2022 Pian di Stantino Buscamara Romagna Sangiovese Superiore

Last night of a good trip to Italy and a wistful feeling as the last bottle hits the street recycling bin in old and wise Bologna. Such a good surprise, it made up for the disappointment of a much anticipated bottle from a maker whose Sangio from 2015 was pure pleasure. The most recent vintage I enthusiastically bought had fallen foul of barnyard and bandages, not a good reacquaintance. The enoteca where I found the let down also recommended this, from a very high up in the hills vineyard. Elegant, they said. After a bit of a worryingly pongy start, that sort of sulphury and yeasty rawness that seems usual in low fi making, much relief and enjoyment as some just ripe but fruit sweet and cleanish Sangiovese burst forth. Only just medium bodied but full of finely concentrated sour cherry, almond and sweet leather. Fresh and crisp, just right blood orange acidity and fine grip. All the flavour but none of the baggage of oaky over ripeness. Nice way to end a visit to Italy where the regional variations are a delicious way to be kept on your toes.

13% alcohol. Cork. €25.

94 points.

2023 and 2024 Masseria Li Veli Askos Susumaniello Salento

Much as I hated an English grammar school’s version of Dickensian discipline, weirdly it seems having to endure an anachronistic classical education only encouraged a love of things old and Mediterranean. Appropriately this maker has named their range of resurrected old varieties after the ancient Greek wine jug, maybe those early drinkers were into decanting? Li Veli’s version of my Pugliese fetish red grape has had consistently good reviews and is five or so euros more a bottle than the competition. Worth the proverbial punt then, particularly as there were some dinky half bottles in one of the many interesting enoteche siren calling on the streets of Bari.

The 2023 first, it opened with a clean deep ripeness and possessed a patrician complexity. All the dark cherry, pomegranate and spice with a really beguiling minerally stony and refreshing ending. Sometimes, such care in grape farming shows a depth of fine acidity and tannin that adds that oddly ineffable geological tilt. Leads to inadequate wine notes with words like minerally. It’s one of those things that raises a mouthful of wine to serious enjoyment but is hard to communicate and only leads to wine nuts being teased.

14% alcohol. Diam. €9 for a half.

94 points.

The 2024 bought on the strength of its half bottle sibling pleasingly showed just how good vines can produce such interesting wines each year, reflecting the weather in a good way. Much less dark fruited ripeness, much more into bright cherries, light baking spices and a nearly shocking blast of tingling acidity. For something grown in such a warm spot, it was surprisingly fresh and perky. Still that classy rock infused element of the 2023 but in a much less ripe version. These two examples of Li Veli’s craft were certainly the standout examples of quite a few Susumanielli. Ended up that about one in three was worth an enthusiastic revisit, some were just a little pushed in the extraction or just a bit slick and commercial, others a perhaps young vine or washy. None were less than enjoyable though, Some good things to drink in old Puglia, particularly from this producer. The food’s great too.

13% alcohol. Diam. €18.

92 points, maybe more if that acidity calms down a bit.

2023 Varvaglione Susumaniello Salento

Another Susumaniello adventure from time spent hanging around the Salento bit of Puglia that’s worth a few words maybe. This very pretty labelled bottle came to the table from a small but nicely stocked enoteca found in among the winding alleys of old seaside Otranto. The label neatly shows most of the delicious things local to the area including octopus who thoughtfully seem to have enough legs to keep me fed. A couple of years rest since bottling seem to have rounded but not diminished those rich red fruited Susu flavours. A note of nutty naturalness sits comfortably with that deep and very ripe pomegranate tang together with a sweet spicy earthiness. Licorice, cinnamon and fruit chocolate seem a reasonable explanation of the flavours too. Soft and velvet rubbed the wrong way tannins keep the scales from tipping. A lovely, just right, roundness seems the import, not too much of anything, not too little. Comparisons can be a bit silly when the point of the expedition is to find local difference but they can help us understand maybe. So, if pushed, perhaps a bit like one of those fresh, deeply purple Spanish Garnachas, particularly Tintorea or a very ripe Bierzo Mencia sort of gets there but there’s more fat here. The maestro of Italian wine grapes, Dr. Ian D’Agata, suggests Susumaniello means load up the donkey in dialect due to historical high yields but the recent revival seems more about flavour and pleasure.

14% alcohol. Diam. €15.

93 distinctively local points.

