Italian Wine Labels
Reaching for an Italian bottle will be easier once
you're familiar with the labels. Italian wine labels often fail to
mention the grapes used. For example, the backbone of Chianti Classico
is Sangiovese, a grape that produces a red wine with a refreshing, crisp
texture. But several other grape varieties are included as well, and the
percentages can change from year to year.
Geographic origins are prominent on the labels. Thus,
names such as Barolo, Chianti Classico and Brunello di Montalcino
indicate the regulated districts, or appellations, that the wines come
from.
Valpolicella, a wine region just outside Verona in
northeastern Italy, makes a juicy, soft red primarily from the Corvina
grape. Even better is the Valpolicella Classico. For an easy, light red,
don't overlook Bardolino, grown in the Verona area on the eastern side
of Lake Garda. It uses the same grape varieties as Valpolicella but
tends to make a distinctly lighter wine.
When the price is right, we also have a weakness for
Dolcetto and Barbera, two Piedmont grape varieties that produce
deliciously grapey, very aromatic, not-too-tannic wines.
-- Excerpted from Wine Spectator Magazine's Guide
to Great Wine Values
Pairing Italian Wines With Food
Rice and pasta dishes match with wine based on their
sauces, not the starch. Prosciutto likes youthful, fruity wines and
Parmigiano-Reggiano is a terrific cheese for any wine. Earthy white
truffles bring out hidden fruit in earthy wines. To a lesser degree, so
does olive oil. Too much balsamic vinegar can kill a fine wine, however,
and it's better to let espresso wait until the wines are finished.
-- from www.WineSpectator.com
Grapes & Their Wines
Sangiovese - Sangiovese is Tuscany's leading
red wine grape, and Chianti its principal wine. There is
no such animal as a "typical" Chianti or Chianti Classico,
mainly due to variables such as including Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, how
long it is aged, the type of wood used, etc. But if you try a range of
reputable producers' wines you should find some common threads. Chianti
is a medium-bodied wine that is rarely very dark in color, whose
youthful purple-red rapidly turns brown. At four or five years its rim
will already look brick colored. The nose is usually fairly light and is
a mixture of fragrant sweetness (roses), dry or cold tea and an
impression of oiliness. Although much less tannic than Nebbiolo wines,
there is also much less extract and flavor to mask the tannin. The wines
are dryly astringent, a lean texture which is reinforced by high
acidity. Pure, unalloyed Sangiovese does exist in Tuscany although it is
a somewhat rarer wine, not to say more expensive. Brunello is the name
for the local Sangiovese clone. By itself it makes a darker, more
concentrated wine with some of the tarry, almost licorice flavors and
smoky aftertaste.
Nebbiolo - "Nebbioso," meaning foggy,
describes the state of the Piedmont region's slopes in late October. A
local name for a local grape, because Nebbiolo is exclusive to this
northwestern corner of Italy where it makes Barolo and Barbaresco
and a host of other lesser-known wines like Sassello, Grumello and
Inferno. Their deep, concentrated, almost bitter-burnt flavor is starkly
framed by fierce, dry, mouthcoating tannin. The astringency is
reinforced by a forbidding acidity, and as if that were not enough this
is all within a 13% of alcohol. Barbaresco, from a little further north
and grown on sandier soil is conventionally somewhat lighter and earlier
to mature than Barolo. When very young, Nebbiolo wines smell strongly of
ripe cherries, plums and violets, but after only three or four years the
fruity character changes dramatically and the nose becomes burnt, tarry,
roasted with hints of oil, truffles and smoke. The fruity character of
the young wine is rarely part of the mature Barolo or Barbaresco
experience because they take so long to soften.
-- Excerpted from Beginner's Guide to Understanding
Wine, Michael Schuster
Wine to Grape Index
-- Excerpted from Beginner's Guide to Understanding
Wine, Michael Schuster
