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italy

Masùt doesn’t fit

Masùt da Rive 2007 Isonzo del Friuli Pinot Nero (Friuli-Venezia Giulia) – Faded, earthy fruit. Seems prematurely…mature, though I don’t know whether to credit grape quality or aggression/timidity in the cellar. Either way, it’s a pleasant quaff, but not much more. (6/12)

Ettore Amos

Ettore Germano 1999 Barolo Cerretta (Piedmont) – Gritty tar in dark-fruited runoff water. Hints of fine tobacco and bark. There’s a fist here, but the glove isn’t velvet, it’s medium-grit sandpaper. I waver between liking this and thinking that the materials other than tannin just aren’t quite interesting enough. But it’s long, the coal-like minerality turns somewhat crystalline on the finish, and had I another bottle I’d be willing to wait it out. (6/12)

Murgia, Murgia me

Colli della Murgia 2010 “Erbaceo” (Puglia) – 60% fiano minutolo, 40% greco. Both grapes  are quite obviously present, with the wax and stick of the former mingling with the ashen acridity of the latter. There’s a lot of noise up front, but it’s way too quiet out back, and ultimately the wine promises much more than it delivers. Advice: better chilled than at “proper temperature.” (5/12)

Cusumano y mano

Cusumano 2009 Nero d’Avola (Sicily) – Perspiration fruit under black light, dark bluish-purple, with smoked walnuts in neon-like ultraviolet. Very straightforward wine that probably requires something that was very recently bloody, but good in that idiom. (5/12)

Herbal teamaker

Varnelli Amaro “l’Erborista” (Marches) – While there are fernet-like mint and dark green herbal notes here, this liqueur’s heavier foot remains in a more traditionally amaro-esque camp. Which is, frankly, a ridiculous thing to say given the remarkable variation between amari, and in actuality this still manages a certain straddle, bringing caramelized everything (except caramel) into the equation, de-sugaring it, and then tossing in a blizzard of naturalia. If I’ve a quibble, it’s that the result then seemed gauzed, as if there’s an extra level the liquid isn’t being allowed to reach. But in its wake is elegance, and that’s OK too. (5/12)

Againsta

Castello di Lispida 2002 “Amphora” (Veneto) – A very, very sludgy performance from this wine, which is always big but usually shows more life. Less like drinking molten metal than drinking the mold into which the metal was poured, this just pounds, pounds, pounds away until you finally get tired enough of the pounding to push it off. (5/12)

Semper vino

Bellotti 2010 “Semplicemente Vino” Bianco (Piedmont) – Ah, if only the name were true. Not in this case, but in others. Icy, crisp, refreshing, aromatic, yellows and greens microbursting like grapey pop rocks. I can imagine this studding giant tubs of ice, bottle after bottle. Supply your own preferred outdoor scene. (5/12)

No. 1: the loach

Radoar 2008 “Loach” (Alto Adige) – An zweigelt/pinot noir blend. It tastes of zweigelt, more or less, with a plump middle no doubt provided by its companion grape; slightly biting wild berries, dark and just a bit bitter, but with that fulsome midpalate that isn’t often there. The aromatics have been tamped down a bit, as well. While this is certainly better than pummeling zweigelt into submission with things like merlot, which perversion I’ve certainly seen, I’m not entirely convinced by this pairing; it’s good red wine, yes, but I can’t quite hear what it has to say about grape or place. (5/12)

Elba room

Cecilia 2010 Ansonica (Elba) – Polished beads of incandescent fruit. In fact, more fruit iconography than actual fruit. Clean, with a brilliant sheen, but everything from initial aroma to the final fade is rounded off. (4/12)