Tag Archives: Italian wine

Wine of the week: Stemmari Grillo 2021

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

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

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

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

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

Mini-reviews 161: The “even more wines that make me cranky” edition

women drinking wine
“How can a wine taste like berry-ish 7Up?”

Reviews of wines that don’t need their own post, but are worth noting for one reason or another. Look for it on the fourth Friday of each month. This month, four wines that made the WC even crankier than usual

• Segura Viudas Brut Rosada NV ($10, purchased, 12%): This Spanish sparkling wine was once among the greatest of cheap wines. Now, thanks to consolidation, it tastes like poorly made Prosecco, too sweet, too soft, and with flabby red fruit. Can someone tell me what the point of that is? Imported by Freixenet USA

• Montes Sauvignon Blanc Limited Selection 2021 ($15, sample, 13.5%): This Chilean white doesn’t hearken to the country’s great days of sauvignon blanc. It’s a one-note wine (lots and lots of lemongrass) that doesn’t taste especially Chilean. Imported by Kobrand

• TerraNoble Cabernet Sauvignon Gran Reserva 2018 ($18, sample, 14%): Chilean cab that tastes more like California — which, if the tasting notes are correct, is supposed to be the case. Sweet dark fruit and very rich, but not much else going on. Why do producers take the tannins out of cabernet? Imported by Winebow

• Borgo San Michele Mariage Brut NV ($18, sample, 11.5%): The multi-decorated bottle is more interesting than the wine, which is berry-ish 7Up – soft and boring, even for this style of Prosecco. Imported by Taub Family Selections

Expensive wine 160: Vietti Arneis 2021

Vietti Arneis bottle
Vietti Arneis 2021/$17-$27

Happy birthday, Mom – this one’s for you

Arneis is an Italian white grape that is known and appreciated by Italian wine geeks, but its fame doesn’t extend much past that. First, it’s an Italian white grape; second, it’s not pinot grigio. And, when it comes to Italian wine, whites take a back seat to reds, and the only white most people care about is pinot grigio.

Which is a shame, because arneis can make subtle, fascinating wine that tastes almost nothing like anything else. The grape usually offers nut flavors (I get almond), as well fresh stone fruit and a bit of richness and minerality.

So why the Vietti Arneis 2021 ($24, purchased, 12%) for my Mom’s birthday today? It’s softer, and not as almondy as some other arneis, but still very well done — subtle tropical fruit, a hint of that tell-tale minerality, and a fine mouth feel.

In this, it’s just the sort of wine she would appreciate – a bit off the beaten path, well-made, and something different to try. Mom is far from a wine geek, but she also understands that there is more to wine than her La Vieille Ferme rose. And yes, that sense of difference is something I got from her.

Happy birthday, Mom.

Imported by Dalla Terra