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If Italy is a boot, it is, from the perspective of wine style, a stylish thigh boot, with its pointed toe almost piercing a fig. The country is so long that the range of wine styles covers practically everything you could want. In the North or thigh area, in Alto Adige, there are fresh wines, more international in flavour - made from Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc. There are also several pockets of neutral white wines, which can seem rather dreary when drunk over here, but which are invigoratingly refreshing when drunk, chilled, in the baking hot knee area.
Reds from the thigh area, in the North Western Piedmont – which is the foot of the mountains, not the foot of our beautifully designed boot – are made from Nebbiolo - wines with chalky tannin and violet scent, but above all with fresh acidity. Around the knee, in Tuscany, we find spicy, often oaky, Chianti with its cheesy taste and, again, fresh acidity.
It is only when we get down to the south - the ankle, foot and perilously soft fig, that wines become dark, baked and sweetly fruity, with less emphasis on acid. In fact, looking at a map, a fig is completely out of scale, but the flavours are right and I liked the mental picture of the stiletto, the pointy toe and the soft, yielding flesh of the fig.
Feudo di Santa Tresa, Nivuro 2004 is £8.99 from Oddbins and was in a league of its own. There were grunts of admiration around the table at its dark, almost syrupy, blackcurrant aroma. The taste was savoury and darkly fruity. Someone said it was “really, very nice” and we all nodded, with our mouths full of the delicious, spicy liquid, grinning carefully.
Casa Mia Sangiovese 2006 at £4.99 from Sainsbury’s is a better buy and smelt appealingly of cream toffees and blackcurrant sweets. The flavour was smooth and freshly acidic – not in the same league as the Nivuro, but a very, very good attempt for a fiver.
Cantine Settesoli, Aglianico 2006, which is £5.49 from Majestic smelt of Johnsons Baby Talc and tasted dark, hot and spicy. It was a very rustic style, which begged for food. Fina Nero d’Avola 2005, which is £8.10 from Tanners, smelt of blackcurrants and had a dry, baked taste which we thought would be great with food. Tanners are only a stone’s throw away in Shrewsbury and online, obviously, on www.tanners-wines.co.uk.
Inycon Estate, Growers Selection Merlot 2006, at £4.49 from Tesco, also smelt of blackcurrant, and tasted darkly baked but unlike the Fina, which we enjoyed, it had a burnt finish, which lost it marks.
Co-op Sicilian Red, at £2.99 is astonishingly good value. It smells of white pepper and tastes woody, but it has character and would help spicy food slip down very nicely. The other wines we tasted weren’t good at all, particularly an organic one that clearly hadn’t had enough sulphur dioxide and was in a poor state of decrepitude. Before the spring starts in earnest, and you begin to want refreshing white wines, can I suggest that you investigate the dark and spicy reds of the south?