Falesco Vitiano Rosso 2015 IGT Red blend Umbria Italy
After taking a week of vacation off from work to relax and regroup, I stopped by the West Lebanon Liquor outlet to have look in the Italian wine section for Rosé wines. I also spent a few minutes in the the powerbuy section and saw this wine there, and after reading the back label decided to try it based on the blend of grapes used to make it.
The winery was founded in 1979 by two brothers Riccardo and Renzo Cotarella, two of Italy's most respected winemakers. The vineyard was planted in 1992, and the first wines were released in 1995. They have a white, a Rosé, and the red blend Rosso. Their focus is on using local varieties and the popular internationally known vinifera grapes.
There are almost equal parts Merlot, Cabernet, and Sangiovese used to make this vintage, the wine was treated to a short period of oak barrel aging, and it tastes like there was careful selection of fruit at harvest time.
The wine opens initially with notes of blackberries, plums, black cherries in the nose. After 20 minutes or so there is a just right note of tobacco leaf as well. There is a nice blance of the fruits from the nose on the palate, almost a sweet first impression, with a slightly thick mouthfeel, juicy, then it finishes dry with perfect acidity.
This is a very well made wine that has great versatility with a multitude of foods. We drank it over two nights to guage if if would improve, and it did develop some added flavors on day 2.
We cooked a thin crust Margherita pizza on the grill on day 1, and the wine paired very well with it. On Day 2 we tried it with garlic, paprika, and Himalayan sea salt seasoned chicken from the grill, also a good pairing. A red sauce pizza with meat, the steak tips in a Gorgonzola sauce from Lui-Lui's also comes to mind. A classic Porterhouse steak with either Melted Gorgonzola or garlic herb butter, and the peppercorn Sirloin steak at Jesse's would bring out some elements of this wine also.
Available at the Lebanon, West Lebanon, and some other NH outlet stores for $7.99 per bottle in the powerbuy section, online retailers have it for between $12 and $15. On top of the great price at the NH outlets, this month there is also a 15% discount on 12 bottles or more of powerbuy section wines.... that would make this wine $6.80 per bottle.... you won't find many other values like this one every day, the normal retail price was 15.99 per bottle. Still worth it at that price.
I hope you can try a bottle of this, I think most of you would enjoy it....
Cheers!
Ed
No comments:
Post a Comment