Category:Italian wine

Wine of the week: Alberto Conti Toscana Rosso 2019

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Quality Italian red blend highlights wine’s availability woes – even though it’s available

Alberto Conti Toscana Rosso bottle
Alberto Conti Toscana Rosso 2019/$8-$15

Whenever it’s renewal time on the blog, someone always asks about availability. And all the Wine Curmudgeon can do is repeat the mantra: “I try to review wines that are generally available; that is, an independent retailer in a decent sized city should be able to find it for you.”

Which brings us to the Alberto Conti Toscana Rosso 2019 ($12, purchased, 13%), which I bought at a small Dallas specialty grocer. It’s from a largish Italian producer that has been around for 150 years, but seems to be a label sold only to U.S. retailers (and imported by one of the biggest and most important U.S. importers for just that purpose).

So, no, it probably won’t be at the supermarket (though it’s listed on Drizly, oddly enough). However, the Wine-Searcher listing includes a couple of Total Wines, as well as independent retailers across the country. How is this possible?

Our old pal, three-tier, of course. Its archaic, different laws for every state, make it that much more difficult to sell a wine like this in more states. Which is a shame, since it’s well worth drinking.

It’s an impressive super Tuscan (a blend of sangiovese, cabernet sauvignon, and merlot) at a fair price. Look for long, cherry fruit, some spice and earth, and all in balanced. And there’s probably a fair amount of merlot in the blend to round off the rough edges from the Italian cabernet used in the blend.

This is red sauce wine, as well as grilled sausages. Drink it, and ponder why we have such trouble buying quality $10 wine, and hope for change.

Imported by Misa Imports

Wine of the week: Frico Rosso 2020

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Frico Rosso bottle shot
Frico Rosso 2020/$11-$16

Italian red offers Chianti-style value

The WC did an interview the other day, and the question came up yet again: “Where can I find value for those of us want to drink wine instead of an overpriced soft drink cocktail?”

And the answer, once again, is Italy.

The Frico Rosso 2020 ($11, purchased, 13%) is another in a long line of Italian reds made with sangivoese and whatever else is lying around that reminds us that wine is made to drink with dinner. It’s there to complement the food, and not to be the star on its own.

The Frico, with the distinctive pig on the label, is a straightforward, simple – but not stupid — Italian wine of the kind I have been drinking for about as long as I have been drinking wine. Which is not a bad thing, and especially when the producer blends the sangiovese with a bit of canialolo, ciliegiolo, and colorino (typically used in these kinds of wines) to add a touch more interest.

Look for a traditional flavor profile (as the wine geeks would say): Some herbs and some cherry fruit in a more rustic style. The Frico Rosso won’t change your life, but will do the trick for spaghetti and meatballs on Tuesday night.

Also worth noting: Scarpetta, the producer, spends a lot of time on its website wooing retail and restaurant customers, something I don’t see too often. In fact, this wine comes in a 20-liter keg for restaurants, which would seem to be a way to sell decent wine for about $8 a glass.

Though, these days, it would probably cost $15 a glass.

Imported by USA Wine West

Wine of the week: Stemmari Grillo 2021

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Stemmari grillo bottle
Stemmari Grillo 2021/$8-$11

Ah, to be drinking Sicily when the cheap wine is on the shelf

Bear with the Wine Curmudgeon, as I wax poetic about the old days.

Ah, Sicily.

Once, Sicily was going to be the world’s next great cheap wine region. And then it wasn’t, for any number of reasons that we’re all too familiar with on the blog. So when I run across one of the wines that never abandoned that quest, I am that much less curmudgeonly.

The Stemmari Grillo 2021 ($8, purchased, 13%) is made with a white grape, grillo, that deserves to be more than an answer in a wine geek quiz. When it’s handled properly, as it is here, it’s neither chardonnay not sauvignon blanc and certainly not pinot grigio. Rather, it is a fresh, every day kind of wine with its own particular character.

In the Stemmari, that means simple but not stupid, with some tell-tale nuttiness (almonds?), some pear fruit, and a clean, almost stony finish. And please ignore the back label hype about “jasmine and white flowers,” which is mostly marketing.

Put a bottle of this in the refrigerator and drink it when you want a glass, or serve it with something like chicken thighs marinated in olilve oil and lemon juice.

Imported by Prestige Wine Imports

Wine of the week: Scarpetta Frico Bianco 2020

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Scarpetta Frico Bianco bottle
Scarpetta Frico Bianco 2020/$9-$18

This Italian white blend offers crisp, affordable quality

Nothing speaks more to the dilemma facing the wine business these days than this note on the Wine-Searcher page for the Scarpetta Frico Bianco: “Increasingly popular over the last year.”

