I picked up a few bottles of wines to sample for my under $10 value wine story a few weeks back. Campo Viejo Rioja was one of the bottles that I never got around to tasting.
I've had this wine many times over the years, but not the 2019 vintage. Bacchus (the god of wine) was smiling on me after a day of shoveling driveways and photographing others doing the same.
I grilled a chicken breast outside on my Weber. My grill doesn't get any snow days. I did a little Tex/Mex flair topping it with pico de gallo, black beans and guacamole.
The wine and the chicken went together like Jack and Jill. It's the best wine I have had from Campo Viejo —and it's only $9.99.
I loved the flavors of strawberry preserves with a whisk of cherry tobacco on the finish. I find a lot of wines from Rioja to be a little over-oaked. This one is perfect.
On Day 2 of shoveling and the wine being opened, the wine was great. The shoveling was not as enjoyable. I had a glass with a carryout order of ham and bean soup from Moe's Restaurant in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Moe's features a different soup or hot carryout entree daily on its Instagram account. Who wants to cook after a day of shoveling?
