Category: Food

Comparing two red wines from Tuscany

“Montepulciano of every wine is king,” said the founder of modern experimental biology, Francesco Redi, in 1685, after tasting 500 types of wines. You may remember from high school biology that Redi, the Italian physician, demonstrated that maggots resulted not from spontaneous generation but from eggs laid by flies. Perhaps as important to Redi’s celebrity as a scientist is his judgment of wine. A native of Tuscany, and later residing in Florence, where his most notable scientific achievements were made, Redi had access to the same great wines from Tuscany that we enjoy today.

The sangiovese grape is the varietal that goes into the making of fine classic Chiantis, brunello di Montalcino, and vino nobile di Montepulciano. (Brunello is the alias given to the sangiovese grape.) The sangiovese grape is grown throughout much of Italy, with an estimated 250,000 acres and more planted to it. However, when planted in the southern region of Tuscany, the grape shines to produce a wine that is ready to drink early but becomes full-bodied after cellar aging.

Our first wine, Cantina Del Redi 2015 Toscana Sangiovese Pleos (originally priced at the New Hampshire State Liquor & Wine Outlets at $42.99, reduced to $20.99), is from a winery in the town of Montepulciano, 25 miles southeast of Sienna. As the label states, the wine is made from 100 percent sangiovese grapes. The alcohol content is 14 percent. The Pleos, as described on the website, “is born of the need to bring to your tables all the taste of the purest and most fresh sangiovese of our lands. It wants to be a fun wine, with scents of purple and crispy black cherry. Light but rich in history.” This vintage was awarded a score of 91 points by James Suckling, former Senior Editor and European Bureau Chief of Wine Spectator and regarded as one of the most influential wine critics. The color is intense with a slight burnt sienna red, in the depth of the glass thinning to an orange rim. It holds up to the website’s suggestion of rich dark cherry, both to the nose and to the tongue with some added spice, along with a little chewiness, ending in a long, dry, slightly acidic finish. This wine is not a sipping wine but needs to be paired to food. It can be enjoyed with white- or red-sauced pasta, marinated beef, or Mexican dishes. As the label states, this is a rosso from Montepulciano, and as such has an aging requirement of only six months in oak (as compared to the minimum of two years for our next wine); however, this wine is a great bargain and can be enjoyed for another five years, if cellared.

Our second wine, Lunadoro 2015 Vino Nobile Di Montepulciano (originally priced at the New Hampshire State Liquor & Wine Outlets at $44.99, reduced to $18.99), is sometimes called the big brother to the rosso. Also made from sangiovese grapes, it is aged for a minimum of 24 months in oak barrels, not so much to add flavor as for the slow maturation the barrels provide. The barrels are larger than traditional barrique and thus have less surface area in relation to volume, to avoid the vanilla or toast notes found in wine. While not enjoying the same cache as the Brunello noted above, it does carry the moniker of “nobile,” as the wine was once the wine of popes and nobles. After a short decline of quality in the mid-20th century, it has rebounded as the lesser grapes of this region are now slated for the rosso, sampled above, improving the quality and status of the vino nobile.

The color is maroon red, and will take on a subtle brick orange tint as it ages. To the nose it also has cherry notes with some plum, generated by the aging. To the tongue, the cherry stays on with a light tannic leather finish. Because of the aging, and its acidity, it is a wine suitable for cellaring, as it can improve with a decade or even two in your wine cellar. This “big brother of the two” can be sipped, or thoroughly enjoyed with a grilled steak.

It was extremely interesting and informative to taste and compare these two wines, coming from the same hilltop town in the same region noted for its exceptional quality of red wine. It is well worth conducting your own test and comparing the two. Take the test!

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.