Single Varietal Italian Wine: Syrah and Merlot

28 Jan 2011: We had a casual supper at home for Richard and his colleagues - a great opportunity for us to tuck into one of the two legs of Iberico ham that were very generous gifts from two different friends.  So I prepared some simple fare - bbq pork sausages and steak, along with chicken wings, Vietnamese vermicelli salad, tomato salad and some much needed carbs to get us through the chilly weather!  We started with the Tunisian traditional method sparkling wine that I wrote about earlier - le "M" and we had so much fun guessing its country of origin.  Bert said he just couldn't get over the fact that Tunisia could produce such sparkling wine of such reasonable quality.  Then we had a couple of wines from Spain to make it more authentic with the ham: a rather delicious and characterful cava and the Ossian 2007, just a really delicious wine based on Verdejo! 

Unfortunately for Richard and me, we didn't quite make it to the first bottle of 1997 Tua Rita Giusto di Notri (60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot, aged in French oak) and the second bottle was corked.  (And I couldn't be bothered to fetch another one as I had lined up so many other wines for the evening!). 

So I can only comment on the two subsequent Italian varietal wines that I had prepared for the evening.  The first one was a 1997 Podere Il Bosco from Luigi d'Alessandro, in magnum.  This was a bottle kindly given to us by James Suckling to try - thank you, James!  I had it decanted for about an hour. 100% Syrah from Manzano.  A very engaging and approachable wine, with a fine structure, ripe fruit richness and a smooth texture.  Black cherry jam, plm, chocolate, coffee, lifted by Mediterranean herbs, liquorice and peppery character.  Quite savoury.  Well-made but lacking a little expressiveness and depth.  I believe this estate is now under new ownership and is turning out wines of great potential.  Drinking at peak now and for the next 4 - 5 years.  16/20

The next varietal wine was the 100% Merlot Montiano from Falesco, my all time favourite for reasonably priced great varietal Merlot from Italy.  Falesco is based in Lazio - not too far from Tuscany.  I thought this was probably the wine showing best this evening, showing more concentration, ripe fruit extract, depth and a lingering finish.  Beneath the coat of blackberry, black cherry preserve, liquorice, dark chocolate and vanilla flavours, lies a savoury, almost animal-like character. Rich and velvety texture. A wine of profundity and substance. Drinking well now and should drink well for another 6 - 8 years, without showing any sign of deterioration. 17 - 17.5/20

I paused a little to reflect on the two wines we enjoyed over dinner.  There is just one question at the back of my mind: "Are these varietal wines truly expressive of the grape variety and of the land - that powerful word that summarises all in one expression - "terroir"?  Is it enough for a wine to be well-made and exhibit complexity and quality or does it need to deliver something else that aligns more with its identity and country of origin?  While I am in awe of a number of super Tuscan and super IGT wines made with international varieties from Italy, I remain a bigger supporter of indigenous varieties from Italy and I have endless pleasure in discovering and learning about these varieties and appreciating those wines, in my humble view, that truly express the land, the tradition, the culture, and the people!