Amidst the sunny Spring and Summer days, we get the rainy cool ones that invite a cozy red wine. Italy has more wine varietals in the US market than most other nations, offering a great variety of red wines. The varietals range from light reds for chicken to a full red for meats. In all cases, they are delicious, hearty, and well balanced. Below are some featured red wines that you can pair with a wide variety of foods depending on the climate and the meal. They are all good, give them a try!
Castelfeder Schiava Breitbacher, Alto Adige – Sudtirol Italy, 2011
I really like this wine, it is a great summer red. The wine is made from the Schiava grape, making a light red wine low in tannins, with moderate alcohol content and a fine balance of red fruits and fresh minerality given by the fertile soils of the Alto Adige region. This wine has more flavor than many Pinot Noir wines, with a hint of earthiness and a hint of pepperiness. This wine is a perfect summer wine for people who like light red wines, or are eating dishes of poultry or a heavier fish.Geek facts: Schiava literally means “slave”, hinting at a dark history behind the grape’s history in Italy. Being low in both acid and tannin, this is a wine you want to drink now and not age. This wine will not last long in your wine closet! Finally, this grape is also cultivated for wine in Germany, and is known there as Trollinger.
Occhipinti Alea Viva Aleatico, Latium Italy, 2010
In a word, yum. This wine is made from the Aleatico grape, which mostly grows in the Elba, Apulia, Lazio, and Tuscany. Although the grape is often used to make dessert wines, this maker (Occhipinti) makes a delicious light red wine from the grape. I smell roses in the bouquet, and lychees, and a hint of red fruits. The wine flavor is a blend of red cherry and floral notes, and is my favorite of this batch of red wines. It is one of those wine varietals that can not be likened to any other wine, and deserves to be tried and consumed on its own merit. Another great summer red wine ... Give it a try!Bovio Nebbiolo Langhe Annunziata, Piedmont Italy, 2008
The wine is made from the Nebbiolo grape; which produces lightly colored red wines which can be highly tannic. As Nebbiolo wines age, they take on a characteristic brick-orange hue at the rim of the glass and mature to reveal other flavors such as violets, tar, herbs, cherries, raspberries, and prunes. This wine was produced in Langhe, which is a hilly area to the southeast of the river Tanaro in Piedmont, northern Italy.This Nebbiolo is fairly light, it has lots of different flavors and keeps you guessing about the tasting notes, but cherry comes to mind, with some stronger flavors such as violet and tar. There are moderately present tannins, but nothing a little food won’t balance. A good wine on its own, most drinkers would prefer it with food.
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Comm. G.B. Burlotto Langhe Freisa 2011
This wine is from the Piedmont region of Italy, specifically from Langhe. The grape is a Freisa. This wine most closely resembles a Cabernet Sauvignon, but has more tannin and acid without leaving a bite or bitterness on the palette. There are also flavors of greenish accents with hints of peppery spice and sour cherry. This wine has more depth than a Cabernet Sauvignon, which is why I like it so much more. It is also tangier than Cabernet Sauvignon.Freisa in Piedmont dates back to around 18th century and it probably originated there in the hills between Asti and Turin. Today, Freisa is rarely seen outside of Piedmont, though there are some Freisa plants in Argentina. The number of Freisa plants in Piedmont are declining. It is most commonly found in the Asti, Langhe, Monferrato and Pinerolese regions.
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