2025 Azienda Candido Casina Cucco Susumaniello Salento IGP

It’s a joy to find another really interesting variety rescued from an almost fatal decline, particularly in the heat of Puglia which is already facing warmer summers. In fact us humans have managed to disrupt even the benign and fertile Salento beyond unbearably hot summers. Catching the train across from Calabria, the number of dead or dying olive trees was noticeable, particularly as Puglia produces so much good EVO. It seems a nasty bacterial infestation is responsible which was introduced by importing infected coffee plants. All is perhaps not lost, as there seems to be a couple of resistant varieties but it’s yet another limit to some traditional diversity. Anyway back to grapes grown in what was Magna Grecia where wine and oil have been a part of life for millennia. This bottle was a delicious adventure in terms of both flavour and structure. The former rich and ripe with pomegranate, dark cherry and a sooty depth of full blown ripeness but not the dried grape skin thing that seems to inhabit Negroamaro and other locals. The shape was a succulent surprise. Quite strong but what feels like naturally soft and well bound acidity and velvety tannins, all adding an unexpected freshness. After trying some local Calabrian reds made from Gaglioppo and Magliocco which from limited sampling always seemed to be acidified to a purple toughness or rusty from elevated ph, this Susumaniello was a breath of right grape, right place fresh air. A couple of weeks exploring Italy’s lovely heel and searching for Susu became a mission. It seems to make good rosato too, double delicious. The holiday apartment even had a pottery donkey to support the idea Susumaniello means load up the donkey.

13.5% alcohol, nice compared to some of those local rocket fuel Primitivi. Diam which seems to have overtaken Nomacorc by some way in the south. €12 bargain

92 points.

2025 Pellegrino Il Salinaro Grillo

While Etna Bianco will always be my favourite wine from La Bella Sicilia, the round comfort and sea salty cut of Grillo from out west seems to be yet another way to enjoy the dolce vita. This one from a Marsala producer is a surprisingly fine version, some can often be a bit too ripe and broad or too green and propped by some sweetness. Not this, like one of the new Jerez Vino de Pasto, there’s great definition to yellow fruit, sweet grassy hay, all made delicious by some saline refreshment. A bit of treble by way of almost a jasmine and orange blossom top note too. The label doesn’t lie, it’s that sea salty breeze thing that finally gets you coming back for more. To coax such balance from such a hot climate is quite something. Perhaps not the most intense or concentrated of things, or the sheer class of a good Etna Bianco but a perfect first glass as the golden hour of yet another timeless Mediterranean sunset melts the day’s worries. Great value to boot. Italian pun, no.

13% alcohol. Diam. Found for €9 in a supermarket, amazing.

92 points.

2023 Martinico e Figli Frappato Terre Siciliane IGT

Time flies by and it seems there’s no posts since the end of March. When you’re not paying much for WordPress’ basic and it must be said pretty clunky site, it doesn’t help the lack of motivation. Nonetheless if you’re lucky enough to be spending some time back in the fascinating and gently hedonistic town of Trapani on the western tip of la bella Sicily, then it’s probably a good idea to note a bottle or two. What better than to anticlimax a new review with a bottle you’re unlikely to find outside the few square kilometres of the provincia itself. Close to the ancient sea wall of old Trapani is an alimentari or deli run by a passionate man who I think gave up running a supermarket to open a small business to enjoy selling things of real quality from the local area. At least, that’s what my very limited Italian grasped. Some good cheese, piggy things, olives and a sort of tapenade were all excellent, as was this bottle of one of my favourite Sicilian red grapes. The label suggests it’s made from a vineyard of only 1700 vines. A kilo or two per vine probably means only two to three thousand bottles, not exactly Yellow Tail. Nevertheless, what a delicious drink. Utterly clean, pure and just moderately extracted, there was loads of raspberries and cherries anchored by some lovely powdery soft tannins and bright acidity. Underscored by a rattle of earthy goodness, like sweet organic soil. All of a piece, no jangling and sort of like a cru Bojo for want of a better comparison. The other bit of the label says something worthy in Italian I think

If you find yourself in Trapani, the lovely man running La Deliziosa will cheerfully offer a few tastes of cheese and good things. A picture of him below, stolen from googlemaps.

The same tiny producer also makes a cracking Grillo which I reckon shares a rich but tightened by texture similarity to Palomino from that other sea salty place in Spain.

13.5% alcohol. Diam. €20.

93 points.

2020 Prinz Hallgartener Jungfer Rheingau Riesling Trocken GG

The only bit of Germany’s vineyards I’ve explored is the very pretty riverside Rheingau. Happily there’s lots of dry Rieslings to be tried from what seems to be a lot of quality minded producers. It’s also very easy to explore by train from sky scraping towered and bankered Frankfurt. German wine labelling is still not entirely clear in my old brain but the back label says VDP Grosse Lage which I think means the vineyard is defined as being top of the quality pyramid under wine law and can be further loosely defined as Grosses Gerwachs meaning dry wine from such Grand Cru sites. Should be good then. Perfumes of white peach and citrus with a dab of vanilla bean. It’s all a bit reserved and controlled by that word…mineral..freshness and some sweet green herbiness. Really powerful as it glides on fruit sweetness and a glycerol slide of tightly bound mouth watering acidity and a touch of alcohol warmth. One of those Rieslings that’s either got a touch of fruit sugar or the fruits so dense it seems sweet, beyond me and no bad thing. Just balancing itself adroitly. Opened at the same time as a really good Eden Valley local which was rich in developed flavour with a broad burst of wide acidity. So different to the linear brightness of this Jungfer tingle, so bound into the whole. There’s some Rolls Royce power in this GG top of the range. Quite different to the Toyota reliability of a good Eden Valley to stretch a dubious metaphor.

