#380 When is an Italian not an Italian...

In my view, and it is only my view (although shared by a lot of people), a wine should taste of the place it comes from.  It should reflect the land, the nation's grapes, the people who make the wine, maybe even the people who drink the wine.  The problem is that there are commercial realities to face.  Take, for example, cheap wine.  There is no way that a producer from an old world country can produce a wine that would sell for £4 that expresses a sense of place, they are lucky if they can get it tasting of the grape variety it is supposed to be made from.  Similarly, if you are a younger wine producing nation, like New Zealand or America, you will have picked vines that were commercially desired on the international market, and plonked down the vines anywhere they could, resulting in a wine that may taste of the country and grape, but not the region it comes from.

But if you are making a quality wine, and have been doing so for centuries, why would you rip your vines up and plant international varieties?  Well the Italians did, when they realised that the world wanted French varietals and they were producing wines from native grapes.  In Tuscany, old Sangiovese wines were replaced with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah, but some producers have both native varieties and the imported ones.

One such company is Argiano, and they have two wines, at a similar price so I thought I would try them both and see if their international variety wine, Non Confunditur, actually tasted Italian, and to make sure that their house style wasn't 'international', I tried their Rosso di Montalcino too.

Firstly, the 2008 Argiano Rosso di Montalcino.  This is 100% Sangiovese wine has aromas of bright raspberry and a little bit of strawberry coming through.  There is an earthy element as well that is framed by herbs.  The palate is bright and fresh with some very nice spice, strawberry and a lovely mint element coming through too.  A crunchy apple and under ripe raspberry coming off with some violets and tomato plant on the finish.  A lovely bright wine that tastes like Italian wine should - peasanty - and you can just imagine sitting down with a bowl of pasta covered in tomato sauce. 89pts

Moving onto the 'non' Italian wine, the 2008 Argiano Non Confunditur it was immediately noticeable as grapes that came from a different homeland.  There was the dark berries of the 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, with a lot of green pepper and polish.  Then the sweeter fruit of the Merlot (20%) comes through and a baked berry mixed with spice from the Syrah (20%).  The thing is, the twenty percent Sangiovese is nowhere.  You get rich fruit, dark liquorice and black pepper on the finish, all mixed with a bit of dried fruit. (86pts)

Don't get me wrong, the Non Confunditur is a nice wine, a sort of Franco-American style, but doesn't taste of Italy and it really doesn't taste of Tuscany.