Let's talk vino...
Italian wine...
Umbrian wine...
Vino sfuso...
Ok ...I like wine ... a lot! But I am not a wine snob - one of the reasons why I love Italian wine. Indeed it has taught me a valuable lesson ...to treat wine as an every day commodity - nothing luxe about it - a necessity of daily life. I was fortunate enough to be raised in a house-hold where decent wine was always served at table. An introduction to the idea at a relatively young age - wine served to enjoy with a meal - was an education.
I was encouraged to take a glass of wine at home with meals - kudos to my parents for their insight. To this day, a meal without wine is somewhat lacking...& wine without food is also somewhat lacking...
Compared to Europe Australia's wine history is very new. However Australia is now enjoying an innovative & productive wine industry thanks to the wealth of European immigrants & potential viticulturists with their skills & knowledge gracing its shores. Those European viticulture skills married with a simpatico southern-hemisphere climate have seen a plethora of seriously successful wineries & very drinkable wines emerge - many of which are not exported as they are deemed too expensive for the international market (particularly the UK) - apart of course from good UK restaurant wine lists where you may find a more exciting & eclectic selection of global wines.
On my last visit to an inner-city London deli - I spied the locals snapping up bottles of Jacobs Creek at + 10 quid a bottle....
I was disappointed to see what is now (has been for some time) a not-so-popular
Aussie wine being marketed in such a way. Not to take anything away from- & kudos to Jacobs Creek... one of the most accessible, middle-of-the-road Australian table wine producers.
No, it is simply that there are so many other really exciting new blends & current wineries to contend with now....& very well marketed. Then there is the clean skin market which is not unlike the Italians selling off their loose wine - & all the best Oz wineries have also captured that market. Sometimes the clean-skin market is a lottery but a fun one at that!
The one thing I don't love about Australian wine is it's price - the tax on wine is unfortunately exhorbitant - fortunately for the wine industry - it really does not discourage the consumer...& do we really want to compromise....price over quality...?
Or has Australia - along with its young, burgeoning wine industry- produced a generation of "wine snobs"...? A deemed decent bottle of wine now costing between
$20-25 AUD....Margaret River - Clare/Barossa Valley - Hunter Valley - Fleurieu & Tasmanian producers to name a few. Such high prices makes enjoying good wine a rather expensive passtime...
One of the first things I recognised when I moved permanently to Italy - & it resonated so well with me - was that wine is not judged by price. Indeed - wine is very much suited to the locale & the dish one is eating. I love the adventure this philosophy poses...a constant discovery of innumerable wines from various regions. Barolo - Valpolicella - Amerone - Bardolino - Morellino - Verdicchio - Chianti - Torgiano - Sagrantino - Grechetto - the list goes on...& for me, the wines of the northern regions are really hard to beat.
That was until I tasted a local sfuso with a plate of fresh strangozzi noodles topped with shaved truffle...cooked in the home of a friend. My taste-buds were dancing!
How utterly simple & subtle the right wine married to food could be...no need to be grandiose...we all know wine is supposed to compliment the food....& vice versa.
Above all, that one simple meal reinforced the fact that wine & food are a marriage, a match made in heaven & sometimes the simplest choices are the best.
One of the most exciting wines I ever discovered was a wine produced from the Donafugata Cantina in Sicily ...the very same cantina immortalised in Lampedusa's The Leopard...
- primitivo - romantico - delizioso - e un buon prezzo!
Why am I always suspicious of the most famous labels ? For example - probably my worst experience was with the famous Brunello of Montalcino Toscana - I purchased an overly expensive label & was disappointed - then was encouraged to taste a lesser known label (produced in the same year) & was pleasantly surprised.
Having said that - visitors to Italy should take a leaf out of an Italian's book...listen & watch what they order in the restaurant - in most cases it is local house wine or a local bottled wine.
I have friends & guests who have visited us here in Umbria, who find this concept difficult to comprehend - they imagine the greater "the price-tag - the better the wine"...
Dare I venture ? - not necessarily true! ... thankfully not in Italia.
We are getting parochial here - but deservedly so - I don't profess to be a wine expert...
I do know what I like & what works with the food here. In these parts, it is almost an insult for a "local" to purchase & drink anything but local wine - except on special occasions & even then it is questionable & often accounted to stranieri naivete. For example, I would never offer any of my local friends -who often drop in to the house- a glass of non-local wine....heaven forbid! They would never trust something that was not local...& yes...Umbrians are extremely, charmingly parochial.
However the truth is ...wine is good here ...tutto- home-made - expensive - inexpensive.
I guess that is why other countries try to emulate this culture & its produce ethic.
In Umbria - & Italy in general- drinking vino locale means drinking wine if not produced by myself - then by a cantina in my immediate locality....& why would one not??
Ignorance perhaps...?
Remember this is Italy where people rejoice in la vita bella - producing & consuming the most local produce - one's own - on a daily basis! An endearing & rewarding life's lesson for us all !!
Allora - good reasons for drinking local wine in Italy...
Number one reason - local wine will be made from grape varieties suited to the area & climate.
Number two reason - the wine will be produced by passionate people with generations of knowledge who know their stuff...
Number three reason - the major cantine in the area will also be selling their vino sfuso - loose wine by the litre no less - equally as good as what you would pay at the enoteca - in a bottle - for at least 3 times the price!
And does'nt it just feel good purchasing something... anything direct from the producer?
Even better if you know & trust him...!
Purchasing vino sfuso means you rock up to the producer with your own demigiani buying no less than 15 litres per purchase...which equates in these parts, to 2-4 weeks of table wine supply...depending on the size of your family.
Sfuso being a "drink now" wine & lacking chemicals & preservatives - which is why it's so good!
Plenty more reasons but I'm already pouring the sfuso for lunch ...!
However I will say our vino sfuso (a 50/50 blend of the 2 most prestigious grape varieties of the region) comes from a renowned local producer of Montefalco Rosso & Sagrantino
- both outstanding Umbrian wines....
I am not going to tell how much it costs per litre because you really would'nt believe me but to this day no-one who has dined at my table has ever rejected it (!) & on the contrary most people don't realise the quality of wine they are drinking ...& we don't feel the need to disclose.
All things being equal at table!
The ode to the story is - where ever you are in Italy if you are unsure of what wine to order at least taste a glass of the local house wine - invariably it will be drinkable & suited to your cuisine...
and if you decide you would like something a little more sophisticated, consult your host - no doubt he/she will delight in recommending the best local choices!
And perhaps you will be surprised, delighted... maybe even enlightened...?
Salute !!
And please do enjoy unconditionally those great local Umbrian & Italian wines..!
x Michelle
all images thanks to google
