Sagrantino di Montefalco 'Duca Odoardo'. DOCG. 2005. Terre de la Custodia

How do you pour a bottle of wine ? Grab it by the neck and slosh it into the glass, onto the table, and over anyone who happens to be sitting nearby ?

Seize it firmly around the middle; tilt your glass and gently trickle in a thimbleful ?

I ask because this bottle of Sagrantino di Montefalco has got a generous thumb-shaped indention low down underneath the label and a similar, finger-size groove on its reverse, which makes the insouciant palm-underneath-the-bottle transfer of wine to glass perfected by sommeliers worldwide an absolute doddle.

You can decide for yourself whether this is all irredeemably precious, or an actually quite clever piece of wine bottle design.

A talking point then before we've even pulled the cork !

This Sagrantino di Montefalco is a dry, red DOCG wine from Umbria made from the Sagrantino grape.

Oddly, there's no necessity for the wine to be produced in – or even near – the original production area in the comune of Montefalco. As long as it comes from Umbria and is made of 100% Sagrantino grapes – that's good enough.

It's very tannic; very long-lived and actually rather good.

Don't confuse it with a sweet passito wine of exactly the same name (and also with DOCG status) also made in Umbria from semi-dried Sagrantino grapes

This particular bottle comes from the well-regarded Terre de la Custodia winery near Perugia under the Duca Odoardo brand-name.

It gets between a year and 15 months in wood and then sits waiting patiently before it's released 30 months after the vintage.

The makers confidently assert it'll last well in bottle for 15 years and more and with the tannins in evidence here, you wouldn't disagree.

A word of reassurance in case all this talk of tannins makes you nervous. There are tannins that make your mouth feel as though it's been coated in finely-powdered sawdust; then there are tannins that just dry and concentrate the fruit flavours into a delicious long finish.

Luckily, we're dealing with the latter here.

The colour is a deep garnet. In the glass you get wafts of violets and bramble fruit. Very classy. A sip reveals black cherries and mulberries which then linger a long, long time.

This 2005 vintage is hardly yet hitting its stride and as it will just go on improving. By the time it's run the course recommended by its makers – and provided you haven't succumbed to temptation and opened it – it will be a very special bottle indeed.

Not for drinking on its own. Roast red meats, game and strong cheeses are suggested. Or you could make a proper Welsh Rarebit – and I mean a proper Welsh Rarebit, not just slapping a slice of processed cheddar onto a piece of pre-sliced bread and sticking it under the grill – which would accompany a glass or two of this excellent wine to perfection.

At A Glance…

• This month's "Special Italian Wine": Sagrantino di Montefalco 'Duca Odoardo'
• Vintage: 2005
• Designation: DOCG
• Grape: 100% Sagrantino
• Strength: 13.5%
• Closure: Cork
• Producer: Terre de la Custodia
• Website: www.terredelacustodia.it
• This bottle cost: €16.29

Next Month…
The region of Alto Adige in north-east Italy is producing an increasingly interesting and impressive range of white varietals. We sample a Riesling from one of the area's best producers. It's a wine you're going to enjoy trying at home – and in your Abruzzo holiday villa !

a

Pecorino Frizzante, Terre di Chieti IGT. NV. Cantina Colle Moro
Rose Veneto Frizzante 'Duca della Rocca' IGT. NV. Colombara

Let's once and for all debunk the dictum that when it comes to 'special' wine, the higher the price, the better the quality.

This month we have a bottle of one of the best summer wines you're ever going to find at a scandalously low €1.45; and a bottle of the best Italian sparkling wine I've ever tasted, at a princely €4.

We discovered the sparkler on the last weekend in May, when wineries across Abruzzo open their doors and invite you in to have a look round; sample their wines; and enjoy a few nibbles.

At the Cantina Colle Moro in nearby Frisa, we were offered a taste of a wine introduced only this year, a sparkling Pecorino.

Now, as we've mentioned here before, the Pecorino grape is an old Abruzzo heritage variety, rescued from the brink of extinction in the mid-90's.

Happily, we're right in the middle of its production area and the still white has not only become a firm personal favorite, but has also replaced Trebbiano as our 'house white' that you'll find waiting for you on your arrival for a Villasfor2 holiday.

But a sparkling variety ? Using the 'Charmat Method' – in which a natural sparkle to the wine is developed in a tank, rather than, (as with champagne), in a bottle – Cantina Colle Moro have with brilliant success transformed their pretty good still Pecorino into an absolutely outstanding fizzer.

