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This article was published in The 30 Second Wine Advisor on Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2008 and can be found at http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor2/tswa20080123.php. Speaking of Montepulciano
I recently raved about an unusual Montepulciano, an Italian red wine made in Italy's Marche region for import, distribution and sale by Mosby, a winery in California's Central Coast. Today let's take a quick trip back to Italy for a look at another wine made from Montepulciano grapes in the variety's more customary home, Abruzzo. As we've discussed before, Montepulciano is one of Italy's more confusing wine words. Depending on the bottle you have in hand, it may be the name of a grape (as in today's Montepulciano d'Abruzzo or Mosby's Montepulciano Marche Rosso); or it may be the name of a region (as in Tuscany's Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, which is made from the Sangiovese grape). Indeed, if you're not paying close attention, you might confuse either wine with Tuscany's Brunello di Montalcino, a Sangiovese-clone variety that has nothing to do with Montepulciano except a vaguely similar-sounding name. What they do have in common is a simple but delightful reality: Although there's no close genetic kinship that I know of between the Montepulciano and Sangiovese grapes, a good Montepulciano - like a good Chianti - represents for me the quintessence of Italian red table wines: A happy combination of fruit and tart, food-friendly acidity that invariably makes me smile. My tasting notes are below.
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