Oinos - Montepulciano d'Abruzzo (2005)

I moved into Matt's house this weekend to create what some have described as a lethal batchelor pad. Leaving the obvious hazards of us living together aside, there are some serious benefits. For a start, Matt is quite an incredible cook. He is a film director and script writer which occasionally affords him the flexibility to devote a large proportion of his day to a meal. As I am now the permanent housemate, I shall be the beneficiary of these flexible working hours. The second benefit is our mutual love of wine. As if I needed any encouragement....

While I was taking care of relocating my life, Matt created a 3 hour Bolognese. The divine smell of the slow cooked Italian cuisine filled the house and both of us were in the mood for making a bit of a meal out of our evening. In one of my many boxes, I happened upon a bottle of wine that I was given for my 30th by Browners and Oli. It was the more approachable Italian flacon of an amazing double-bottle present, the second of which is a Pomerol to be reviewed at a later date once properly rested! They had told me to drink the Montepulciano at will, but save the Pomerol for a special occasion. Well knowing those two, both bottles needed to be saved for a special occasion - and my first night at a new place seemed to be such a time.

When appropriate I'm a big fan of combining food and drink from the same locality. It can often produce that perfect fit such as a pint of ale and a scotch egg or a bottle of Corona and a burrito. Montepulciano is a bit further south than Bolgna in Italy, but it was close enough for me!

I don't know much about Italian wine, I regard it as the vintners equivalent of roads in South London - numerous, small and devoid of any logical consolidation. Interestingly though, both Matt and I were of the same opinion that wine from Italy is generally a safe bet, we've never had a bad Montepuliciano. Equally I don't think I've ever written home about one either. But I was looking forward to this one. A quick check on Wikipedia confirmed that Montepulciano can generally be consumed fairly young, so my 2005 was quickly opened, left to breathe for the customary hour and ready for action.



What a lovely surprise! The first thing that struck me was the deep, non translucent, inky red colour that made the liquid look almost solid in the bottom of the glass. I don't know why but I was expecting something much lighter and less viscous. As we wafted the wine over our nostrils, first impression was fruity cherry, with a subtle hint of oak in the background. As we explored the wine in a little more detail, we started to get dark chocolate, maybe even a rum liqueur - and at one point I'm pretty sure I got a bit of Christmassy cinnamon. The fruity taste combined with the 14% ABV makes this a robust wine, perfect for a Sunday night in.

This bottle has changed my opinion of Italian wine, I'm going to have to carry out much more research! It's going to be a challenge, but a good one.

The inaugural post!

I thought I'd start this scrapbook off with one of my classic choices. It's a Muscadet from The Wine Society.

A lot of my wine choices have been influenced by my father. He's a keen wine enthusiast, with a particular penchant for French wines. Many of the titbits you will read on this blog are likely to stem from him and I will try to provide the accompanying anecdote. In this case, it's one of the earliest wine tips that I can remember. "If you're going to buy a Muscadet", he said, "one of the things you must look for is whether it is sur lie. If it's not, don't bother." I believe this to be true, and so have since stuck by this rule like it were the first rule of the Green Cross Code. The kind producers of Muscadet often add a sur lie swish to the bottle to help you differentiate.

One of the characteristics of a Muscadet that I like is the hint of effervescence you get on the tip of your tongue. It's this effervescence coupled with the mild tang of acidity that make it a fantastic choice for wonderfully delicate food, such as fresh king prawns with aioli. You don't want the wine to interfere with the delicate food, but equally you want to drink something with more character than water (or its wine equivalents).



This particular Muscadet, a 2008 selected by The Wine Society from the Chereau Carre Estate, is giving me more effervescence than I would perhaps expect, but good on it. It's the kind of experience that puts a little smile on your face with every sip. It leaves behind a lovely acidity, so all in all I suppose it could be likened to eating a mild chili.

Tonight I am enjoying it as a gentle aperetif, but as I say, it would also be perfect with delicate foods.