Wine Wednesday at Unwined - Central Italy

Tooting Market, London. Wednesday 28-February-2018

Like buses. Nothing for ages then two wine tastings come along all at once. After last Wednesday's tasting here we are again back at Unwined in Tooting. This time all Italian wines from central Italy:

Falesco Vitiano : Grechetto : 2016 : Umbria : ITA £13.50
Cantina Orsogna : Pecorino : 2016 : Abruzzo : ITA £16.00
Villa Cialdini : Lambrusco Grasparossa : 2016 : Emilia Romagna : ITA £16.50
Vincola Carassanse : Montepulciano/Sangiovese : 2016 : Marche : ITA £11.50
Isole e Olena : Sangiovese/Canaiolo/Syrah : 2014 : Chianti Classico : ITA £26.00
Antonio Camillo Morellino di Scansano : Sangiovese : 2016 : Maremma : ITA £16.00

For a change Laura decided to play a 2, 1, 1, 2 formation, the inverse of last week:

• First an A-B comparison of two white grapes, Grechetto vs Pecorino
• Then a curve ball with the Lambrusco
• Next the first of three Sangiovese based reds
• Finally an A-B comparison of two Tuscan reds

The Grechetto very pale yellow with apple on the nose. On the palette it was like unripe cooking apples. Way too tart for me but Mary liked it. Or "crisp" as Laura euphemistically called it in marketing speak. Depends on one's personal taste. Me, I don't like sharp wines; Mary's Sauvignon Blancs are safe from my depredations.

The Pecorino is one of Mary's favourites. Also pale yellow and I got something a bit tropical on the nose. Tastewise an improvement on the Grechetto moving from cookers to Granny Smiths, Mary got white peaches, with a fuller, creamier texture than the first.

Poor old Lambrusco has had a bit of a bad rep. in the past but this is a proper example of the quality end of the style. Purple in colour, frizzante and raspberry, almost bubblegum on the nose. Red fruits on the palate, cherry and strawberry, and some tannins. It went very well with the parmigiano reggiano that Laura supplied to taste with this.

Then on to the reds...

The Vincola Carassanse was a very intense red, you couldn't see your fingers the other side of the glass; there was a hint of brick at the edge. I didn't get much in the nose but it was a bit nippy and the reds were possibly a little too cold to show as well as they could.

Tooting Market may be an indoor market but there are no doors and it was below freezing outside; the space heaters kept off the worst of the chill but we all kept our coats on.

The last pair were not dissimilar to each other. The Isole e Olena was ruby colour, showing some tertiary aromas, a hint of cedar, and some tannins. The Morellino was a murky ruby with tertiary notes of leather and sottobosco, and more pronounced tannins. Both lovely and a show of hands was fairly equally divided. They definitely need to go with food. Some Tuscan wild boar salami would be lovely.

There was some discussion about the Super Tuscans: an unofficial category of Tuscan wines, not recognised within the Italian wine classification system. It reminded me of when Mary and I went to San Gimignano and found some Ornellaia at an unmissable price. We snapped up six bottles and then had to buy a extra wheely case to bring them home. Ever since then it has been known as "The Italian Case"