Category: Italy

2009 Produttori del Barbaresco Montestefano Riserva

Just to make sure Nebbiolo’s over represented hereabouts, yet another. Enoteca Sileno have developed a reputation for perhaps not the thinnest of margins on wine but if you look carefully in their impressive wine fridge, you’ll notice less lauded vintages still there for about $135. Less if you buy a few and tongue in cheek ask for a discount. This Montestefano is still a craggy peak of dense stone. Very ripe red cherry, earthy tar and a bit of licorice, well, it is Neb of course. Chunks of mouth desiccating tannin and acid. Only tamed by fat and protein. Warm vintage, big hearted wine from the most stern of the Produttori’s crus. As unyielding as a 90s’ Juventus back four.

14.50% alcohol. Cork. $135.

93 four square points.

2012 Matteo Correggia Roero

As the 2016 was so good and great value, finding a few 2012s amongst the stash under the house meant another Stelvin Luxe cracked with a satisfying twist. Nebbiolo obsession fed. Much more gentle than the 16 but beautifully clean and perfumed. Pot pourri, almost musk, gentle cherry and aniseed. Fragrant but not cloying. Great balanced crunch of ripe tingly acid and fine graphite tannins. More mountain fresh than Barolo earthy. Suave you might say.

14% alcohol. Lovely screwcap. $26 from a Prince Wine Store sale.

92 elegantly poised points.

2016 Fattoria Basciano Chianti Rufina.

Far too much Italian wine recently but the craving for tannin and acidity with rich winter grub and some lucky wins at auction means no let up yet. From the same maker as the bravely commercial Il Bastardo, this is a traditional DOCG Rufina. Sangiovese with a slug of Colorino. Dark semi dried sour cherries, tobacco, licorice and some well controlled sooty oak. Really drying firm tannins and a smack of ripe acidity. Dark, serious, desiccated skin flavour and texture point toward a hot dry vintage, perhaps? Not quite the cool, red fruit calm that used to mark Rufina. Nonetheless a clean, delicious Sangio that comes into sharp focus with warming oily, cheesy pasta. E basta.

13.50% alcohol. Cork. $20 lucky win at Langton’s, don’t you dare bid on the other two bottles!

93 points.

2018 Trediberri Barbera d’Alba

Beautifully labelled with art by a local Langhe artist, one of whose prints brightens the living room wall. Couldn’t resist the photo. The wine itself opens nice and clean with very ripe blackberry, plums and burnt toffee. With a bit of air, there’s a touch of Piemontese soil and a bit more freshness. Thankfully the richness is buffed into shape by that mouthwatering Barbera acidity which is somehow folded into the finish and hides the warmth of alcohol. The lack of tannin helps keep the focus on the bright fruit and acid. Not sure you’d notice the 15% if the label were not so honest. Bit of a big fellow en ballet pointe.

15% alcohol, careful sips. Screwcap, yes! $24 from the importer’s own invitational website shop. Bargain.

91 points.

2017 Renzo Masi Il Bastardo Vino Rosso Italiano

Vino da taglio was, or maybe still is, a naughty way for higher alcohol wine from mainly Puglia and Sicily to find its way into under powered Tuscan and other northern producers’ wine. Bravo for this good Chianti Rufina producer playing with the idea and then cheekily calling it The Bastard. Seems it’s good Rufina Sangiovese “cut” with some warming Sicilian Shiraz. Whilst the thought of bastardising the purity of good Sangio is at first horrible, this turns out to be a delicious drink for not a lot of cash. Starts a bit reduced as the screwcap cracks but then opens cleanly with Sangiovese cherries and walnuts warmed by spice and darker berries. Still has that lovely pull of Chianti acid and fine tannin grabbing at some chocolate richness. If you were looking for an easy but genuine intro to Ital wine, stop here and get acquainted. Best thing is the pure Chianti accent can still be heard above the Mezzogiorno’s warm chatter.

13% alcohol. Screwcap on an Italian, bravo. $10 bargain from a Langton’s auction.

89 pizza friendly points.

2017 Ca’ La Bionda Valpolicella Classico

Fine, clean and fresh. Sparkling cherry fruit, a little muddy freshly dug soil and something mineral. As if Corvina had been on holiday to the Côtes de Beaune, such is the svelte even fruit and grace of structure. Absolutely no bombast but just a quietly moderate purity. Creeps up gently but doesn’t let go without another sip. Can you actually taste limestone or granite in wine? Does transparent organic farming help? Idealistically, you’d like to think so. Long way from industrial Valpol.

12.50% alcohol. Cork. About $30 plus a bit, sorry forgot to pay attention.

92 extremely fine points.

2016 Matteo Correggia Roero

Usually a good buy for a crisp, red fruited, juicy light weight version of Piemontese Nebbiolo, this vintage has been to the gym across the river in Barolo. Bit rustic to open, not in a tangy B word way but earthy and sulphur derived perhaps. Over a few days, it cleaned up and did a convincing imitation of a Langhe Neb or a baby Barolo..esco. Red cherries, fresh bitumen and a chocolate earthiness. A bit of licorice root too. In the mouth is where things really start to muscle up. Firm acidity and those black tea tannins pull hard. Without food it’s forbidding, a slice of good pizza and that structure clears the path for the fruit to bloom. Wine from Italy, always for the table, always. That tannin’s so good for you

14% alcohol. Screwcap, luxe too. $33, bargain.

92 points.

2017 Piero Benevelli Langhe Rosso numero 3

If memory serves, tenuous but just possible, then this is the twins from Mondo Imports own dalliance with blending? 70% Barbera and 30% Nebbiolo combine seamlessly to make an extraordinarily delicious mouthful. Exquisitely balanced poise of floral perfume, brightest red fruit and cool Langhe mineral. Maybe the warmer year has pushed the Neb to be more friendly to the Barbera? Absolutely spotless and impossible to avoid another sip. Some wine demands unraveling and thought, some just need joyful drinking. This surely is the latter but as it’s Piemonte just a bit of the former? Bravissimo, D’Anna ragazzi, best one yet.

14% alcohol. Cork. $35 and a bargain.

93 points but plus for sheer lip smacking glee.

2010 Passopisciaro Sicilia IGT

From the edge of the Etna volcano where they clamber up and down tending their Nerello Mascalese vines. No enological slickness to this indeed. A medicinal tang from the less than scrupulously clean wood and a bit of lift but unusually tolerable. In fact they’re just the sort of blemish that make a French film star interestingly full of character rather than the blandness of a Hollywood performer. It’s probably the sheer strength of cherry rich and ethereally mineral fruit that that makes this normally grumpy fault zealot want another mouthful. What the Japanese call Wabi Sabi, imperfection being essential to beauty? Age seems to have melded fruit and structure but kept that beautifully dry tug to refresh. The wonky bits are really just seasoning. Hints of blood orange juice too. So good with a oily pasta, of course. Surprised to find this so delicious. The teetering balance of a lot of great fruit and a tiny bit of naughty.

14% alcohol. Cork. $50 approximately?

93 non technical points.

2016 Bruno Rocca Barbera d’Alba

Modernist, sweetly fruited and with a bit of lift to tickle the fancy. Very ripe, clean and crunchy cherries and plums but with just enough Langhe earthy stones and rocks to cut across. Slick and svelte but its roots still firmly in the Piemontese soil. Perhaps a bit more savouriness and austerity would be good. Nonetheless delicioso. The Bordeaux shaped bottle indicates the move away from rustic traditions perhaps? Bowl of tomato sauced pasta? Essential.

14.50% alcohol. Cork. $42.

91 points.