Most wine aficionados will be very quick to tell you that wine is not merely a beverage, wine is food. It is meant to be savored and enjoyed as much as a great dish. I definitely agree. If you are new to wines, or if you tend to buy very inexpensive wines, they will often seem very similar. This is why we are so fond of the ViniCode™. It forces us to slow down and really think about the various layers in wine tastes and textures.
If you want to experiment with the idea that wine is food, I suggest starting with Italian wines. The Italians winemakers produce a style and quality for every budget. I chose seven different wines for our tasting.
I would like to thank certified sommelier Harry Constantinescu of Pearson's Wine of Atlanta for his help in choosing the wines. Without his help this tasting would not have been possible.
1. Amarone della Valpolicella - This is a deep, rich wine from the Veneto region (near Venice) made from grapes that have been dried before they are pressed. It can get very pricey. So you might want to ask for assistance when choosing. But if you get a good one, the price is definitely worth it.
2. Rosso di Montalcino - Almost everyone has heard of chianti. The grape from which that wine is made is called sangiovese (for more information about sangiovese click here). In the area around Tuscany, the sangiovese grape produces several wines of varying quality. At the top you have Brunello, all the way down to basic sangiovese. Rosso is considered the baby brother to Brunello.
3. Dolcetto di Dogliani - We chose several wines from what is considered Italy's premier wine producing region, the Piedmont. Dolcetto means "little sweet one". Unlike most European wines, this wine is actually named after the grape and the region. The most famous version is Dolcetto d'Alba.
4. Barolo - This is another wine from the Piedmont region. In this case the grape is nebbiolo which comes from the Italian word for fog, or nebbia. Nebbiolo is a tough, thick-skinned grape making a very astringent and long-lived wine. Can be pricey, but if you get a good bottle (ask for help) you will understand why Barolo is called the king of wines and the wines of kings.
5. Chianti Classico - We had to have the ultra-popular chianti in the mix. As I mentioned before, the grape is sangiovese, and classico is the top of the line in chianti, followed closely by rufina.
6. Barbera d'Alba - Yet another Piedmont representative. Barbera has been growing in quality and prestige (not to mention price) lately. Like dolcetto, the d'Alba version is the most popular, but also be on the look out for d'Asti.
7. Nero d'Avola - And now for something completely different. This wine is from Sicily. Of all of the wines mentioned, this wine would probably be considered the lowliest. It is not from one of the classified wine producing regions but no tour of Italy would be complete without a little jaunt over to the island of Sicily.
Here's how our tasting was done. All of the wines were tasted blind and notes were taken. The wines were ranked as "sippers". Then we prepared a delicious Italian meal (click here) and tried each wine, still blind, with the food. The wines were again ranked as "fooders". Then the overall rank was determined by a combination of the sipper and fooder scores. To get a close up of the ViniCodes™ of each wine, click on the image. Our tasters tonight were Lorrie Burroughs, Clare Aslaksen and Ted Field.
Seventh Place : La Loggia, Barbera d'Alba
sipper - sixth, fooder - seventh.
Of the lot, this was the cheapest wine at $7.50. Since our other wines were relatively pricey we wanted something frugal. And it tasted very frugal. This is not to say that this was a bad wine, it was just boring. The first thing that everyone noticed is that it smelled like a typical, California table wine. It was fruity and a little thin. Italian wines typically have a bracing shot of acidity, this wine was neither acidic nor round. It was that very "neither here nor there" quality which absolutely sank it with food. It did not add or detract, in fact it disappeared. If you take a look at the ViniCode™, you will see that most of the numbers are huddled around the 6 - 7 range. So I would have to say that this wine was balanced, but unexciting. Rule of thumb number one : We purchased this wine at a local grocery store with no guidance. When you do get help, ask the wine expert if they have actually tasted the wine in question. Most of the time they are quite honest. You want an actual description of the wine and not a rehashing of the label.
