Two Brunellos By Bondi Santi Spa

Montalcino is a great of example of what the entire region of Tuscany is capable of producing. Within the commune of Montalcino you have a myriad of growing conditions concentrated in a relatively small area. That results in a region that produce a wide range of variations of an established theme. Montalcino is also blessed to be large enough to produce a bountiful output that ensures great bang for the buck since the price of wine like pretty much everything else is based on supply and demand.
Biondi Santi Spa recently offered me two versions of of Brunello Di Monalcino DOCG. One is the Villa Poggio Salvi 2004 and the other being Biondi Santi Tenutaa Greppo 2004. The Villa Poggio is the fruitier of the two, and probably ranks high on the Sangiovese fruit scale. The Tenuto Greppo 2004 comes across as being dryer, even raspy in comparison. Both wines hold an elegance, with the Villa Poggio showing the same character from first sip to last drop – the Tenuto Greppo, however, opened up more as the bottle emptied, and would be a great candidate for your decanter. Spotting the differences in the two wines is like listening to Eric Clapton's Derek and the Dominos original recording of Layla and his MTV Unplugged toe tapper. The Villa Poggio being the new Layla it is agreeable and catchy from the start. Whereas, the original has many layers of character, all worth peeling back just like the Tenuta Greppo. Everybody will have a debate about which version of the song or wine they prefer, but hats off to any musician or winemaker that can produce high enough quality to garner debate.

Montalcino: Another Brunello di Montalcino

Maximino Hernandez from the Pinino winery in Tuscany brimmed with pride as he carefully poured me a glass of his high end Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Clandestino 2004. I can't say how happy I was to meet such a eager proponent of his wine, and that it offered me a chance to compare to another 2004 Brunello DOCG (see previous blog, Le Ragnaie...) from the same year. Max's pride came from the fact that this is the first vintage produced by Pinino name while under his (co-) ownership. The minerality came through like you would expect from a Brunello. Pinino crafted this wine with a noticeable accent on oaky flavour, certainly more oaky than the product produce by his neighbours at Le Ragnaie. Slavonian (Croatia) oak throws a curve-ball into the flavour, adding a sense of mystery. The character of the wine was altogether different despite their reliance on 100% Sangiovese grape and the relative proximity within the commune of Montalcino. The Pinino website features the music of UB40's “Red Red Wine”, but this is hardly an appropriate soundtrack for this wine. Sipping Rum and Cokes and smelling the fresh see air blowing in off the Point of Negril, Jamaica is what comes to my mind with that particular song. If you could morph the reggae beat into a waltz, ( a stretch musically) it would be more appropriate. Whereas I had compared the rawness of Le Ragnaie's version of the Brunello to 60's art-rock legend Lou Reed, Pinino decided to get a “Hired Gun” wine maker in Dr. Paolo Vaggagini. The results are predictably more classic. More refined. Mozart's glorious Haffner Symphony No. 35 Finale captures the spirit of this wine that has very high aspirations, and delivers the goods.

Le Ragnaie: Boutique Vineyard in Montalcino

Italian laws can be quite inflexible when it comes to naming rights for its wines. Montalcino has been producing its Brunello Di Montalcino for eons by aging the wine for at least two and a half years in wooden barrels. In nineteen-eighty-four wine makers in Montalcino won the right to market their wines that were barrelled for only 6 months under the new name of Rosso Di Montalcino and retain the prestigious Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita. Le Ragnaie is one of the smaller vineyards in the hilly Montalcino commune producing both the Brunello and Rosso monikers - both reviewed in this blog. They occupy the highest elevation in the commune, growing grapes on a tiny 8.5 hectare plot.

The Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2007 is a copper tinged Red that still tasted young in the fall of '09. The taste of green pepper came through the earthy organic splashes of the 100% Sangiovese. The wine's youth and strength seemed guarded and shy, much like listening to Coldplay (pick any CD – they all follow the same formula!) This wine may have a lulling effect on you until you realize that you are caught up in a beautiful melody and almost tapping your toes to “Yellow.” Enjoy how this wine ebbs and flows between intimate and brash.