Unlike Prosecco, which at its best from the Vadobbiadene – Conegliano area of the Veneto is a wine of lightness and delicacy, Colle Moro's Pecorino Frizzante is rich and full-bodied, not a million miles away in taste from a Pinot Noir-laden champagne.

There are other similarities. A yeastiness on the nose of fresh-baked brioche and a long, dry, tingly and almost spicy finish.

Absolutely vice-free and absolutely delicious.

The only thing that made me blink was the crown cap closure – rather like a bottle of Coke. But I guess it's a logical extension to the screw cap. Regard it as a conversation piece rather than a deal-breaker.

And if that's good, wait till you taste the rose frizzante sold under the Duca della Rocca brand.

From the Colombara co-op based in the small town of Cazzano just to the west of Venice, this is a mongrel of an IGT wine containing heaven-knows-what varieties which, due to the angelic skills of a blender, have been transformed into the ultimate summer gulper.

There's not even the tiniest hint of the mean, thin, sharpness you might expect from a wine this cheap. Nor of an excess dosage of sugar to mask its deficiencies.

Instead, there's a riot of strawberries, raspberries, cherries and redcurrants, beautifully dry and silky, cascading into your glass in a fun, frothy, pink cascade that's utterly beguiling. And at only 10.5%, it won't leave you feeling sandbagged on even the most scorching summer's day.  

€1.45 ? Yes, €1.45. Silly, isn't it ?

Both this month's recommendations can happily be drunk on their own, or with any light summer food. Both are extraordinarily good and I recommend them to you.

At A Glance…

• This month's 'Special Italian Wines': Pecorino Frizzante, Terre di Chieti & 'Duca della Roca' Rose Veneto
• Vintage: Both NV
• Designation: Both IGT
• Grape: Pecorino is 100% Pecorino; Rose Veneto blend is not stated
• Strength: Pecorino – 12%; Rose Veneto – 10.5%
• Closures: Pecorino – Crown cap; Rose Veneto – Cork
• Producers: Pecorino – Cantina Colle Moro; Rose Veneto – Colombara
• Website: www.collemoro.it
• These bottles cost: Pecorino – €4; Veneto Rose – €1.45 

Next Month…
From Umbria, we sample Sagrantino di Montefalco, a much-praised DOCG red from one of the region's best producers. It's a wine you'll enjoy drinking at home – and in your Abruzzo villa for two !

a

Colomba Platino 2007

This is one of those ultra-delicious Italian white wines that can only be drunk when it's at least 90˚ in the shade. And preferably eating outside.

And also preferably eating – or rather extended snacking – on vast plates of prosciutto and salami; artichoke hearts; ricotta made just hours ago and cut with fresh herbs and garlic; good bread; with salsicce and little lamb cutlets sizzling away contentedly over charcoal and a big bowl of fresh figs, cherries, white peaches and those little golden coscia pears.

Which is all very fine when someone else is preparing this idyllic feast. Less appealing when it's you.

That classic old Italian summer standby Tonno e Fagioli, which I've now proved you can assemble from start to first forkful during halftime in a World Cup football match, was an entirely satisfactory alternative.

And the wine. Outside high summer, it just wouldn't taste the same.

A pleasant lemony tang rises from the glass. The colour, appropriately, is of sun-bleached hay. The taste is citrus with undertones of melon and green fruit and there's a lovely long finish, dry and quite sherbet-like, which cleanses and refreshes the palate on a scorchingly hot day – but in cooler climes, might seem just a little on the sharp side.

Colomba Platino is a brand-name Sicilian white from the much-respected Duca di Salaparuta winery, which has holdings all over the island.

This comes from vineyards on the south coast of the island around the towns of Cattolica and Ribera in the province of Agrigento.

It's made from 100% Insolia grapes and though this particular bottle is from the 2007 vintage, I'd suspect younger would be better, even though this certainly hasn't suffered from hanging around in the couple of years since it was released.

It's true that if you limit your choice of Italian wine to DOC/DOCG examples, you might reckon a few centesimi shy of €10 is stiffish to pay for an IGT wine. But ignore the ratings and just ask yourself if you like it. And if the answer's yes, a case should see you through the next few hot weeks rather nicely.

