Your Next Lesson: Rosso di Montalcino

We all felt these were very good wines at a bargain price for a baby Montalcino. It was hard to pick a favorite and the food match was even harder. The Lisini had aromas of soft oak, fresh leather, cherries and earth. On the palate some spice and rosemary showed. When served with an Italian faro with pulled chicken and gremolata, it also showed well and seemed to fit in with it. The Potazzine showed beautifully on its own. Although somewhat tannic it displayed dark chocolate and ripe fruit. When served with a rice pea succotash and cured chicken thigh, it seemed to lighten up the dish and “cut” some of the fat off the chicken. All in all, it was an excellent food wine and our favorite on its own. The La Tore shoed an even acidity and was very well balanced and round. We were surprised how little the tannins revealed themselves, while I picked up a slight amber hue on the color. It was served with a Steak Florentine and sauce with a quail egg. For many reasons this was our favorite wine and food combination. George Erdle – Harper’s Fine Dining – Charlotte, NC

Got to open two Lisinis in five days. One was my first of this month’s assignment. One was the last, at Wine School NYC’s Sunday night classroom, upper west side gem, Mezzogiorno (spicy saffron tagliolini with crab, yum!). In between, the Torre and (2016) Potazzine gave some perspective. The T and P seem more like each other than the L. Both seem mannered and self-aware, with a well-defined mix of candied fruit (cherry, berry), proper bitterness to balance, plus something darker (chocolate, leather), too. Together, they pointed out what the L had that they did not. It, the L, was in comparison untamed and from the heart. It was the most vibrant of the three. Paired with some more complex foods (charred broccoli with shallot, lime and pine nuts; eggplant croquettes with tomato sauce and goat cheese) its flavors came in a wild barrage, like little mouth explosions! Cuddled up with what struck me as all these RdMs’ most ideal pairing, lighter meat and tomatoes (meatballs parmesan; wild boar ragout; maybe Ferguson’s red sauce with mushroom and ground beef, too?), the L purred like a kitten. Ali called it “a savory, fruity mystery.” Intriguing how, with a simple grilled steak, Martin was struck by the L’s “elegant simplicity and polarity” (savory fruity?) Seems quite the chameleon, adapting well to what it’s served with.

This is a collaboration with Dan and a report from our foursome’s Tuscan dinner with Lisini and ‘16 Potazzine. They were the epitome of vibrancy. Dan described Lisini as “fascinating and wild, like the falling, glowing embers of a burst of fireworks.” We didn’t smell oak, and I only tasted a hint in Lisini and Torre. Slightly hazy, natural, they were refreshing and sincere, and 14% ABV didn’t weigh them. The youngest, astringent and untamed Potazzine had ethanol nose, with a short, tart finish. Dan sniffed out blackberry. Lisini stood out in comparison as more balanced and complex than P, savory and fruity (sour cherry) and a warm, medium finish. The wines were versatile with food: ‪Margherita pizza; ‬eggplant croquettes in red sauce and goat cheese (a startling taste highlight of the evening for Dan); grilled, smokey escarole; wild boar in tomato ragout; and spiced poached pear. These pairings brought out “sweetness and deliciousness” in the wines and reciprocity from food. They were juicy, energetic, and ABV a warming and head-spinning experience. To my dismay, neither Montalcino worked with seafood. Dan was frustrated by our ordering decisions based on food. Indeed he had the eminent good sense to order food carefully based on wine, and was rewarded with “a deeply satisfying meld of food & wine.” Despite our sensory-driven choices, we were all rewarded with a deeply satisfying meld of great company, wonderful meal, and vibrant, if somewhat disjointed, wine pairings.

Last week, inspired by the Lisini, my wife had a great idea: This would be great with liverwurst. Reading “Wine with Food” last week I was running into a recipe of “Spiced Chicken Liver Mousse” Florence Fabricant recommended as a pairing for Rosso di Montalcino. I made that and the Moskin Marinara with whole wheat rotini. We enjoyed it with La Potazzine. The liver mousse tasted like an excellent liverwurst with exotic spice notes of ginger and cardamom. La Potazzine was less tart, more herbal, oaky, tannic, and very delicious with that liver mousse on buttered full grain bread topped with some smoked maldon salt. Next day the Torre was a little too cold (57F) at first and had to be decanted to warm up. We had it with the liver mousse on crackers and a variety of char grilled steaks. The liver mousse was even better after a day in the fridge. The wine was refreshing and tart (somewhat like the lisini just better). It turned out to be our favorite. After two weekends, we finally think we understand the soul of sangiovese. It has its own chemistry of attracting opposites: Tart cherry (in a refined fruity way), vibrant and acidic on one side and beautiful tannins on the other. It is sometimes tough for me to tell if they originate from oak or grape skin. That is for me what makes up the dialectic , the polarity, the electricity of sangiovese.

We were able to purchase two; the La Torre at Flatiron Wines and the Lisini right here in Princeton at Princeton Corkscrew. Yes you could taste (and smell) the oak. We preferred the lighter oakiness of the Lisini. You could feel the acid on your tongue. It gave it a wonderful sparkiness. That made it a great companion to pasta with good tomato sauce with mushrooms and ground beef. So many wines are described as "pairs well with a wide variety of foods except for acidic dishes like tomatoes." In New Jersey we eat a lot of tomatoes in August and September and it will be good to have a wine that complements them.

