There is nothing better than the unexpected. That $12 bottle of Cab that has a fulfilling rush of flavor, that discount Pinot Grigio that paired perfectly with your homemade shrimp scampi. As hopefully you’ve come to find, our journey here at Everyday_Vino is to think outside the wine box. What is new, what is exciting, what is different and what tells a story. Stories come from experiences and we all want to experience what the world has to offer -thinking outside that box. We are going to start a series finding and sampling wines from the most unlikely of places -or simply the ones that you never expected.
A good friend, a winemaker in New York, was explaining to me a few years back, how much he had enjoyed a wine that was gifted to him from Morocco. To me, this did not add up. You wouldn’t expect wine to be produced in Morocco, whose population is nearly 100 percent Muslim — a religion that strictly forbids alcohol consumption. I had to do some research. Much to my surprise almost 40 million bottles are corked annually, with 37 million of them being enjoyed in Morocco itself. It seemed that this North African nation — along with Lebanon — was the hottest spot for wine in the Arab world (a sentence I never thought I would say).
Geographically, wine-making in Morocco makes sense -it’s close to Spain, Portugal, and the Mediterranean. It’s high mountains and hills are cooled from the winds off the Atlantic.
Morocco has five wine regions across the country and four wineries open to visitors. The wineries focus their production (about 75 percent) on red wines, followed by a smaller selection of roses and whites.
Ouled Thaleb, which has been turning out head turning Sauvignon Blanc and Syrah is Morocco’s oldest winery (1932). 570 acres produce over 20 varietals of grapes. Whites include the native faranah, sauvignon blanc and chardonnay; While reds include merlot, syrah and grenache. An amazing facility from what it seems in photos and reviews and a place that has undoubtedly made it on our bucket list.
We tried the Ouled Thaleb Moroccan Rose.
60% Syrah, 30% Grenache and 10% Cinsault yields flavors of raspberry, rose petal, cranberry, with subtle hints of white dragon fruit and pineberry.
Remarkable balance of savory and slight acidity.
One of the most memorable wines we’ve tried to date.
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