Sunday, May 10, 2009

Two more Italians

I've noticed that since returning from Italy, I have once again been somewhat biased toward Italian wines, drinking quite a few of them. I've recently had two more, one from Tuscany and one from the Veneto.

The Veneto wine was the latest vintage of one of my favorites, the 2005 Allegrini Palazzo della Torre. Year in and year out, this is a great wine and still can be found at a pretty good price. The wine is an IGT due to the addition of a bit of Sangiovese to the typical Veneto grapes of Corvina and Rondinella, which I think lightens the wine just a touch and makes it an ideal food pairing. The 2005 vintage is another good one, and is already drinking well. I find that these wines typically can age for a few years, and sometimes a 6-12 months really put them into their prime window, but you won't be disappointed drinking this now either.

The next wine was the 2004 Caparzo Rosso di Montalcino. Caparzo is a relatively well-known producer in Montalcino, though I'm not sure I've had any of their wine before. 2004 was a great vintage though and I found this for a good price so decided to give it a try. On the first night, the wine didn't really have much to offer. It wasn't closed, just seemed very simple and light. The next night it was a little better, but overall it just seemed a little too light for me. I've had enough good Rosso di Montalcino (especially from good vintages) that I've come to expect a pretty high level of quality from them, and overall I think this wine fell a little short. It wasn't necessarily a bad wine, just very simple and thus not a great value for the price. At $10, I'd have been more satisfied, but crossing $20, I expect more.

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