At A Glance…

• This  month's 'Special Italian Wine': Colomba Platino
• Vintage: 2007
• Designation: IGT
• Grape: 100% Insolia
• Strength: 12.5%
• Closure: Cork
• Producer: Duca di Salaparuta
• This bottle cost €9.13

Next Month…
Not that I'm given to sweeping statements or anything, but I'll be featuring the best Italian sparkling wine I've ever drunk. Period. And a pink, fizzy, thirst-quenching, summer gulper from the Veneto. Both fantastic – and fantastic value – wines that you'll certainly enjoy drinking in your Abruzzo villa for two !

a

Fiano di Avellino DOCG, 2008. Aminea

Here's a little winey conundrum.

In April 09, we featured a bottle of Italy's new superstar DOCG white, Fiano di Avellino. From one of Campania's finest producers, this bottle cost €10.65 in a specialist wine shop.

Under the spotlight now is another bottle of DOCG Fiano di Avellino. Not from one of Campania's finest producers, this bottle cost €4.49 in a cut-price supermarket.

Question is, are they comparable ?

The expensive Fiano was a truly delicious summer white, reminiscent of a good viognier, with the same hints of peach, apricot and melon and a long, dry finish.

To be honest, the cheap Fiano doesn't suffer too much in comparison. It too is made with 100% Fiano grapes, though if your palate is as finely-tuned as Eric Clapton's Stratocaster, you might just possibly judge this a little less refined; a little less full; and with marginally shorter finish.

On the the other hand, that you can buy two bottles of the cheaper stuff for less than one bottle of the expensive brand and still have enough left over for a bag of crisps could perhaps be the crucial clincher.

Quantity and quality – not something you come across too often…

So how come one bottle costs €10.65 and the other only €4.49 ? I suspect this may be a rebottling/rebranding of a job-lot of this wine bought-up by the cut-price supermarket.

It doesn't carry the usual labelling you'd find on a 'regular' bottle of Fiano di Avellino from the producers Aminea and the fact it has a plastic cork – highly unusual for a DOCG wine – indicates it may have been round the block more than once.

Not that this in any way detracts from the wine. Let's not be wine-snobbish here and equate price with excellence.

If you're happy to pay €10.65 for a top-quality bottle of DOCG white – go right ahead. But don't turn your noses up at what's basically the same wine and, irrespective of its provenance, a rare bargain.

If you're looking for a dozen bottles of a really good Italian summer white for sipping in the shade and are prepared to stray from the well-trodden path of Pinot Grigio and Frascati, you won't find a better wine, with a better pedigree at a better price.

At A Glance…

• This month's Special Italian wine: Fiano di Avellino    
• Vintage: 2008    
• Designation: DOCG    
• Grape: 100% Fiano    
• Strength: 12.5%    
• Closure: Plastic cork    
• Producer: Aminea    
• This bottle cost: €4.49

Next Month…
It's been a while since we featured a Sicilian wine, so we'll be sampling a bottle of an IGT white from one of the island's oldest and most respected producers. It's a wine made for summer drinking that you'll enjoy sampling at home – and in your Abruzzo villa for two.

a

Taurasi 'Radici' DOCG. Mastroberardino. 2005

Taurasi is the wine that finally dispelled the old myth that no Italian red wine of any note is produced south of Tuscany.

Aglianico del Vulture from Basilicata is good; Taurasi, from neighboring Campania and also made from the aglianico grape, is better. Much better.

Taurasi owes its name to the region where it's produced within Campania and this particular offering comes from the Mastroberardino winery that for years, practically single-handed, carried the banner of Campania wines into the worldwide market.

Taurasi was awarded DOCG status in the early 1990s and since then, its popularity – especially outside Italy – has soared, with a corresponding hike in prices.

It's not a wine for the faint-hearted. Rich, powerful and profound. Think of a kind of southern Barolo and you won't be far wide of the mark.

Scents of mulberries and black pepper provided the initial impression. The first taste was tannic – a legacy of the 18 months this wine spent in oak before bottling. It really will repay decanting a couple of hours before drinking to soften the edges a little and this bottle of the (pretty good) 2005 vintage could quite easily have lain in a rack improving for at least a couple more years before opening.

Once those tannins have been allowed to mellow a little, you're left with a wine that simply improves with every sip. That first impression of mulberries and pepper developing with hints of dark chocolate and wild mushrooms and lingering with a long, dry finish.

