The Wine Curmudgeon

Wine of the week: Planeta La Segreta Rosso 2010

How much of an impact is Sicily making on the wine world? Terlato Wines, which prides itself on its “luxury wines,” is the new importer for one of my favorite cheap Sicilian brands, Cusumano. That Terlato, whose brands include wines that cost as much as $100, sees a future in Sicily speaks to the quality and value available on the island. What Terlato will do to the price of Cusumano, sadly, is another story.

Let’s hope that Terlato, or another “luxury” importer, doesn’t find out about Planeta, whose wines are equally as well done as Cusumano. The La Segreta ($8, purchased, 13%) is a red blend – which includes the very un-Sicilian cabernet franc -- that again shows how far Sicily has come from the old days.

Think of it as a Super Sicilian, the island’s version of the Winestream Media-approved Super Tuscan blend. The Segreta combines merlot, syrah, and the cabernet franc with Sicily’s signature nero d'avola, so it isn't as dark and earthy as other Sicilian reds, but fruitier and richer. Who thought those adjectives would ever be used in a review of Sicilian wine?

But there isn't too much cherry fruit, and there is still zingy Italian-style acid to provide balance. Even more surprising is that the wine needs food, which isn’t supposed to happen with something that costs $8. Highly recommended, and a candidate for the 2014 $10 Wine Hall of Fame.

Mini-reviews 51: Bolla, Grechetto, Chinon, Vouvray

Reviews of wines that don’t need their own post, but are worth noting for one reason or another. Look for it on the final Friday of each month; for August, some surprisingly disappointing wines.

• Bolla Soave Classico 2011 ($8, sample, 12%): Ordinarily, I don’t review wines that are spoiled. But I mention it here, because the Soave had none of the flavors it should have had (white fruit, almonds) – just a musty, booze-ish feel to it, probably from being shipped in the summer heat and is no reflection on the producer. So if you taste a wine that has a musty, booze-ish feel, throw it out. Unfortunately, since the wine business pays so little attention to educating consumers, hundreds of thousands of people will buy this and assume that’s what Soave tastes like.

• Scacciadiavoli Grechetto 2012 ($11, purchased, 12.5%): Bland and boring, with almost no flavors of any kind, and apparently targeted at the pinot grigio crowd. Otherwise, very old-fashioned -- the kind of wine people drink and say, "I don't like wine."

• Pierre Archambault Chinon 2011 ($13, purchased, 12.5%): Disappointing, but probably because I love cheap Chinon (cabernet franc from the Loire in France) and expect more. Lots of violet on the nose and subdued black fruit, which is a Chinon trademark, but the middle was a little empty, and $13 makes it a problematic value.

• Sauvion Vouvray 2011 ($10, purchased, 12%): White wine from the Loire in France made with chenin blanc that is sweet without any acid to balance it, though it does have a little flowery chenin character. Another disappointment; cheap chenin is usually much better than this.

What's new with pinot grigo?

It's simple in taste and cheap in price; hence the American love of pinot grigio.

Quite a lot actually, as a story I wrote for the Beverage Media trade magazine explains. This is not to say that pinot grigio itself has changed much. It remains a cheap, simple white wine preferred by women of a certain age, and the mostly Italian imports that dominate the category sell millions and millions of cases without much of an effort.

Rather, there is an on-going campaign by producers and importers to get Americans to look differently at pinot grigio, whether it’s Oregon and California pinot gris such as J, which a little more expensive and has more fruit, or Italian wines in the $12 to $15 range like Bollini and Alois Lageder.

The story’s highlights, after the jump:

Wine of the week: Planeta La Segreta Bianco 2010

Eight labels from Sicily have been wines of the week since the blog started. The only question: Why haven’t there been more?

Because Sicilian wine may offer the best value in the world, and that includes my much beloved Gascon white blends. Sicilian wines show just how much winemaking has improved throughout the world in the past 20 years, thanks to better technology and improved education. The days of slimy concrete tanks and dirty hoses are almost gone.

