Tag Archives: Italian wine

2024 Turner Cheap Wine of the Year: Stemmari Grillo 2022

Stemmari grillo bottle
Stemmari Grillo 2022

Sicily’s Stemmari Grillo 2022 is the blog’s seventh annual Turner Cheap Wine of the Year

Usually, one of the wines on the shortlist for the blog’s Turner Cheap Wine of the Year award is just enough better than the others so that I don’t have much trouble choosing the winner.

Not so this year. All six of the wines were award worthy, and each would have been a fine choice. So how did I settle on the Stemmari Grillo ($8, purchased, 13%)?

Call it a shout out to the late Mack Turner, who the award is named after. He and I  spent more than a few Sunday afternoons drinking this wine, and we were rarely disappointed. And, without fail, he wold always ask,”Where did you get it?” and then we would wax poetic about Jimmy’s, the Dallas Italian grocer that sells this.

What to know about the wine? Nutty. Spicy. Green apple and stone fruit. Fresh. Clean. Drink chilled, on its own or with almost anything except big red meat.

The award’s shortlist is here. Selection criteria are here; I considered wines that cost as much as $15 to take into account price creep and regional pricing differences.

More Turner Cheap Wine of the Year:
• 2023 Turner Cheap Wine of the Year: Matchbook Cabernet Sauvignon 2020
• 2022 Turner Cheap Wine of the Year: Scaia Rosato 2020
• 2021 Turner Cheap Wine of the Year: MAN Chenin Blanc 2019

Wine of the week: Stemmari Grillo 2022

Stemmari grillo bottle
Stemmari Grillo 2022/$8-$15

This Italian white is a great cheap wine from a great cheap wine producer

Those of you paying attention will remember this Italian white made the shortlist for the 2024 Turner award for cheap wine of the year, which will be announced next week.

Which is why I’m using it as this wine of the week. It’s that good.

Sicilian wines have long been a staple of the blog, even after premiumization took terrific $8 and $10 wines and boosted their prices to $12 and $15 without increasing quality (and, yes, I’m looking at you).

But Stemmari, along with a couple of other producers, continued to fight the good fight. The Grillo ($8, purchased, 13%) shows its commitment to the quality wines that most of us can afford to drink. Even Wine-searcher, despite its focus on the most expensive wines in the world, says nice things about grillo like this: “It has become a viable contender for the quintessential Italian table white: light, easy-drinking and often associated with very good value.”

In this, the Stemmari is classic: Nutty. Spicy. Green apple and stone fruit. Fresh. Clean. Which is why, when I go to Jimmy’s in Dallas (which has a Stemmari display), I buy a couple or three bottles. You should, too, when you get a chance.

Imported by Prestige Wine Imports

Wine of the week: Mionetto Prosecco NV

Mionetto Prosecco bottle
Mionetto Prosecco NV/$8-$15

This Italian sparkler shows why Prosecco has become so popular in the U.S.

One of the most fascinating things that has happened in wine over the blog’s history has been the rehabilitation of Prosecco, the Italian sparkling wine. Some 20 years ago, it wasn’t that important in the U.S. — or especially well made, either.

Then, one rather large producer in northern California changed all that. It brought La Marca to the U.S., and — as if by magic — the quality of most Proseccos improved and they started offering value around $10. In fact, by most measures, Prosecco is the best selling style of sparkling wine in the country.

The Mionetto ($8, purchased, 11%) illustrates this change perfectly. Is it taut and sharp? Nope. Is it layered and complicated? Nope. Those are Champagne qualities, and Prosecco never aspired to that. Rather, it wanted to be an everyday sparkler, which means soft, sweetish, and easy to drink — Sunday brunch and Mimosas, anyone?

The Mionetto is softer than I prefer, but it has decent enough bubbles for a Prosecco, since the bubbles aren’t supposed to be too bubbly. But it’s not too sweet, there’s some decent lemony fruit, and even a touch of yeast. In all, there is much more going on than one would expect, and especially for the price.

Drink this for a holiday dinner, to toast the New Year. or just because you want something different to drink with Asian takeout.

Imported by FXM USA

Wine of the week: Monte Antico Toscana 2019

monte_antico_bottle
Monte Antico Toscana 2019/$9-$16

This Italian red blend offers quality and value for just $10

This Italian red wine used to show up around Dallas for as little as $5 a bottle, and though it’s not that cheap anymore, it’s still $10 in much of the country.

