Category: Italy

2015 Guido Platinetti Ghemme Vigna Ronco Al Maso

Nebbiolo from the DOCG of Ghemme up in Alto Piemonte still seems a good buy in times of escalating prices in Barolo and Barbaresco. Didn’t realise Ghemme has the lofty DOCG and I’ve put the producer’s given name first rather than the traditional Italian family name first as it appears on the label. Wasn’t sure this was a formality until enjoying the excellent Montebalno on the tele when Luca Zingaretti always introduced his character, ‘Montebalno Salvo sono’. Italy still seems to hang on to odd formalities. Anyway, what’s in the glass? Rich and deep scents of cherries, raspberries, mint and other herbs in short. Clean and still some mountain freshness. The herbiness is sort of like those, odd to some, Italian digestive drinks. Compared to a heavy metal Barolo recently, full of power and thumping bass, this has ribbons of fine, just chewy tannin and a lightness of beautifully ripe acidity. So enjoyable to drink. Acidity is so very important in wine.

13.5% alcohol. Cork. $54 at auction, RRP $85, makes up for some less successful sink bound bids.

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.

2022 San Giusto a Rentennano Chianti Classico

A favourite producer over the last twenty years or so that always seems to make beautifully clean Sangiovese from what are obviously great grapes. No difference here. Pure clean Tuscan Sangiovese full of savoury hedgerow berries, if they have hedgerows in Tuscany? There’s also more Italian cherries, the slightly sour sort and loads of almonds mixed with a handful of walnut. Sweet leather smells too. The structure is impeccable, firm ripe tannin that sweetens with food and the sort of blood orange acidity that points to perfect ripeness. Oak’s an afterthought and spotless. There’s a gentle aristocratic air about lots of Tuscan estates. This one makes wine to match that feeling. Can’t think of a Chianti I’ve enjoyed more.

14% alcohol. Diam. $35 at auction.

94 points.

2021 Monte Benardi Tzingarella Colli della Toscana Centrale IGT

A possible treat and maybe a risk as it’s from a natural leaning producer and who knows how it’s been looked after before putting up for auction. A blend of 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc and 5% Colorino, I suppose it’s what we used to call Super Tuscan last century. From vineyards in Panzano’s famed Conca d’Oro I think, sort of Chianti grand cru? There’s some odd idioms in the English language, one of them about a curate’s egg which seems to have come from an old Punch cartoon and has stuck in usage for something that’s good in parts. This is indeed good in some ways and a bit off in others, but puzzlingly enjoyable. The dodgy things first, volatile even beyond my own inability to notice and a whiff of the old plastic smelling band aid. The good, extraordinarily tasty fruit, just ripe and of beautiful mineral crispness. The cool reserve of old style Bordeaux perhaps? Fresh juicy cherries, sweet but a little tart just like the beauties in season in southern Australia at the moment. Red currants and fresh blackcurrant too. No hint of jam or sugary over ripeness. Pleasing drag of dusty, in a good way, drying and very fine tannin, well meshed to fresh acidity that maybe just gets a touch too tangy to end. Somehow makes another sip inevitable to see if it’s too much, perhaps yes, maybe no. Wabi sabi as it’s so well put in Japan.

14% alcohol. Cork. $32 at auction, good hunting I think.

Barely a score in technical terms, 93 if you ignore the warts.

2021 Brovia Dolcetto d’Alba Vignavillej

Good wine is so much better when the it’s shared. If not at the table then swapping a few bottles can work well if you’ve scored a multi bottle auction lot and want to spread the fun. The bottle came my happy way in return for something I can’t remember but can only hope was as good. About as tasty as Dolcetto d’Alba gets, this opened clean and fresh but a little reticent. A good swirl and there’s all that thickness of sour dark cherry and kirsch good Dolcetto does well, ripe but no undue sweetness. Perfectly weighted ripe acidity and tannin, full of that Langhe stony character, float all that goodness to the point of refreshment. It’s easy to see why the Piemontese value Dolcetto like this as the thing to brighten their already delicious food. Sure, Nebbiolo can make you ponder its complications but sometimes straightforward pleasure is more fun, particularly when it’s so much of a place. What a swap.

14% alcohol. Diam. Swap.

94 points, particularly if points are for place and focus.

2016 Vigneti Boveri Giacomo Freisa La Cappelletta Colli Tortonesi

Another label for the train spotter boy in every old man wine lover I reckon. Shame I managed to get the photo out of focus as it’s one thing this wine doesn’t lack. A string of Italian names that probably mean little to most except the venerable Piemonte hound looking for value. This got a great review on The Wine Front, that most entertaining of sites. An essential resource when browsing the auction site. A few years in bottle have done nothing to interfere with the cheerful bite and depth of great grapes here. Loads of just picked dark cherries and that amazing rockiness that comes in layer after layer. Touches of woody herb and black olives. Great measures of brilliant fruit and contrasting geological flavour, assuming it’s possible to taste such things. Not hard to see Freisa’s part in parenting Nebbiolo. Shame it was my only bottle. In Piemontese terms of value these days, a bargain.

13.5% alcohol. Cork. $55 RRP.

95 points, it’s that good.

