2000 Salice Salentino Candido - 100

I like to buy the cheapest wine I haven't yet had and hated, and I take every opportunity to drink free wine. Then I take notes. I'm not good at all at picking up specific flavors (yet? I think it's just a matter of thinking about lots of individual flavors while drinking then discarding all but the ones that fit), but I have two books full of my amateurish scribblings.

As my ridiculous notion of wedding planning proceeds (I have a great "wedding" music playlist and a vague notion that I like the trend of cupcakes instead of a cake), I've realized that my wine ratings will help me choose wine for my wedding that I, at least, like a lot.

My favorite wine so far has been the 2000 Salice Salentino Candido, from the Puglia region of Italy (I am so going there). I drank it in mid-2006. Here are my amateurish scribblings on it:

jasonrumney.net

Love at first sniff. Berries shot out the second the (real!*) cork was pulled. In the glass, it smells like brandy and looks a sophisticated brickaroon**. I burned the fuck out of my tongue earlier, but this thing has no harshness -- in fact, I think it has "notes." Day-umn. It's like they built this beauty for me (reminds me of a fellow I know). It smells like the home of your first love.*** You know?

*I don't recall what merited an exclamation point here. I must have had a run of either corks that ruined the wine or fake corks (which I've come to appreciate).
**Brick+maroon. Evokes "octoroon" (which just sounds racist, whether it is yet or not) rather unfortunately and utterly unintentionally.
***It occurs to me now, for whatever reason, that one's first love's house might smell, for example, like their housemate's cats shat in the closet, the housemate moved out, and no one has taken responsibility for cleaning it up yet. Yes, I realize that discussing this in conjunction with my wedding, two important romances, and my favorite wine is not appropriate.

I try to keep track of where I procure wines, but I don't have it written down here. I suspect this came from Wild Oats, and cost less than $11. When in doubt, I prefer paying shipping charges to driving all over town looking, so I'm tempted to buy a few bottles of this here before they go away.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that a wine I liked so much had been rated 87 by Wine Spectator, though for all I know, that's what made me pull it off the shelf to begin with. Also, re-examination of the web page shows it's not fancy Wine Spectator, but (more down-market?) Wine Enthusiast. And no, 87 ain't 100, but I ain't ever spending $50 on anything just to get a few extra enthusiast points.