Category:Italian wine

Thanksgiving wine 2018

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

thanksgiving wine 2018Four Thanksgiving wine 2018 suggestions

The Wine Curmudgeon looks forward to Thanksgiving like no other holiday. When else do families and friends get to share lots of wine and good food without worrying about money, showing off, or big-screen plasma TVs? Instead, it’s about being thankful that we can be together to enjoy the holiday. The blog’s guidelines for holiday wine buying are here.

This year’s Thanksgiving wine 2018 suggestions should get you started:

• Toscolo Vernaccia di San Gimignano 2016 ($14, purchased, 12.5%): Another winner from the Italian Wine Guy. This white, made with the vernaccia grape, is delightful, if a little simple. Look for peach fruit, some almond spice. and white flowers. A turkey wine par excellence. Imported by Empson USA

• Fantini Farnese Rosato 2017 ($10, purchased, 13%): This Italian pink wine, part of the always reliable Fantini brand, is a little darker than other roses (black cherry fruit?), but still fresh and delicious. Highly recommended — all $10 rose should be this well made. Imported by Empson USA

• Domaine de L’Ameillaud Côtes du Rhône 2015 ($17, purchased, 13%): This French red blend (a little more than half grenache) is competent, professional, and well-made, showing how round and interesting this kind of wine can be. Look for black fruit and soft tannins – another excellent turkey wine. Imported by Dionysus Imports

• Carpenè Malvolti Rosé Cuvée Brut ($17, sample, 12%): Nicely done Italian rose sparkling that’s not Prosecco, so it’s a little sturdier in style and bubbles, without Prosecco’s softness. Plus, there is nice pinot noir fruit (cherry and strawberry?). Imported by Angelini Wine

More about Thanksgiving wine:
• Thanksgiving wine 2017
• Thanksgiving wine 2016
• Thanksgiving wine 2015
• Wine of the week: Feudo Arancio Stemmari Grillo 2017
• Expensive wine 113: Justin Cabernet Sauvignon 2016

Wine of the week: Alois Lageder Pinot Bianco 2017

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Lageder pinot biancoThe Lageder pinot bianco is well worth the extra couple of dollars that it costs

What better question for the wine of the week during the blog’s 11th annual Birthday Week: How does one know when spending more than $10 on a wine in this age of crappy $15 wine isn’t a waste of money? When the wine is something like the Lageder pinot bianco.

So know the producer. The Lageder pinot bianco ( $13, purchased, 13%) comes from one of the best small wineries in Italy – a 200-year-old family business tucked away on Italy’s northern border between Switzerland and Austria. I’ve written about the Lageder wines many times. All have been worth spending the extra three for four dollars for, including and especially the pinot grigio.

The pinot bianco is no exception. Look for bright, fresh lime and green apple fruit with an almost floral aroma. In this, the wine may be more like an Oregon pinot blanc, since white wine fruit flavors tend to be subdued in Italian wine. The finish is clean and long, not quite stony but still satisfying. It’s an approachable and enjoyable wine, either on its own or with roast chicken or grilled fish. And it would be terrific for Thanksgiving – a lighter style to go with all that food.

Wine of the week: Tenuta Caparzo Sangiovese 2015

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Tenuta Caparzo sangioveseThe Tenuta Caparzo sangiovese fills in the boxes on the cheap wine checklist

Let’s pull out the cheap wine checklist for the Tenuta Caparzo sangiovese:

• Made in southern France, Italy, or Spain? Check.

• Not made with cabernet sauvignon, merlot, or chardonnay? Check.

• An importer who specializes in quality and value? Check.

In other words, the Italian Tenuta Caparzo sangiovese ($12, purchased, 13.5%) is exactly what a weeknight wine should be — well-priced and professionally made, and it tastes like the grape that it’s made from and the region where the grape is grown.

Sigh. Why do we need a checklist to find wines like this?

This red from Tuscany in northern Italy is softer than a Chianti, though it’s made with the same grape. That’s a style choice (something to do with Italy’s zany appellation laws?), but it doesn’t make the wine too flabby. Look for red fruit, mostly ripe cherry, a burst of Tuscan acidity, and a little earth and spice.

Is this the best wine ever made? Or even the best cheap wine? No, but it’s not supposed to be. It’s enough to be fairly priced and enjoyable to drink on a cold Tuesday night when you’re home late and dinner is takeout pizza.

Imported by Vineyard Brands

Wine of the week: Feudo Arancio Stemmari Grillo 2017

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Stemmari grilloThis vintage of the Stemmari grillo reminds us how terrific cheap Sicilian wine can be

About a decade ago, Sicily was home to some of the world’s best – and least known – cheap wine. But then the wine geeks discovered the Italian island, prices went up, and quality suffered. Case in point is the Stemmari grillo, which alternates between terrific and not worth drinking as often as a wine judge spits.

