My Italian wine tasting

About a month ago, I finally got around to hosting another wine tasting for my friends. I've done several of these in the past, but it had been over a year since the last one. The idea is to choose several affordable and available wines so that anyone who is a wine novice can get some great ideas of wines they might want to purchase.

For this tasting I decided to also center the theme around my trip to Vinitaly, choosing mainly wines from producers we visited on the trip (typically they were older vintages, since most of the newest wines have not yet arrived here). The tasting began with the 2005 Brancaia Tre. This blend of 80% Sangiovese, 10% Merlot, and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon has been a favorite everyday wine of mine, and the 2005 vintage is quite good, though maybe not quite as good as the 2004.

Staying in Toscana, we then had the 2006 La Mozza I Perrazzi Morrelino di Scansano. As noted before, this as an excellent value wine, though on this night I didn't think it showed as well.

Up next was the lone selection from a producer we did not visit at Vinitaly, the 2007 Luciano Sandrone Dolcetto d’Alba. Of course, I've had this wine recently, and it is a fantastic selection so I had to include it. I thought it was very good on this night as well.

Our fourth selection was the 2006 Il Poggione Rosso di Montalcino. This was the most expensive selection in the lineup, but I think it was also the best. The wine was showing off a lot of cherry flavors with a longer finish than any other.

Moving south, the next selection was the 2007 Terredora Aglianico, which was as good as its previous tasting a week before. Perhaps because it came after the star of the night it was overlooked, but I still really enjoyed this wine.

The night's red wines concluded with the latest vintage of one of my favorites, the 2006 Zenato Ripassa. I had initially planned on the 2005, but came across a bottle of 2006 at the last moment so went with it. The 2006 has gotten great ratings, but in the end I think it was a little young still, and perhaps the 2005 would have been a better choice. This will still be a great wine I think, but for now it could not step up to the level that Il Poggione had on this night.

Finally, the night concluded with a bottle of 2008 Saracco Moscato. We have tasted the Moscatos from Saracco at Vinitaly each of the past two years, and it really is wonderful. There is so much fruit like apricot as well as floral notes that make this a wonderful way to end an evening.

Overall, I think the tasting offered a great look at some of the best Italy has to offer right now at a great price. I hope everyone that attended agreed and they will seek out some of these wines for themselves. For me, it was another great chance to share my passion with friends, which to me os one of the great joys of wine.