A Test of Reds
On Saturday Terry and I decided to have a “taste off”, to look at some “cost effective” red wines from Italy. I am always looking to save some money and would definitely like to find the ultimate $7 bottle of wine.
The music of the evening was varied; ranging from Michael Franks to the Style Council. Good stuff and it allowed us to relax until someone noticed that Zoolander was on and since I am a lover of fine cinema, we just had to watch it.
The food was a grilled stuffed beef tenderloin with a Bordelais sauce, asparagus (also grilled) and garlic mashed potatoes.
Let me note that we aerated all of these wines and did not try them fresh from the bottle. I find that with a more “cost effective” wine aeration is a must as it mellows out the wine and gems can be found. To find a real steal look to areas that are not “discovered” yet. These may produce fine wines, but the beautiful people don’t know yet. Some regions deserve to be undiscovered, but at under $10 a mistake won’t cause a bankruptcy.
Our first victim was a Sangiovese from Farnese. I first noted this wine when I was between assignments and couldn’t afford a more expensive wine. At that time it was noted to be from Ortona, which was a very nasty battle for our boys during the Italian Campaign. It was referred to as Our Stalingrad. The region is in Northen Abruzzi bordering on Le Marche. Le Marche is an area to watch. Below the Veneto, this region is on the Adriatic and can make great wine that is undervalued. That I like. They also make some more expensive wines which I like and I always find that buying the bottom of the line from a good company better than buying the top f the line from a maker of carburetor cleaner.
The wine is an ‘05 which is good.
The aroma is very mild and shows some fruit and some jam. Not strong, but not offensive either, rather nice. The colour isn’t great but it isn’t too light either.
Taste wise, we like this wine. It isn’t the greatest wine in the world but at $7 it’s a steal. Think of sins of omission rather than commission. It has low tannins but it is there. The taste is nice and light, mild but no razor blades. This wine goes very well with food especially mushrooms. The tenderloin didn’t make this wine feel out of place.
Our second contender was Spinelli, Montepulciano D’Abruzzo. It’s an ‘06 and comes from Atessa. The wine was redder than the Farnese and was fresher in all respects. More fruit and fresher.
Taste wise, it was a wee bit syrupy and not as mellow as the Farnese. It was a wee bit sharper all around, but it wasn’t offensive. Not bad and worth every cent. I will buy more of this.
Our third champion was another Montepulciano D’Abruzzo. This one is an ‘06 from Citra. This wine is also from Ortona so was approppo for this weekend.
Again, the aroma was not forward, but darker than the Spinelli. The wine was also much darker, more deep red.
It had tons of dark jammy flavours not usually seen at this price point. We really liked this wine a lot. Flavours were similar to the other two, but there was just more of them. Don’t serve this too warm, but at cellar temp it was really nice. I want to have this one with a good Bolognaise sauce, It was a find.
So there it is, my first taste test and I give the victory to the Citra. It is food friendly and very nice. A wonderful wine from a region not known for good wine. The Italians have improved their quality so much in the last fifteen years so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that they can do this well at these low prices.
Just to see a comparison and a marker we tried one of Terry’s favourites, Rosemount Shiraz Cabernet. And guess what, it was nice; we were a wee bit toasty, but we still could taste and it wasn’t that much better. It was but it should be as it was twice the price.
So, here you go. With a pasta pizza or beef tenderloin these “cost effective’ reds from central Italy are fine choices, and if the Licbo allows us to reap the pleasure of our strong dollar we should get these even cheaper. Somehow I just don’t see that happening though....oh well.
