The Grape Crusader

Winery: Costa di Bussia

Bottling: 2007 Dolcetto D’Alba

Importer: Siena Imports

Region: Italy

Sub-Region: Piemonte

Estimated Retail Price: $12

Purchase Details: Purchased for $24 on a restaurant wine menu at Pizetta 211 in the Richmond neighborhood of San Francisco, California.

Tasting Notes: In the glass, saturated red and purple hues.  On the nose, aromas of sweet oak, spice and red and blue fruits.  In the mouth, loads of cherries, plums and sweet spice.  There’s also a strong “grapey” quality to the wine.  Fine and velvety tannins, a medium body and palate-cleansing acidity on the finish make this a real joy and wonderful quaffer of a wine.

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Winery: Cantine Valpane

Bottling: 2006 Barbera del Monferrato “Rosso Pietro”

Importer: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant

Region: Italy

Sub-Region: Piedmont

Estimated Retail Price: $15.99

Purchase Details: Purchased directly from Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant in Berkeley, California for approximately $16.

Tasting Notes: In the glass; purple and plum hues.  On the nose, notes of sweet tobacco, leather, spice and dried fruit.  Flavors of dried red and black cherries, and more leather and spice.  In the mouth, super fine grained tannins and an umami tinged deliciousness on the finish.  A very unique, refreshing and very likeable style of barbera.  You can’t find a more drinkable barbera than this.

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Winery: Castellare

Bottling: 2001 Chianti Classico Riserva

Importer: Winebow Imports

Region: Italy

Sub-Region: Chianti, Tuscany

Estimated Retail Price: $31

Purchase Details: A friend who shared this with us paid approximately $40 for this wine.

Tasting Notes: In the glass, an opaque red, black color.  On the nose, oh yeah, old world baby.  Socks and a little barnyard funk of the good kind that is.  On the palate, wow! Rich dark cherries, dark berries, cassis, licorice, mint and a dusty finish.  Super firm tannins, well-structured and mouth filling with a seemingly endless finish.

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Winery: Villa Granda

Bottling: NV Pinot Prosecco (75% Pinot Bianco, 15% Prosecco, 10% Pinot Nero)

Region: Italy

Sub-Region: Veneto

Estimated Retail Price: $12

Purchase Details: Purchased for $11.99 plus tax at K&L Wine Merchants in the South of Market neighborhood.

Tasting Notes: In the glass, a watermelon bubble gum pinkish tint.  On the nose, aromas of white roses, fresh peaches and a little yeast.  In the mouth, the aromas of peaches, white roses and yeast are echoed as flavors.  Nice and  tangy, with a hint of nuts and almond on the finish.

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Winery: Vignabaldo

Bottling: 2007 Sangiovese Dell’Umbria

Importer: Siena Imports

Region: Italy

Sub-Region: Umbria

Estimated Retail Price: $10

Purchase Details: Purchased at Andronico’s market in the Sunset District neighborhood of San Francisco.

Tasting Notes: In the glass, the color was that of a red brick hue.  On the nose, light red fruit and herb aromas.  In the mouth, typical inexpensive, rustic sangiovese like character of cherries, strawberries, dried twigs and herb flavors.  Light bodied, with moderate tannins, lively acidity and a dry, but creamy finish.  A pleasant quaffer.

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I remember a luncheon I attended a few years ago before we opened our shop for a well-respected importer of Italian wines.  We were tasting through a bunch of wines from the many various regions of Italy.  Many of them were good, solid and interesting wines.  The one wine that stood out the most though for me was a Taurino Salice Salentino from Puglia.

Many of us at the table were impressed by the wine and I distinctly remember hearing one of the reps say to himself softly, while looking at the glass, “this is my kind of wine.”  I remember having the same simultaneous feeling as he.  It was weird.  Ever since then, I’ve really loved Salice Salentino (grape: negroamaro) and felt that it was a wine with so much soul and personality.

The most recent one I’ve tried was a 2006 Forte Canto Salice Salentino.  It was wonderful.  It had  Salice’s characteristic wild berry, cherry and dusty, sun-baked fruit flavors.  A little herb, a hint of mineral and a surprising amiable acid structure that helped the wine lend itself well to pairing with food completed the wine.  This is a wine with a soulful, rustic and charming disposition.  Drink this with anything that’s edible.  Yes, its that food-friendly.

Another beauty imported by Small Vineyards Imports.  Paid $11.39 + tax for this at Tamura’s on Oahu.

Some of my favorite white wines are dry, minerally-tinged zesty wines from Italy.  In my opinion, you can find many solid Italian white wines, outside of pinot grigio, in the $10 – $20 range.  Falanghina, vermentino, Orvieto and Arneis are just a few of the Italian varieties that I find can be very intriguing, fun and light-hearted, but serious at the same time.

This Toscana Bianco is a blend comprised of 50% vermentino, 30% malvasia and 20% chardonnay.  Its an off-beat blend that made for a unique and intriguing wine.

