John Szabo, MS
I think it’s fair to say I have a reasonable familiarity with central and southern Italian wines. As wine director for Terroni restaurants in Toronto, it’s my mission to leave no stones unturned when it comes to Italian wines, especially wines from the south, in order to fill the wine list with the best and best value wines available. And I couldn’t be luckier. Southern Italy is one of the most fertile hunting grounds for wines of real character and sense of place, as well as international appeal, at very reasonable prices. It seems I discover something new and interesting almost daily, as apparently there’s a never-ending list of regions, grapes and producers to explore.
Understanding Italy is one of the most daunting tasks faced by students in sommelier courses, up there with Germany and Burgundy in terms of sheer size, scope and complexity. But it’s precisely this diversity that makes the country so fascinating. On two visits to Italy within the last year I came across historic regions being reinvented by new and ambitious producers, and new regions getting established by multi-generational winegrowing families. The list of grapes seems endless, and so many growers are thankfully keen to revive antique grapes on the verge of extinction. Just last month an agent came by to see me and poured six excellent wines made from six ancient, indigenous grapes from Friuli that I had never heard of before. That’s as exciting for me it as would be for a classical musician to come across some unpublished Mozart composition in a dusty Salzburg attic: a window on the past, something beautiful for the future, and more pleasure for humankind.
Dubbed Enotria, land of vines, by the ancient Greeks when they landed in what is now southern Italy nearly 3,000 years ago, the landscape must have already been rich with grapevines. It’s speculated that the Greeks also imported a few of their own: it’s too tempting for ampelographers and linguists alike to not consider some Greek connection to grapes that are now considered indigenous like aglianico, a corruption of ‘elleniko’ (or ‘Hellenic, Greek for ‘Greek’), negroamaro (a corruption of nero-mavro, ‘black-black’, nero being the Italian word for black and mavro being the Greek equivalent), or more obviously, greco or grecanico. Whatever the case, there are plenty of fascinating, high quality varieties with singular flavour profiles.
The combination of well-adapted grapes, envious climate, and importantly, large estates with economies of scale (compared to the often tiny, fractured land ownership of regions like Piedmont, Friuli or the Veneto) spells out great potential value in the world of wine. So prepare yourself for an intriguing Italian wine Odyssey.
A nice starting point without frightening anyone with exceedingly strange flavours is the 2004 APOLLONIO COPERTINO ROSSO $16.95, a negroamaro-malvasia blend from southern Puglia that’s crafted in an approachable, modern style with plenty of concentration and polish, while still retaining some regional character. The next step would be to a slightly more traditional expression from the same region, like the 2007 RIVERA SALICE SALENTINO $13.95. It’s the same blend more or less, and from a similar terroir, but more traditional and rustic in style yet full of flavour.
When you’ve become acclimatized to the hot winds and sunny skies of the mezzogiorno (it always seems like the sun is right over your head as at midday, like the Midi of France), then you’ll be ready to explore some more unusual and idiosyncratic wines. The 2008 GIUSTI PIERGIOVANNI LACRIMA DI MORRO D’ALBA$17.95 is made from the rare Lacrima di Morro d’Alba grape grown around the town of Morro d’Alba in Le Marche on the Adriatic coast, which has nothing to do with Alba in Piedmont. Lacrima means tears, and the grape is so-called as the skins have a tendency to burst when fully ripe, causing little drops of juice to run out that resemble tears. Lacrima is a highly aromatic grape, with beguiling floral aromas that will keep you swirling and sniffing all night. And if firm acid and tannins don’t phase you, and you don’t mind a little salty minerality in your glass, then you’ll want to check out the 2007 BISCEGLIA TERRE DI VULCANO AGLIANICO DEL VULTURE $14.95 and the 2008 MURGO ETNA ROSSO $13.95 both hailing from the slopes of volcanoes (Vulture in Basilicata and Etna in Sicily respectively).
Despite the impression that all of southern Italy is hot and relentlessly sunny, there are nonetheless a few pockets and several grapes that are capable of producing fresh, crisp, seafood friendly whites, some of real class and character. My two top value picks in this release are the 2008 MARCHETTI VERDICCHIO DEI CASTELLI DI JESI CLASSICO 12.95 and the 2009 PALA CRABILIS I FIORI VERMENTINO DI SARDEGNA $13.95.
Beyond Central and Southern Italy, I’d like to point out the welcome addition of Tandem wines to the Vintages Portfolio, represented in Ontario by Kylix Wines. This is my first experience with Tandem, and I was seriously impressed with the releases from this Sonoma Coast-based winery. Indeed, all three were all in my top ten smart buys this week: 2007 TANDEM SANGIACOMO CHARDONNAY $24.95, 2007 TANDEM PELOTON $19.95 and 2007 TANDEM AUCTION BLOCK PINOT NOIR $29.95. Reasonably priced and full of class, character and pleasure, these wines shouldn’t be missed by fans of more elegant styles of wine from the sunshine state.
Finally, anyone who enjoys the flavours of mature wine should try the 2002 LEGENDS ESTATES RESERVE CABERNET/MERLOT VQA Niagara Peninsula $17.95. I’ve tried this wine many times over the past half decade or so and I’d say that it’s drinking beautifully now and certainly not past the best before date.
Click on the following to see my:
Top Ten Smart Buys
Wines from Central & Southern Italy at a Glance
All Reviews
Cheers,
John Szabo, MS
Filed under: Wine, Italian, John Szabo, Top 10 Smart Buys, Vintages, Vintages Preview, Wine
Recent Comments