I have been visiting NYC rather frequently lately and twice I had a Canalicchio di Sopra Rosso di Montalcino 2015 in restaurants, once at Merea. A superb example of the Rosso. It is available on-line at JJ Buckley for only $21, a true bargain. I have tasted a number of the wines suggested here but the Canalicchio is easily the best, as elegant as many Brunello.

Next day, same wines and a meal of Ribeye steak seasoned with salt and pepper and grilled on a Fogo Hardwood charcoal fire ( https://instagram.com/p/BgFEuI2jlgD/ ) My wife claimed the steak was seasoned very nicely. Again the Lisini seemed to enhance “fruitiness”, this time the fruitiness of a juicy steak. I think it was part of the good seasoning. My wife liked both wines but to my surprise she preferred the Caparzo. The wines did seem more similar than the day before but I still preferred Lisini and it’s elegant simplicity and polarity

I had the idea RdMs were on the brawny, tannic side of sangiovese. Wrong and wrong, based on, first, the Lisini and now, la Torre. Both, while strong-bodied, are light and agile in weight, bright and acidic in profile (the L a bit more vibrant; the T a bit more fruity; both, though, more like each other than like the more muscular Chianti I’d imagined). Unfortunately, Saturday night’s dinner plan was based on my old mistaken impression. Even thought I’d go way out on a limb and leave tomato behind. Prepared a rich, dark, mushroomy chicken and taleggio polenta tinyurl.com/y8x8ekzj (mmm, porcini!). Alas, it’s a dish I now hope never to make again without a big Piedmont red nearby. La T was lively and enjoyable, but a chirpy pairing, turning the earthy food somber. I kept wishing for some puckery-sweet, Italian-American “red sauce,” or “gravy.” (Broken record alert: la T and lime-dressed roast broccoli were happy and fun.) La T’s oak was not prominent, but was definitely there, more so than in the L. “Integrated,” I guess. Its flavors were, much as I’d read online, a mix of bright, candied cherry and a bit of cocoa-y chocolate (sounds like Martin's Caparzo). It was an unlikely combination, but well-served by the T’s lightly bitter finish. Didn’t get the “earthy” that I also heard mentioned, but maybe it was just out-earthed by the porcinis.

We enjoyed Lisini Rosso di Montalcino 2014 last weekend side-by-side with the Caparzo Rosso di Montalcino with two dinners. My first impression of the Lisini before food was mouth puckering tart cherry and roses. I was fascinated by the dark red almost brownish color and assumed the wine was unfiltered. The first meal consisted of whole wheat rotini with Julia Moskin’s Marinara sauce made from GOP tomatoes with mild Italian sausage and grated pecorino toscano. With this wine the fruitiness of the tomatoes was emphasized as if the sun of the campania was radiating through it. There were notes of oak but not overwhelming, underlining the slim slender elegant cherry fruit. The Caparzo seemed more oaky, like a little brother of the Caparzo Brunello. Fruit and oak were well integrated here. It made me think of cherry, chocolate and marzipan. Too polished I thought, this is like drinking furniture. The Lisini was very refreshing. The Caparzo too dense to be refreshing.

Was the Lisini vibrant? Oh, yeah! Also strong, light-bodied, dark-berried, leathery, (not particularly oaky), dry, soft, rich, and delicious. But the vibrancy, or “acidity” as Eric posed his question—along with a comment of VSB’s—was eye-opening. Wednesday dinner was Ms. Clark’s meatball parmesan tinyurl.com/y8epvn6c and broccoli. The L did predictably well with the meatballs. It did even better, though—it was vibrant—with the broc. And I thought back to VSB’s surprise at how well his RdM did with his vegs (the broccolini?). Ask around what wines go with broccoli and you’ll rarely hear about a red. They must be thinking of some barely-cooked, healthy version of the plant that is unfamiliar to me. We eat a lot of broccoli at our house and, whether roasted or sautéed, its color is always closer to kelp than emerald. White wines have done well (unoaky chards, Fianos are reliable) but the most memorable successes are the reds. Tempranillo, Monastrell, Trousseau and yes, Sangiovese are frequent winners. When they do work, part of the fun is thinking, “and it’s red!” And I now think what makes them work must be the acidity. It cuts though the burny flavors. And it meshes nicely with the citrus in my all-time favorite broccoli-for-red-wine recipe—which we ate last night and which I and Food & Wine now share with you for free, tinyurl.com/yc79g38x (if the red is more cherried than berried, substitute lime juice for lemon). It was lovely with the vibrant Lisini.

Sesti and Col d’ Orcia are fine choices

Mocali is also a good choice.. they need air however

Good Afternoon: When did Rosso di Montalcino get so expensive? Used to find good ones for less than $10. Nonetheless, the timing for this month's Lesson could not have proved better, because my latest planned dinner had an Italian-American theme. Spaghetti with tomato sauce with mushrooms and ground sausage, roasted broccolini with garlic and red onions, green salad, Tallegio cheese. Music: Italian Renaissance music for viola de gamba by Ekkerhard Weber. On the roof: a steady rain, which somehow seemed right for the occasion. The wine: the 2015 La Torre. Color: brilliant deep garnet. Nose: blackberry, tobacco, black cherry, spicy, black pepper. Taste: same as the nose, medium bodied, short finish, also earthy, oaky and cedar components. Fairly acidic, but not bitter. Overall, a well made wine. Complemented the spaghetti and Tellegio every bit as well as expected; surprisingly, also went well with the vegetables. Oddly, tasted better with the food than by itself. For $30+, seemed a bit pricy for the quality. Perhaps if I find one of the other recommendations, will give it a try.