Tusk N Red

Tusk N Red

You gotta love the name Tusk N Red, so called because its kinda 00's funky but also because its a Californian wine with a touch of Sangiovese. Tusk N Red is from Mendocino county, north of Sonoma, and has a bevvy of grapes in the blend including Zinfandel, Syrah, Petit Syrah, Carignane and Sangiovese. Check out the video below to see how Tusk N Red fared against a real Tuscan Red, the Fattoria il Pupille Morellino di Scansano.



Not really a fair fight as Fattoria il Pupille is a top class producer of Morellino di Scansano. Neither of these wines were bad for the price though the MdS is clearly the better made, better structured wine with the Tusk N Red being a very quaffable, fun, easy drinking effort and, actually doing a fairly good job in aping a Tuscan red.

Mendocino Wine Co. Tusk N Red 2004 - BORDERLINE - £9
A light purple colour in the glass with a forward nose of dark cherries, plums, chocolate and herbs. A soft supple palate with high acidity and low tannins, a food wine of medium body that is easy drinking and enjoyable but not special. Borderline Buy/Pass. 86 Points

Le Pupille Morellino di Scansano 2006 - BUY - £12
A dark red/light purple in the glass with typical notes of cherry with blackberry, plum and earthy notes playing back up. On the palate the wine carries good fruit through to a mid length finish on a well structured wine that could probably do with some time out of the bottle. Chewy tannins, but a rounded wine and a good priced example of MdS. 90 Points

Where can I buy this Wine? (MdS)
Americans - Fame Wines - $11 (half) or PlanetofWine - $17
Europeans - Enoteca Italia - €7.50
Brits - Classic Wine - £12

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Any opinions on either of these wines or Morellino di Scansano welcome. Favourite fake accent ever? Daphne from Frasier? Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins? I gotta come close!

Morellino di Scansano

Last night I had dual reasons to celebrate. Firstly, Manchester United won a Championships League final they had no right winning beating the loathsome, silver-spooned Chelsea and secondly, I got my first taste of an excellent Morellino di Scansano at a sneaky wine bar that has been hiding from me not 50 steps from my apartment in Mestre. Before the big game, myself and a few work colleagues headed down to this enoteca for drinks and "cichetti" (the Venetian dialect word for tapas) and, as per what passes for fun with my techie colleagues, I was handed a glass of red and challenged to name it. To their pleasure and my shame, I was wrong, but I wasn't far off! as it had the nose and taste of a young clean Chianti Classico but was none other than the neighbouring DOCG 85% Sangiovese wine Morellino di Scansano.

Morellino di Scansano is usually cheaper than its famous neighbour and you can pick up the very best bottles from the top producers at bargain prices. So for those of you who don't know much about Morellino di Scansano, here is the QT!

Morellino di Scansano is a DOCG wine made from 85% Sangiovese grapes and any other non aromatic black grape. Commonly the wine is labelled as coming from the "Morellino" grape, but this is simply a dialect word for the common Tuscan Sangiovese grape. Grown in the Maremma around the hills of Scansano, the wine has been produced for several hundred years and was very popular in the 1800's but fell out of fashion and was surpassed by both Chianti and Brunello di Montalcino. The Maremma area is now famous for the blended ITG Super Tuscan wines and so Morellino di Scansano is still heavily overshadowed. These facts combine to make Morellino di Scansano a very affordable wine. The wine is released very young and doesn't really keep for ageing, it's a wine to drink within 5 years and in the very best vintages can be an excellent tre bicchiere option.

There are 4 or 5 excellent producers, most famously Fattoria Le Pupille who produce roughly 300,000 bottles a year and their most basic expression of the wine sells for around €8. If you want to try the top bottling (Morellino di Scansano Poggio Valente) expect to fork out roughly €25, for a 92-93 point wine, that's pretty good QPR, so look out for it.

Fattoria Mantellassi are a larger outfit producing roughly 700,000 Morellino di Scansano wines per year as well as many other excellent ITG wines that are worth a look (especially the Italian/Spainish blended Querciolaia). Mantellassi's best expression of Morellino di Scansano is their Riserva bottling (Morellino di Scansano Le Sentinelle Riserva) which is a little cheaper at €20 and is the wine I got to sample while John Terry skied his cup winning penalty *ha!

Fattoria Mantellassi Morellino di Scansano Le Sentinelle Riserva 2004 - BUY - €20

Really intense, glinting ruby red colour with some garnet reflections on the sides of the glass. The nose was chocolate coffee with cherries, crushed berries and plums and hints of vanilla and licorice, reminded me a great Chianti. The mouth feel was almost perfect, chocolatey once more with a dry crisp note on the end, the finish was clean, a little short but the wine was dessert like and very enjoyable. I'm drinking this at a perfect age, so drink today. 90 Points

NOTE: I could not find the Mantellassi outside of the European mainland so for the US and UK readers I've sourced the top bottling 2004 of the Fattoria Le Pupille Morellino di Scansano.

Where can I buy this wine?

Europeans - Enoteca Lombardi - €19 (Fattoria Mantellassi)

Americans - Wine Library - $32 (Fattoria Le Pupille)

Brits - Laithwaites - £22 (Fattoria Le Pupille)

Question of the Day

Morellino di Scansano will forever remind me of the 2008 Champions League final and the worlds most undeserving win. What special moments in your life are forever connected to which wines? (Yes, you actually have to think about this one!)