Given that Wine-Searcher prides itself on pumping up wine wines that cater to the 1 percent, that says a lot about how ordinary wine drinkers are desperately looking for affordable quality.

Which the Scarpetta Frico Bianco ($12, purchased, 12.5%) delivers again this vintage. It’s an Italian white blend made with friulano and chardonnay; there’s also a red, which isn’t as interesting, and a rose, which is usually terrific.

Friulano, from Italy’s northeast, is a white grape that sort of resembles sauvignon blanc, but it’s usually more floral and less citrusy. Blending it with chardonnay tends to make the wine rounder and softer, though this vintage is more tart than the 2019 was.

Having said that, it’s still not as citrusy as sauvignon blanc, leaning more toward lemons than grapefruit. It’s certainly crisp at the back, and there is also bit of spice or almond, or even both. In all, a fine value for the price, and especially if you can find it for $10. Pair this with grilled shrimp or spaghetti with clam sauce.

Imported by USA Wine West

 

Wine of the week: Scaia Rosata 2021

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Scaia rosato bottle
Scaia Rosato 2021/$10-$15

This Italian pink is just the wine to mark the blog’s 15th annual birthday week

Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. This wine, one of the all-time great cheap roses and just the thing for wine of the week for birthday week, is going to cost a little more this year. Plus, it could be difficult to find, given all the pandemic shipping woes and that it’s always a little late getting to this country.

Having said that, the Scaia Rosata 2021 ($12, purchased, 12.5%) – glass cork and all — is well worth all of the aggravation. It’s almost as well done as the legendary 2020 vintage, which earned Cheap Wine of the Year honors in 2022

Know that this vintage is a little more French in style, which means it’s crisper, more direct, and more minerally, without that interesting touch of softness Italian roses sometimes have. But there is just the right amount of strawberry fruit, a touch of some herbal thing, and everything else is in the right place – so no faux sweetness, lots of freshness and that intriguing color. Credit much of this to rondinella, the red grape used to make the wine and that shines here.

Highly recommended – as it always is. Yes, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, and New Year’s . And, yes, wine to buy and drink and enjoy and remember why we like wine.

Imported by Dalla Terra

Wine of the week: Cantina Cellaro Luma 2019

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Cantina Cellaro Luma 2019 bottle
Cantina Cellaro Luma 2019/$10-$16

Does this Sicilian red herald a return to the island’s history of quality and value?

One of the first regions to suffer from the evils of premiumization was Sicily. First, the hipsters got hold of it and bounced up the prices of the best wines, from the Mt. Etna region. Second, importers followed suit with many of the not so best wines, riding on the hipster wave, and value slowly disappeared.

I wrote this in 2010, and it’s almost universally no longer true – and not just because the post is 12 years old. Rather, it’s because Scilian wine has gone In such a different direction.

So imagine my shock when I saw this bottle, from a long-time favorite producer, at a local retailer. I practically dropped it on the floor, I was so excited.

And my excitement was deserved. The Cantina Cellaro Luma 2019 ($12, purchased, 13%) is Sicilian red wine that speaks to what cheap wine should be. It’s easily one of the best Sicilian nero d’avolas I’ve tasted in years — varietally correct, with dark, fresh and almost plummy fruit, a bit of spice, some substance and body. In this, it’s an an honest wine. No one has tarted it up or smoothed it out or boosted the alcohol to appeal to the so-called American palate.

Highly recommended, and a candidate for next year’s Hall of Fame. And yes, serve it with red sauce, sausages, and pasta as the weather cools.

Imported by Gonzalez Byass

Wine of the week: Falesco Vitiano Bianco 2020

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

falesco vitiano bianco label
Falesco Vitiano Bianco 2020/$10-$16

The Vitiano white is back, and it’s time to drink a glass in celebration

Maybe the return of the Falesco Vitiano white isn’t cause for dancing in the streets, but it’s still damned good news for those of us who care about quality and value.

This vintage of the Vitiano Bianco ($12, sample, 12.5%) isn’t quite the same wine that it was in the old days. The blend — verdicchio and vermentino – is different than in years past, and the appellation is Italy and not Umbria. Call those cost saving measures, and be glad that they paid off.

And, frankly, who cares? It’s the Vitiano white wine, back on U.S. store shelves after an absence of several years because of wine business foolishness.

Look for some spice and stone fruit, though it’s bone dry. There’s a freshness and roundness, as well, and it still has that wonderful stony finish that is common to quality Italian white wine.

Highly recommended, and a pleasure to put back into the Hall of Fame next year. Chill this and drink it on its own or serve with almost anything that pairs with white wine.

Imported by Trinchero Family Estates