Undressing the Grape

Super Tuscany

The September/October 2007 issue of The American ran an interesting article on Italian wines entitled "Super Tuscany: On the trail of Super Tuscans, the wines that broke Italy's bureaucratic rules," by Amy Cortese and Robert McCanless.

The article is now online, and if you're interested in Italian wines generally, or the development of the Maremma region of Tuscany specifically, the article is worth reading.

Here's the opening paragraph:

Driving along country roads lined with Mediterranean pines, we at last reach the gates of Guado al Tasso. We ring the buzzer, but there is no answer. We are a little early, and this, after all, is Italy. We are in Bolgheri, a tiny town in the western region of Tuscany known as Maremma, to seek out the wines known as Super Tuscans.

Read the rest of the article here.

Wines from the Past

When we began drinking wine together, we also started collecting our corks.  We did not, however, start taking notes on our wines until later.  Here's a list of the wines we've had, but do not have notes for:

1. Da Vinci
Prodotto D'Italia
24/06

2. Les Jamelles
French wine
Bin #48003

3. Shafer Winery
Relentless
2003 Napa Valley

4. Pommery Champagne
Reims

5. Ravenswood Winery
Zinfandel
2004

6. Kistler Vineyards
2004

7. Brander Winery
2005

8. Apollonio
11-6

9. Bernabe Navarro
2005

10. Chateau de Braude
Haut-Medoc
2002

11. Il Molino Di Grace
Chianti Classico
Product of Italy
2003

All of this information is from the corks we collected, so in most of these cases the actual type of wine or the vintage, or both, is unknown.  The DaVinci (#1) was a Chianti Classico.  It is quite common and easy to find.

The Ravenswood (#5) was a Zinfandel, and this bottle accompanied us on a lovely picnic lunch in Annapolis, MD.  One could not have asked for a more beautiful day, or a nicer place, for a picnic, and the wine complimented both the goat cheese and the cheddar, both served on those peppery water crackers, quite well.  We were pleased enough with this wine to pick up another bottle for a 4th of July party with some friends.  Ravenswood wines seem to be pretty easy to find in the DC area.

The Apollonio (#8) was Italian, and I'm almost positive it was a Primitivo.  I first tasted it at a wine tasting held by The Wine Specialist in downtown DC.  I liked it enough to purchase a bottle, and it served well at a little gathering I had for some friends a few months back.

The wine we remember the most, without having taken notes, was the Il Molino di Grace.  We found this 2003 Chianti Classico up in Massachusetts, but unfortunately haven't been able to find it down in the DC area.  We drank this bottle while enjoying a long weekend at Stephy's lake house in Connecticut.  The atmosphere certainly called for a good bottle of wine, and the Il Molino di Grace filled the role perfectly.  The wine had a beautiful dark color to it, had a high viscosity, and smelled strongly of red cherries.  The flavor was complex, but was bursting with cherry and complimented by hints of vanilla and other spices.  We rated this wine a solid A- and would love to come across another bottle.  We also regret not having purchased the 2001 Reserve of the same wine.