October 2009 Wine Club Selections

The Unique Varietals of Italy You've got to love Italy's dedication. As the world around them adopts the most globally popular varietals as their own (Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot and Pinot Noir topping the lists), year after year Italy sticks to its guns. They like their regionally developed grapes. Tuscany likes their Sangiovese because it goes so well with their tomato-based pastas and ribollita. So why would they want Pinot? Same goes for Basilicata and their Aglianico, Campania and their Falanghina, Sardinia and their Vermentino, and we know Piedmont isn't pulling up their precious Nebbiolo anytime soon. (A relief, to say the least.) That's not to say that Italian winemakers don't experiment with a little Cabernet Sauvignon here and there, add a little oomph to their SuperTuscan blends or a little Chardonnay to fatten up their northern white wines. But it took a long time to develop a marriage between regional wine and regional cuisine that many consider the best in the world. The pairing of gnocchi with wild boar and Chianti didn't happen overnight! So it serves us well that Italy keeps with these traditions a little longer. Let everyone else grow Chardonnay. Italy's got a pretty good thing going here... Cheers ~ Maggie

2007 Argiolas Costamolino Vermentino di Sardinia Grape variety: Vermentino Region: Sardinia, Italy Food pairing: Fish crudo or lemon risotto The island of Sardinia has long been known as a destination for wild beauty and rugged landscapes, a far cry from the rest of Italy when it comes to dialect and tradition, and a remotely pastoral seaside haven. But a high-quality wine region is not something people have always seen in Sardinia. With a passion for the islands native varietals (Vermentino, Nuragus, Cannonau, Monica and Bovale Sardo, among others,) the Argiolas family and winemaker Giacomo Tachis (father of such prestigious Italian wines as Sassicaia, Tignanello and Solaia) have placed Sardinia on the wine map. A classic example of Vermentino, their Costamolino is a fresh and soft white wine with notes of orange peel, tropical fruits and floral honey with a zesty acidity. Perfect with fish crudo or lemon risotto. More info: http://www.garyswine.com/fine_wine/italy/70023.html 2007 Vaona Valpolicella Classico Grape variety: Corvina, Molinara Region: Valpolicella, Veneto, Italy Food pairing: Mussels steamed in red wine While old habits may indeed die hard, fortunately reinvention is the mother of, well, modern Valpolicella. As New York Times wine critic Eric Asimov recently recounted, " Back when I was a child, Valpolicella meant the cartoon Italian accent of countless radio commercials for a mass-produced wine...The generations who followed knew Valpolicella mostly through hearing it disparaged as a thin, insipid wine. Fact is, it was insipid most of the time. Commercial producers had taken the easy way, abandoning difficult-to-farm hillsides for vineyards on the flats, where high yields of dilute grapes were easy." But recently, he follows, "with new seriousness of purpose, many producers have rededicated themselves to Valpolicella." His pick for best of the bunch? Vaona, which "pulsed with bright, vibrant cherry flavors and floral aromas. It typified ... a classically styled Valpolicella, with a structure that comes from acidity rather than oak and a delicacy that, with the wine lightly chilled, might go well with seafood." More info: http://www.garyswine.com/fine_wine/italy/07247.html

2007 Mustilli Falanghina Grape variety: Falanghina Region: Sant'Agata dei Goti, Campania, Italy Food pairing: Pizza Margherita Despite the fact that Campania has been producing wine grapes since well before Vesuvius buried Pompeii (79 A.D., history buffs), it wasn't until recently that the grape-growers here began holding on to their grapes for local winemaking rather than selling them to larger cooperatives for blending up North. And I, for one, am glad that small wineries like Mustilli have decided that a white grape like Falanghina deserves to be bottled on its own. "Falanghina is easy to drink, a delicate flavor, soft and elegant," says winemaker Anna Chiara Mustilli in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle. "It should never be blended, or you lose the delicacy." Mustilli's 100% Falanghina is at once light and lush, with flavors of apple, almond and nutmeg that are absolutely perfect for Autumn and complement simple, fresh pizza Margherita like no other. More info: http://www.garyswine.com/fine_wine/italy/10953.html 2007 Musto-Carmelitano Serra del Prete Aglianico Grape variety: Aglianico Region: Basilicata, Italy Food pairing: Pasta with eggplant and olive We love stories like this one. About twenty years ago, Elisabetta Musto-Carmelitano's uncle Giuseppe declared that his then 8-year-old niece would inherit the property that he had painstakingly built up since his return from years as a POW in Australia. She took that call to stewardship seriously, and has since taken on the creation of a rather impressive winery. Betty has been running the show since she was in her teens, and is out to make the best Aglianico possible with her prime real estate. Some of her vines are a whopping 90+ years old, while some are only a "mere" forty; regardless, her Aglianico del Vulture Serra del Prete is full of deep wild strawberry, lavender and anise notes and some significant (but never overbearing) tannins. More info: http://www.garyswine.com/fine_wine/italy/10957.html