In other words, just kind of quality cheap wine we have celebrated for almost 17 years on the blog,

This vintage of the Monte Antico Toscana ($10, purchased, 13%) remains an example of the classic, everyday bottle of Italian red wine. About the only thing missing from this sangiovese blend (for those of us of a certain age, of course) is the wicker basket.

Look for sour cherry fruit, but it’s also a bright, almost fresh wine, despite its age, and the tannins are pushed way, way back. This vintage, which is the current one, seems to have a bit more depth than the last one I tasted, which was likely the 2016. There was also a 2018, though I didn’t see it in Dallas.

Highly recommended, and just the thing for takeout pizza when the holiday crush gets overwhelming.

Imported by Empson USA

 

Wine of the week: Mezzacorona Delisa Rosato 2021

Mezzacorona Delisa Rosato bottle
Mezzacorona Delisa Rosato 2021/$9-$15

No, I don’t know why this Italian rose is so delicious — but it is

Big Wine comes in for a lot of grief on the blog, but I am always ready to give it credit when credit is due. And, boy, does Big Wine get credit for this one.

Mezzacorona is one of Italy’s biggest producers, and it makes lots and lots of cheap wine — including too much bland pinot grigio. So when I saw that this rose was made with pinot grigio, I bought it mostly for the novelty.

And I am glad I did. The Mezzacorona Delisa Rosato 2021 ($10, purchased, 12.5%) is just the kind of wine to help us celebrate the blog’s 16th annual Birthday Week. It’s well-made, it’s interesting, and it doesn’t taste like it was designed by a committee.

In other words, a stunning wine, somehow tasting like classic Italian rose (red fruit, savory, and herbal) without any of the baggage that goes with Big Wine.

Highly recommended, and a candidate for the Hall of Fame next year. Chill this and drink it on its own, with holiday guests, or at Thanksgiving.

Imported by Prestige Wine Imports

Wine of the week: Masciarelli Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 2020

Masciarelli Montepulciano d'Abruzzo bottle
Masciarelli Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 2018/$9-$13

The long-time WC favorite offers even more value this time around

The blog has long featured red wines from Italy’s Montepulciano d’Abruzzo region. They’re almost always well made, inexpensive, and created with value in mind. Plus, they’re terriifc with food.

But this vintage of the Masciarelli Montepulciano d’Abruzzo ($12, purchased, 13.5%) is even better than that. It’s not just a Hall of Fame wine, as the Masciarelli has often been, but a wine that will show up on the shortlist for the 2024 Turner cheap wine award.

That’s because this vintage – and I think the age has helped – is darker, deeper, and more interesting. Or, as my tasting notes says: “Wow.”

It’s earthy and rustic, but not heavy or off putting or too rough, as some cheap wines are. There is fresh, juicy cherry fruit, but it has that current of acidity so that the fruit isn’t cloying (as some cheap wines are). This is how to make a simple wine for every day drinking at a more than fair price.

Highly recommended, and just the thing as the weather gets cooler. So red sauces, sausages on the grill, and even something like a cherry tomatoes and gnocchi.

Imported by Vintus

Wine of the week: Tiefenbrunner Pinot Grigio 2021

Yiefenbrunner Pinot Grigio bottle
Tiefenbrunner Pinot Grigio 2021 /$12-$18

Italian white reminds us that pinot grigio doesn’t have to be bland and boring

The Wine Curmudgeon has long had an ambivalent relationship with pinot grigio. On the one hand, I firmly believe everyone should drink what they want. On the other, most pinot grigio tastes like bland club soda.

So what’s the WC to do? Recommend the Tiefenbrunner, of course.

The Tiefenbrunner Pinot Grigio 2021 ($14, purchased, 12.5%) is one of a handful of widely available and higher quality pinot grigios – and that are worth the couple of dollars more than the supermarket brands.

That means this Italian white is much more than the hint of lime fruit and the not quite fizziness that characterizes the $8 to $12 wines that make up most of what people think about of when they buy pinot grigio. Look for some pear fruit and maybe some lime, as well as a wine that is much fuller in the mouth and has a longer and more interesting finish.

In other words, pinot grigio that will please regular drinkers as well as those of us who don’t drink it often.

Chill this and drink it on its own, or pair it with salads or roast chicken breasts – or a salad that includes roast chicken breast.

Imported by Opici Wine & Spirits