Definitely not a wine to drink on its own. Definitely a wine to partner roast meat and rich braises. Or in this particular instance, a perfect medium-rare sirloin steak. With chips. (And why not ?)

Once upon a time, Taurasi was a pretty decent – and much cheaper – 'secret' alternative to Barolo. The best Barolo still fetches nose-bleedingly high prices both retail and restaurant, but lower down the pecking order, prices between the two wines is now much of a muchness.

It basically comes down to personal preference, but if you haven't yet tried Taurasi on the basis of an unbroken loyalty to Barolo, give it a try – and do it soon.

At A Glance…

• This month's Special Italian wine: Taurasi 'Radici'
• Vintage: 2005
• Designation: DOCG
• Grape: 100% Aglianico
• Strength: 13.5%
• Closure: Cork
• Producer: Mastoberardino
• Website: www.mastroberardino.com/eng/index.asp
• This bottle cost: €21

Next Month…
We're staying in Campania to revisit the region's best white wine Fiano di Avellino DOCG. And with a specific question in mind. Can a bottle of this wine from a cut-price supermarket chain possibly compare with another costing virtually twice as much ? Is it really a wine you'll enjoy drinking in your Abruzzo villa for two – or one to forget ?

a

Passerina Tullum DOC. 2008. Feudo Antico

'Here' said my friends Nick and Michele, handing me a heavy, chunky bottle. 'This is the best white wine we've ever tasted in Italy.'

They've conducted such exhaustive research on the subject, that this was an opinion to be respected.

But Passerina from the Tullum DOC region ? Feudo Antico ? No, I'd never heard of them either.

Curiosity was further aroused by the old-fashioned, heavy foil capsule around the neck; and the tiny, minimalist, duck egg-blue label. And as for the taste…

Actually, the taste had to wait for a few hours while the bottle chilled-out in the fridge. Which allowed time to find the answers to a few questions.

Centred around the small town of Tollo in Abruzzo – about 15 miles from Villasfor2 – Tullum (the Roman name for Tollo) is Italy's newest DOC region, attaining this status in the summer of 2009. Most wine guides/blogs/sites haven't yet caught up with this, hence the dearth of info.

Tullum's also Italy's smallest DOC. Only wine made from grapes grown inside the boundaries of the Tollo comune qualify for DOC status and the initial annual production run is a miniscule 66,000 litres.

To put this amount in more meaningful perspective, it wouldn't even come close to filling Villasfor2's decent – but hardly Olympic-size – swimming pool. It's a drop in the worldwide wine ocean.

But a pretty good drop nevertheless.

Passerina's yet another of those heritage Italian grapes – especially white – that have in recent years been dragged back from the brink of extinction and brought back into production.

Abruzzo's own (rightly) much-lauded Pecorino is the prime example here and another hit could be in the offing with this Passerina from the new Feudo Antico winery.

It's a wine that'll surprise you. The bouquet has the unmistakable petrol whiff of a good riesling; and there are distinct echoes of a good riesling in the taste too, rich, fragrant and slightly minerally, with that unmistakable cut of clean, refreshing acidity.

And like Riesling, I'd think this would age well too. Though perhaps not for the decades over which a great riesling can improve. No need to panic should you come across – say – a five year-old bottle.

Are Riesling and Passerina related ? I wouldn't have thought so – but to me at any rate, there were such similarities, that maybe a shared fragment or two of DNA lurks somewhere in the glass.

Such is the microscopic size of the production run, you may have to wait until you visit Italy in general – or Abruzzo in particular – to try it.

A pretty good reason for booking an Abruzzo villa holiday I'd say !

At A Glance…

• This month's 'Special Italian Wine': Tullum Passerina
• Vintage: 2008
• Designation: DOC
• Grape: 100% Passerina
• Strength: 13.5%
• Closure: Cork
• Producer: Feudo Antico
• Website: www.feudoantico.com
• This bottle was a gift – but the indicated price is around €10.

Next Month…

All Italy's very best red wines come from either Piedmont and Tuscany. All that is, except one. Taurasi DOCG is from the sun-baked slopes of Campania and in April, we'll be tasting a bottle from one of the region's finest producers. It's a wine to savour both at home – and in your Abruzzo villa for two.

a

A little background. In February 2008 I began a series of weekly wine blogs called David's Everyday Italian Wine, featuring wines costing under €10 a bottle.

A year and some 50 bottles of everyday Italian wine later, this series had pretty much run its natural course and morphed into the monthly David's Special Italian Wine, raising the price bar to wines costing over €10 a bottle.

