Tag Archives: Chianti

The Web’s wine buzz: Montepulciano bargains and ‘love at first sip’ Chianti

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Tune in to what top wine bloggers and experts are decanting into cyberspace with handpicked highlights of their latest and greatest. In this case, some great minds appear to be thinking alike in the wine world — and what they’re thinking is Italian.

Our first selections deal with the kind of wine you might drink casually, from a glass tumbler in your kitchen.

An everyday affair.

But still good.

So good that you might feel the the lovely, easy rhythms of Italy in each swallow.

We’re talking about Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, the recent object of affection of Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher.

As they say in a delicious article about this “informal wine’s straightforward charm”:

We guess there are some really rich people out there who drink very expensive, precious bottles of wine every night. In our experience, though, even people who love wine and have plenty of money are still always looking for house wines: straightforward, inexpensive and tasty wines that require little money to buy and little effort to enjoy. These are the kinds of wines to keep around at all times simply to pop open and enjoy when you get home from work.

Results of the Wall Street Journal wine-writing couple’s tasting: Each of their Montepulciano favorites rated Good/Very Good or better. And cost $11 or under.

“Ka-ching!”

That’s music to the ears of the Wine News Review fairly frugal affordability index.

The best value in the list was the Castellana (Cantina Miglianico) 2006, at (ready for this?) $5.99. And several of the five others in the review are not far off.

As the wine gods would have it, Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg at The Washington Post offer their own hymn to the grapes of Italy.

In this case, those particular grapes that produce that most famous of Italian wines — Chianti, a favorite with unpretentious roots that, as Page and Dornenburg note, is a top choice if your meal should involve any kind of marinara sauce.

In fact, they say, you should “build a shrine” to this wine:

A straightforward, invariably dry Chianti will pair better with red-sauced fare than will other wines many times the price. This wine’s popularity is well-deserved: There’s no better match with tomato-sauced dishes.

Why? Because of the simple pairing truism that “acid loves acid.” While moderate in body, alcohol and tannins, Chianti is high in acid, allowing it to stand up to a red-sauced dish’s own high acidity.

The article offers a tight, informative backgrounder not only on exactly what grapes are used for Chainti and what characteristic flavors you’ll find (typically, dried tart-cherry and earth reminiscences) but also what label terms to look out for to find “love at first sip.”

Though many of their selections are somewhat pricier than the Montepulcianos above, the 2005 Cecchi Chianti Classico ($13) and 2005 Gabbiano Chianti Classico ($14) might still feel at home in the kitchen rather than the dining room.

Eight good reasons to attend a wine tasting — jewels of Central Italy

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Combine worse-than-expected after-work traffic, a cold drizzle and a broken umbrella. The unmistakable ingredients for a pretty miserable evening, right?

Wrong — not so miserable at all if once you arrive at your destination you’re greeted by a forest of wine glasses on top of pressed white tablecloths and cheery servers starting to pour — you guessed it — wine!

Welcome to a “Central Italy Wine Tasting,” I thought to myself on that dark and rainy night last week, glad that I wasn’t too late to miss any of the eight featured selections, gladder still after sitting down and immediately being served a 2005 Monte Schiavo Verdicchio Classico ($14.85). Delicately light and refreshingly fruity — the broken umbrella became but a distant memory.

The Verdicchio was soon followed by a 2006 Podere Canneta Vernaccia di San Gimignano ($13.99), just as fresh and clean as the one before it but laced with a surprising crispness. By this time, all of us at the table had made our introductions, as we began settling into a certain zone of contentment with smiles and nods all around.

Meanwhile, the host of this sparkling event, Laurent Guinand of GiraMondo Wine Adventures, a member of the Society of Wine Educators, was helping us interpret the varied aromas and tastes, and dispensing insights about the different terrains that conceived them. His cordially informative presentation alone would have been worth driving some distance in that crummy traffic and weather.

For wine lovers, the central area of Italy is a fabled land, spanning the regions of the Marche, Umbria, Lazio and, of course, Tuscany.

Charming towns, Roman ruins, cypress-dotted hillsides, ancient castles — producing, among other jewels:

  • 2005 La Villetta Frascati Superiore ($14.85) — light, dry and balanced.
  • 2005 Villa Puccini Chianti Riserva ($19) — an “excellent” Chianti, according to my notes, ruby-colored and dry but not biting.
  • 2003 Vignabaldo Rosso di Torgiano ($9.99) — darker and more earthy than the Villa Puccini, “rustic,” as Laurent put it.
  • 2004 Le Volte Tenuta dell’Ornellaia ($30) — I found it “lively,” the label called it “vivacious” — a mixture of Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Super Tuscan that seemed to leave everyone pleased.
  • 2000 Lamole di Lamole Vin Santo del Chianti Classico ($22) — a very good year, Laurent noted, making for a very pleasant dessert wine.
  • And last but definitely not least, a 1998 Rienzi Brunello di Montalcino ($65) — my personal favorite, with its layers of fruit and spice revealing, as Laurent suggested, what’s meant by the term complexity.

All in all, eight good reasons to attend a wine tasting.