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italy

Rico

[bottle]ca’Rugate 2005 Soave Classico San Michele (Veneto) – Delicate and lightly herbal, showing sun and air and a mild, lemony character, but not a whole lot else. It’s perfectly fine, it’s just…eh. (8/07)

The full Monte

[bottle]ca’Rugate 2005 Soave Classico Monte Fiorentine (Veneto) – While this is not entirely unlike the San Michele, there’s a clean bell-tone of fennel and fruit in the middle, plus a rounded, polished mineral core, that gives this wine the clear advantage over its brother. It’s no Pieropan (or Anselmi), but it’s a good wine in its own right. (8/07)

Tufi luck

Teruzzi & Puthod 2005 “Terre di Tufi” (Tuscany) – Very shy at first, but as it airs it takes on layers of sun-blanched melon and almonds covered with layers of volcanic dust. It’s interesting enough on its own, but it also does an agreeable dance with food, seeping into the corners and crannies with grace and growing intensity. The finish is on the short side, but that’s a minor complaint. This wine is easy to like. (9/07)

Nosiola-cancelling headphones

Lavis “Bolognani” 2006 Nosiola (Trentino) – Viognier’s rustic cousin, with all the intensely floral aromatics but slightly less class, and more balancing acidity than you’ll usually find in a viognier. There’s also a drying, papery exterior that somehow seems to work in this wine. Intriguing and very good, but not particularly complex. (9/07)

Pigato in a poke

Bruna “Le Russeghine” 2005 Riviera Ligure di Ponente Pigato (Liguria) – Vague gestures in the direction of old nuts and long-faded perfume. There are flor-like notes as well, though here they achieve less than they do in Sherry. Otherwise, very short and generally vapid…and given the price, a spectacularly poor value. (9/07)

Trappist family singers

[courtyard]Monastero Cuore Cistercensi Trappiste Vitorchiano “Coenobium” Vino da Tavola Bianco (Lazio) – Non-vintage, but it’s the 2005 release, and a blend of verdicchio, grechetto and trebbiano toscana. Lemon (fresh, juiced, preserved and rind) is the dominant characteristic, but in no way does this actually taste like fermented lemons…there’s plenty of grey-lit sand and flower-petal texture to it as well. There’s an austerity to the package that holds back most of the more boisterous notions. Very pleasant. (9/07)

Grosjean, petitjean

[vines]Grosjean 2005 Pinot Noir (Vallée d’Aoste) – A difficult wine, giving nothing in a spirit of generosity (and certainly not fun). Soil and granite, some dusty red fruit in the background. Indifferent. I’m inclined to like wines that are all about dirt, and maybe this just needs some age, but it’s a bit too cranky for my tastes at this stage. (9/07)

Serra smile

[bottle]Argiolas 2006 Isola dei Nuraghi “Serra Lori” (Sardinia) – A rosato of cannonau (grenache). Deep pink verging on purple, with a concentrated ripe berry flavor hit by little pellets of graphite and fizz, plus a keening anise note. This could pass as a light red wine, but it’s by no means overly heavy, and it avoids the common pink grenache pitfall of excess alcohol. A very good wine. (8/07)

Saladini course

[botti]Pilastri 2006 “Consenso” Rosato (Marche) – Beautiful strawberry notes dusted with the spice rack (more the dried herbs than the ground pods), with a fine, appealing balance and something on the finish that tastes like albino walnuts, if that makes any sense. There’s light complexity in its mix of fruit and spice, but it’s so juicy and drinkable that resisting a hearty quaff will be difficult. (7/07)

TN: Locutus of Borgo Scopeto

[bottle]Borgo Scopeto 2001 “Borgonero” (Tuscany) – Quite modern in intention, though with a fair balance between crisp crushed berries and firmer, more insistent cabernet-based darkness. There’s a mild smoky/leathery element as well, mostly expressed on the finish. The wine isn’t overdone for the genre, but it is showing some signs of weakness, especially on the finish. That’s a little surprising. (7/07)