Each Friday, David Brenner of Villasfor2 in Abruzzo selects a delicious, top-value 'Everyday Italian Wine' for you to enjoy at home – or on your Abruzzo vacation !

OK – hands up all those who thought that when these little weekly essays started a year ago, we'd be reading 'Everyday Italian Wine – 50' ? No. Me neither.

But the fact we have is evidence of the staggering diversity of the good, drinkable, affordable wine you'll find in Italy and in wine stores, supermarkets and restaurants around the world.

That said, I think I've taken the current format as far as it's possible to go. Time for a change.

In future, instead of a weekly 'Everyday Italian Wine', we'll be running a monthly review of one 'Special Italian Wine'.

Why ? Well, our price ceiling of €10/bottle on the 'Everyday' series, limits our ability to try any 'special occasion' Italian wines costing more. It'd be good to redress that balance.

There are, in case you're in any doubt, some absolute stormers on the shelves here in Italy at the €10+ level that still represent outstanding value for money – even when they're exported and get slapped by greedy Government taxes and the usual avaricious restaurant mark-ups.

Before that all starts – a few final recommendations from the 'Everyday Italian Wine' series.

Checking back, it's the red wines that have really impressed. And I guess that pretty much reflects the demands of the domestic Italian market in which reds predominate. The standout – by some distance – was Pasetti's delicious and deep Tenuta di Testarossa 2004, which again underlined the classiness of the Montepulciano D'Abruzzo grape.

We tasted the Tenuta di Testarossa for Christmas. At €16 not exactly an 'Everyday Italian Wine' – but it's what started me thinking about what we'd maybe been missing…

We have to go back a lot further for the standout whites of the series: Fontanafredda's Langhe Arneis 2005 and Cantina Miglianico's equally-sublime Gocce de Pecorino 2007.

Both these were sensational value for around the €7-8 mark. But their excellence just underlined how…well…ordinary so many Italian whites are. Mass- market; mass-appeal. Safe.

Crates of perfectly fine – but perfectly bland and unexciting – Soave, Pinot Grigio, Orvieto, Verdicchio, Frascati et al ad naus make the treasures you find so much more worthwhile. In the new series, I hope to find a few more.

And a 'Special Prize' ? Why not ? From the Asti region of Italy awash with Spumante and more DOCG wines than anywhere has a right to decently produce, a pleasant – but unexceptional – light red wine, on sale at €4.18, received the kind of makeover after a couple of hours in the fridge that turns ugly ducklings into swans.

The sparkly, zingy, refreshing, lusciously fruity and downright moreish wine that emerged was a wild and memorable transformation, made all the better by its sheer unexpectedness. You just had to smile.

And the name of this Clark Kent of a wine ? Gruppo Coltivo's Grignolino D'Asti 'Miniato' 2007. I just really liked it. A lot. And isn't that a pretty good reason ? Try it. Chill it. Enjoy it.

Coming Soon: the first 'Special Italian Wine'. Starting – of course – here in Abruzzo with Cantina Miglianico's top-of-the-range Montepulciano D'Abruzzo 'Il Fondatore' 2003. Join me in a glass !

This entry was posted on Friday, January 30th, 2009 at 4:05 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.