There was weight, minerality and a firm acid structure that allowed it to pair very well to our usual Mediterranean dinner fare.

The fruit component of the wine consisted mostly of barely ripe, almost green citrus fruit flavors.  I want to say that the flavors leaned more towards the rind of the fruit rather than the pulp and juice flavors.  Complementing the bitter citrus flavors however were a juxtaposition of lush tropical fruit that helped balance everything out.

This is another wine from a great import portfolio called Small Vineyards Imports, which is based in the Seattle, Washington area.  They carry some really good artisan crafted Italian wines in their portfolio.  I paid aprroximately $14 for this bottle of wine.

I sometimes tend to look at pinot grigio as a light-uninteresting-mass market-used in cheesy spring party in someone’s backyard lawn kind of wine.  Over the course of time, pinot grigio has become the most popular and widely imported wine into the U.S.  As a society we tend to be influenced easily by media and pop-culture, so I’m not surprised that with the number of print ads and commercials depicting pinot grigio as a “lifestyle” white wine, that pinot grigio has become so popular.

Unfortunately, popularity in certain varietals can sometimes compel producers who are not in it for the craft, to make mass-produced low quality styles just to satisfy a trendy demand and make a quick buck.  Just look at “I’m not drinking no f*@%^ng merlot’s” rise in the 80’s and fall in 2005 as an example of the effect of mass media and pop-culture.

Fortunately Steve Clifton and his Palmina Wines label celebrate Pinot Grigio and see it as more than just a crisp white wine.  We each had a glass of it this past weekend at Vino Italian Tapas & Wine Bar in Honolulu and were blown away by it.

On the nose, various stone fruits, zesty citrus and white flowers.  In the mouth, the intensity and impact of the wine far belied its pale color and delicate aroma.  Mega-intense in weight and alive, zesty and zippy in it’s attack on our palates.  The wine exploded with mouth-watering citrus fruits on the first sip.  White peach and stone fruits on the mid-palate and tropical fruits of mango and ripe pineapple on the finish.  Also on the finish was a hint of smokiness, lemongrass and a bone dry, snappy finish.  This was a complex wine indeed.

Palmina also makes a host of other Italian red and white varietals.  I love all of their wines, but I think their craft really shows in their white wine program.  Try their Malvasia Bianca, Traminer and Tocai Friulano.  They’re wonderful wines.

Palmina Wines

“It tastes like sour wood”, is what my friend who sold me this bottle said to describe the taste of this wine.  Its probably the reason why he was unloading it on me too, because who wants to have a wine in their collection whose taste is described as such?  I guess schmoes like me since he approached me about it.  I know he didn’t mean it in a pejorative sense.  The art of wine description just happens to be a really weird field that uses remarks like cat pee and barn yard to describe things we actually should enjoy smelling and swallowing.

I was intrigued by this wine because I’ve only had lagrein once and really liked it, so I was excited to try one from another producer.  The grape is native to Northern Italy in the Trentino-Alto Adige region.  Outside of Trentino, the varietal is relatively obscure, which is why you almost never see it on retail shelves unless it’s a boutique wine shop specializing in the obscure, funky, off-beat stuff.  (Actually, as I write this, I just checked K&L Wines and they carry six Lagrein bottlings.  I guess the variety is making head way on to shelves).

The back label

In the glass, the wine was inky and black, like syrah which is what its related to along with dureza and pinot noir.  The smells were of dark cherries, berries and spice.  On the palate, sour wood.  I’m sure the power if suggestion was in play, but there was definitely a sour balsa wood sort of flavor to it, punctuated with a burst of sour cherries on the finish.  The wine was definitely robust, tannic and full-bodied, but the tart finish gave it sort of an air of lightness.  Very interesting wine.

I forgot to take note of the name of the importer, so I don’t have any other source such as a website to refer you to other than what’s in this review and what you can track down through an internet search.

I know the label is a little hard to see. Ahh, the price you pay for a little mood lighting and ambience

Bruno Giacosa is known for making fantastic Barolo and Barbaresco and while I’d give an arm and leg to try one of them, they’re currently too expensive for me, so I have to settle for his basic nebbiolo bottling.

I bought this over the Christmas holiday season of 2008.  It was a 2006 vintage bottling of a nebbiolo, so I was a little hesitant in opening it too soon.  Most nebbiolo tends to need a few years before they’re drinkable.  My impatience and curiosity overruled good sense though, but what the heck?

The color of the wine was prototypical young nebbiolo; red and so lightly colored, it was almost translucent.  The nose was actually barely perceptible, even after decanting for about an hour or so.  At this point, I was  kicking myself because I was already thinking that the wine was young and not yet ready to drink.

Once I took my first taste I realized that the wine indeed wasn’t ready to drink.  I got some hints of cherry and roses, but that’s about it.  The tannins were definitely in full effect and left that dry cotton mouth feeling commonly associated with gnarly tannins.  I should really start to purchase two bottles at a time of each wine I intend to really enjoy for situations like these.  Maybe next time.