Every once in awhile, Blinky comes up with a really good blog post. Today's post on Lacrima di Morra d'Alba is one of his most informative and best:
WBlakeGray:Lacrima
Lacrima di Morra d'Alba from the Marche is one of my favorite Italian red wines. Stevie Stacionis/BayGrape labels it "The First Wine I Ever Hated" because it smells like her great-aunts perfume. She must have not cared much for her great aunt. It can often smell like my GrandmaNina's cheap & overpowering perfume....and what's so wrong with that. My GrandmaNina was a great lady to me as a little kid. But the perfume can be pretty strong, not unlike Brachetto or Freisa or MoscatoRosa. And that is a good thing. Who wants a wuss nose in a wine like Burgundy or Bordeaux?? Not me!!
One of the things I learned from Blinky's post is that Lacrima (which means "tears") has a thin skin and must be harvested early. Otherwise, the skin breaks and the grapes tear-up like they are weeping wine. This precludes harvesting later and making a bigger wine. To make a full-bodied Lacrima, you must add Sangio or Montepulciano. At least if your goal is big points out of Monktown.
Lacrima is a grape variety they should be planting all up & down the Coast of Calif. Although I believe there are a couple of other plantings of Lacrima, UntiVnyds has the only Lacrima on the market thus far. Because the vines are badly virused, they make such a tiny amount, that they usually do a multi-year blend. And it is a terrific (if atypical) expression of Lacrima, much bigger than any from the Marche. Still, since it's not Cabernet, it's not destined for big points outta Monktown. But it is a wine worth trying. Unti is doing really interesting stuff these days and their Montepulciano is one of the best in Calif.
Alas, Blinky missed the opportunity, whilst on the subject of Lacrima, to bring up Visciola. This is a terrific Marche dessert wine made from Visciola cherries and Lacrima wine. I doubt that Blinky has ever tried one. I showed one to MattRorick once and he was quite impressed by it. But Matt must regard it a a really forlorn hope as he's not rising to the challenge. But with their abundance of cherries and PetiteSirah, the SuisunVlly could be making world-class Visciola if only somebody would do it. Anyone??
Anyway, nice post by Blake today.
Tom