The instant observation is that paying over €10 a bottle provides a quantum leap in quality ahead of those wines costing maybe just a few Euros less.  The wines below all fall into the good/better/best category and most provide stunning value for money – far better than you'd get from an equivalent-priced bottle in France.

In February 2009, we started off the series with Montepulciano D'Abruzzo DOC. 'Il Fondatore' 2003. Cantina Miglianico. I've long had a soft spot for Miglianico and although their top-of-the-range offering isn't yet up in the super-league of premier Montepulciano D'Abruzzo wines, it's still a terrifically good bottle.

In March, a taste test. How did 'ordinary' Prosecco di Valdobbiadene, 'Le Casere'. DOC. DVS Co-Op stand up to the more highly rated (and much more expensive) Prosecco di Valdobbiadene, Superiore di Cartizze, 'Tenimenti Dogali'. DOC. MVS Co-Op ? The answer ? Very well. The Cartizze's excellent. But for the same money, I'd rather have a couple of bottles of 'Le Casere'. And some loose change left over.

The new superstar Italian white Fiano di Avellino. DOCG 2007. Mastroberardino came under the spotlight in April. More on Italian whites in a moment – this bottle was extraordinarily fine.

The town of Montalcino in Tuscany is renowned as the home of Brunello. As we discovered in May, for less money – much, much less – the town's 'second growth' Rosso di Montalcino 'La Magia' DOC 2006. Schwarz is a highly acceptable alternative.

In June, July and August, we looked at whites to drink in summer: Soave Classico 2007. DOC. Tommasi Viticoltori; Greco di Tufo DOCG, 2007.Mastroberardino; and Pinot Grigio. Venezia Giulia IGT. 2008. Jermann.

For me, it's the development of white wines – especially from Campania in southern Italy – that really captures the imagination right now. The region produces two oustanding DOCG whites in Fiano di Avellino and Greco di Tufo – as well as the stellar red Taurasi DOCG.(Which we'll be trying out very soon…)

The production of classic Italian reds, all situated in Tuscany and northwards, is estabished, traditional and settled. Why fiddle around with wine that sells in crateloads worldwide and commands premium prices ? Why indeed…

Not so with production of white wine, which has become dynamic and innovative, with excellent production techniques and the reintroduction of many heritage variety grapes. This all provides an infinitely more exciting range of wines than NZ SauvBlancs and endless and depressing rows of Chardonnay and Pinot Grigrio and for now, at incredible value.

After the summer excursion into white wine, in September, we were back with the reds – Barbaresco. DOCG. 2005. Terredavino. Safe ground really. Barbaresco's a bit under-valued and this was a grown-up and good value bottle.

The onset of autumn in October provided one of the hits of the year. Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. DOCG. 1998. Talosa. Pure good fortune to find a very good wine, from a very good year, at a very good price, eleven years after the vintage. Peak condition and utterly delicious.  

In November and December, we suggested a couple of wines for Christmas. Pantelleria Passito Liquoroso. DOC. 2008. Cantine Pellegrino really did provide the perfect accompaniment to everything from creamy young gorgonzola, to Pannetone, and very English Christmas pudding, mince pies, dates and walnuts.

On Christmas Day itself, Barolo. DOCG. 2004. Fontanafredda just drank like a dream with a crown roast of turkey and all the traditiona trimmings. Fontanafredda is a terrifically good producer – as I never tire of saying, proof that 'big' doesn't necessarily equal 'bad'. Their wines across the board are of consistently excellent standard and keenly priced. For around €18, this Barolo was unbeatable.

And so to January 2010 and another new white. If Campania is leading the way in this field, the good news for us is that Abruzzo's not far behind. Pecorino 'Unico' IGT. 2008. Tenuta Ulisse is made from a recently rediscovered heritage grape variety, laden with fruit, locally-produced and really rather good.

The best ? A coin-toss between this Pecorino and the Fiano di Avellino if you're after a white; between the Talosa Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and the Fontanafredda Barolo for the reds. Your choice. Tough call…

Next Month…

Back on the tasting trail with something of a scoop – a wine from Italy's newest and smallest DOC region – right here in Abruzzo. It's a white wine – and one you'll definitely enjoy drinking at home, or in your Abruzzo holiday villa.

a

Pecorino 'Unico' IGT. 2008. Tenuta Ulisse.

