InterWined.com

Liquid Refreshment

27

Mar

In Fair Verona

Jacob Gaffney  in Red Wines, Barbera, Nebbiolo , , , , ,

The search continues for the great Italian wine.

The bad news is today that search has yet to end.

The 2003 San Giorgio Boscaini Carlo Amarone della Valpolicella Classic (DOC): From the Veneto region of North East Italy, where Verona is the capital, Amarone della Valpolicella is produced from a small percentage of grapes grown in the viticultural area of the Veneto. The San Giorgio is likely a blend of Corvina, Rondinella, and, on some occasions, a dash of Molinara grapes.

The last time I had Amarone was in New York, nearly eight years ago, with members of the wine producing Allegrini and Frescobaldi families. I won’t name specific names as the particular member of the Allegrini family in attendance has a profound dislike of me, which I don’t understand, since I love their wines.

Anyway, for some reason, drinking Amarone with passionate winemakers, whilst discussing the improprieties of the Medici family, is considerably more rewarding than drinking the strong San Giorgio by oneself in one’s kitchen.

It could be the cost.

The San Giorgio was a bad decision on the part of InterWined. It’s expensive, and not yet worth it. 2003 is a baby in age for these formidable, concentrated wines (made from dried or ‘rasinated’ grapes.) Without a proper cellar, the San Giorgio proved a poor investment. Thoughts revolved around what could have been, as opposed to what it is. I shall not review this wine, for fear of backlash from the producers. And I can not rate it, for it’s too expensive for anyone without a proper storage area. But I can recommend it, for anyone who wants a solid investment. I believe this wine will be worth considerably more in ten years time and should not be touched until then.

The Eco Cascina Saria Neive Langhe Rosso is likely blend of Barbera and Nebbiolo, and almost certainly misspelled, but may also contain a slew of French graps. Langhe is a wine region with few rules of usage, compared to its ‘inner region’ of Alba, mentioned in earlier posts. Well priced, at around £9, it’s simply a table wine. The interesting thing is the nose is not very fruit forward. Instead it smells more like what I would think a Pirate Ship probably would smell like. Oh, and there is some green pepper. Well-balanced though, with good weight and tannin. However, it is still nothing to beam about. 8.3 points.

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azp74
azp74 said: March 27th, 2008 at 12:27 pm

I’m not sure if it would qualify as THE great Italian wine but I’ve very much enjoyed the wines from Ormanni in Tuscany. Not even sure if it’s available here but worth keeping an eye out for.

BTW, I think £9 is a bit too much for something you describe as ’simply a table wine’ …

Sean
Sean said: March 27th, 2008 at 2:46 pm

Hi Alex, I agree that £9 sounds like a lot of money for a “table wine”. I wonder if this wine really counts as one, since I thought that all true Italian table wines would be labelled Vtd (Vino da tavola). I read Jacob’s comment as a comment on the nameless grape blend, rather than the quality of the wine. After all there are a lot of fine table wines in Italy, like the IGT labeled Ormanni. After all, they’re not called Super Tuscans for nothing.

Jacob
Jacob said: March 27th, 2008 at 2:53 pm

£9 for a table wine seems cheap for a blog that makes $30,000+ a month (see Tuesday’s post)!

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