We've been working our way through a bunch of affordable Northern Italian wines recently. These two were recommendations from a local shop known for its passion for this area. In this case, there were hits and misses. Fun to try these different varieties, though!
2007 G.B. Burlotto Verduno Pelaverga. Aromas of dark cherry and some sweeter maraschino cherry at times are supported by a decidedly earthy, mossy streak, with some smoky menthol and dried tar mixed in. It is a bit thin on the palate, showing an outwardly-facing acidic profile. Over-sour red fruit, nutmeg dust and some bitter toasted herbs make for a not-altogether pleasing flavor profile for my tastes. For such a young wine, it shows no tannin at all and it finishes with more smoke, ash and earthy roughness that really needs food to make it more tolerable. My wife liked it but it didn’t push my buttons at all.
2006 Costaripa le Mazane Benaco Bresciano IGT. If you just pop and pour this, you might think it isn’t anything very special. But if you wait on it about an hour or so, it just blossoms into something quite nice. The bouquet in particular takes some time to find its stride, but when it does, it delivers a very pretty, fresh and lifted Italian cornucopia of cherry, raspberry, ashy earth, citrus, chocolate, fresh mint and fine honey aromatics. It is medium-bodied in the mouth, with a really fresh yet pleasantly rounded and sappy-textured character. Strawberry and cherry fruit combine with fine citrus notes to make for a very inviting wine to keep coming back to sip after sip. It finishes quite bright and elevated, but very balanced, going down the throat with ease either on its own or with a simple dish of lemon chicken and simple pasta. This is a very fine QPR.
-Michael