An unoaked, modern meets traditional style Chianti Riserva from Piccini which blends a dash of Merlot with 95% Sangiovese. This is a medium weight, savoury red with good focus and acidity, some sweetness from the Merlot and fine, filigree tannins. A superior red to go with your bowl of pasta tonight.
Country: Italy
Wine Mosaic: Saving rare grapes from extinction
by Simon Woolf
When was the last time you had a glass of Uvalino, Limniona or Österreichisch Weiss? Possibly not so recently, if ever – all three grape varieties are on the...
2009 Taste the Difference Barolo, Piedmont
( £15.49 down to £11.61, 14.5%, Sainsbury's )Delicious Barolo, like delicious red Burgundy, is hard to find under £20, let alone at closer to £10, but Matteo Ascheri is brilliant at finding parcels of Italy’s most tempertmental grape that deliver flavour as well as value for money. This is a riper style (it was a warm vintage), but combines aromas of rose petal and red fruits with savoury, smoky tannins and a classically firm, even austere finish. A great introduction to the joys of Nebbiolo.
2012 Taste the Difference Greco di Tufo, Avelino, Campania
( £7.86 down to £5.90, 13%, Sainsbury's )Despite its warm climate origins in the Campania region close to Naples, this wine is made from grapes grown at 450 metres and it shows, giving the wine lovely focus and zip. It’s a spicy, savoury white with a creamy texture from lees contact and plenty of weight and concentration. It was already on a deal (down from £10.49), so you get a double saving here. Bargain!
2011 Taste the Difference Primitivo del Salento, Puglia
( £7.49 down to £5.61, 13%, Sainsbury's )Sourced from the flatlands of the Salento peninsula, where Primitivo (aka Zinfandel) is at its best in Puglia, this is a toothsome, barrel-aged red at a very appealing price, showing flavours of plum, blackebrry and spice, with some peppery lift, a touch of tobacco and well-integrated oak. At its best with robust food.
2009 Taste the Difference Aglianico del Vulture, Basilicata
( £9.99 down to £7.49, 14%, Sainsbury's )Aglianico is arguably southern Italy’s outstanding red grape (Nerello Mascalese and Nero d’Avola are the other contenders) and it makes some of its best wines on the volcanic slopes of the Vulture DOC. This is a rich and robust wine, with firmish tannins offset by plenty of spicy, peppery black fruits and minerally, refreshing acidity.
2010 Paololeo, Fiore di Vigna Primitivo, Salentino, Puglia
( £13, 14.5%, Oddbins )Essence of Primitivo (aka Zinfandel) from the Salento Peninsula, this is rich, ripe and textured, but carries its 14.5% alcohol with ease. The focus here is on fruit rather than oak: plummy, spicy and sweet, with tobacco and Asian spices and enough acidity for balance. Needs robust food to show at its best.
2006 Elio Grasso, Gavarini Chiniera, Barolo, Piedmonte
( £48, 14%, Lay & Wheeler )2006 is a delicious vintage in Piemonte – less ripe than 2007, perhaps, but more classic in structure. This is still in short trousers, but it’s already approachable, with lifted aromas of tar, red fruits and incense, medium weight tannins, bight acidity and a core of savoury, focused fruit. Needs food to shine.
2012 Santadi Villa Solais Vermentino, Sardegna
( £10.95, 13%, Great Western Wine )I’m a huge fan of Vermentino wherever it’s grown, but this Sardinian example is a total bargain. It’s ripe and spicy, with plenty of colour as well as notes of fresh straw, pear and aniseed, a bitter, nutty undertone and refreshing acidity. Superb value at under £11.
2012 Cristina Ascheri, Arneis, Langhe, Piedmont
( £13.95, 13.5%, Great Western Wine )Arneis is Piedmont’s best white grape in my opinion, especially when it offers the sort of value and fruit concentration on show here from Ascheri in Bra. Refeshing and zesty, with a slight spritz, but with plenty of weight and concentration behind, with pear and angelica spice and a deliciously bitter twist.
Rawfair steals the show
by Simon Woolf
It’s the third Monday in May. I’m in East London, in a barn of a building, buzzing with wine producers, press and trade. There’s a palpable sense of excitement throughout...
Brunello and Bordeaux: a tale of two appellations
by Tim Atkin
Brunello and Bordeaux, Bordeaux and Brunello. Italy and France’s most famous wine regions have a lot in common, not least that they both hold high-profile tastings in the first part...