Sheltering from the rain on Wednesday evening, I stopped off at Enowine in Dublin’s IFSC and just happened to try 5 reds from Italy.

  • Epicuro Primitivo di Manduria 2004, €11.99
  • Comignole Chianti Classico 2003, €18.99
  • Camporosso La Marcellina 2004, €24.99
  • Poliziano Rosso di Montepuliciano 2005, €16.99
  • La Serra Valpolicella Classico 2004, €12.99

Epicuro Primitivo di Manduria (€11.99)

This one is made from the Primitivo grape (also known as Zinfandel in the US). It’s produced in Puglia, the “heel of Italy”, where it’s as hot as a mofo, apparently.

It’s a rich bright blood red colour, really strong sweet fruit smells. In the gob, it’s all about blackberry jam with black pepper. This description doesn’t do it justice, it’s a real stunner.

Camporosso La Marcellina 2004 (€24.99)

This one is from Tuscany but is made with 50% Sangiovese (a native grape) with 50% Cabernet Sauvignon (brought in from France at some stage). As such, it can’t fall under a Chianti or Chianti Classico label, so it’s simply a vino da tavola (or vin de table in France).  More on this classification thing in a later post. However, this “wine fact” doesn’t take anything away from the quality of the wine.

A big, rich juicy blackcurrant fruit bomb but velvety smooth with a lingering finish. Really, really, good, Twice as good as the Primitivo? I’m not so  sure if it warrants the relatively hefty price tag.

Comignole Chianti Classico 2004 (€18.99)

I spent my holidays in Chianti this year so I was looking forward to trying this one. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any human liver or fava beans to go with it though.

The Chianti looks a litter browner (”tawny”) compared to the previous two. There’s a strong fruit & tannin mixing it up, which gives it a fruity mouth-puckering taste, in a good way. There’s also a bit of an alcohol burn at the end, but all in all quite a decent Chianti (though not compared to the ones I tasted when I was there for half the price - why don’t I feck off back there, then instead of complaining?)

Poliziano Poliziano Rossi di Montepulciano 2005 (€16.99)

This is made south of the Chianti region but from the same type of grape: Sangiovese. So, is it like the Chianti, above? Nope, not a bit (terroir? explained in a later post). Same grape from same region, kinda, yet completely different. That’s both the best and worst thing about wine sometimes, you never know what you’re going to get and just because you had a good one from a particular region, the next one from nearby could be piss-awful.

This is slightly lighter than the previous ones, but in smell and taste, much more distinctive, perhaps delicate or elegant (help, I’m lapsing into wine speak!) A lot of gum-puckering tannins going on, but I like this one a lot.

La Serra Valpolicella Classico 2004, (€12.99)

This one’s from the Veneto, northeast of Italy, and is made from Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara grapes (same as the ones used for Amarone).

In appearance, this is much lighter than all the previous wines, you’d probably see it described as “medium bodied“. To taste, it’s got a cherry-vanilla vibe going on which is really good. At 12.99 it’s pretty good value too. I’d have no problem buying it at this price.

Final verdict 

So, that’s a whistle stop tour of just some of the many Italy wines. The highlights for me:

  • Epicuro Primitivo di Manduria 2004, €11.99
  • La Serra Valpolicella Classico 2004, €12.99

 Both reasonably priced and really tasty.

More on Italian wine

If you want to know more about Italian wine, then I recommend you check out Sarah Newton over at Wine 90, the Italian wine blog