Guest Post: Italian Night Tasting Notes

As a first-time My Wine Tribe tasting hostess, I figured I’d stick with a “sure thing”: Italian food paired with Italian wines. Everybody loves Italian wine, right? Perhaps there’s something to this “tribe thing” after all because the wines that were highly recommended by the knowledgeable and helpful gentleman at the store where I shopped (Green’s Beverages in Atlanta) were liked, but not loved, by my guests. I think he may be in one of the tribes not represented at our party. He just doesn’t know it yet! We had 8 Developed and 2 Balanced Tribe members in attendance.

The tasting began with Ca’Vittoria Superiore Prosecco Brut ($15.44). Typical of proseccos, this is light and dry. Most in the Developed Tribe commented that they smelled and tasted citrus or apple. The Balanced Tribe definitely enjoyed this more – especially with food, and both specified hints of grapefruit. Overall, people said they enjoyed this bottle more than other proseccos they had previously tried.

The 2011 Tasca D’Almerita Regaleali Bianco Sicilia ($13.38) was next and received a broad range of comments from both tribes. There were strong opinions (both positive and negative) about this one that included tasting melon, earthy/dusty, chemical, and floral from the Developed; and weak, orange blossom and oak from Balanced.  It was more pleasing to the Balanced with several very low marks from Developed. I would not recommend this one.

As we moved to the 2010 Busi Chianti Rúfina ($13.38) the happiness quotient increased. This is a 100% Sangiovese that has berry and woody flavors according to both tribes. Jessica (Developed) detests chianti and identified it almost immediately even though the labels were covered. Sheri (Developed) commented that it was “very fruity with a beautiful nose” and tasted lots of tannins when we paired it with a gorgeous antipasto prepared by Tracey (thank you!).

Finally, the 2011 Pietra Majella Montepulciano D’Abruzzo ($7.71) was poured and although it was the least expensive wine of the evening, it was the most favored and people said they would pay anywhere from $12 – $20 for the bottle so it’s a great value! Both tribes detected black pepper, coffee or cocoa and a few said they tasted cherry. Paula (Developed) wrote “Awesome!” on her tasting sheet and Tracey (Developed) said it was “mellow…extremely happy.”

In summary, the prosecco was a hit with the Balanced Tribe and the Montepulciano was a favorite of both tribes.  But again, though we all enjoyed the experience and preferred some of the bottles over others, at the conclusion of the tasting I asked if anyone was completely blown away by any of the wines and the answer was “meh!”. Thus, my previously stated hypothesis that the guy at Green’s is probably in another tribe (most likely Complex). As a follow up I am going to find him and ask him to take the quiz…Ill be reporting back soon!

Note from Stephanie: Thanks to Suzanne Foley for this guest post! If you would like to host a My Wine Tribe tasting and be a guest blogger please let me know (mywinetribe@gmail.com)