The 2017 version of the Stemmari grillo ($10, purchased, 13%) is back to terrific. As my notes say: “Much better than expected, and especially after the past several vintages.” In fact, I bought this white wine, made with the grillo grape, because I have to buy lots of bad wine to find something worth writing about.

What makes this version of the Stemmari grillo so much more interesting? It tastes like grillo, for one thing – spicy (white pepper?), with some sort of lemony apple flavor (or apple-y lemon, if you prefer), and it’s dry and clean and almost minerally. When the wine is off, it’s sort of oxidized – heavy and brandyish and about as refreshing as a kick in the head.

Highly recommended, and a candidate for the 2019 $10 Hall of Fame. Just make sure you buy this vintage, and not one of the previous two or three. Chill and drink on its on, or pair with almost anything Mediterranean that comes from the sea. And it wouldn’t be bad with humms, pita breads, and a bulgur salad, either.

Imported by Prestige Wine Imports

 

Wine of the week: Querceto Tuscan Red 2014

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Querceto Tuscan Red The Querceto Tuscan Red may not be Chianti, but it does the job every quality $10 wine should do

Talk about confusing wine labels – the Querceto Tuscan Red says Chianti on it, even though it technically isn’t a Chianti – that is, a red wine from the Chianti region of Tuscany made mostly with sangiovese. But those are the Italian labeling laws for you.

In fact, the Querceto Tuscan Red ($10, purchased, 13%) is a Super Tuscan, made with 60 percent merlot, sangiovese, and a little cabernet. And, despite the confusion, it’s worth buying.

All that merlot means it’s softer than a Chianti, so there is riper and less tart cherry fruit – an almost plummy flavor. Plus, it tastes rounder and fresher in the mouth. But it’s still very Italian, with enough acidity to balance the fruit, a little earthiness, and even a touch of oak if you pay careful attention.

I drank this with my mom’s legendary chicken parmesan, given to me on a sheet of yellow legal pad when I left for college. It’s the kind of food this wine was made for, and especially as the weather gets cooler.

Imported by Prestige Wine Imports

 

Wine of the week: Garofoli Superiore Macrina 2017

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

arofoli Superiore MacrinaThe Garofoli Superiore Macrina is an Italian white wine that offers surprising quality and value

Of all the things the Wine Curmudgeon loves about wine – and I love almost everything about it – my favorite might be finding an inexpensive wine of tremendous quality that I knew nothing about. In other words, a wine like the Garofoli Superiore Macrina.

The Garofoli Superiore Macrina ($13, purchased, 12%) is an Italian white wine made with the verdicchio grape from the Marche region. Don’t worry if you don’t know either; they’re not especially important in the Winestream Media scheme of things. The only reason I bought the bottle is that the Italian Wine guy recommended it, and few know more about Italian wine value than he does.

The wine was everything it should have been – somehow, both fresh and rich, with an almost creamy approach that tasted of almonds and citrus. But it wasn’t heavy, which is what that description makes it sound like. The finish, in fact, was clean and crisp, with lots of minerality. Is it any wonder I enjoyed it so much?

Drink this chilled on its own or with almost any kind of grilled or boiled seafood (the Marche is on the Adriatic coast). A note about the price – they’re all over the board, from as little as $11 to $16.

Imported by Garofoli USA

Mini-reviews 113: Cusumano, Pace Rosanebbia, Torremoron, La Bastide

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

cusumanoReviews of wines that don’t need their own post, but are worth noting for one reason or another. Look for it on the fourth Friday of each month

• Cusumano Insolia 2016 ($11, purchased, 12.5%): This Sicilian white, made with the native insolia grape, is heavier and more chardonnay like this time, without the freshness and citrus of past vintages. But what do you expect when some PR type describes the wine like this: “… a sensuality that could only be born under the Sicilian sun.” Imported by Terlato

• Azienda Agricola Pace Roero Rosanebbia Vino Rosato 2017 ($20, sample, 14%): This Italian pink wine, made with nebbiolo, is rose for people who only drink red wine – hot, tannic, and bitter.

• Torremoron Ribera del Duero 2016 ($13, sample, 14%): Well-made Spanish tempranillo from the Ribero del Duero that isn’t too heavy or too rich or too un-tempranillo. It’s the ideal wine for someone who wants something with more heft than Rioja, but doesn’t want to break the bank. Imported by Ole Imports

• La Bastide Saint-Dominique Côtes du Rhône 2016 ($18, purchased, 13.5%): A well-made, competent, and enjoyable red blend from France’s Rhone that tastes exactly like it’s supposed to – rich, fruity, a little earth. But it costs $5 more than it’s worth. Imported by Europvin USA