Vinitaly 2009, part 6

I'm still not going to be able to finish with this entry, but will be one step closer to completing the recap of this mammoth event. Early in the afternoon, we left the main Toscana pavilion in search of some other regions. Our first stop was Argiolas, one of the best known wineries on Sardinia. There we were able to taste the 2007 Costera IGT, the 2007 Korem IGT, and the 2007 Turriga IGT before finishing with the 2007 Angialas Bianco Passito dessert wine. I have had the Costera many times before, but the others were all new experiences and quite enjoyable.

Next up, we somehow ended up back to wines from Toscana, beginning with Isole e Olena. There we had the 2007 Chianti Classico followed by the 2006 Cepparello IGT. One theme we were finding among many of these producers was the family help - here one of the sons of the proprietors was pouring for us, though he is actually in school still getting his Architecture degree.

Our next stop was at Bastianich, the estate of famed chefs Lydia and Joe Bastianich (and their business partner Mario Batali). We had actually run into Lydia the night before in Verona and spoken with her briefly so we were quite happy to make a stop. While there, we tasted the 2007 I Perazzi Morellino di Scansano, followed by both the 2005 and 2006 vintages of the Aragone Maremma IGT. The Morellino has been a favorite of mine over the last several months, and the Aragone was quite nice as well.

From there, we went to taste the wines from Petrolo, a maker of a couple of Supertuscans. There we were able to sample both the 2006 Torrione IGT and the 2006 Galatrona IGT, which I found very intriguing (and tasty) for a 100% Merlot.

We capped our visit to this pavilion (and almost all of our Toscana tastings) with a stop at Fattoria Le Pupille, a winery I was familiar with for a couple of wines, but had no idea their lineup was so extensive. We began with a white, the 2008 Poggio Argentato, followed by a rose, the 2008 Rosa Mate. Moving onto the reds, we started with the 2008 Pelofino IGT, then the 2007 Morellino di Scansano and the 2006 Poggio Valente Morellino di Scansano. Finally, we stepped up to the 2005 Saffredi IGT before finishing with the 2005 Sol Alto, a sweet white. Overall, it was quite a diverse lineup of wines from this producer, though the Saffredi remains the star.

At this point, we were admittedly in a zone and later Dad would admit not remembering all of these stops. We were trying to cram as much in as we could but still get some real value out of the tastings. Without my admittedly limited notes, we would've never remembered everything, but we were still working hard to judge what we liked and didn't like. A few gems still remained, but I will save that for one final post.