What’s in Wine Girl’s Glass? Quiz #13

The first thing you notice about this wine is its aroma. Even as the wine is poured, and even if it’s not decanted, you can catch a whiff of what’s to come when you get to immerse your nose in the glass: a fresh bouquet of charred wood, tar, violets, pepper, and the alluring perfume of cherry liqueur. Sometimes called the Burgundy of its particular region, this type of wine has a reputation for combining depth with “feminine” finesse. This example is no exception. Its beautiful nose is followed by a brick red color of medium opacity. On the palate, you’re struck by the wine’s exceptional balance — it’s got a clean, velvety mouthfeel that’s held together by ripe, soft tannins and a perfect, delicious wash of acidity. Intense cherry flavors come touched with coffee and cocoa notes. Somewhere there’s something distantly smoky and herbal, like basil on a BBQ. Quintessentially a food wine, this bottle was the perfect mate to a bowl of penne with a red sauce flavored by lamb sausage and chard. By law, this wine spends five years in new and neutral oak and then bottles before release. So although we drank it “young,” it was from a great, ripe, vintage, and we had no problem approaching it and getting a warm, sumptuous welcome.

Email me with your guess, or click here for the answer to the mystery:

If you guessed that the wine is Italian from the food pairing and my description of it as “quintessentially a food wine,” you are correct. But what kind? We can narrow our choices considerably by the fact that this is a wine that spends, by Italian DOC law, lots of time in wood and bottle before release. We know therefore that it’s not a Chianti, a Valpolicella, or a Dolcetto, well-known Italian reds that are made for immediate gratification. That leaves us with Barolo, Brunello di Montalcino, or maybe an Amarone — all grand Italian reds that are crafted for the long haul. We can rule out Amarone since this wine lacks the port-like consistency and raisiny flavors distinct to Amarone. And our mystery red is too feminine to be a burly, rustic Barolo. So let’s guess it’s a Brunello, the noble wine made from the vineyards around the Tuscan village of Montalcino, which is indeed sometimes compared to Burgundy. And let’s guess it’s a 2001, the latest and greatest vintage on the market.

We’d be right. It’s a 2001 Brunello di Montalcino from the great winery Argiano, and it cost us $135 off the wine list at one of our favorite Italian restaurants, Kuleto’s. Apparently its retail cost is $61.