2009 Pithy Little Wine Company Sangiovese Rosé

A Different Kind of Pink Wine

Pink wine. And a skull.

I’m starting to really like rosés. I think it started with sparkling rosé, which I pretty early on took to have more complexity—and, well, oomph—than blanc de blancs and blanc de noirs sparkling. Part of me is still the macho guy who isn’t 100% comfortable drinking a pink wine, but some of them are just so damn good, that it doesn’t matter.

Take this sangiovese rosé, for instance. Made from sangio grapes grown in the French Camp Vineyard in the Paso Robles AVA, it is a rosé unto itself.

First off, the wine isn’t particularly pink; it’s more of an orange, or a “pale red.” I know what you’re saying to yourself—“pale red” is pink, Steve!—and really, you’re not wrong. It just doesn’t really look pink in the glass, hence the distinction—even if it is silly, and even if it isn’t really accurate—of calling it “pale red.”

The nose on this wine just screams “summer!” It features notes of bright strawberry, apricot, and peach. The wine is light bodied, crisp and refreshing, would be even moreso in a deep chill I think. The dominant notes on the palate are peach and strawberry.

The wine isn’t incredibly complex or anything. It’s not a blow-you-away wine. What it is, is incredibly delicious. Do like I did, get over your aversion to pink wine (assuming you have one), and give this Central Coaster a shot. It’s perfect for a hot summer day.

Verdict: B+

(photo: Not of the actual Pithy Sangio Rosé, I just thought it was an awesome picture of a pink wine. Courtesy Flickr user Deannster / CC BY-NC-ND)

2005 Uccelliera Brunello di Montalcino

Wine That Will Make You See God

I’m not even being all that facetious with the title. Nor am I saying this will make you “see God” in the way that spinning around really fast over and over and over again and tripping over the railing at the Grand Canyon and smacking your head on the way down, or overdosing on heroin, will make you “see God.” That’s too literal.

But there is a reason that wine is made on this planet. There is a purpose, there is a source of inspiration for it. I don’t know if that is “God” or what one person, or another person calls “God,” or if it’s just in some people’s blood, and in some terroir‘s dirt and clay, to make really goddamn good wine.

Whatever it is, this is it. This is the kind of wine, exactly the kind of wine, that makes people into winedrinkers.

Some people ask those of us in the wine blog whateversphere what wine “turned us” really on to wine. I still think for me it was a 2002 Saintsbury Carneros Pinot Noir I had on Valentine’s Day with my new-at-the-time girlfriend, later-to-be wife shortly after my 25th birthday, but it would have been this wine if I’d gotten to it a half decade earlier.

It’s good.

The ’05 Uccelliera is ruby red throughout the glass, with little to no change towards the edges. I think this is supposed to tell me something, perhaps even something specific, about the wine (newbie alert!!). On the nose is the slightest hint of heat, but only at first, a bit more vigorous swirling and it left and didn’t come back. Two major, major notes run roughshod over the nose: black cherry truffle, and espresso.

It’s so good.

Soft, lush tannins abound in this medium-bodied wine. Notes from the nose are present, but translated: more of a stewed cherry with the espresso, plus the introduction of an unmistakable—and, frankly, eminently elegant—cigar tobacco note. This wine, in part, tastes like the very best cigars smell.

Yum.

Oh, it also pairs orgasmically (ah, wait, no way, you’re kidding… he didn’t just say what I think he did, did he?) with oxtail—which, by the way, I was tricked into eating. It’s the greatest trick anyone ever played on me, ever, but still, a trick regardless.

Verdict: 97/100

2005 Uccelliera Brunello di Montalcino

2005 Uccelliera Brunello di Montalcino

Delightful Single-Vineyard Rosso Toscano

2007 Bibi Graetz “Soffocone di Vincigliata”

I am finding that I really, truly, love me some Italian wine.

I’m also trying to work my way towards joining the Wine Century Club, acceptance to which is earned by drinking the wine of at least 100 grape varieties. I’m working on it, and this wine recently helped me by scratching canaiolo and colorino (aka lambrusco) off the list.

The wine is 90% sangiovese, 7% colorino, 3% canaiolo, from a single vineyard named Soffocone in Tuscany, which overlooks the city of Florence on a southern-exposed hillside surrounded by olive orchards.

Damn, that just screams “ITALIA!,” doesn’t it?

The wine is dark garnet at its core, and lightens to a light red (not pink) at the edge. The nose is bright and cheery, with ripe raspberry and a slight strawberry note.

On the palate, the wine’s dark color is betrayed once again as it leaps forth with more raspberry, but also with a hint of black pepper. The Soffocone is light-bodied, and easily drinkable. Quite enjoyable, actually. In the glass it almost looks like nebbiolo or something similarly big, bold, and tannic. But the sangio from this particular vineyard gives a quite different experience from a big, complex, intricate Brunello (for example).

Verdict: B+

2007 Soffocone di Vincigliata

2007 Soffocone di Vincigliata