Please join
us this Friday (5:30-7:30) and Saturday (4:30-6:30) for our FREE weekly
tastings. This week Charles and the Vino staff will be pouring five
international grape varietals as interpreted by several talented Italian
winemakers.
For more information on this and other events at Vino, please email events@vinosite.com.
Last week, we spoke about how the Italians make wine to suit almost every
taste and every occasion. They can make wines that are very traditional, make
wines that are very international in style, and many wines that fall in
between. If someone comes into Vino and says, “I want a wine that tastes like
a Californian wine,” or “an Australian wine,” or a wine from almost anywhere
in the world, we can almost always find a wine to make that person happy.
The Italians have been using international grapes for a very long time. In
fact, in northeastern Italy,
these grapes were introduced by Napoleon when he set up various members of
his family as the rulers of different Italian principalities. So the
tradition of international grapes goes back at least over 200 years and in
some cases beyond.
You might ask, “why are these grapes called
international grapes?” Grapes like Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot,
Cabernet Sauvignon, grapes that originated in France. They are called
“international” varieties because historically they have been grown all over
the world with great success. Cabernet Sauvignon, for example, has been grown
for many years in California
and has produced many famous wines. When it comes to Italy,
however, “international” grapes do very well there, even though Italian
indigenous grapes don’t do well in other parts of the world. In other words,
you grow almost anything in Italy
but you can’t grow Italian – at least not with much success, historically –
outside of Italy.
Chardonnay is grown all over Italy, in every style possible, from wines that
are done in stainless-steel to those like the Chardonnay single-vineyard Rupis from Ascevi (Friuli), which we’ll be pouring this
week, to the Planeta Chardonnay (Sicilia) which is done in more of an
international style.
Another popular international grape in Italy is Sauvignon Blanc, one of my favorite wines because I feel it goes
better with food than a lot of other whites. When in doubt of what to drink
with a particular dish that calls for white wine, Sauvignon Blanc is usually
a very good choice. Most Italian Sauvignon Blancs
come from the northern part of Italy and are usually vinified in stainless steel. These wines are very
herbaceous, grassy, and have very good acidity.
Even though the most famous wines made with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot seem to come from Toscana, these grapes are grown all over
Italy.
The great enologist Riccardo Cottarella
has said that Umbria, for example, is the
best place in Italy
to grow Merlot. All one has to do is taste the Castello delle Regine 100%
Merlot and you understand what he’s talking about. And for those of you who
know San Leonardo, a wine we also carry in the store, you know
that even in Trentino-Alto Adige
they make world-class, international Bordeaux
blends from Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot there.
So please join us this Friday and Saturday as we taste a number international
grapes grown on Italian soil, some modern, some traditional, some in between
these two styles.
And remember again, while you can take international grapes and grow them in Italy, you can take Italian grapes outside of Italy. As a
very wise person once said, or should have said, you can take grapes out of Italy but you can't take Italy out of
the grapes.
--Charles Scicolone, Wine Director, I Trulli and Vino
Charles would love to hear from you: please email him at charles@vinosite.com.