As the the Planeta ($8, purchased, 12.5%) demonstrates. I don’t know why I keep being surprised by the quality of these wines, but I am. It’s not so much that this is another amazing Sicilian white blend, but that it is so different, without the minerality and austerity of the others. Instead, there is a big dollop of white fruit, surrounded by some white pepper and an almost oily richness. In this, it’s a Sicilian version of a French Rhone blend.

And why not? The wine is made with grecanico, a traditional Sicilian grape, but also chardonnay and vigonier. The latter is a classic Rhone grape, though not much grown in Sicily. It does its job here. Drink this chilled on its own, or with any summer meal.

Wine of the week: Cecchi Chianti Natio 2011

The joke in my corner of the wine world, which really isn’t a joke, is that we call the Italian Wine Guy whenever we have an Italian wine question – availability, recommendations, even what to order when we’re in a restaurant (one of the best reasons ever for cell phones). That’s because Italian wine is incredibly complicated, the most difficult subject in wine. Sicily has as little to do with Tuscany as it does with Paso Robles.

The wine guy, though, is always calm, always knowledgeable, always eager to help. I would not be as enthusiastic about Italian wine as I am without his wisdom – the wine is out there, look for it, try it, don’t be derailed or sidetracked by the hype and bluster.

The Cecchi ($13, sample, 13%) shows what I have learned. Frankly, it probably would have been exiled to the cases of sample wines that sit in the closet, never to be tasted, but for the wine guy’s example.

It was an amazing wine, especially for the price, with layers and flavors I didn’t expect. There was very little red fruit and an almost oregano herbal-ness when I opened it. Yes, it was balanced and interesting, but not quite there, almost too clean and austere. But then I had a sip after a bite of roasted pork shoulder with garlic and rosemary, and it did what every great wine is supposed to do – give more of itself. The food brought out cherry fruit that hadn’t been there before, as well as richness and complexity that made me almost gape in amazement.

Highly recommended, and another reason why Italian wine offers so much value for so little money.

Wine of the week: Velenosi Quattro Mani 2011

The Abruzzo region of Italy, east of Rome, has been turning up more and more as a place to look for well-made, interesting, cheap wine. The region’s La Fiera, for one, has made the $10 Hall of Fame the past couple of years.

The Velenosi ($12, purchased, 13%) is another Abruzzo wine worth drinking, though not for the same reasons as the La Fiera. The former was more traditional, while the Velenosi is made in a more modern style, with less acid, a less tannic finish and a more ashy middle (the way some shirazes have a fruity, thick flavor).

But that doesn’t mean the Velenosi goes too far in that direction, like the once-beloved Tormaresca Neprica. After the wine opened up (which took about 10 minutes), it showed bright and fresh Italian-style red fruit. In this, it strikes balance between the modern and the traditional.

Two caveats: The Velenosi needs food; it’s a mouthful to drink on its own without something like burgers or pizza. Also, it’s made with the montepulciano grape, which is not to be confused with the Montepulciano region of Tuscany, home to many high-priced wines.

Wine of the week: Cusumano Insolia 2011

The Wine Curmudgeon has run out of adjectives to praise Sicilian wine. Whenever I think it can’t get any better, it does.

Remember how crazy I was about the Cusumano Nero d’Avola? The Insolia ($12, purchased, 12.5%) is even better put together. It’s a white wine made with the Sicilian insolia grape, traditionally used to make marsala. Yet, on its own, the Insolia is an absolutely beautiful wine, one that makes all that $15 and $20 grocery store stuff taste like the boring, dull grape juice that so much of it is.

Look for some lemon fruit and baking spices, but using terms like that shortchanges the wine. The whole is definitely bigger than the parts; this is a rich and full wine that not only pairs with seafood, but that makes you think of seafood as you’re drinking it. Highly recommended, and if I can find it for $10, it will be in next year’s $10 Hall of Fame.