PICK OF THE WEEK
Altesino Rosso 2004 ($18.95, product No. 658369) is a steal at the price. Medium-bodied and juicy, with notes of cherry, tobacco and earth, it finishes with crisp acidity, a nice feature should you care to pair it with salty pecorino.
The picturesque town of Montalcino in the rolling hills of southern Tuscany is the birthplace of many love affairs with wine. In summer, the roads are teeming with caravans of cyclists on self-propelled wine excursions, followed by tour-company vans designated to haul their case-load purchases from the quaint vineyards that seem to stretch forever.
Pecorino cheese was born nearby in the town of Pienza, which boasts what may be the most fetching little piazza in all of Italy.
Montalcino is also the birthplace of Brunello, the full-bodied red wine made from a special, thick-skinned clone of the grape responsible for the popular wines of Chianti to the north. Because of the clone's richness and power, the wines of Brunello are left to mature for extended periods in wood to add greater complexity. These are wines for aging - and for people who can afford $40 and often much more for the pleasure.
In the 1960s, some Brunello producers, with millions in inventory sitting idle in their cellars, decided to start releasing some wines earlier to generate much-needed cash flow. They couldn't sell their wines as Brunello, a designation reserved for lots that spend several years in large casks and then in bottle before release. So, they came up with a new designation for their "baby Brunellos," a wine called Rosso di Montalcino.
Happily, Rosso di Montalcino doesn't enjoy the same feverish attention from collectors, nor the high prices associated with Brunello. And there's another virtue to Rosso di Montalcino. It's more cheerful in its youth than a mouth-filling Brunello.
One very fine example is available in Ontario as part of today's Vintages fine-wine release. Altesino Rosso 2004 ($18.95, product No. 658369) is a steal at the price. Medium-bodied and juicy, with notes of cherry, tobacco and earth, it finishes with crisp acidity, a nice feature should you care to pair it with salty pecorino.
The wine is also available in small quantities in other provinces, including British Columbia, where it sells for $21.99. At the time of this writing, there were also a mere dozen bottles of its delicious big brother, Altesino Brunello di Montalcino 2001 in stores in British Columbia's lower mainland for $63.99 and a couple of dozen in Quebec at $99.
You can sample a slightly different and more cellar-worthy take on the sangiovese grape in a wine, also from today's Vintages release, made in the nearby region of Emilia-Romagna: Drei Dona Tenuta La Palazzo Sangiovese Superiore Riserva 2003 ($37.95, No. 667394). Full-bodied and velvety, it offers up nuances of cherry, leather and tobacco, framed by fine, chewy tannins and a lively, almost salty, finish. It could be enjoyed now, but two to four years in the cellar should soften the tannins and yield added flavours.
The big bargain of the release has got to be Vina Tabali Carmenere Reserva 2005 ($14.95, No. 044008), a full-bodied red from Chile that won a silver medal at the Wines of Chile International Wine Challenge, billed as the world's largest blind-tasting competition. Concentrated and brimming with hints of dark plum and cherry, this is an elegant, slightly toasty and spicy carmenere, without the aggressive acidity sometimes associated with one of Chile's signature grape varieties.
From the Douro Valley, best known for Port, comes a relatively modern-styled Portuguese red, Quinta do Cachao Touriga Franca 2004 ($21.95, No. 040022). Touriga franca is one of the key grapes used in sweet fortified Port, and this dry table wine shows the versatility of the indigenous Portuguese variety. The wine is medium full-bodied and packed with fresh-fruit flavours of plum and berries, with smooth, nicely integrated tannins and a note of wood.
The most cellar-worthy wine of the release is Clos Du Val Oak Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2002 ($64.95, No. 720961), a complex big red from Napa Valley's prime Stags Leap district, with nicely layered flavours of cassis, herbs and spicy oak. It could use five to eight years to develop more complexity.
If you're fond of slightly sweet white wines, don't miss Lingenfelder Riesling Spatlese 2003 ($21.95, No. 928192), a luscious German nectar brimming with canned apricot and mineral flavours and resolving in a long, balanced finish.
For a bargain in serious sparkling wine, consider Jean Geiler Cremant d'Alsace Blanc de Blancs Brut Prestige ($21.95, No. 957746). An initial impression of fruity sweetness, reminiscent of citrus fruit and apple evolves into a dry, toasty finish.
And readers in the West can treat themselves to a lovely white (not part of the above Vintages release and not available in Ontario), Quails Gate Limited Release Chardonnay 2005 ($18.99, No. 377770), full-bodied and invigoratingly crisp, with flavours of citrus, peach, toasty oak and honey.
The perfect bottle
Looking for a sauv blanc? From South Africa? For around $20? Find your bottle with Globe Life's Wine Butler, a searchable archive of Beppi Crosariol's wine reviews. Search by country, price range, food match and more at globeandmail.com/life
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