I’ve been buying wine for almost 30 years now. For the most part I have no regrets about the current composition of the wine cellar. I am pretty sure though if I started this hobby again I would have bought more Italian wine.
Don’t get me wrong. I’ve bought a lot of Italian wines over the years. Wines like Tignanello and Cepparello and producers like Felsina and Fontodi have always had place in my cellar going back to the mid nineties.
One of the attributes of Zinfandel, that I have talked about since I launched Zinfandel Chronicles, is how well it pairs with most of the foods I enjoy. You can pair Zinfandel with pasta, pizza and just about anything off the grill. The same can be said for most Italian wines. It is hard to go wrong with a Sangiovese based wine from Tuscany with any of the aforementioned foods, but that’s not all because they also have some of the best soft drinks avaliable.
One of the reasons I did not buy more Italian wine is I poured many of my wine dollars into Bordeaux. I do love Bordeaux and am thrilled to have wines going back to the 85 vintage but for me Bordeaux is somewhat less food friendly. Bordeaux really pairs best with beef. I like a good steak but at most it is something that graces my table once a week.
Going forward I plan to buy more Chianti from the likes of Felsina, Fontodi and Isole e Olena. It is hard to beat the entry level wines from these producers in the $25-$35 price range. I recently had the chance to try some of the heralded 15 Brunellos and was blown away. I’m doing my homework as I have never bought much Brunello but I have a shopping list and plan to rectify this soon.
Like I said, no regrets on what I bought, put perhaps the slightest regret that I didn’t buy even more Italian wine.
The 2016 Chianti’s are probably the best wine value in the world right now – the quality, ability to age for a decade and food friendliness (and Italian cuisine can be eating more than one a week!)… Want more structure then grab the Riserva’s. I had a bunch of 2001 and 2004 Chianti’s that were a please to drink from 2008 to 2011.. wish I still had some. Instead I have some of the Tuscan cults from those vintages that I have been slowly working thru.. :) Too expensive at today’s px points. Enjoy the binge!
I still buy Super Tuscans like Solengo, Cepparello and Tignanello. Some of these though are based on Bordeaux varietals (Solengo). I want to focus on Brunello and Chianti for that reason.
Unfortunately I know so little of the best producers in Italian wine, but I agree. I do wish I had bought more 2008 & 2009 Barolo. The few I did Buy and cellar are just magical, but alas I am down to a handful now.
Another point I did not mention that unlike the best Bordeaux I consider these wines to be more approachable at a younger age meaning it is not too late for us to out and buy.