Barone Montalto Pinot Grigio & Art of Earth Montepulciano d'Abruzzo

It's so hot and humid out that even the red wine bottle is perspiring just from coming outside of the air conditioning in my house! I opened these two while cooking burgers on my new grill and they were both perfect for performing such a heroic feat of dad-dom. Barone Montalto Pinot Grigio 2019 is 100% Pinot Grigio from Sicily and it's cost you $12 retail. Bright and tart with a little bit of sweetness and very refreshing. It's loaded with lemons, pears and green apple. It's a serviceable Pinot Grigio for the price and definitely a porch pounder. Art of the Earth is a certified organic Montepulciano d'Abruzzo and it'll also cost you $12 retail. Once the burgers were done, this guy went pretty damn well with them. Medium bodied with very dusty tannin, and a bursting acidity that fits right in with the wine and doesn't make you think "damn, that's bursting acidity". There's notes of plums, tomato, licorice, and sweet tobacco. Again, for the price it's a solid bottle of wine. Maybe let it open up so that tannin calms down a bit.

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The Dueling Montepulcianos: Vino Nobile vs d'Abruzzo

One thing that often follows the common "I was at a restaurant last night..." beginning of a sentence from a wine consumer to a wine professional is its completion with "and I had a Montepulciano." This is one of those I love my job moments because now I get to completely geek out with a customer so I can help them. Not only do I need to dig for clues to figure out what kind of Montepulciano they had and prevent them from purchasing the wrong kind, but more importantly I get to educate the public! "Come with me, citizen," I think to myself, "Step into my domain and we shall explore the world of Montepulciano!"  

Essentially there are two different Montepulcianos. There's wine from a Montepulciano region and then there's wine made from the Montepulciano grape varietal. Both are red. Have you seen Vino Nobile di Montepulciano or its little brother Rosso di Montepulicano? And have you seen Montepulciano d'Abruzzo? These two Montepulcianos share the love of confusing us Americans with fancy Italian words but they're drastically different. This is because at its very core Italy doesn't like to do anything if it's not complicated. But let's start with the basics:

So Vino Nobile di Montepulciano or Rosso di Montepulciano are mostly made from Sangiovese, which is the grape used in Chianti, from the village named Montepulciano in Tuscany. Carpineto Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Riserva 2010 was my wine pick of the month in September of 2016.

Montepulciano d'Abruzzo is mostly made from the grape called Montepulciano in the more southern region of Abruzzi. Because the Montepulciano referred to here is a grape variety, this is the Montepulciano you'll see come from other places in Italy (without the d'Abruzzo part) and even across the world. Back in April of this year I reviewed THP Montepulciano 2014 by Llano Estacado out of Texas! That's right; TEXAS!

Now, that's a very simple explanation. Easy enough, right? But you know I'm not going to just leave it like that for this blog. Just like Italy, I don't like to do anything if it's not complicated. Alright, tell ya what, I'll go easy on this article and won't get too technical, okay? I need to ease my way back in to writing these monthly articles. Now let's go even further in to the dueling Montepulcianos. And let's drink them, too.

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Wine Reviews: Best of Spring 2017

Today is the last day of spring and tomorrow brings summer! So here are the top five wines that I reviewed between March 20th and June 20th!

May being 90+ Cellars Month resulted in a 90+ Cellars domination on this list, and the only red on the list is from Texas!

#5. THP Montepulciano 2014 by Llano Estacado

Region: High Plains, Texas
Review Release: April 23rd, 2017

The color of the wine is a dark garnet. There's aromas of dried cherries, jammy plums, sweet tobacco, dried pottery clay and orange peel. It's medium bodied with sweet tannin and perky acidity. The palate shows flavors of blackberries, black cherries, tobacco and dried herbs. The tannin stiffens up a bit on the finish, and there's the leftover taste of blackberries and tobacco.

READ THE FULL REVIEW / WATCH THE YOUTUBE VIDEO

QUALITY VS PRICE RATING

Price: $20

Rating: 4.5/5 = Recommended / Highly Recommended (what does that mean?)

