Vinitaly '09 recap

Well, Jon and I are just back from a tiring week of work at the world's largest wine show, Vinitaly, held in Verona.  In addition to reaffirming our existing relationships with wineries and tasting their new vintages, we also did some hunting for new producers, and came away with a few great buys.

First, we revisited with a producer that I'd met and vi

sited with several months ago at a show in Bologna, Folesano.  Carla Cavara and her husband make great sangiovese and merlot based wines on a tiny, 1000 year old estate in the Colli Bolognese zone, in miniscule quantities.  Their dedication to quality will surely propel this new winery to fame in the years to come, so bookmark this page to remind yourself that you saw 'em here first!

The aromatics of the '07 Folesano sangiovese are gorgeous, and the supple

 texture and great fruit will make this irresistible in the $13 range.  It's a Chianti killer!

Their prestige bottling is a pure merlot called Guidesco, and the '06 vintage were bringing in will present a distinctive interpretation of a classic European style of merlot.  It's dense and luxuriously oaked in French barriques, and has the stuffing to cellar for years of development, yet, there's a lot to enjoy in it now.  Again, because we are their first reach into the USA market, they helped us present great pricing to consumers, so tons of value here for about $25.

From Campania, a gregarious guy who simply goes by the name Romeo, works with his brother and sister to produce wines from an estate called Terra

 di Briganti, or "rebel land," in homage to an area that, at the time of Italy's unification, was famous fo

r its fierce landowners who were suspicious of ceding control to strangers.

Working with the indigenous varieties of falanghina and aglianico, we're bringing in two examples of each, all of which are tremendously expressive and respectful of the terroir and tradition.

The white Falanghina '08 is electric and savory, with all of the white blossom and citrus lashes that make this intense white one of my personal favorites.  We're also bringing in a passito, or dried, version of this grape that is absolutely stunning!  It's loaded with sweet fruit like pineapple, honey, and nut.  I'm going to go ahead and say that you're not going to get a better dessert wine for the money (about $15/375ml)!

Aglianico is one of Italy's most noble reds, famously structured, complex and ageworthy.  Two '07 vintage aglianicos are coming from Briganti, their base Sannio Aglianico which is bright, racy, and finely tannic, and an exotically spicy, barriqued version called Martummé, after one of the most famous historic briganti.  Again, 

this will prove to be benchmarks at their respective pricepoints.

Finally, from Puglia, L'Astore.  This is the winery that I wrote about earlier, and whose fantastic wines we're sure will stand at the top of their category.  Jon sussed them out at a show in Lecce just a couple of months ago, and after visiting the estate, shipped back a slew of samples that we tasted through.  Vinitaly, then, was the third round with L'Astore, and reaffirmed the strength of these wines.

Krita is a rich, chardonnay and malvasia blend; Massaro a mineral negroamaro rosato; Filimei their detailed and balanced red from negroamaro; Argentieri a modern expression of negroamaro blended with cabernet sauvigon; L'Astore, an utterly unique and powerful red from aglianico and petite verdot.  

Taken together, these make L'Astore one of Puglia's finest wineries; top three, for sure. Factoring in the quality-price ratio-- i.e. value-- it is the finest.  You'll be pleased!

Other new wines will be coming in as well, expanding offerings from existing wineries in the portfolio, so look for lots of new stuff in two and six weeks time!