When moving to the more aged Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2004 the Rosso bows to the mastery of its bigger brother. This wine has a Lou Reed like character, that is puts artistry and raw-nerve emotions ahead of slick production. Much like the Velvet Underground had the courage to let their voices and artistry resonate through the their studios, this wine is about allowing great grapes ferment in oak barrels and find their own flavour. Lou Reed's Velvet Underground never “Made it” to the top of the charts, but certainly influenced a great number of those who did. Don't expect to see this small release wine to show up on the wine list at major-chain family restaurant like East Side Mario's, but look for it in the cellars of restaurants that offer their clients wines that distinguish themselves.

Have I Told You Lately That I Love Chianti?

I would drink Chianti with pretty much any meal. I even love how a Chianti is spelled. I like to picture myself zooming around the villages of Tuscany on a Vespa carrying a wicker basket loaded with prosciutto (another word that is fun to spell) and a bottle of Chianti popping out of the side of my backpack at opposite angle a loaf of fresh baked bread. Chianti's charm starts before you open the bottle. It lives in a place in my imagination where Chianti is still sold in wicker-bottomed teardrop shaped bottles. I love it when a Chianti has a shade of Cherry Coke without the fizz. (Note to self: try Chianti with a smoked meat platter, hold the dill pickles please.) Castellare Di Castellina captures that sweet, fruity cherry with their Chianti Classico DOCG Castellare Riserva. 2006 made some wonderfully ripe and fruity wines in Tuscany, consider this exhibit A. This wine is 95% Sangiovese and 5% Canaiolo Nero, and I suspect that helps with dark colouration and intense fruitiness.

Take a road trip on along a coastal highway and make your day's end special with stop at inn that serves up home cooking and doesn't mind if you open up a bottle wine with your meal. Make sure that your in-car iPod or CD player has Natalie Cole's cherry coated cover of Bruce Springsteen's Pink Cadillac to get you in the mood. Parental Warning: may trick a few casual wine drinkers into thinking this is a Californian wine. Enjoy your meal and try to twist the inn-keepers arm to play some Pink Martini. Their tunes make forthe perfect combination of electronic funky and jazz sophistication to ride shotgun on this runaway American (like) dream.

Rolling the clock a year forward and offering a purebred Sangiovese version of Chianti, the Chianti Classico DOCG Villa Cafaggio 2007 by Casa Girelli is not feeling California, nor looking Minnesota (early 90's grunge reference, don't worry if you don't get it!) With a glass of this wine you will see that it is a more conservative wine. It pushes the conversation away from images of unbridled freedom into a theatre whose architecture is inspired by the masters. Perhaps short of being a masterpiece itself, it is clearly made by a wine maker who has honed his skills. Like any composer of Classical music or the Opera aspires to be held on equal footing with Verdi or Rossini, this wine is more reminiscent of contemporary composers who have access to the accrued knowledge of glorious history of Italian opera composition. It also wears the heavy albatross of surpassing the previous masterpieces, without the license of innovation. Listening: Ennio Morricone's soundtrack to the movie, The Legend of 1900.

Tuscan Whites

Tuscan Whites are traditionally made from the Vernaccia di San Gimignano grape. The two wines I will be music matching today represent the traditional and a “Super”Tuscan made from the ubiquitous Chardonnay grape. Azienda Agricola Colognole has planted Chardonnay grapes in their fertile Tuscan vineyards – eschewing traditional techniques and concocting a mature, and sensual wine that could be best paired with some Barry White, candlelight evenings and a bear-skin rug lying in front of a smouldering fireplace. For this Toscana IGT Quattro Chiacchiere 2004 the first notes open up with an intimate narration before the orchestra and and the rhythm section kick in. Visually this wine was on the slightly opaque range, at least in terms of white wine. By the way, thanks to wine specialist Manon Chalifoux from the SAQ for this musical suggestion.


Back to the traditional side Panizzi produces their Vernaccia Di San Gimignano DOCG Vigna Santa Margherita. It spent 5 months in barrel and developed some vanilla notes. Whereas the Barry White Chardonnay carried gusto and swagger, this wine wafted quiet confidence of a Paul Desmond Saxophone melody. Wispy and straw like in colour, the fermentation “sur lys” creates a noble yet accessible link to the years of the great renaissance.

