Wannabe Wino

Dinner last night found us checking out a new restaurant that I'm actually surprised we hadn't been to before as it is quite close to Matt's last place. The Ristorante Murali is located on Pentagon Row and was absolutely fantastic. We had spinach, feta and cherry tomato foccacia to start, Matt had the meat lasagne, I had crab meat ravioli in vodka sauce and we finished with divine cannolis. Delicious! Tasted like my gramma used to make and they actually had Italian folks who own the place, cook the food and do the serving.

And of course the wine. Not a long wine list, but a decent selection, heavy on the Pinto Grigio for the whites. I wasn't in the mood for a Pinot Grigio, so I selected this bottle of 2005 Novilunio Orvieto. One thing (and probably one of the only things) I love about VA law is that it permits you to take home your bottle of wine if you do not finish it, which we took advantage of last night. The bottle is 12% alcohol by volume, had a real cork and cost us $28 at the restaurant. I see the 2004 listed online for $7.99.

I thought it had a little bit of a note of green olives on the nose. It was light and dry in the mouth, with just a ton of minerals. A very long finish, generally a crisp white table wine. It actually paired very well with our meal. It also reminded me that we don't drink many Italian wines, and perhaps we should!