2004 Villa I Cipressi Brunello di Montalcino Grape Variety: Sangiovese Region: Montalcino, Tuscany, Italy Food pairing: Fresh Pasta with Shaved Black Truffles Not all oenophiles are born as such. Villa I Cipressi is first a farm, second a wine producer. Located near the town of Montalcino, the operation started out by producing several different types of honey about twenty years ago. The apiculture business expanded to include honey-based products (liqueurs, sweets, cookies, etc.,) before adding legumes, olive oil, and yes, finally wine to the mix. It's not so crazy an idea in a place like Italy, where wine really is, at the end of the day, considered a food. The 2004 vintage was a banner year for Brunellos; as our Italian wine buyer likes to say, "If you made a bad Brunello in ‘04, you may want to rethink your chosen career path." Luckily, the folks at Villa I Cipressi will have to do no such thing. Try this classically fresh and savory Brunello with fresh pasta and shaved black truffle (if you can get your hands on one), or truffled olive oil if you prefer. More info: http://www.garyswine.com/fine_wine/italy/09545.html 2005 Il Borghetto Chianti Bilaccio Grape variety: Sangiovese Region: Chianti, Tuscany, Italy Food pairing: Gnocchi with Wild Boar Ragu We opted to give you two Sangiovese wines this month, and hopefully you'll support that decision when you taste for yourself and realize just how wonderfully different these two wines from two entirely different appellations and producers are. We really like the story behind this gem. British oenologist Tim Manning formerly made wine at Dujac in Burgundy and Cristom in Oregon. Eventually he found his way to Tuscany, and decided to take a crack at making a Chianti every bit as balanced and harmonious as his Pinot Noirs. Wine Advocate reviewer Antonio Galloni said of this Chianti, "At their finest, (Manning's) wines recall great Pinot in their weightlessness and effortless grace. Simply put, I can't recommend these wines highly enough." With brilliantly expressive red fruit, nuance and richness and only about 7,000 bottles produced per vintage, we count ourselves lucky to have scored a few bottles for you. More info: http://www.garyswine.com/fine_wine/italy/08370.html

2004 Il Poggione Brunello di Montalcino Grape variety: Sangiovese Region: Montalcino, Tuscany, Italy Food pairing: Escarole-stuffed Veal Chop Winemaker Fabrizio Bindocci of Il Poggione must have breathed a sigh of relief (and, one would think, contentment) when Italian wine critic for the Wine Advocate Antonio Galloni began his review with "The 2004 Brunello di Montalcino is awesome." Especially because relative to most Brunello producers, they had quite a bit to sell: 18,000+ cases. But it's all about the quality, not the quantity, and that's where Il Poggione really delivers. Made from four vineyards in Sant-Angelo in Colle, Montalcino, each vineyard's grapes were aged in separate French oak casks before being blended and bottled. Extremely fine tannins are complimented by heady fruit and the classically subtle and complex notes of leather, menthol and spice. "I was completely blown away by the wines I tasted from Il Poggione this year," Galloni said, and called it "a wine to buy and bury in the deepest corner of the cellar. Brunello is never inexpensive, but this is the real deal, and in relative terms, it is one of the world's great values in fine, cellar worthy wine." We couldn't agree more; in a Brunello-lover's dream vintage, a wine this good AND attainable is a fantasy come true.95 points, Wine Advocate. More info: http://www.garyswine.com/fine_wine/italy/10256.html 2004 Giacomo Brezza Bricco Sarmassa Barolo Grape Variety: Nebbiolo Region: Piedmont, Italy Food pairing: Risotto with Porcini Mushrooms Many wineries choose to release two bottlings of their signature varietal: one that they consider their best or "flagship" bottling, made from the choicest grapes on the property, then one that serves as their second label, with all of the grapes that, while still good, didn't make it into the flagship wine. But then there are such rigorous die-hards as the fourth-generation family stewards of the Brezza winery in Piedmont, Italy. While they dabble in other varietals, Nebbiolo is their star grape. So they make classic Barolo. Then they make a few different single-vineyard bottlings of Barolo. But it's only in the best years, they say, that small lots of fruit from the highest part of the Sarmassa vineyard are harvested and vinified separately, then tasted by the winemaker and visiting experts to ascertain whether a "Bricco Sarmassa" will be released that year. The 2004 vintage was one in which this decision was easy. A banner year across much of Italy, it will be one to age for a decade or so for optimal drinking (though it should begin drinking beautifully in another 3-4 years.) Antonio Galloni of the Wine Advocate called out "layers of mentholated, balsamic notes that swirl around in the glass, rounding out the wine's dense core of ripe, dark fruit." A wine of exceptional length, it'll only get better from now through 2020 or longer. More info: http://www.garyswine.com/fine_wine/italy/08135.html