Pecorino is the new (rapidly) rising star of Abruzzo wine and this offering from Tenuta Ulisse is the very best you can get your hands on.

And that's not a subjective judgement either. This Pecorino – the 2008 vintage – was voted 'Best Italian White Wine' at 2009's prestigious London International Wine Challenge, also picking up a gold medal for 'Best Pecorino' almost as an afterthought.

The Pecorino grape is an ancient Abruzzo heritage variety – earning its name because sheep allegedly enjoy eating it – that was rescued from the brink of extinction in the 1990s.

The Chieti region – where we live – is now one of its strongholds. But here's the rub. Because of Italy's convoluted wine rankings system – which makes France's appear a model of logic – Pecorino only qualifies for a lowly IGT rating.

Which redefines absurdity.

We now have a wine internationally-voted 'Best in Italy' and it's officially rated in its home country as…ordinary.

Don't even think of asking me to explain.

Brothers Antonio and Luigi Ulisse are very much the new kids on the block when it comes to wine production. They started Tenuta Ulisse as recently as 2006 and currently produce just seven varietal wines and a sparkler under the 'Unico' brand label.

Much is made of Ulisse's innovative production techniques in which the juice is extracted under anaerobic conditions which allegedly wrings the very last drop of pure flavour and essence of grapey goodness from each bunch.

It's then bottled with a glass stopper which is actually quite a nice idea as it instantly eradicates any possibility of cork taint and is a rather upmarket alternative to a plastic bung or the irritating screw-top so unaccountably beloved by New Zealand producers.

The wine itself is magical. If you like Viognier, but want something rather dryer and less – well – voluptuous than Viognier, you're going to love this.

There's that same mingling of apricots, white peach and almond – and a hint too of amaretti biscuits – with an extremely long finish.

There's a nice refreshing acidity there as well, without even the tiniest hint of any sweetness and making me wish I was drinking this on a hot summer's day rather than a drab January one.

I think what appeals most is the absolute purity of taste, which makes you think there might be more than meets the eye to the production techniques. But however it's achieved, it works.

Drink and enjoy this on its own. Or with a simple grilled Dover Sole. Plaice or turbot would be equally good.

A delicious start to the wine-tasting year !

At A Glance…

• This month's 'Special Italian Wine': Pecorino 'Unico'
• Vintage: 2008
• Designation: IGT
• Grape: 100% Pecorino
• Strength: 13%
• Closure: Glass stopper
• Producer: Tenuta Ulisse
• Website: www.tenutaulisse.it
• This bottle cost: €10.80

Next Month…

The 'Special Italian Wine' blog celebrates its first birthday, so we'll be looking back at the wines we've tasted over the past 12 months and trying to decide on the pick of the bunch for you to drink and enjoy at home – and on your Abruzzo holiday !

a

Barolo. DOCG. 2004. Fontanafredda

Last month we looked at a Christmas wine to go with the pudding and the mince pies. This month, it's what to drink with the turkey. Barolo ! With turkey ? Are you crazy ?

Still the indignation for a moment and consider that a good turkey – and we're not talking about some deep-frozen supermarket bowling ball here, but a good turkey, which has led a full and blameless life out in the open air – is a bird of richness and flavour.

Then consider some of the powerful tastes you're going to be adding to make your delicious free-range bird even more scrumptious: sausages; bacon; two or even three different sorts of stuffing; a rich gravy. A white wine or an everyday red is simply going to get lost in this heady blend of flavours.

Doubly so if you go ultra-traditional and roast a goose on Christmas Day.

So, Barolo is my choice of Christmas wine. And let's face it, if we're talking 'Special Italian Wine', what could be more special than what for me is unarguably Italy's greatest red ?

If you're a regular on these wine blogs, you'll know I'm a big fan of the producers Fontanafredda. Living proof that in terms of wine production, 'big' doesn't necessarily equal 'bad'.

Taking it as understood that the nosebleed prices you can pay for a single vineyard/single comune Barolo are beyond the scope of probably all our wallets, when searching for a top-quality generic Barolo such as this, you need to tread with a degree of caution. Hence my reliance on a producer I know and trust.

This Barolo is produced from 100% Nebbiolo grapes grown in the 11 comunes that comprise the DOCG area. It's then treated to two years in oak and a further year in bottle before release. (Barolo Riserva gets three years in wood and two years in bottle).