13% alcohol, it’s ripe. Cork lottery. Thanks to a generous dinner companion.

96 points.

2022 Allegrini Valpolicella

Well over thirty years ago when I first realised Italy made some very interesting and tasty wine, there were only a few DOCs and even less DOCGs available and not many breakaway Vini di Tavola purposely ignoring the rules. Simpler times that made learning easier, particularly as there were only a few producers from each of the better known DOCs whose bottles had something a bit extra. Valpol, as we knew it, had perhaps only two labels that consistently excited this novice, Allegrini and the great Quintarelli whose Classico is now over $250 a bottle in Australia. When this came up at auction, I thought it would be fun for old times’ sake to have a bid. Nobody else was interested which is maybe indicative of Valpol’s fashionability? Well, I’m happy to say it maybe old fashioned but Allegrini’s version is still delicious in that gentle and mouth watering way I remember it. Nicely clean and perfumed with red cherry fruit and that dark chocolate accented earthiness that marks the Verona bit of the Veneto for me. Barely medium bodied, it’s that deliciously fine acidity and talc powdery tannins that can make Valpolicella special. There’s a gentle balance of fruit and succulent texture that seems to mark Corvina from those huge canopies of vines. It’s far from a blockbuster wine of dramatic impact and high scores but it’s delicious and true to its place. Nice trip down a cobwebbed memory lane.

13% alcohol. Screw cap, good idea. $28 auction.

92 points. But much more about place and texture than simple numbers.

Domaine Vincey Interlude Chardonnay d’Oger Grand Cru

This bottle was probably the last of this summer’s luxurious Champagne, thanks to a generous best friend who’s still keen to indulge and share before it’s too late. And what a particularly great Chardonnay in particular. It’s interesting for the wine nerd to notice the grape variety and place are prominent on the label. As much as Champagne’s a label for fizzy celebration guarded often by a ferocious tendency to threaten litigation at the smallest hint of misappropriation, it can still be a gobsmacking Chardonnay from a very special bit of chalky soil. The back label explains whence and how….

A vin vivant indeed, it certainly made this life extra lively. Once the bubbles calmed a little and it warmed in the glass, the brilliant quality of the grapes involved was obvious, should you take the time to sip and think. There’s subtle grace and power. Reading the back label, there’s some passionate hand crafting involved. But there’s no rustic clumsiness. Instead there’s incredible detail and finesse for want of a better word. One of the Winefront crew recently noted they preferred ripeness still on the way up rather than overripe on the way down. This just teeters at the summit. Mouth watering crystalline citrus, quince and a splash of tangy white peach juice. Perfume of flowers and waxy honey. Once more there’s a palpable feel of something related to soil or rock which defeats my limited ability to put into words. To be totally pseud corner about it, it’s like standing in front of a great painting for a few moments in a quiet gallery and being inexplicably transfixed. Sort of… Needless to say, but I will, there’s impeccably fine acidity and a brush of texture that means a 750ml bottle is just far too small. Always loved Blanc des Blancs but a couple recently have been not a lot short of profound. Jewels in what was once literally Paris’ junk heap. Try googling gadoux.

12.5% alcohol. Cork. $ kind of irrelevant.

96 points but much more than that.

2015 Domaine Georges Vernay Sainte Agathe Côtes du Rhône

A quarter of a century ago I briefly gave up a relatively well paid job in the unforgiving construction industry to work in badly paid employment for an importer of European wine; not a happy experience as their attitude to their employees would have even made some of Dickens’ characters wince. One producer they imported was this doyen of Condrieu. Sadly their lack of staff product education meant I only tasted Vernay’s great wine once. It was enough. When four bottles of this came up for auction, a quick search revealed a great review from Jancis for the 2016 version and an explanation that the Sainte Agathe vineyard is planted to Shiraz in the middle of Condrieu on soils very similar to the adjacent Côte Rotie. I spread my bets and bid what turned out to be a total of $43 for each bottle. Thanks maybe to Vernay’s relative obscurity in Australia, nobody else had a bid and I ended up with all four. Happy days as it’s a profoundly good wine. Despite ten years of age, the colour is still a fresh, low ph red and purple. After a serious triple decant, it all melds into a fascinating nose full of spice, dark raspberries, plums and something of a cross between sweet old leather, violets and dark slate roasting in the sun. A mouthful is almost painfully concentrated but loaded in charm. The same flavours and a texture like rough silk in the finest of dense tannin, all freshened by incredibly beautiful blood orange acidity. I can only imagine this is what a great Côte Rotie from a very warm year would be like? It left me hoping more comes up on the auction site. The wine budget be damned.

12.9% alcohol. Cork. RRP of about $85 in Australia.

95, maybe 96 points as it’s so well made.