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Pick of the week

Umberto Cesari Sangiovese di Romagna Riserva 2003 ($19.95, product No. 033399) is medium full-bodied, with notes of cherry and black fruits supported by an earthy-tobacco quality and a tannic grip. The flavour is intense.

Few big wine regions are as closely identified with a single grape as Chianti. That grape, of course, is sangiovese. I feel I should repeat that fact because I once overheard a guy in a liquor store confidently assuring his inquisitive female companion that Chianti is a grape. It's not.

Chianti is a geographical zone, an area of Tuscany between Florence and Siena. But enough about that. I want to talk about Chianti's shadow, specifically two Italian districts, and two Italian producers, that have long been crafting excellent, underappreciated sangioveses to rival many great Chiantis.

I'm talking medium-bodied, tangy dry reds that are among the most versatile food partners anywhere.

The first is Umberto Cesari Sangiovese di Romagna Riserva 2003 ($19.95, product No. 033399), released last week in Ontario. It's from the region of Emilia-Romagna, which you may be more familiar with as a culinary capital (the home of Parma prosciutto and Parmesan cheese). The wines there generally don't live up to the standards of the food, I'm sorry to say. This is mainly the land of cheap, white trebbiano and the sparkling red called lambrusco, the latter exemplified by a wine especially popular in Canada in the 1960s and 1970s called Castelvetro.

But in Romagna on the eastern side near the Adriatic coast, they are discovering that, with careful pruning, sangiovese can yield reds that rival some of the better Chiantis of Tuscany to the west. This is good news for consumers who love sangiovese and are growing dizzy from sky-high prices for great Chianti.

The Umberto Cesari is a great example, a reserve wine made from the best juice of the 2003 harvest. The $20 price tag, while not trivial, is reasonable. Reserve Chiantis, by contrast, tend to cost $30 to $45.

Cesari has also added 15-per-cent cabernet sauvignon to this blend for added heft and longevity in the cellar. It's medium full-bodied and remarkably light in colour for its intense flavour, with notes of cherry and black fruits supported by an earthy-tobacco quality and a tannic grip. Not so coincidentally, it would match beautifully with that classic pasta dish from Emilia-Romagna, spaghetti Bolognese. For information about the wine and producer, call Lifford Wine Agency, 416-440-4101.

In the township of Montepulciano, in southern Tuscany, sangiovese reaches another peak with a wine called Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, though few Chianti lovers are aware it's made from the same grape. Even the locals can be forgiven for getting confused. In Montepulciano, the grape is known by the mellifluous synonym prugnolo gentile.

And Vino Nobile di Montepulciano suffers from an entirely different identity crisis in foreign markets such as Canada. Many people here are more familiar with montepulciano d'Abruzzo, a generally humbler red made not in the town of Montepulciano, but from a grape called montepulciano. Confusing, I know.

Vino Nobile often delivers more flavour than similarly priced Chianti. It tends to be richer and more alcoholic because of the town's more sunny location. And its reputation is historic. Pope Paul III's cellar master in 1549 called it a "perfect wine," though it didn't achieve the "noble" designation in its name till a couple of centuries later.

One star producer of Vino Nobile, Poliziano, makes a mesmerizing $50 reserve blend called Vigna Asinone, containing a smidgeon of cabernet sauvignon, just like the Umberto Cesari above. It's made in tiny quantities and is very hard to find, though. Slightly more widely available is the lower-priced Poliziano Vino Nobile di Montepulciano 2004 ($29.95, No. 988055). While not cheap, it is remarkably complex and harmonious for the money. Beautifully balanced, it hints at flavours of cherry, mushroom, leather and earth, framed by good acidity and that invigorating sangiovese quality some Italians like to describe as saltiness. For more information, call Brunello Imports, 416-631-9773.

So much for sangiovese. Also just released in Ontario, and also available in British Columbia, is a pinot noir from a fine producer in New Zealand: Seresin Pinot Noir Leah 2005 ($39.95, No. 655167). There's good, classic pinot character in this premium bottling from a country making good strides with the grape. Medium-bodied and slightly jammy, it offers up flavours of raspberry, beetroot, spicy plum and toasty oak, and a tight grip on the earthy finish.

One of the best-value white wines released this month in Ontario is Stadt Krems Gruner Veltliner Sandgrube 2006 from Austria ($14.95, No. 687913). Medium-bodied and silky, it's imbued with notes of bitter orange, honey and minerals. It would make for a delicious, offbeat summer aperitif and pair nicely with delicate Asian fare, notably sushi

Also good from the same winery, and available in Quebec, is Stadt Krems Gruner Veltliner Kremstal 2006 ($13.85, No. 00532440).

And another nice white for Asian food is Folie à Deux Ménage à Trois White 2005 ($18.95, No. 665166). Fans of the much more expensive and popular Caymus Conundrum from Napa Valley should appreciate this style. Unlike Conundrum, it's totally dry, but it has that core reminiscent of white table grapes, thanks to a good dollop of moscato in the blend, which also includes chardonnay and chenin blanc. The wine is fruity and fleshy, with a hint of spice. Try it with Indian food.

bcrosariol@globeandmail.com