Went to a mall, something I loathe doing, in the what the locals call "the hinterland" of Milan (basically the suburbs) to get my Apple computer fixed. I found out I had to make a goshdarned appointment. So I took a stroll in the mall and found a giant supermarket - and of course supermarkets have wine sections so that is where I ended up going. Wow, gotta love a country where the most expensive wine in the supermarket is 15 Euros! Well, that's good and bad, there's a ton of swill there, but the selection is quite large. I bought several wines below.
Gattinara 2001, NerviCan't beat a fine nebbiolo, already aged for you, at Euro 15.16
Very tasty, elegant, pure. Good nebbiolo nose. Classic translucent color. I like these northern piemonte nebbiolos cause they don't have that pasty, overweight quality of most Barolos. Not that this didn't have dusty tannins. It had a ton. I wish I could travel to the future and see what this wine would be like in 10 years at 20 yrs. old. I would be very curious, cause I don't think anybody knows for sure how wine evolves, despite all the predictions. Overall, a good wine, not a great wine. "Needs more time" as everybody says, although I don't know where that time will take it. Tasted over two days, tannins remained, no oxidation. I will buy more (at this price, why not?) and age it for ten years and then I will invite everybody from WLDG to come and taste for themselves.
Cerasuolo di Vittoria, Nicosia, SicilyI think this was 2008. I'm not sure and the empty bottle was thrown out. I took no notes. This was a whopping Euro 5.69. Delicious stuff. Aromatic, round, full and elegant. Not a "serious" wine, but it was damn tasty, perfumed and pleasant. Great bargain as an everyday wine.
"BUIO" 2007, Carignano del Sulcis, Cantina Mesa, SardiniaThis wine was Euro 9.50. "Buio" means dark. The wine was disappointing. Not horrible, just too oily and sweet for me. Others will probably enjoy it. I needed a little more structure. The nose is herbaceous and roasted, not bad. The mouth is like a pastry. The "poetic" blurb on the back-label is quite funny, I'll try to translate: "the color of fire and black grapes, austere silence of stone, aroma of warm wind from the south, reflections of primitive strength simple and vigorous like a handshake."
Dolcetto D'Alba Vigneto Cotta' 2009, Cantina Parroco di Neive (Azienda San Michele), PiemonteI was curious to try this cause its a 2009. Considering it's only February this is a young as heck wine and must have been bottled very recently.
Good stuff. Good bargain at Euro 6.89. Round in the mouth with good acidity, ripe, good body. Typical Dolcetto nose. Went great with a deep-dish style pizza with hot salami.
Now I'm drinking some Croatian no-label grappa I bought from a tiny wine producer near Rovigno (used to be Italy) called Visintin. He must have put it in some wood cause its amber colored. Very, very tasty stuff. Not your typical grappa cause its actually quite smooth and goes down almost too easy. Cheers!