I just joined some friends of ours, who just happened to recently get married, at a wine tasting/food pairing. The theme was Italian wines mostly from the Piedmont and Tuscany regions. I want to tell you about 2 of the 7 wines we tasted in particular because of their “value.” Both of these Italian reds are under $20 and will give you a good representation of old world wine as well as big flavor. Thanks to Enotec and Murphy’s for putting this together.
2003 Fattoria di Rodano Chianti Classico- as you may know, wines from the Chianti villages in the Tuscany region are made mostly from Sangiovese – this one is 90% Sangiovese and 10% Colorino/Canaiolo. Had a nice old world “barnyard”, forest floor nose and a hint of oakyness. The taste was BIG (you Napa Cab drinkers would love it!) and long lasting and I even got some herby-ness (is that a word?) like rosemary in there somewhere… really nice for the price. Oh yeah, and when we drank this after tasting a piece of BBQ pork and polenta, it really became much more alive and powerful.
2004 Fattoria la Peschiera Morellino di Scansano- this is a blend of several varietals from different villages/regions, so it can’t be categorized as a Chianti or anything like that. It’s 85% Sangiovese, 7% Cab Sav, 5% Merlot and 3% Alicante. It had a musty, black cherry nose with Big Tannins, probably from that Cab and Merlot. I preferred the Chianti, but those of you who like the Napa Cabs, again, may like this more.
There happened to be 2 other wines we really loved more than those mentioned above, a Barbaresco and a Barolo, but those are a little pricier, but well worth the money. Maybe I could get our friend Jack to post about them? 
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
[...] was one of the 7 wineswe tasted in October last year at Murphy’s and I this was the first time I opened one of these [...]