly sweet it was, but spent a while being puzzled by what the fruity taste was. Apricot? I thought. Peach? And then I went, well, no, dumbass, what this tastes exactly like is Muscat Gummy (“Its translucent color so alluring and taste and aroma so gentle and mellow offer admiring feelings of a graceful lady. Enjoy soft and juicy Kasugai Muscat Gummy.”) Shocking, that something made of muscat grapes would taste like this candy. Shocking, indeed!

In any case, this wine is very pleasant, with a low alcohol content that keeps it light on the tongue and very sweet indeed.

BUY IT AGAIN: Yum, yes.

Weather has blissfully, beautifully cooled in New York City, and we’re rolling into my favorite time of year, which also means my favorite foods and beverages. I can put the whites away and get to enjoying red wine again without it making me sweat! (I am a fat Southerner, you see, so hot food and red wine make me break into a sweat.) Central Italian wines were on sale today, and I’m making tomato sauce, so off I went!

I’m not sure if I’ve ever actually had a chianti before, but this is definitely a good starting point. The back of the bottle recommended letting this open up some, so I poured a glass and then worked on prepping dinner. Coming back to it a half hour later, I’m finding it incredibly enjoyable. It’s got a rich, red scent that reminds me of a lot of other amazing wines I’ve had, and the scent automatically takes me back to good memories of being with my wine fiend friends in San Francisco. It’s rich in the mouth, tannic without being overwhelming, to make for a very smooth feel. On the tongue it has a nice acidity without too much sweetness, and my favorite part is the finish, which has a woody, smokey taste. Lovely for this weather, and it should go well with tomatoes.

BUY IT AGAIN: Quite possibly!

When I looked over at my bedside table and saw it stacked high with four empty wine bottles, I knew this meant one of two things: either I was an alcoholic, or I really just needed to post about some freaking wine already! I’m leaning towards option two. So, clearing out the wine backlog!

This choice was a case of me doing what I do not do often: starting with a food and working backwards to a wine. I was planning on making a pasta with a spicy bean and tomato sauce, and the recipe called for red wine. A little bit of googling things like “wine good with tomato yum” (on this note, man, I am getting weird search hits for this site. I obviously should have never mentioned the word “urine”, and now that I’ve said it twice, it’ll just get weirder.) and crossreferencing those results with the wine selection on Freshdirect, I came out of it with this bottle of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo.

It was perfect in tomato sauce. Fairly dry, not too tannic, with a nice blend of acidity and sweetness that complimented the tomato perfectly. And it served quite well in drinking, too! I enjoyed this wine and it matched to my meal very well, but it didn’t otherwise knock my socks off. I think I would find it a little uninteresting just for drinking on its own. It was a little fruity, a little spicy, but lacking in the outstanding character I like in my plain ol’ gettin’ drunk wines. Aces with tomato, though, and I will seek it out again for my sauces, or with pizza.

BUY IT AGAIN: Perfect with tomatoes, so very likely.