Italian Red wines
Of all the wine
regions, Italy is under-represented in my cellar. In my opinion, too many Italian red wines tend to
be harsh and acidic. But things seem to be getting better in recent years.
When we vacationed in 2003 in Tuscany, we had really great local wines: Vino
Nobile de Montepulciano, and Brunello di Montalcino. When we returned home, we found some of these wines
were $40 and up, or impossible to get locally.
| Description |
$ / * |
Tasting notes |
2017 Tua Rita
Rosso dei Notri |
21
** |
08/2020 Nice wine - medium body. Definitely Italian, but a bit too lean - needs more fruit! |
2016 Volpaia
Chianti Classico |
18
*** |
01/2020 Nice wine - medium body and fruit. This has good balance, and is a very typical
Chianti Classico. |
2015 Tolaini
Al Passo |
23
**** |
09/2019 Excellent wine - medium body and nice fruit.
This has very good balance, and was a delight to drink. |
| 2016 Vietti Nebbiolo Langhe Perbacco |
28
** |
09/2019 Decent wine - medium body and some fruit.
This has pretty good balance, but was a bit too acidic for me to enjoy it. |
2017 Renato Ratti
Battaglione
Barbera d'Asti |
15
** |
06/2019 Nice wine - medium body and loads of fruit. This has pretty good balance, but almost seems TOO fruity.
Definitely on the juicy side, compared to most Italian wines. |
2014 Montsanto
Chianti Classico
Riserva |
18
** |
03/2019 Nice wine - medium body and fruit. This has good balance, and is a very typical
Chianti Classico. As a Riserva, this has more depth and structure. |
2013 Castello di Bibbione
Chianti Classico Riserva |
15
** |
02/2019 Nice wine - medium body and fruit. This has good balance, and is a typical
Chianti Classico. |
2014 Primocolle
Chianti Classico |
15
** |
01/2019 Nice wine - medium body and fruit. This has good balance, and is a typical
Chianti Classico. |
2015 Opera
Vino Rosso |
16
* |
02/2019 Okay wine - big body and medium fruit.
This tastes like an Italian red blend.
The wine is very dark - almost black. The bottle is ridiculously heavy, about twice the weight of most bottles. |
2015 Bolgheri
Il Bruciato |
30
*** |
07/2018 Nice wine - medium body and fruit. This has good balance, and is a blend with 65% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Merlot.
We tasted this against the 2014 Il Fauno, and this was the preferred wine for 2/3 of those present. |
2014 Il Fauno
Di Arcanum |
30
*** |
07/2018 Nice wine - medium body and fruit. This has good balance, and is a blend with 72% Merlot and 20%
Cabernet Franc. We tasted this against the 2015 Il Bruciato, and this was not quite as good with food. But it does have a beautiful nose! |
2015 Villa Pillo
Borgoforte |
9
** |
06/2018 Decent wine - medium body and fruit. This is slightly
acidic, but still well balanced. A fairly light wine, but definitely worth buying at $9. |
2014 Villa Pillo
Borgoforte |
9
* |
03/2018 This simply tastes weird to me - almost like someone mixed some
young Zinfandel with a generic Italian wine. NOT worth buying at $9. |
| 2008 Avignonesi Vino Nobile de Montepulciano |
35
*** |
05/2015 Nice wine - medium body and fruit. This has good balance, and is a very
good example of Vino Nobile. |
2010 Montsant
Chianti Classico |
18
** |
07/2014 Nice wine - medium body and fruit. This has good balance, and is a very typical
Chianti Classico. We tasted this against the 2009 Sassoalloro, and it was no contest. |
2009 Jacopo Biondi
Santi Sassoalloro Toscana IGT |
26
*** |
07/2014 Nice wine - medium body, very nice fruit. This has great balance for both fruit and flavor.
Thinking this might be too young, I decanted it for 2 hours. Lots of fresh fruit, with a plump and juicy mouth feel.
Not very complex, but a very tasty bottle. At the end of the night, this was all gone - most of the Montsant Chianti was still in the bottle. |