#4. 90+ Cellars Lot 2 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2016

Region: Marlborough, New Zealand

Review Release: May 14th, 2017

The color of the wine is pale yellow with a silvery shine. On the nose there's Tic-Tac shell, grapefruit, green pepper, lemon peel and celery. It's firmly structured within its medium body, yet still crispy with a sharp acidity. On the palate there's flavors of lime, grapefruit and pear. With the finish you're left with the saliva in your mouth stripped away as if it were a highly tannic red, and there's flavors of lime and pear.

READ THE FULL REVIEW / WATCH THE YOUTUBE VIDEO

QUALITY VS PRICE RATING

Price: $12

Rating: 5/5 = Highly Recommended (what does that mean?)

#3. 90+ Cellars Lot 50 Prosecco Brut

Region: Prosecco, Veneto, Italy
Review Release: May 1st, 2017 (Wine Pick of the Month)

A dry stone minerality overlays the juicy peaches and ginger of the wine's nose. In the mouth it's light and crisp, yet soft and fluffy when swished into a foam. There's intense green apple all over the palate, with a tiny squeeze of lemon and lime. It's just so refreshing and delicious that's it's ridiculous. You simply must try it.

READ THE FULL REVIEW / WATCH THE YOUTUBE VIDEO

QUALITY VS PRICE RATING

Price: $12

Rating: 5/5 = Highly Recommended (what does that mean?)

#2. 90+ Cellars Lot 126 Sancerre 2014

Region: Sancerre, Loire Valley, France
Review Release: May 28th, 2017

The wine is a light lager yellow. The limestone in its marl soil shows through on the nose with chalky minerality. There's aromas of white flowers, lemon, and the juice collection from a fruit salad. In the mouth it's light bodied with high acidity, and has both a smooth body and a crispy bite. The palate shows flavors of lemon, grapefruit and cracked stone. It finishes super dry with grapefruit and cracked stone.

Goat cheese brie cheese on Saltine crackers would put me in heaven right now. This is an awesome, awesome Sancerre for $21. It beats the crap out of the more popular ones at that price range, and I'm giving it a perfect score.

READ THE FULL REVIEW / WATCH THE YOUTUBE VIDEO

QUALITY VS PRICE RATING

Price: $21

Rating: 5/5 = Highly Recommended (what does that mean?)

#1. 90+ Cellars Lot 130 Russian River Valley Chardonnay 2015

Region: Russian River Valley, Sonoma Valley, California
Review Release: May 21st, 2017

The wine has a golden color. On the nose there's a touch of smokiness with aromas of apple, pineapple, butter, caramel and walnut. It's full bodied with a buttery mouthfeel but still has a sharp, piercing acidity. There's flavors of pineapple, vanilla, banana and ginger. It finishes with some heat, spicy ginger, and pineapple.

Dude. DUUUUUDE. This is stellar! 90+ Cellars knocked it out of the goddamn park with the purchase of this lot. If you bought it under the source label it would run you $22, which is a great deal in itself, but under the 90+ label it's $18. I indeed fell in love with this Chardonnay.

READ THE FULL REVIEW / WATCH THE YOUTUBE VIDEO

QUALITY VS PRICE RATING

Price: $18

Rating: 5/5 = Highly Recommended (what does that mean?)

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Wine Review: THP Montepulciano 2014 by Llano Estacado

This is the final wine of five that I've reviewed for Llano Estacado out of TEXAS! Yes, TEXAS! I started with the 2016 Pinot Grigio, then 2015 Viognier, 2015 Signature Red, now 2015 Cellar Reserve Chardonnay and finally 2014 THP Montepulciano.

Spanish monks made Texas and New Mexico the first of the would-be-states in today's USA to grow vineyards and make their own wine in the 1620's. Llano Estacado was established in Western Texas in 1976, and has become the best selling premium winery in the state. Their current winemaker Greg Bruni took over that position in 993.

The 2014 THP Montepulciano is 76% Montepulciano, 12% Aglianico, 5% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 3% Syrah. So this Texas wine takes two varietals whose vines normally don't venture far from their homes in southern Italy, and blends them with three French international varietals. THP stands for Texas High Plains, and that's where the vineyards are located. The wine spends 18 months in 59 gallon French and American oak barrels.

NOTE: In advance of moving to a new house and the arrival of a new baby, the reviews for March, April and May were all written in February and may be much quicker and to the point than you expect from this blog. Foolishness will return this summer.

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