Vermentino from Australia

An interesting discussion came up on our Ozwine group mailing list on the grape variety, Vermentino. I have just recently had the opportunity to try some vermentino, traditionally a variety from Liguria, Tuscany and Sardinia in Italy.

I have been sampling some Sardinian wine recently, one of which is a Vermentino di Gallura DOCG from the wine coop Giogantinu. The wine has 13% alcohol and is very soft and inviting, with a thickness on the palate which lets you know you’re drinking hot climate white wine.

I also recently tried a Vermentino from the Montecucco area of Tuscany. It turned up most surprisingly at a dinner I was at recently where French wine should have been the protagonist. Unfortunately I didn’t get the producer’s name, but this was a far more elegant, fresh and subtle example. Really worth a try.

The discussion in our Ozwine group came up with Australian vermentino examples, including Brown Brothers, Foxey's Hangout the White Fox Vermentino and Mudgee growers, Di Lusso, who specialise in Italian varieties (thanks to Ozwin-ers for the tips!).

All this comes down to the fact that after my explorations of Italian vermentino, I will have to try the Australian interpretation of Italian wine, and try some “true blue” vermentino when I’m home at Christmas. It could make for the perfect summer aperitif.

Chianti tastings: what's wrong with me?

I expect it’s probably heresy to say that you don’t like Chianti, or sangiovese or Tuscan wine in general. So I’ll start this post with a couple of caveats: I haven’t tried much of this style and haven’t attended many Chianti tastings. In addition, sangiovese is not really a choice of wine I normally go for, and I haven’t had many good examples.

But! at our lesson on Monday on Tuscany, I’m afraid the examples we tasted didn’t do much for my Chianti loving experience. This is also probably because the wine was too young, and if you know anything about sangiovese, you’ll know its tannins need time to settle down. Also, good examples of Tuscan wine are expensive and let’s face it, a sommelier’s course costs enough already without having the pretence to serve the best wines.

These wines, for me, need food. While the nebbiolo we have tasted so far was pushing into what the Italians call a “meditation” wine, the sangiovese needed some nice Tuscan meat (possibly chianina?) to go with it. So my Chianti drinking and Tuscan wine experience needs some nurturing, unless I get hold of a Bolgheri after which I imagine I will be converted to Tuscan wine (at the right price).