Whenever somebody asks you what a Super Tuscan, don't just jump into the default of example of Sangiovese Vs. Cabernet Sauvignon. The whites of Tuscany offer just as compelling story, and the best excuse to dust off your Barry White albums since Ally McBeal.

Quick Hit: Chateau Montaiguillon 2006 (Montagne Saint Emilion)

The Montagne Saint Emilion wine region in Bordeaux is an interesting wine region – cobbled northeast of Saint Emilion, the higher terrain is more amenable to Merlots and Cabernet Franc than Cabernet Sauvignon grapes that are more likely to grow in the better known Saint Emilion. The result of the particular terroir is wine that is usually less tannic and almost certainly less accented on bright fruit. I opened up a 375ml demi-bouteuille with a beautiful roast beef that my local grocer was pretty much giving away. The wine was already showing peak aging and tasted a little bit earthy – which worked nicely with the generously salted medium rare beast and terragon garlic beets on my plate. I was listening to the Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite and the CD came to its thunderous, romping conclusion just as I popped the last potato wedge into my mouth and washed it down with a gulp of wine. The conclusion could not have been better synchronized. However, if I had to do it all over again I might have gone for a more manly soundtrack like “Dvorak's New World Symphony” - even though this was a decidedly old-world wine.

Tasting Notes: Unfamiliar Italy.

If only somebody would write a geography text book based on wine making, we would all have a better understanding of the world we live in and we would learn to enjoy wonderful wines made with a greater variety of grapes, winemakers and winemaking techniques. During my last blog I made mention of a couple tools that we all use in our daily lives but wine enthusiasts could make better use of when educating themselves about their wines. Google and Wikipedia. Use maps and varietel descriptions to familiarize yourself with new regions and grapes. Seeing where wine regions are situated relative to areas you are more familiar with makes it easier to gamble on newer regions, and the same can be said for the grape varietels grown in those areas. Italy alone has twenty recognized wine regions, how many of them have you tried?



From the region of Basilicata comes the Spumante Metodo Classico IGT Ego Sum 2007. The winemaker assured me that as far as he knows this is the only 100% Primitivo Sparkling wine being produced and marketed on any scale. The bubbles rose quickly to the top of my glass, but fortunatley, didn`t lather in the mouth like cheap Spumantes tend to. Tight and crisp this wine conjured up memories of George Michael`s Fast Love, surprisingly mature and sophiticated – completely removed from his Wham! Days.



Trento DOC Vino Santo Arele 1998 by Cavit is an incredible wine. Grown in a southern micoclimate in the north-eastern Trentino Alto Adige it takes the surpising sophistication of `Fast Love` to a brand new height. I can not help but to think of being forteen years old and seeing Sade on the Live-Aid stage, this incredible beauty from a world that I knew very little about calmly and seductively charming the crowd. Made from the not-so-famous Nosiola grape, this viscous white wine enraptures more than it envelopes. A late harvest wine that is sweet without being sugary: this definitley a smooth operator. Expect a copper colouring and sweet apricot taste.



Referred to in English as "The Marches," Marche produces reds that are a blend of Montepulciano and Sangiovese and Whites produced from the Maceratino grape. Colli Masceratesi Ribona DOC Le Grane 2007 reminds me of the class of Whites often labelled with "Di Greco." This wine does not burst with fruity flavour; it features the "grape-skin" taste and noticeable tannins. Much like the style of a Glenn Gould on piano the beauty of this wine is its impeccable precision. If you are going to be hosting a bar-b-que dinner, cook some white fish like a snapper on tin foil and enjoy this wine while you pick away at the caramelized bits stuck to the tin foil after you transfer to a serving dish. Wipe your hands and get a fresh wine glass to hide the evidence!



Umbria is south of Toscana, and produces some great wines as well. Sagrantino grapes are produced and used in the recognized DOCG Reds. Montefalco Sagrantino DOCG Albaruta 2005 looks like many wines from Toscana and is a presents some complex spicy tastes that are subtle yet distinguishable. Pick up a bottle of this wine and drink it between Christmas and New Years with pannini of leftover Christmas turkey, some pesto and baby lettuce greens. Suggested listening Bruce Cockburn`s Christmas album or his beautiful track "The Coldest Night of the Year."



Enjoy the wine. Enjoy the music.