Generally speaking, 'regular' Barolo's reckoned to start hitting its stride five years after its vintage date, so this bottle from the pretty good 2004 vintage – thought it would've kept on improving until around 2012 and still been drinkable for a couple of years after that – seemed a pretty safe bet.

In the glass, a deep, rich ruby and powerful scents of mulberries and liquorice. A taste reveals Barolo's trademark tannins – this isn't really a wine to sip appreciatively on its own – and astonishingly complex flavours: treacle toffee; violets; damsons and even just a hint of roses.

Do please decant this a couple of hours before drinking to give it a chance to flex its muscles and if you don't fancy pairing it up with turkey (or goose), then any rich meaty dish will provide an equal treat.

Diving into the spirit of traditional Italian Christmas food, we enjoyed this bottle with a dish of Zampone, (a stuffed pig's trotter which – trust me – is way better than it sounds), followed by a rather greedy wedge of Taleggio. It was all utterly, sublimely delicious.

Merry Christmas !

At A Glance…
This month's featured wine: Barolo
Vintage: 2004
Designation: DOCG
Grape: 100% Nebbiolo
Strength: 13.5%
Closure: Cork
Producer: Fontanafredda
Website: www.fontanafredda.it
This bottle cost: €17.80

a

Pantelleria Passito Liquoroso. DOC. 2008. Cantine Pellegrino.

More wine tends to get drunk during December than at any other time of year. In fact, more bad wine tends to get drunk during December than at any other time of year as too many of those 'special' bottles specially bought for Christmas lunch turn out to be the duds that have been festering in some supermarket warehouse or wine retailer's cellar.

Christmas is made decidedly cheerier by a couple of decent bottles to go with the feasting, so in the first of two festive recommendations for 'Special Italian Wine', here's a really delicious accompaniment to the Christmas pudding; the mince pies – and some blue cheeses too.

The tiny Mediterranean island of Pantelleria – less than 10 miles long – is the southernmost part of Italy. It lies some 60 miles south-west of Sicily – but only 40 miles off the coast of Tunisia. For centuries, islanders produced a wine made from the alluringly-named Zibibbo grape – a local variant of Muscat.

Harvested in August, bunches of these grapes are hung, or laid-out to dry in the sun until, just before they shrivelled into raisins, they were pressed to produce a sweet, strong wine – 15% in this case.

Such was the reputation of this wine from Pantelleria, that it became only the third Italian wine to be awarded DOC status when the system was introduced some 50 years ago.

This offering from the Pellegrino winery in Sicily, (more familiar for its world-renowned Marsala and actually based in the town of Marsala itself), is a young Passito, given just 4 months in the bottle, (you'd hardly call it 'ageing'), before release.

Consequently it's a light, fresh wine which – when you think about it – is just what you need at the end of a heavy Christmas lunch when you've probably started with a glass of champagne, before moving onto bottles of red.

The colour is golden and the fragrance is delicate and floral – the Zibibbo grape isn't renowned for the huge scent of fruit you get with some muscat wines – but that belies what awaits your first sip, which takes in candied peel, tangerines and a nutty sweetness that lingers on your tongue for an age. There's none of the rather unpleasant cloying aftertaste you find with far too many sweet wines.

Drink this chilled – but not too cold, or it'll kill the delicacy of this wine stone-dead – and it'll go like a dream with the puddings, mince pies, cakes and pretty well all the other sweet treats of Christmas. (Except chocolate. Not a lot goes well with chocolate. Even less so with chocolate mints…).

And if you don't have a sweet tooth, try this Passito with a creamy blue cheese like a young Gorgonzola (the type – for example – sold in the UK under the Dolcelatte brand). Though port and Stilton are a marriage made in heaven, (but far too heavy a combination after you've waded through turkey and pudding), Passito and creamy blues – or even Roquefort, which the French will happily partner with Sauternes – are a lighter and far more agreeable alternative.

At A Glance…

• This month's featured wine: Pantelleria Passito Liquoroso

• Vintage: 2008

• Designation: DOC

• Grape: 100% Zibibbo

• Strength: 15%

• Closure: Cork stopper

• Producer: Cantine Pellegrino

• Website: www.carlopellegrino.it

• This bottle cost: €7.85 for a 50cl bottle

Next Month…

A special Italian red wine for a special Christmas lunch. A wine I promise you'll enjoy at home – and which'll still taste pretty good if you try it on your Abruzzo vacation !

a