Wine of the week: Ca’Del Sarto Refosco 2014

The Ca’Del Sarto Refosco is top-notch $9 wine made with an odd grape; call it Wine Curmudgeon heaven

What makes the Wine Curmudgeon happier than a quality cheap wine made with an odd grape? Hardly anything, as the Ca’Del Sarto Refosco demonstrates. This is one of those buy a case wines than you can enjoy while everyone else is drinking $15 grocery store plonk.

The Ca’Del Sarto Refosco ($9, purchased, 13%) is an Italian red made with refosco, and it comes from the Fruili region, better known for white wine. Can you see why I was so excited to taste it? And the Ca’Del Sarto Refosco was all I hoped it would it be, with black cherry fruit, a bit of zip, soft tannins, and a crisp finish. It’s the sort of well-made and inexpensive everyday wine that you can drink with anything that we used to get from California (how I miss you, Big House Red) and rarely see anymore.

Highly recommended, with the caveat that there isn’t a lot of it and you might have difficulty finding the wine if you don’t live in a city with a quality independent retailer. Which is another curse of the three-tier system we are forced to live with.