On the Lash

On the Lash,

Yesterdays foray into the Mestre wine world was without rhyme or reason and without a real stand out wine. Myself and a friend took it upon ourselves to try out the various wine bars stumbling roughly between my red hot 35°c apartment and Piazza Ferretto, ending up, typically, at the Lupo Nero (that is WOLF, wolf, not rabbit!). The restaurant, as always, was fabulous and although we went thru a few wines earlier in the night it provided the best tasting, a sumptious Primitivo by small name producer "Peruini" and at €11 in a restaurant, I was suitably impressed. I was also incredibly drunk so my score of 88 points carries a beer goggle value!

So, Tina and I started with an abysmal Barbera d'Alba from Castello di Verduno from a very limited choice in the local enoteca "Vite Rosse". The bar had probably 100 different wines on display, but only 6 were available to order by the glass. We found this at every bar we visited and have now exhausted Mestre's limited appeal and will hike into Venice real for our next tasting. After the Barbera, which really I can't get over how bad it was, we changed bars and changed regions, trying the Ruffino basic Il Ducale. Clearly a blended wine, it wasn't without some charms, but still, gotta give it a "meh".

The QPR wine of the night was by a producer I'd never tried (Geretto) from Friuli but I was keen to try a Cabernet Franc and the nose was Christina Aguilera Diiiiirty, vegetal, cabbage mulch, viney, herby, grass cutting diiiiirty. The flavour profile was great, smooth, not acidic, really drinkable and that nose, I was sold and the price? €1.60 a glass! I can't find it for sale anywhere on the net, but if you can, it's cheap and it's good.

So, from these scribbles on the back of an e-train ticket lets get to the reviews!

Castello di Verduno Barbera d'Alba Bricco del Cuculo 2006 - PASS - €14

Nice colour, hues were lighter than expected for a 2006 Barbera. The nose, was giving me very little of anything, not the merest hint of fruit, just a very sugary winey artificial nose that did nothing for me. The mouth feel was ok, uninteresting tannins, extremely acidic, I can't think of anything positive to say, I wouldn't use it in a cooking sauce. 73 Points

Ruffino Il Ducale Toscana 2005 - PASS - €9

Dark attractive purple colour with a nice nose, cherries, spice, meaty, the wine smelt "hot". The palate was soft, but soft like it had been sat out for 3 days (it hadn't!), nice tannins, smooth and pleasant, a hot little ending and a little vegetal too and no real hold on the finish. Started well, but lost its way on the palate. 82 Points

Casa Geretto Cabernet Franc 2006 - BUY - €6

Super dark purple in the glass, inviting. The nose was crazy, this is one stinky wine, kinda smelt off, vegetal, soil, vines, even some sweaty gym socks action. This carried through to a point on the palate which was soft, super smooth and easy to drink, non acidic, pleasant and fantastic QPR. 85 Points

I can't review the Peruini Primitivo 05 which I drank along with the meal can only score it 88 points and tell you to look out for it. The Casa Geretto I can't find for sale and the other two, well, I'm not recommending anyone buy them so once again we're left without a "Where can I buy this wine".

Question of the Day

What is the most bizarre nose you've ever gotten from a wine?

Primitivo Wine

Hello Cork Poppers,

Today I'm going to wax lyrical about Primitivo wine. If you read yesterdays "Italian wine blog" then you will know that one of the wines up for review was the Racemi Felline Primitivo di Manduria 2005. I was very excited about reviewing the wine as Primitivo is causing a big stir and gaining in popularity every year.

Racemi Felline Primitivo di Manduria 2005 - €8 - BUY

Dark intense ruby red with a powerful nose of sweet dark fruits, chocolate and vanilla, even hints of orange. Tannins are a little aggressive, mid-full bodied, a very fruity mid palate with the strawberries continuing through. Nicely alcoholic on the finish. Really surprising complexity to the wine - 90 Points

This wine is awesome. The alcohol is pretty big at 14% but it's a really versatile wine, it's explosive with a really powerful nose and attacking mouth feel but it's also a contemplative wine. It has layers of appeal.

I gave it 90 points but at €8 it has massive QPR, high quality example of what Primitivo is doing at the moment and falls into the price category of everyday drinking wine. Seek it out. Traditionally Primitivo would suit a pasta with ragu sauce but this is such a great wine you could order steak without worrying.

2005 was a 5 star vintage across southern Italy and Sicily. So I am highly recommending everyone to stock up on the wines of the south from 2005. I've had a lot of experience of the '05 Syrah and Merlot from Planeta (Sicily) and these wines are 93-91 point wines respectively, retailing at €15.

Italian wine isn't just about Piedmont and Tuscany. Big up the South. There's an idea for another blog entry, a North Vs South VFM tradeoff showdown, smackdown, faceoff kinda thing! "YEAH!" Just in case I was too subtle, BUY THIS WINE.

WHERE CAN I BUY THIS WINE?

Europeans - Everywine - €8

Americans - WineLibrary - $12

Brits - I can see Fine and Rare carry it at £8 a bottle but you have to make a minimum order to purchase so use Everywine too.

Question of the Day

What little know wine can you recommend to us that is great VFM?