2022 Baglio di Pianetto fermata 125 Etna Bianco

One last Etna Bianco bought in Sicily and not exactly chosen by any great knowledge about the producer but because the label has a picture of a favourite train. At first glance it seems the maker was founded by a wealthy and noble entrepreneur from Vicenza who put his money where his palate told him, a winery just south of Palermo. Their production seems to focus on the usual Sicilian varieties from around the hills south of that chaotic city. I was a bit surprised to read on the back label that this bottle was in fact made for them by Cantine Valenti who were also responsible for the Deco supermarket bottle just posted, at about half the price. Just like the Enkelados bottling, this has the same deeper colour and extraction without adding weight. The same build of flavour and cut of Etna acidity but certainly a notch or two up in the fruit quality. Poised yellow fruits and flowers with a bit of hazel nut and white chocolate. Open over three days, there was again a weird echo of white Burgundy, with a very different texture of course, that fine pumice like acidity that’s got me hooked. A rich version but still balanced and no wobbles. Wasn’t expecting Etna Bianco to be my favourite Sicilian drink but it is now. Fresh pomegranate juice is pretty good morning option though. Enough antioxidants to clean up all that indulgence.

13% alcohol. Diam. €18.

94 points.

2022 Cantine Valenti Enkelados Etna Bianco

An Etna Bianco from one of those easy to navigate large Italian supermarkets on the edge of town which always seem to have great deli counters and a value wine selection. And another mystery label. This wasn’t exactly a huge risk at €8. It seems hard to find anything less than delicious in terms of Etna Bianco these days, maybe even at this price point? OK, perhaps not the fine flavours and highlights of the best but still rich, clean yellow fruit flavours with a blur of herby green. Nonetheless, there’s still that trademark pull of refreshing pumice like acidity and vapour trail of ash. Wouldn’t it be good to find something like this on the shelves of Dan’s for less than $15. Oh well, in ten days or so I’ll have the chance to find out again. Sicily’s very good for adding padding around the middle. Thanks to the incredible Giacomo Serpotta, this putto and I share the happy discomfort.

13.5% alcohol. Diam. Amazing, in maybe sixty bottles opened in Italy in two months, only three natural corks. €8.

91 points.

2023 Azienda Vitivinacola Mustazza Quasale Catarratto DOC Sicilia

The very tip of Trapani’s promontory, all salty air, islands on the horizon and fishing boats seems a long way from smoking Etna. Just the sort of place for rich and saline whites to help the freshest seafood along. What’s left of it in the Mediterranean anyway. Reading posts from Fishact, a German NGO, it seems industry regulation is not all it could be, particularly when it comes to swordfish size. There are resentments aimed at the EU rules among the struggling small scale fishers, including incredibly it seems a nostalgia for pre war days when shooting scavenging dolphins was encouraged. Sometimes wine and food politics collide to an uncomfortable degree. Maybe small catches from local boats may not be as damaging to stocks as theoretically regulated industrial scale tuna catches? So many conflicting arguments. Maybe we just eat less?

Anyhow, back to wine and one that would happily go with a vegetable pasta. The local supermarket across the street had this label in both Catarratto and Grillo versions and both the sort of well made, nicely ripe and satisfying thing that the less vaunted bits of Sicily do so well. Catarratto seems to have good rich lime, citrus, local cedro perhaps, and sweet green herb flavours. There’s a saline tang and large scale ripe acidity to cut. Brings me back to thoughts of the sea. The Grillo version is more yellow fruits, stone fruit and an estuarine waft that brings good unfortified Palomino to mind. Bit of judicious skin contact brings some depth of flavour in both. There’s that Groove Armada song, “if you’re fond of sand dunes and salty air”. Oh hell, yes. Well done Mustazza, good versions amongst a few that have been too green, too made or a too much residual in sweetness.

12.5% alcohol. Diam. €12.

91 points both Catarratto and Grillo.

2021 Girolamo Russo Etna Rosso ‘a Rina

Entry level Rosso from Russo who is definitely on the list of must try when so close to the source. There’s a welcoming restaurant on the edge of Passopisciaro called Borgo Spirito Santo which was mercifully close to the village. Luckily only a stiff twenty minute walk uphill which meant a leisurely totter down in the Etna moonlight with a bit of help from the iPhone torch. As usual in Sicily, there was great cooking that doesn’t muck about too much with very local produce. Being locavore isn’t some fad, it’s still just an economical way of life on the island. The wine list was very local too, most bottles don’t seem to have travelled far, this one 1.70kms according to google maps. It looked very at home, bright, fresh and clean. After a by no means extensive sampling, the standard of wine making seems high around Etna these days. Careful but not overblown to hide what makes Etna so interesting. This felt just medium weight, sort of sensible Pinot extraction level. Once more there’s those red fruit cherry like flavours, spice that’s hard to pin down and the sweet earth mixed with white ash thing, as best as I can manage. Drinking and wondering a lot, the thought occurs that much of the pleasure in wine comes from textures as much as flavour. And it’s the pumice and fine mouthwatering acid feel of the Nerellos from Etna that sets them apart. Keen to try more.

14% alcohol. Can’t remember the original closure. €25 ish on the list. Italian wine lists are great value.

93 points.