Tinazzi Vinum Italicum Opera No. 3 Red Wine

Happy Wine Wednesday!  Tonight I have a special treat, a bottle of wine that was a gift from a former boss, so I've been looking forward to trying it.  This one is a little different as well, as it's a non-vintage red blend from Italy, utilizing grapes from three distinct regions, Veneto, Puglia and Sicily, each with their own specialties when it comes to red wine.  From Veneto we typically see Corvina, Rondinella and Merlot, Puglia is known for Primitivo, Negroamaro and Black Malvasia and Sicily thrives with Nero D'Avola.  With such a blend of grapes, this wine should be a real treat!

The wine is a deep, inky purple in the glass, with bright ruby edges.  The nose is a rich combination of leather, black currant, kirsch, green herbs and black pepper spice.  The taste is just lovely, with a rush of ripe black fruit up front, blackberry, cherry and currant that transitions nicely to some mineral flavors midpalate.  On the finish you're treated to a reprise of spice box notes that bring you right into an Italian kitchen, while the well structured tannins provide for the long, smooth and very pleasing finish.

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 8.5 as it's a wonderfully pleasing and easy drinking red blend that would be quite versatile with a variety of dishes, from steaks to barbecue to hearty pasta dishes.  Tonight I'm enjoying this wine with a rare grilled Prime ribcap topped with bleue cheese, grilled corn and asparagus, a perfect end of summer dinner.  Cheers!

2013 Bacaro Nero D'Avola Terre Siciliane

Happy Friday!  It's been a long week (despite the holiday) and I really need to relax.  And what better way to relax than to open up a nice bottle of wine to enjoy!  Tonight I've decided to open a bottle of wine that I bought at a local restaurant when they were revamping their wine list and selling every bottle in the cellar for just $20 each.  The wine is a favorite varietal from Sicily, the 2013 Bacaro Nero D'Avola!

The wine is an inky black color in the glass, just as you'd expect from the "black grape of Avola." The nose presents aromas of leather, black plum, pepper and anise, classic for this varietal.  The taste is a muscular Italian, with some subtle black fruit notes up front, blackberry, plum and a hint of currant that transition nicely to some mineral notes and black pepper midpalate.  The tannins are still a bit tight on this one, but they make a nice foundation for the long, smooth and exceptionally dry finish.

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 8, as it's a wonderful and easy going example of an underappreciated varietal from an underappreciated region.  This wine is also a terrific food wine, and tonight I'm enjoying this with some hot Italian sausage with onions and peppers along with some linguine with garlic and olive oil.  The acidity of this wine really cuts thought the fat of the sausage for a wonderful balance.  In the words of my favorite TV chef, Lidia Bastianich, "Tutti a tavola a mangiare!"

2008 Naisi Nero D'Avola Tannat

Tonight I've decided to open an little red blend from Sicily, the 2008 Naisi, a blend of Nero D'Avola (75%) and Tannat (25%), which should make a nice wine to stand up to my seemingly daily steak intake!  I bought this wine a few weeks ago at John Russo's in Grand Rapids, which has a really nice selection of interesting wines, particularly from areas of Italy that you don't see as often, like Sicily.

This wine is a deep purple in the glass, with a good bit of opacity near the center and graduating toward a brighter ruby along the edges.  The nose is an interesting combination of ripe cherry, dark chocolate and leather, with a good bit of smokiness as well.  The taste is nicely fruit forward, with a blast of tart cherry and prune up front, which sounds awful, but actually works quite well.  The fruit transitions to some bitter herbs and gravel midpalate, before the rather tightly wound tannins bring it all together for a smooth, dry finish.

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 7.5, it's a very nice wine that's a bit off the beaten path of your everyday red, with a more rustic quality that pairs nicely with red meat and game.  And the cost wasn't outrageous either, I think I bought this bottle on sale for $14.  Tonight I am enjoying this with a rare grilled New York strip and some grilled veggies and steak fries, which offer a perfect balance to the wine.  Cheers!

2006 Sanguineti Caruso

Ok, in celebration of our Independence Day, let's start off with some fireworks!  My wine today was our July office wine club selection and comes to us from our friends at Madwine.com, the 2006 Sanguineti Caruso.  Now we've seen the emergence over the last few years of the "Super Tuscans" those wines that come from the Tuscany region, but do not fit squarely in the DOC(G) classification system.  Well our wine today is being billed as a "Super Italian" as it takes an unorthodox approach of blending wine from grapes grown throughout Italy, and as the label touts, from the Nord, Centrale and Sud.

From an aesthetic standpoint, this wine blends some of the best grapes from the Valpolicella region (think Amarone), Tuscany (think Chianti and Brunello di Montalcino) and Sicily (Nero d'Avola).  From a technical standpoint, this is a blend of 14% Corvina (from the Veneto region in Northeast Italy), 6% Rondinella (also from Veneto and used in Valpolicella and Bardolino), 50% Sangiovese (from Tuscany in Central Italy, the main grape in Chianti and Brunello), 10% Syrah and 20% Nero d'Avola (from Sicily).

The wine itself has a remarkable nose, with hints of leather, tobacco and spice, but a very strong sense of the fruit, exhibited by plum and cassis.  The taste is fairly dry, but with a fruity spice that really explodes on the palate (hence the fireworks!), with fairly robust tannins leading to a long, but clean finish.  Quite honestly, I wasn't sure what to expect from a "Super Italian" after all could combining the great wines from each region even equal the sum of the parts?  Well I was very surprised, as this wine was very pleasant from the first sip to the last, a real taste of a nation with more than 2 millenia of experience making wine.  Overall I would rate this one a solid 8.5, expecially at the $13 price tag we were able to get it for!  So this weekend grab some Italian sausage and some fresh eggplant, zuccini, peppers, and other veggies and grill them out and enjoy them with this wine! "Tutti a tavola a mangiare!"