Each Friday, David Brenner of Villasfor2 in Abruzzo selects an 'Everyday Italian Wine' for you to try at home – or on your Abruzzo vacation !

Est ! Est !! Est !!! Bigi. 2007

Here's the story: In the year 1100, Bishop Johannes Fuger was travelling from Austria to Rome for the coronation of Emperor Henry V. Each day, he'd send his servant Martin on ahead to scout out local taverns and choose the one serving the best wine for their overnight stop. Martin would denote his choice by chalking up the word Est ! ("Here it is") on the tavern's wall.

But when Martin reached the town of Montefiascone, on the shores of Lake Bolsena, north of Rome, he was so bedazzled by the local white, that Est ! Est !! Est !!! appeared on the tavern wall.

Bishop Johannes seemed to agree with Martin's recommendation. So whole-heartedly in fact that he never did make it to Rome for the coronation. Or even back to Austria.

Instead, he remained in Montefiascone for the rest of his days, contentedly guzzling the local brew. You can still see his tomb there and until recently, a barrel of local wine was poured over his grave each year on the anniversary of his death.

But don't think for a minute that the wine that deflected Bishop Johannes off the straight-and-narrow was the same wine that's on offer today as Est ! Est !! Est !!! 

The 12th century Est ! Est !! Est !!! is likeliest to have been a sweet Muscat – though nobody can of course say for sure. Today's Est ! Est !! Est !!! is a well-established Trebbiano/Malvasia blend. But had Bishop Johannes tasted the 'new' Est ! Est !! Est !!! would he again have abandoned his pious life – or sacked Martin and swept on to Rome ?

Problem is that the marketing ploy of local producers around Montefiascone to latch onto the legend and slap the Est ! Est !! Est !!! label onto their wine was so successful that they found – quite literally – they couldn't make enough. Prices rose. But quality plummetted. Don't want it Secco ? Not a problem – here's a semi-dry version. Not authentic enough ? We'll make it sweeter. Want more ? We'll produce more. Somehow.

It's a regular ploy of mine with popular wines to go for a bottle from good producer and Bigi is a quality name in Orvieto – not so far away from Montefiascone. Not a good call on this occasion as it turned out.

This isn't some vicious blend of industrial alcohol and grape concentrate that'll keep you up all night with its after-effects. At least it's drinkable – if there's nothing else – but it's a sad, dismal, wine. Oversweet and overrated. A wine made to sell on its reputation alone with scant regard for what's in the bottle.

The sad thing is that deep down in the bottle is a potentially good wine struggling to get out. A Trebbiano/Malvasia blend can produce quite a zippy, tangy wine good for quaffing on a hot summer's day. With a little more refinement and a lot less over-production, Est ! Est !! Est !!! could be that wine.

But this bottle would've turned Bishop Johannes teetotal. Est Est Est ? Next Next Next…

At A Glance…

• This week's featured wine: Est ! Est !! Est !!!
• Vintage: 2007
• Producer: Bigi
• Designation: DOC
• Grape: Trebbiano/Malvasia blend
• Strength: 12%
• Closure: Cork
• This bottle cost: €3.20

If you like better Italian wine than this, check out the absolute stormer we featured last time – and bookmark this site for future weekly posts.

Next Week: a gem of a heritage red from Friuli in Italy's far north-east. A wine you'll enjoy trying at home – and on your Villasfor2 Abruzzo vacation !

This entry was posted on Friday, January 2nd, 2009 at 3:42 am and is filed under David's 'Everyday Italian Wine', Eating and Drinking, Vineyards. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.