Sixth Place : Cusumano, Nero d'Avola
sipper - fifth, fooder - sixth
It was neck and neck to see which wine would make the least impression at this tasting. As with the barbera I wrote, "a little simple, not very interesting". I was expecting this wine to be a fruit bomb. What with the warm, southern Italian summer, I predicted a very ripe and full-bodied selection. Boy was I wrong, even the chianti seemed more full-bodied! Once again this is expressed by the ViniCode™. The experience is very simple and unremarkable. But in all fairness, Lorrie did choose this wine as her favorite sipper. It is inexpensive, so why not broaden your horizons and give it a shot? You may agree with Lorrie!
Fifth Place : Le Bocce, Chianto Classico
sipper - seventh, fooder - fourth
This was the evening's real disappointment. Unfortunately, this chianti was passed its prime. The old girl's hat was droopy and dusty. But underneath the sort of moldy earthiness, you could still detect the remnants flowers and fruits. And though I was pulling for it, there was no resuscitating this wine. The reason it was so disappointing is that, through the mustiness, it was still a very interesting wine, with a lot going on. The reason why it fared much better as a fooder than as a sipper, was that the food masked a lot of the wine's offness. And it still had just enough acidity to stand up to Clare's delicious tomato sauce. Too bad. Rule of thumb number two : Not all red wines are meant to be aged. This wine was a gift and we were proud to have it, but we learned that older is not always better.
Fourth Place : Pecchinino, Dolcetto di Dogliani
sipper - fourth, fooder - fifth
This wine was the toughest one for me to figure out. It was my second favorite sipper. I thought it had a nice big, rich taste. It was fruity, but tempered with a fairly acidic edge. And it's not that this wine was bad with the meal. It's just that, this time out, there were four wines better. But that is the beauty and fun of wine tasting. There is a surprise every time. You can learn regions, you can learn dates, and you can learn grapes, but the best you will ever do is guess at what is in store for you inside each bottle. Rule of thumb number three : If you are not having fun at a wine tasting then maybe you are taking it too seriously.
Third Place : Valdicava, Rosso di Montalcino
sipper - third, fooder - third
There was more disagreement about this wine than the others. To me, the smell was very slight, which is a lot of the fun of wine tasting. The wine was astringent and full bodied, but not necessarily richer. One of the other tasters really enjoy it and placed it second as a sipper! I was not as impressed and placed it fourth as a sipper and fooder, but in a democracy... If you notice, many of these wines have very similar ViniCode™ profiles. That is to be expected from wines that are so closely related (three from the Piedmont, two made from sangiovese). But it is still fun to see how the tasters pick up on subtleties and which they prefer. And that brings us to rule of thumb number four : Wine is not an absolute. There is no scale that can rank it and tell you what you are supposed to like. The beauty of wine is in its very subjectivity.
Now something interesting happened - the top two wines tied for first place.
Co-First Place : Capitel de' Roari, Amarone della Valpolicella
sipper - first, fooder - second
This wine was Clare's favorite. She ranked it first in both categories. And it was wonderful. Everything an Amarone should be. Big, rich, very ripe fruit taste. (remember it is made from dried grapes, so it should be intense) And the ViniCode™ reflects this. In fact we probably could have given it a 9 for fruit. The only criticism that I had for this wine was it seemed a little alcoholy or "hot". But that is a very slight criticism. It also was loaded with the wonderful tastes and smells of cinnamon and nutmeg. The Amarone was slightly round, which is another attribute of a crowd-pleaser. I was very thankful to have had the wine expert's assistance on this one. He guided me toward a less expensive bottle than the one I had originally chosen. A wonderful value.
Co-First Place : Beni di Batasiolo, Barolo
sipper - second, fooder - first
This was my favorite. I placed it first as a sipper and first with food. But to be fair, I can understand why Clare may have not been as enthusiastic. This wine is all about texture. The tannins made the wine very astringent, and it was fairly acidic. But I loved the smell and could swear I detected some mint! I also thought it was the most complex of the offerings tonight. But with the food, was where this wine really stood out. Lorrie and I both thought it worked with every dish. It cut through the creaminess of the cheeses and married perfectly with the tomato sauce. Clare agreed ranking this wine second in both categories. Rule of thumb number four : When you decide that you want to attempt wine and food pairings, think about where the wine is from. This my be a great clue about what kind of dish it works well with. Most cultures create their wine to go with their food!
Now get out there and drink some Italian wines!
Michele Chiarlo
